[color=b8b8c8]Despite its slow descent towards a seeming death, the trees still show a fiery ambition to remain standing. The floor was littered with fallen leaves; a world covered in a crust of brown sugar and cinnamon. It was a beauty to behold, most easily Nathaniel's favorite season out of all. He continued walking towards a wooded forest, his feet acting as if they'd had a mind of their own all this time. Nathaniel was comfortable and relaxed. It had been a long time since he's felt this way. In fact, it's been so long he even forgot how he arrived there in the first place. [i]Wait.....wasn't...I?[/i] CREAK Nathaniel jolted towards the sound he just heard. His eyes widening with fright and slowly focusing on what his mind was alerting him to. Off in the distance came upon that cursed hill. The very one Nathaniel and his brother often frequented as children; Nathaniel took wary steps towards the hill, his fear heightening even more the closer he got. He had this odd feeling he was tapping his foot to the rhythm of his anxious heartbeat, but when he looked down all he saw were his feet stepping towards the hill. Once upon it, slowly, Nathaniel peered over the hill and was met with the last thing he wanted to see--Philip's lifeless beady eyes stared back up at him. Instead of freaking out even more, Nathaniel drew a breath of relief. He mustered up a meek smile, [i]I get it now, this is all a dream.[/i] With the realization that he was most likely sleeping, the previous events of ending up cooped up in a box in an unfamiliar location was coming back to him. [color=b4b148]"Only I would choose to avoid my problems by slee--"[/color] Nathaniel abruptly stops mid-sentence, noticing too late that Philip's lifeless body was no longer limp but lunging towards him at an inhuman speed. He barely has any time to react when Philip grabs a hold of him and digs his nails into him, easily breaking through skin. Nathaniel muffles a scream, and attempts to escape Philip's hold. [i] If this is a dream, then why does the pain feel so real...?[/i] "Sorry, kid, King's orders. It's time to wake up... unless you want to sleep forever right away." Realization hit him hard and Nathaniel's eyes flew open, adjusting to the dimly lit room he found himself in. In just a few seconds his body bolted back, jumping out of the box--coffin, he quickly notices--and crouches into an animalistic defensive position. Body hunched, protecting where he felt the most pain radiating from, Nathaniel narrows his eyes directed towards a freakishly tall blond. He didn't dare look away from the man, even though he felt the presence of even more people in the room, due to fear of being struck again. He still wasn't at a safe distance, just the coffin separating the two, but did not want to risk any more movements. The first question that came to the surface was why. Why did this man hurt him? How did he manage to hurt him? He saw no immediate weapon in sight, but Nathaniel was clearly feeling a burning sensation from his hand. Instead of demanding answers, Nathaniel stuck to keeping his mouth shut. He needed to think of a way of the situation he found himself in and hopefully all in one piece. [i] This is what happens when you decide to take a nap instead of escape,[/i] Nathaniel chided himself mentally. His breathing was jagged and the loud pounding of his heart wasn't letting him speak properly. [color=b4b148]"I don't have any money,"[/color] Nathaniel blurted out with some pause. [color=b4b148]"but you can tell me what you want, instead of hurting me again."[/color] Nathaniel inadvertently breaks eye contact to look down at the damage he had received. It was bleeding slightly and didn't seem deep enough to be worrisome. [color=b4b148]"I won't resist."[/color] Seeing as how there were no immediate movements during Nathaniel's cold wash with reality, he eased up enough to take in his surroundings. Including him, there were seven people in total. A number that came immediately to his mind due to the number he had seen carved on his hand; that wound, which was also rather fresh, was in worse shape the the cut he received from the blond man. And as if his situation wasn't dire enough, his surroundings made it even worse. There were coffins littered about--exactly seven--and crude decorations on the wall, if they can even be considered that. His eyes made a full scan of the room, from quickly skimming the words on the wall to taking in the other people that were also in the room. He noticed some windows but his hope of escaping was immediately squashed the second he noticed they were boarded. He looks back to the blond, expecting some sort of answer or explanation to his situation. His crooked posture offered him some illusion of protection, the closer to the ground he was the more comfortable he felt. A drip or two of his blood fell upon the floor, and the tension was so strung-high that Nathaniel could've sworn he heard them as they made contact with the ground. [/color]