The morning light crept into Lucy's room long before her eyes opened, but the dream had already shaken her awake from the inside. It wasn't merely a dream — it felt like a message. A warning. A summons. She sat up slowly, breath uneven, the images still vivid: the forest burning at the edges, her grandmother's silhouette fading like mist, and a voice whispering her name from deep within a shadowed grove.
Lucy didn't allow herself the luxury of doubt. Not this time.
She threw off her blanket and moved with a determined urgency she had never felt before. Merlin, still half-asleep on the rug, raised his head at the sound of her hurried footsteps. He sensed it instantly — the shift in her. Her resolve.
"Lucy?" he muttered, pushing himself up on his elbows. "Where are you going this early?"
"I have to go," she said while pulling her boots on. "To Evergreen."
The words jolted him fully awake. "What? No. Lucy, wait." He scrambled to his feet. "You can't just run into the forest after a bad dream."
"It wasn't just a dream," she said, her voice steady but full of that weight that made Merlin's protest freeze. "It was a sign. Something's wrong. With Grandma… and with the forest."
Merlin stepped forward, searching her face, hoping for even a flicker of hesitation. But her eyes were blazing with the same fire she inherited from her father — stubborn, brave, and far too willing to walk into danger if it meant saving someone she loved.
"You can be angry at me later," she said softly. "But I'm going."
He sighed deeply, defeated not by her words but by the truth of them. He knew Lucy — once her heart aligned with her purpose, there was no power in Weneso that could stop her. Not even him.
"Fine," he said, picking up his jacket with a resigned huff. "But you're not going alone. Someone has to keep you from doing something reckless."
A tiny smile flickered across her face — the kind she gave only when she was grateful beyond words.
Together, they headed to the room where her grandmother lay. The old woman's breathing was light, steady but unnervingly faint. The same strange stillness clung to her, unchanged since last night. Lucy touched her grandmother's hand gently.
"I'll bring answers," she whispered. "I promise."
Merlin placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We'll bring answers."
After packing what little they needed — a map her father had once used, a lantern, some dried rations, and a scarf her mother insisted she always carry — they stepped out of the house and onto the path that led toward Evergreen.
The village was still half-asleep, its rooftops bathed in pale gold. The breeze carried the scent of pine and wildflowers, but beneath it, Lucy sensed something else. A pull. A calling. As if the forest already knew she was coming.
Merlin fell into step beside her. "So… what exactly did you see in this dream?"
Lucy hesitated, the memory too raw, too tangled to explain simply. "I'll tell you on the way," she said quietly. "But whatever it was… it wasn't normal. And if Evergreen is in danger, we have to reach it before it's too late."
And so the two of them, bound by fear, duty, and the love they held for the woman resting behind them, started their journey toward Evergreen Forest — unaware that every step forward was bringing them closer to the truth that waited, dark and ancient, beneath its towering trees.