Cernunnos spoke with a strange, luminous enthusiasm. The way she spoke of both of them was almost reverential, as if they were something unique, great, and wonderful—something she had kept hidden for a long time.
But Xol was furious.
Cernunnos didn't answer his questions. She only spoke of things that seemed to make no sense, ignoring him with a calmness that consumed him from within. That was when he began to approach her—slowly at first, and then not so much.
"I ordered you to give me an explanation, you piece of—"
He couldn't finish.
In a blink, Cernunnos was already in front of him. Without haste. Without fear. She extended her hand and lightly touched his chest—just a faint brush—and something in that contact shattered him from within. Xol was forced out of his body. The physical form he had manifested dissolved like vapor in the cold air, and what remained was what he had always been: his dog form.
Cernunnos watched him in silence for a moment.
"I see. So that's what you truly are."
(She said it softly, almost tenderly.)
Morgan remained frozen, in shock.
He began to stammer, his voice broken, touching his face and body desperately, as if trying to confirm that he was still real, that he was still himself. His hands trembled.
Cernunnos took a step toward him, but Morgan ran before she could get close—looking everywhere, frantic, searching for something. Until his gaze stopped at the river.
He ran toward it.
His desperation was so great that his body began to give out as he approached, his legs failing under the weight of something invisible. When he reached the edge, he crawled the last stretch. Carefully, he brought his face close to the water.
And he saw his reflection.
His eyes widened. His voice broke completely.
Because what he saw was not his axolotl form. It was not Morgan the axolotl.
It was Morgan the human.
It was his appearance before dying, before reincarnating—the one he thought he had left behind forever. And yet there it was, staring back at him from the water with the same expression of disbelief he wore on his face.
With trembling hands, he touched his own face. Gently. As if the slightest movement might shatter the illusion.
Then he felt a presence behind him.
Cernunnos had crouched behind him, and with an almost impossible delicacy, placed her hand on him.
"So this is the real you?"
(She asked in a low voice, with a tone that neither judged nor interrogated. It simply accompanied him.)
Morgan didn't respond. He kept staring at the water in silence.
"You know… this place exists between here and there. A space where we, the totems, dwell. Those of the physical world cannot see it—its form is incomprehensible to them, and that's why we've chosen to call it the formless place. But you… you and him…"
Cernunnos glanced toward Xol for a moment. The dog was still cursing her in furious barks from where he stood.
"…have given it form. Those who arrive here usually do so in their own way, shaping it so they can understand it. But of all the forms it has taken…"
(She paused briefly, and something in her voice shifted, as if touched by memory.)
"…this is, without a doubt, the one I like the most. It feels so familiar. If we can even call it that."
Suddenly, Cernunnos stood up.
She turned her head slightly, as if hearing something no one else could. Then she looked back at Morgan and extended her hand, speaking with the same gentleness as before.
"Come. It seems time is up. Someone is looking for you."
Morgan stood up abruptly. He tried to speak, to ask her something, but she interrupted him before he could.
"I know you have questions. They will be answered in due time. For now, return to those who are searching for you. And when you need it… you may come back here. I will be waiting."
She extended one hand and pulled Xol toward her, who was dragged with sudden force.
"Wait, I—"
Cernunnos didn't let him finish.
She lifted her mask just enough to reveal her mouth. She was smiling faintly. She said something to Xol that Morgan couldn't hear.
And then Xol's body slammed into him.
Everything turned white.
—
Morgan's body appeared in a green meadow, outside the forest, lying on the grass as if he had simply been sleeping. The sun was beginning to rise.
"I found him! I found him!"
It was Galahad. He ran over, out of breath, and knelt beside him to check if he was okay.
—
From deep within the forest, where the dawn light had not yet reached, Cernunnos watched the scene in silence. Sitting on a branch, motionless, her eyes fixed on Morgan.
One of the owls accompanying her hooted.
She responded as if it had said something.
"Yes. I know."
(A pause.)
"But he is… he is more than what any of us represents. He is all of us."
At that moment, Cernunnos did not see Morgan in an ordinary way. She saw him in a way difficult to put into words—his being seemed to extend outward, connected to the forest, to the earth, to the sky, to everything at once. Everything flowed through him in perfect harmony, without effort, without fracture.
"I think the most accurate way to describe him would be…"
She paused. The owl looked at her.
"…the son of nature."
—
End of chapter.
Next chapter: union