History repeats itself

Part 2: Ray

Forest, December 10th, 2062, 3:30am

I'm hiding in a hollow tree that I found, it started raining. It's quite dark inside so I grab my lantern and light it up.

« What the... »

I wasn't expecting to see anything other than just emptiness there. It's like someone made an entire base inside of the tree.

It's impressive. Is it like the treehouse that I found? Was it some of Aphona's children's bases? Or is it one of Lottie's family's? No, that can't be it, Lottie told us they had their little spot of paradise and that they never left it.

So who used to live here? Was it demons just like the hideout? Or other escapees?

It's been a couple of months since I was last at the bunker. I left to go back to the hideout to check on Rose and also because I promised Anya I would come back.

And yes, I warned everyone that I was leaving and told them where I was going.

I make my way around the base.

Everything looks handmade and is made out of wood. I enter what looks like a bedroom.

There's a painting of a child on top of the drawer. Whatever was written has been erased a little but I can still read the name.

« Riley... She looked young. »

I continued exploring and I found more portraits in other rooms. I guess they're memorials. One wasn't finished, I guess something happened to the one who was painting these.

I found the memorial of a woman in what looked like a dining hall. She had blond hair tied in a bun and purple eyes. She had the Mom's uniform. It was under a bigger painting of the woman surrounded by children. The name written on the portrait was more erased than the others but I managed to read "Cassie".

The big painting was of the woman and she's above all the kids, almost like she's depicted as an angel or savior, while the children are below her like her champions or warriors. She also has an owl on her shoulder.

I let out a sigh before settling myself in a corner. I'll stay here for the night.

Once I've eaten, I settle to go to sleep. For some reason I'm not really tired so I grab Ayden's diary. I know I've read it, but maybe I missed something important.

And just like I thought, near the end, there's an entry that I missed.

"Winter killed her- Winter killed her-

There was no demon- Petra died from a sickness. Because of winter-

She got sick and it killed her-

Not that- not that demon-

That demon wasn't there- nothing lured her away from the house- nothing was waiting for her far from the house- nothing sang to lure her away from us without anyone noticing-

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

Aelia and I weren't too busy to notice she had-

That demon didn't- not in front of-

She- she's still sleeping in her room. Yeah!

She- she's still...

God... I miss her so much-"

What... their daughter was killed by a demon? Then why did he say she had died from a sickness because of the winter?