Lucy could not breathe.
The room had not become smaller — yet it crushed her lungs all the same.
The fire inside the hearth flickered softly, as though nothing in the world had changed. Tea steamed quietly in two porcelain cups that no one touched. Outside, the Evergreen Forest whispered through the walls, its unseen presence pressing closer with every heartbeat.
Lucy stared at Chief Omar.
Her brain refused to accept the words he had spoken.
"The werewolf who tried to kill you…
…is the same one who gave you to your father."
Her fingers trembled against her thighs.
Her vision fractured.
Sound blurred.
Her heartbeat roared too loudly inside her skull.
"Repeat that," she whispered.
Her voice did not belong to her anymore. It was thin. Cracked. Foreign.
Omar remained still. Sitting across from her like a statue shaped from regret.
Merlin's eyes darted between them.
"What do you mean gave her?" Merlin demanded. "Who gives a child to someone like a… package?"
The village chief inhaled deeply.
Long.
Slow.
Like a man preparing to reopen an old grave.
"I do not know the full truth," Omar said. "But I know this much: You were not born into your father's arms… You were placed there."
Lucy stood up so suddenly the chair scraped loudly against the stone floor.
"Placed?" she repeated.
Her mouth turned dry.
She pressed her palms against her own chest, as if something inside her was going to rise and tear itself out.
"But… he was my father. He raised me. He loved me. He protected me—"
Omar met her eyes.
And Lucy wished he hadn't.
Because what she saw there was not doubt.
Not confusion.
But sorrow.
The kind reserved for the dead.
"I am not questioning his love," Omar said.
"I am questioning your origin."
Lucy shook her head violently.
"No. You're wrong," she whispered. "You're trying to scare me away. Everyone here keeps telling me to leave. To forget. To run."
Her voice cracked.
"Well I won't."
Omar closed his eyes.
Merlin stepped closer to Lucy.
"Lucy—" he began.
She flinched away from him.
"No!" she cried. "You don't get to comfort me right now. Not when none of this makes sense."
Tears burned behind her eyes.
"My father died in that forest. Torn apart. And now you're telling me the thing that killed him—"
She swallowed.
"—is also somehow the reason I exist?"
Silence swallowed the room.
The air felt wrong.
Heavy.
Charged.
Omar finally spoke again.
"Volmer did not harm the forest," he said quietly.
"He never used fire.
Never hunted humans for pleasure.
Never destroyed for pride."
Lucy whispered, "Then who did?"
Omar opened his eyes slowly.
His gaze darkened.
Gravely.
"Arcis."
The name echoed like a bad omen.
"Lord of Fire," he continued. "Lord of Wrath. Lord of Dominion."
Lucy's stomach twisted.
"My father always said… the burn marks on the trees… the melted bones…" Her voice faltered.
"Not wolves," Omar nodded. "Fire."
Her hands clenched into fists.
"Then Volmer tried to kill me because—"
"Because you are not human alone," Omar said softly.
Lucy froze.
The words were slow.
Careful.
Each one landed like a stone dropped into still water.
"You are bound to the Moonblood," he continued. "The Forest's breath runs through your veins."
Merlin whispered, "That's impossible…"
Omar shook his head.
"No. It is inevitable."
Lucy whispered hoarsely.
"Then why did Volmer look at me like a… monster?"
Omar's lips trembled.
"Because to him… you are a broken promise."
Lucy's head spun.
A thousand questions clawed at her mind.
The man in the moonlight.
The face she never saw.
The warmth she felt before the terror.
The strange pull she could never explain.
"Then tell me this," Lucy demanded.
"If Volmer did not burn the forest…
If he did not kill my father…"
Her voice broke.
"Why did he try to kill me?"
Omar did not answer immediately.
He rose from his seat.
Moved to the old window.
Looked into the forest beyond.
And murmured…
"Because every war begins with the child no one understands."
Lucy felt something crack open inside her.
Not her heart.
Not her mind.
But something older.
Something deeper.
Merlin reached for her arm — she did not feel it.
She only heard Omar's voice again.
Low.
Uneasy.
"Your father told me… if you ever came here, if you ever asked… I was to tell you to leave immediately."
Lucy looked up sharply.
"What?"
Omar spoke with visible pain.
"He said: 'If Lucy reaches Evergreen Forest, then the end has already begun.'"
Merlin muttered under his breath.
"This is madness."
Omar turned.
His eyes were no longer human.
They reflected something dark.
Something far away.
Something already unfolding.
"No," he said.
"This is destiny."
That night, after Lucy and Merlin left his home…
After he arranged for them to stay in the empty house once used by her father…
After he bowed to Lucy in silence…
Omar sat alone.
No lamp.
No fire.
Only the forest beyond the window.
And the cold truth settling into his bones.
He pressed a trembling hand against his chest.
And whispered a forbidden prayer.
The room darkened.
Not truly.
Not visibly.
But something moved in the air.
And then—
He saw.
The forest burning from root to sky.
Wolves howling in agony beneath crimson moons.
A lion of flame devouring the mountains.
An eagle screaming from the clouds with two faces.
A serpent splitting rivers with five mouths.
A beast of earth turning villages to dust.
And between them —
A girl.
Not Lucy.
Not entirely.
Her eyes glowing silver.
Blood on her hands.
The moon behind her breaking.
She stood between divine sins and ancient gods.
Alone.
Not screaming.
Not crying.
Just watching the world end.
Omar gasped.
Fell to his knees.
Cold poured through his veins.
"Volmer…" he whispered.
"…If you still protect the forest…"
"Then please…"
His voice cracked.
"Don't let her become their battlefield."
He did not sleep.
He did not move.
He simply watched the dawn light creep over the forest as if it were the last sunrise the world would ever see.