From Lukas' POV

It was still early when Lukas woke from a nightmare of someone chasing them through the woods by the north side of the sea. His whole body ached badly, either from traveling so long these days or from the thing he's lying on -it's more like a pile of thrown-away wood than a bed. But of course he couldn't complain because it was kindly offered to them and is at least a thousand times better than sleeping on wet moss or by rotten tree trunks. Emil started complaining as soon as Matthias left the room last night, but Lukas warned him to quiet down and not to look like an ungrateful spoiled brat. Oh please, do little children always act like this when they grow up a tiny bit?

Speaking of Matthias, Lukas could swear it was really him, the Matthias from Torfasonville, who lived with Grandpa and Berwald. He wondered for almost every day in his past if they were still alive, and this person really looked and acted like him.

But he denied, so it must not be him. Lukas thought bitterly, many people looked alike.

A long time ago， Lukas used to live with Grandpa and those other two boys he used to call "brothers" - they were all adopted, but Grandpa treated them like his own children. They lived in the woods near a big lake, at the edge of the village. He remembered the songs Grandpa used to sing to him and those bedtime stories he used to tell them: the old gods, the heroes, the spirits in the woods...

Emil shifted on the bed and quickly drew Lukas' attention away.

"Ow, my back hurts." Emil complained in a sleepy voice, "I want a softer bed." "Since when was the last time we'd actually slept in a real bed?" Lukas sighed, asking himself the question then replying it: "Probably several weeks ago."

Being alive for such a long time has a big drawback: your timeline gets mixed up for most of the times. So maybe it's been only a few days, or is it months already? They had a hand-made calendar at their old house, but it didn't matter since they'd never go back again.

As Emil was yawning and getting dressed, Matthias came in. Emil started screaming: "Ahh! Get out! Can't you see I'm not fully dressed!?" Matthias gave an apologetic smile and quickly slipped away.

Emil was blushing like a girl on a first date now. He pulled up his clothes with one hand and the other pointed at the door like a sword for defense. Lukas couldn't help but smile. "It's not like he wants to peek, little brother, besides he's not a girl." "So what, I'd had puffins staring at me like they wanted to eat me before." Emil got on his clothes and stormed out of the room, leaving the door widely open. It wasn't until the cold air hit his skin before Lukas realized that he himself was half naked. He sat there in 100% awkwardness with a shocked-looking Matthias standing at the door. Matthias hurriedly closed the door as if nothing had happened and stomped downstairs.

Oh gods.

-Half an hour later, at breakfast-

"So Lukas, why did you ask me if I came from Torfasonville yesterday?" Matthias asked as he carefully spread caviar on his bread.

Lukas controlled his urge to tell him the truth. No, if he is not that Matthias then you cannot trust him. Maybe he doesn't mean to hurt us but what if those people come? Then both Emil and I would be dead, immortal or not.

"Oh, just asking." Lukas said casually, not showing the slightest bit of his emotions.

"You know, that village was burnt down a long time ago." Matthias said. Then he paused to look at him, as if trying to confirm something that's important.

Lukas' hand froze in the air, his heart sank. Yes, of course it was, could I forget that? I knew I'd regret mentioning this. Lukas eyed Emil, signaling him to run as soon as anything goes wrong.

Matthias took a small sip of water, and smiled: "Calm down, I'm not going to eat you. By the way, do you know a guy named Berwald? He's big and scary and never talks much when he doesn't want to."

Berwald.

Although he still felt doubtful about the identity of this person, Lukas finally made a "yes" sound.

Before he could ask any questions about it, Matthias pulled him into a tight hug.

"Oh my god you are Lukas!" Exclaimed Matthias, "I thought I'd never see you again!"

Lukas was shocked for a moment and then managed a weak smile.

After a long minute of silence, Lukas broke free from the suffocating hug. "Don't leave me ever again, Luke." Matthias half cried out, and hugged Lukas even tighter.

But is this really a good thing to be back together again? What if things go terribly wrong...?

"You are staying, Lukas. And you too, Emil." Matthias ordered. He sounded like a little child telling his mother not to go away.

"Shh, okay. Calm down Mat, we are not dying," Lukas held him and hummed, "Stop acting like a big baby."

"I'm not-" "Yes you are." "I don't care, but you guys are going to stay." "Fine." Lukas shrugged, at least that counts as a good news.

Matthias let go of Lukas and blinked two huge drops of tears away. Then he smiled.

"I'll get some things for you at the market. You guys stay here, I'll be back in an hour or so." Matthias said cheerfully, and went out.

"I never knew you had families. "Emil asked, he was always interested when Lukas told him about his past. "Well they were technically not my family, but yeah, we used to live together." "Why?" "I don't know why, maybe because we were all adopted by Grandpa." "No, I mean why did you leave?" "Well..." Memories flooded out, flying past his eyes like what we now call "films" today. Suddenly he found his throat too dry to say anything. "I..."

I never chose to leave. Lukas thought bitterly. But there wasn't exactly a choice, was there?

Emil sensed a sudden change of mood and decided to shut up for good.

"It... it's okay. I'll try to explain."

Lukas described about his old life: the old cottage by the lake, the battle axe Grandpa liked, and the smell of newly-grown grass on the hills... then the hill. "Gateway to Walhalla", as Grandpa used to call it. They were collecting herbs that day, who knew the enemies were coming? Grandpa hid the three children in snow the snow and ran into the battle. He never came back for them later. Lukas remembered searching in the woods with Matthias and Berwald, walking aimlessly, hoping to find someone they knew.

Lukas had already lost sight of the other two when he finally found the edge of the forest covered in mud and scratches. Then there was that old desperate feeling again...

He suddenly realized that he had stopped talking a long time ago, and Emil had a worried look on his face.

The brothers sat in silence until Matthias finally came back with some grocery and household items.

Lukas fell heavily on his soft and separate bed after this crazy day. He wondered what Emil was feeling at the moment, it was the first time he ever slept alone. He recalled countless occasions like this: getting new changes in life and feeling completely lost tract of his fate. As much as he loves this new place and the opportunities of finally being normal, he could only picture a vague future and had a bad feeling that this whole "found my old friend" thing would turn out to be one of those traps with a lovely look outside. He felted like that little child finding his way in the forest again, and that was not good.

Anyways, at least my new life has begun.