Lyren stopped walking.
He didn't know why at first.
There was no sound.
No movement.
No obvious danger.
Yet the feeling wouldn't leave him.
Something was… wrong.
The forest around them felt tighter, as if the space between the trees had narrowed. The air pressed gently against his skin—not hostile, but aware.
Lyren frowned.
*This place feels different.*
He had walked through dangerous forests before. Even places other adventurers avoided. Fear usually announced itself clearly—heavy mana, killing intent, the presence of monsters.
This was none of that.
It felt like standing in a room after someone had stopped speaking.
He took another step.
The sensation deepened.
Lyren paused, instincts tugging at him—not urging him to run, but to pay attention.
"…Are you there?" he asked quietly.
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Nothing answered.
Yet the silence thickened, as if the forest had acknowledged the question.
Lyren exhaled slowly and placed a hand against a nearby tree.
The bark was warm.
That made no sense.
Trees didn't hold warmth—not like this.
A faint ripple passed through the air.
Lyren pulled his hand back, staring at his palm. No glow. No surge. Nothing that looked like magic.
"I didn't do anything," he muttered.
Then he realized something.
The sensation wasn't centered on him.
Footsteps approached—careful, familiar.
Aerin.
Lyren turned as Aerin emerged between the trees, sword half-drawn, expression tense.
"You felt it too?" Aerin asked immediately.
Lyren nodded. "The forest."
Aerin swallowed. "Monsters backed away from me. Not one attacked."
Lyren's brows knit together.
"That's… not normal."
Monsters didn't retreat unless injured, threatened, or dominated.
Aerin hadn't done any of that.
Had he?
Lyren closed his eyes—not to gather mana, but to observe.
The answer came immediately.
The air shifted subtly.
Not around Lyren.
Around **Aerin**.
Leaves trembled without wind. The ground hummed faintly, like a distant echo responding to a presence it recognized.
Lyren opened his eyes.
Aerin was staring at him.
"What?" Aerin asked.
Lyren didn't answer right away.
"…Your presence," he said slowly. "The forest feels heavier when you're near."
Aerin frowned. "I'm not using magic."
"I know," Lyren replied. "That's what worries me."
Aerin looked down at his hands.
They were steady. Normal.
"I didn't feel anything," Aerin said quietly.
Lyren felt a chill crawl up his spine.
*That's worse.*
Deep beneath them, beyond roots and stone, something ancient shifted its attention fully now.
Not aggressively.
Not defensively.
With curiosity.
*It listens without being called,*
*and the world answers.*
Lyren swallowed hard.
He didn't know why.
But for the first time, he was certain of one thing.
Whatever the forest was responding to—
It wasn't him.