Night sank slowly into the trees, swallowing the last blue of the sky.
Inside Pine's cabin, the world felt small, warm, and safe.
Volow sat at the wooden table sharpening Pine's old kitchen knife—
a habit more than a task.
"It's already sharp," Pine muttered without looking up, his hand moving across his notebook.
Scribbling. Always scribbling.
"I know," Volow said.
He didn't know.
He just needed to move his hands so his mind wouldn't.
Suki slept near the fire in a small cloth nest, curled like a tiny ember.
His breathing had finally steadied.
Color had returned to his fur.
For a moment—
just a moment—
it felt like the world had paused.
Then the wind died.
Not faded.
Died.
The flames stilled mid-flicker.
The crackling wood went silent.
Even the insects outside stopped.
A wrong kind of quiet.
Volow's head snapped up.
"Pine…?"
Pine's pen froze.
Every wrinkle on his old face tightened, folding into a single expression Volow had never seen:
Fear.
Pine whispered a single word.
Not a name.
Not a phrase.
A warning.
"Inside."
Volow blinked. "We are inside."
"No." Pine rose slowly, leaning on his carved cane.
"Inside me. Stay behind me."
Volow didn't understand.
Then the forest exhaled.
A deep, heavy rumble rolled through the ground.
Trees cracked—sharp, violent snaps—one after another.
Like bones breaking under an invisible giant's stride.
Suki jolted awake, fur stiff, eyes wide.
Volow rushed to the window.
What he saw froze his blood.
Trees weren't falling randomly.
They were falling in a straight line, toppling perfectly as though something enormous was walking through the forest—
—something pushing everything aside in its path.
The rumble grew louder.
Closer.
Pine stood still, his breath slow and controlled.
"Pine!" Volow's voice cracked. "What is that?!"
"Not what," Pine whispered.
"Who."
The last tree snapped.
A cloud of dust broke open—
—and a man stepped through.
Tall. Broad.
Eyes hollow like carved stone.
Shoulders too heavy for a human frame.
He didn't walk.
He glided—each step sinking the earth beneath him.
His voice scraped the air.
"Found you."
Volow stumbled back. "You… know me?"
The man smiled.
A slow, awful stretch of lips.
"I've known you since the day you were born."
A pressure tightened around the cabin.
The air thickened—crushing, suffocating.
The windows shattered inward, exploding into glittering shards.
Glass slashed Volow's sleeves and stung his arms.
Pine didn't flinch.
Didn't lift a hand.
But his eyes sharpened.
The man raised a hand toward the house.
The wooden walls groaned—twisting—warping—
Then he lifted the entire cabin with a single arm.
Volow watched, frozen, as the house rose into the air—
as light as a toy—
and was hurled aside.
It crashed against boulders and splintered into debris.
The man rolled his shoulders.
"No more hiding."
Then—
He appeared in front of Volow.
Faster than thought.
A cold hand wrapped around Volow's throat.
Lifted him off the ground.
Held him like nothing.
"Let… go—!" Volow choked, kicking, clawing.
Nothing.
No movement.
No mercy.
His vision blurred.
Light dimmed.
"You are important, Volow Arikson," the man hissed.
"And I will end you before your destiny begins."
Volow's lungs screamed.
Darkness crept in—
And…
A voice,
"Put him down."
Pine didn't shout.
He simply spoke.
But the forest paused.
The man turned, still holding Volow by the throat.
"And who are you supposed to be?" he sneered.
"The boy's babysitter?"
Pine tapped his cane to the ground.
A soft tap.
But the sound echoed like thunder rolling underground.
The air changed.
Not like magic.
Not like power.
Something older.
Heavier.
The man's smile vanished.
"Oh…"
He dropped Volow instantly.
Volow crumpled to the earth, coughing, clutching at his bruised throat.
Suki hissed behind him, fur electric with rage.
The man stepped back.
Fear flickered across his stone eyes.
"You're still alive… old monster."
Pine barely lifted his cane.
Just a few inches.
The ground rippled.
Volow felt it in his bones—
a pressure that crushed everything around him except Pine.
The man tensed.
"Don't try—"
Pine moved.
He didn't vanish.
He didn't teleport.
He simply moved too fast for the world to register.
A blast of wind cracked through the clearing.
Pine appeared behind the man, cane resting gently on the villain's shoulder.
"You should not have come here," Pine said softly.
The man twisted—his body snapping sideways like cloth in a storm.
He flew across the clearing, smashing into a massive tree.
The trunk exploded into splinters.
Volow's jaw hung open.
Pine walked toward the fallen man.
Calm.
Controlled.
Deadly.
The man struggled upright, one arm limp, breath wheezing.
"You shouldn't exist," he spat.
"You're supposed to be dead."
Pine shrugged.
"People say many things."
The man gathered energy in his palm—
the ground beneath him cracking—
—but Pine flicked his cane.
A wave of force struck the earth.
The man collapsed to his knees, choking.
Pine stood over him.
"Tell your master," he said, his voice low and unshakable,
"that the boy is under my protection.
Not now.
Not ever."
Blood dripped from the man's mouth.
"You think you can protect him forever?"
Pine leaned slightly forward.
"Forever? I don't need forever.
Just until the day he stops running from himself…
and becomes the thing your world fears."
The man smirked weakly.
"You're too late… The tunnels are awake.
The underworld knows he lives—"
Pine tapped his forehead.
Silence.
The man slumped backward, unconscious.
Pine exhaled—
just once—
and only then did Volow realize Pine had actually exerted effort.
The clearing was quiet again.
Shattered.
Broken.
Different.
Volow struggled to his feet.
"Pine… who was that?
What tunnels?
Why did he say—"
Pine turned to him.
Not angry.
Just tired.
"We'll talk tomorrow."
"But—"
"Volow."
Pine's voice stopped him cold.
"Tonight, you rest.
Because tomorrow, everything changes."
Volow swallowed.
"Is it the truth?" he whispered.
Pine nodded once.
And Volow felt the world he knew collapse inside him.
"Tomorrow," Pine said quietly, looking at the ruins of his cabin,
"Tomorrow, you face the truth buried under our feet—
the truth that swallowed Cardbill."