---
The forest was quiet again, but not with peace—no, it was the hush of breath held before a question is answered.
---
**Yuki's Domain – Shortly After the Vision**
Yuki paced along a ridge high above the forest floor, his massive form cloaked in shimmering soul-light. His tail swept across moss and root with slow agitation.
"She saw me," he growled, low and rumbling. "Truly saw me."
Sylvaeria floated nearby, perched lazily on a branch with legs crossed like a lounging cat. "And? You're handsome in a terrifying, winged-apocalypse kind of way."
Yuki snorted. "That's not the point. No human should've pierced my projection, let alone walked within it."
"She didn't walk," Sylvaeria corrected with a smirk. "She *stumbled* in, like someone opening the wrong bathroom door during a royal ball."
He blinked slowly at her.
"What? I lived through weird spirit festivals, okay?"
Yuki sighed and turned his gaze skyward. The canopy thinned here, revealing stars still faint in the morning mist.
"She's becoming part of the forest… and the forest is letting her." He narrowed his eyes. "But why?"
Sylvaeria tilted her head. "Maybe she's a vessel. Or maybe the forest just finds her charming. Like a stray cat that refuses to leave."
"You are *not* helping."
"I'm not trying to," she said with a bright grin. "But you're thinking about her a lot for a creature who once tried to vaporize a treant for sneezing too loudly."
Yuki's tail twitched.
"She's connected to something older. I can feel it."
Sylvaeria floated closer, now serious. "You should meet her. Properly."
"I will. On my terms. And if she turns out to be a threat—"
"You'll growl dramatically and make the trees cry?"
He gave her a look that could melt iron. Sylvaeria, unbothered, tossed a leaf at him.
"Relax. She didn't faint from your presence. That's already a better reaction than *most*."
Yuki turned away, his voice softer than before. "She didn't fear me. Not even in the vision."
A pause.
"…That's what unsettled me."
---
**Human Encampment – Later That Evening**
Elira leaned back against a mossy boulder, sipping from a tin cup while Kael checked his gear. Her expression was distant, eyes reflecting flickering firelight.
"You're doing that thing again," Kael muttered, tossing a dried fruit into his mouth.
"What thing?"
"The 'I saw something beyond mortal comprehension and now I'm questioning everything' thing."
Elira smirked. "It's a good thing. Means I'm learning."
Brann wandered back into camp, dragging a bundle of dry wood. "Please tell me none of it spoke to you."
"It only screamed once," Kael said casually. "We calmed it down with a firm talking-to."
Brann rolled his eyes. "Great. You're both insane."
"I'm not insane," Elira replied cheerfully. "Just possibly spirit-bonded to a sentient forest."
Brann stared blankly.
"…Still not better."
As laughter cracked the tension, Elira gazed into the flames and whispered beneath her breath, "I *did* see him. Not just the forest. Something powerful… ancient."
Kael leaned closer. "You think he saw you too?"
She nodded. "And I think next time… he won't just watch."
---
**Closing Scene – Edge of the Glade**
High above, unseen by the campfire's glow, a silent wind stirred.
Leaves turned against the breeze, whispering in a tongue older than memory.
Yuki stood on a cliff's edge, wings folded, his gaze cast toward the distant flicker of firelight.
He didn't speak. He didn't move.
But deep in his chest, something stirred—a question wrapped in a name.
*Elira.*
---