Rain still fell softly, tapping leaves, steeping the air in the scent of wet earth.
Ryan pushed himself upright, wiped water from his face, trying to recall what had happened.
His eyes were pale with fatigue but bright with a curious, guarded focus on the girl before him.
"You... were the one who saved me?"
Eileen steadied her voice despite the tremor:
"You were lying in the open—barely breathing. I couldn't leave you."
He studied her a long moment, then asked, careful:
"Why help someone you don't know?"
"Because that's what I do. I treat whoever needs it—whether they know me or not."
A faint curve touched his mouth—not relief, but appraisal.
"Healing magic... so you're a mage."
She drew back, nervous:
"Yes, but it's simple magic... I'm not strong like you."
"Like me?" He spoke slowly, nearly amused. "You're stronger than you think. You don't fear reaching out to a stranger."
He looked at his trembling hands, then at the inert wand.
It lay quiet, dead wood again. He murmured low, for her alone:
"Even great power is worthless if no one rouses it when it falls asleep..."
Eileen sat near him, then asked shyly:
"What's your name?"
"..."
He hesitated, then said:
"Ray. My name is Ray."
(He didn't give the real one; for him, trust remained a sin.)
She smiled:
"Thank you for being alive, Ray. I thought you were dead."
He gave a thin, painful laugh.
"Sometimes I wish I were."
Silence stretched—just rain and wind.
Eileen glanced into the trees.
"I've lived here since I was small... I don't know where I came from or where I belong.
I want to find my true kingdom—my family. Maybe they're still waiting."
Ryan lifted his gaze, reading the quiet in her features.
"You're searching for your family... and I'm searching for myself."
"What do you mean?"
"You won't like the answer... Let's say I'm trying to find a meaning for the force inside me—before it kills me."
She stepped closer, eyes soft with a hesitant warmth.
"Maybe... start by trusting someone. Sometimes that's what saves us."
He turned his face away. He didn't answer—
but for the first time in a long while, something different moved in her tone,
a strange sincerity unlike anything in the kingdoms he knew.
He rose slowly, leaning on the wand.
"I have to leave."
"Where?"
"Anywhere I don't know yet."
He weighed her with a new seriousness.
"Listen. I don't trust anyone. But you'll be safer with me than alone. This forest spares no wanderer."
Her breath quickened; hope trembled in her voice.
"Does that mean... I can come with you?"
"For a short while. Only that."
She smiled despite the chill of his words.
"Short... is enough."
They started through the rain together, steps threading the mud.
In the shadows behind, the shadow watched, soundless,
and murmured through the fog:
"Good... two lost souls on one path. Let's see which one breaks first."
Ryan walked slowly, bracing on his wand, now faintly aglow again.
Eileen followed in quiet, studying the ground, matching his pace despite the weariness.
Without turning, he said:
"The forest is vast—but it doesn't forgive aimless feet."
She answered softly:
"At least... I'm not alone anymore."
He paused, sent her a shadowed look, then moved on.
Companionship was foreign; every step beside her reminded him of what the old kingdom had taken.
Birds trailed them at a distance, watching or warding—who could tell.
Eileen glanced up with a small smile.
"Those birds never leave you... do you understand them?"
"They don't need words. We trade feeling. The forest speaks to those who listen."
She blinked, a little wonderstruck.
"Then it speaks to you... I only hear silence."
"Silence speaks too. Not everyone knows its language."
Footsteps and drip-notes filled the hush.
Eileen's eyes kept flitting between the path and his face: a mystery, yes—but something like pain inside it.
After a moment:
"Ray... what are you really looking for?"
He didn't answer at once. He walked, then said, firm and low:
"Power. Nothing else."
"Why?"
He stopped, lifted his eyes to the fog-packed sky.
"Power buys freedom. Without it, you're just a follower in a world that doesn't see you."
"Freedom doesn't come by control—it comes by understanding."
A flick of sardonic light touched his mouth.
"Spoken by those who've never lost it."
She fell quiet, unsure how to answer—
but she understood: he didn't see the world as she did.
He wasn't seeking peace; he wanted a grip on chaos itself.
After a short way, Ryan sat on a fallen trunk, drawing breath.
"This forest isn't ordinary... old currents move in it, hidden. I feel them watching."
Eileen scanned the gloom, afraid.
"Were they the ones that whispered to me?"
He nodded slowly.
"Maybe. Something here... not man, not creature as we know them.
A thing of shadows—but aware. It tests whoever crosses its bounds."
She shivered.
"Is it dangerous?"
"Everything that hides inside silence is dangerous."
He stood again, eyes forward.
"From now on, don't stray. The forest eats the lost."
Fear and a quiet safety braided in her chest.
"All right... I'll stay close."
They walked on through rain and fog, their sounds thinning among the trees.
Far off, deep within, something watched—
red eyes burning in the dark,
a faint voice riding the wind:
"Just one more step... and I'll know what you really are."