**Veyle crouched in front of a cupboard, squinting at the mismatched jars and bundles crammed inside. The wood creaked under his fingers as he pushed aside a paper-wrapped bundle of dried roots and reached toward the back.**
"Hey, do we have any piper eyewhilst?" **he called out casually over his shoulder. Behind him, the soft sound of bubbling broth filled the hut, along with the slow scrape of wood against iron. Seren didn't answer. Instead, she lifted one hand from her stirring and knocked three times against the side of the counter firm. Veyle paused.** "Okay, thanks!" **he said with a quick nod, like they'd done this a hundred times already. He moved to a lower cupboard, opened it with a grunt, and finally spotted a square glass jar with a cloudy tint and a faded label barely hanging on.**
"There you are!!!!" **he muttered triumphantly. He brought it over to the pot and tilted the jar. The crushed peppery herbs fell in with a faint hiss as they met the heat, and the scent rose up immediately.. sharp, earthy and kind of weirdly minty. Seren kept stirring, her sleeves rolled to her elbows, eyes focused on the bubbling mix as if it might try to escape if she looked away. She didn't glance at him, but her pace slowed just slightly. Veyle wasn't sure if that meant "good job" or "don't mess it up," but either way, it felt like progress. The stew let out a thick bubbling sigh, and the gentle scent of herbs and vegetables filled the hut. Seren gave the pot one last stir before stepping aside, nodding once.**
"Alright, smells done.." **Veyle muttered, grabbing a cloth.** "Time to eat!!!" **He carefully lifted the pot from the fire and carried it to the table, setting it down with a soft clunk. he turned back toward the cupboards, speaking casually.** "Bowls, bowls, bowls… where are the bowls.. ah!" **He opened a lower shelf and pulled out two slightly chipped wooden bowls, then grabbed the spoons from the small ccolourfull jar near the window.** "Here we go."
**Seren moved quietly around him, grabbing a threaded cloth to wipe the table down, then returned to the corner and fetched the small container of salt she'd tied shut with twine. Veyle placed the bowls neatly on the table, ladled the stew into each with slow, careful scoops. And then he reached for the piper eyewhilst jar again.** "A little more of this stuff. Honestly smells like ash and firewood but tastes way better."
**He sat across from Seren and offered her bowl with both hands. She gave a small nod and signed a quick thank-you.**
"Man——" **Veyle sighed as he plopped down onto the seat.** "we really got everything, huh? Bowls, spoons, the weird flavor things, hot soup, a table… all that's missing is, I don't know, candles and a haunted violin in the corner."
**Seren raised a slight eyebrow at his comment.** "…Don't ask. It's a thing from my world." **She gave a faint huff through her nose, and tucked her legs up onto her seat, ready to eat.**
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**The bowls were empty, the pot scraped clean, and the room smelled like warm roots and cracked spice. The fire crackled low, casting sleepy shadows along the hut walls. Veyle sat on the floor now, legs sprawled out, back against the table leg, hands behind his head.**
"I didn't think moss stew could be good, but here we are." **he said, staring up at the ceiling as he reached out as if to capture the light.** "Ten out of ten, would devour again."
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**Across from him, Seren sat cross-legged on her floor mat, idly threading dried stems into a little bundle. Her hands moved slow and practiced. Not to mention careful, ut was kinda like everything she did.. Veyle who had noticed glanced over.** "…You always eat that fast? or are you just hiding the rest under the floorboards?"
**She didn't look up. Just signed. A simple sign..**
「I was just hungry, deal with it.」
**He grinned, rubbing his stomach in a pattern** "Me too. Pretty sure I've burned more energy being confused than anything else."
**Silence settled for a moment, not heavy, but rather calm. Outside, the lake lapped gently against the bank. The wind whispered through the gaps in the wooden walls, and somewhere in the distance, a frog croaked once, then stopped like it changed its mind. Making Veyle exhale.** "It's kinda nice, y'know? This place. You. Even if you're spooky quiet." **Seren paused. Her hands stilled for a moment… then resumed weaving. He didn't press it. He just kept staring at the ceiling like it might have some answers for him.**
"…You're the first person that's made me feel like I'm not totally doomed here… also the only person I've seen but still " **The frog croaked again. Louder this time.**
**bump** "Which is a pretty low bar, now that I think about it."
**bump** "I mean, my first few days were basically me wandering around trying not to die. Every time I thought I understood something, somebody would say something weird, or some monster would show up, or I'd realize I had absolutely no idea where I was going."
**bump** "Actually, scratch that. I still have no idea where I'm going."
**bump** "But for some reason.... When I'm here, it feels less important. Not because you've got answers or anything. Pretty sure you don't even tell me half the things you know."
**bump** "Okay, definitely not half."
**bump** "Maybe like... ten percent."
**bump** "Actually, that's probably worse."
**bump** "I keep waiting for you to get annoyed and throw me out, but you never do. You just sit there making baskets or whatever impossible thing you're making and let me keep tal——"
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**The quiet ribbit of a frog echoed through the night. It was a monotonous, peaceful sound that promised the world was rotating exactly as it was meant to.**
"Don't make that face——I know I'm dramatic."
[「again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again」]
# Then, reality was violently torn apart.
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**It wasn't the simple snapping of a twig under a heavy boot. It wasn't the predictable sigh of the wind brushing against the decaying walls... Rather it was——**
# ――CRACK.
**——It was a deep, catastrophic scream of fracturing matter. A snapping groan so fundamentally wrong that it felt as though the world itself had experienced a hiccup, stumbling over its own axis. The absolute absurdity of the sound did not merely violate the silence; it killed the very concept of peace in an instant. Forcing Veyle to be jerked upright, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped beast. Sweat instantly coated his palms as a terror flooded his veins.**
"...Uh, Seren?" **voice trembling and practically begging for the companion beside him to offer some sort of logical lie to overwrite the terrifying truth of what his senses were screaming at him, Veyle spoke. Seren had stopped moving. Wooden spoon still in hand, her head tilted slightly toward the window. Still as a statue. Outside, a second croak echoed... but this time, it was low. So low it shook the shelves. Bowls rattled. And the fire dipped.**
**Veyle whispered—** "—That's… not the frog I heard before, is it?"
**And then the wall exploded. Forcing a section of the hut to be caved inward, blown apart by a wet, slapping limb. Not an arm... nor anything human. A giant, warty, greenish leg, covered in veins and slick with slime, burst through the side like it was made of paper. Webbed toes the size of frying pans dug into the floorboards, crushing the corner where the bowls had been. Veyle shrieked and ducked behind the table.** "IT'S A FROG?! SEREN, IT'S A GIGANTIC FROG?!" **Seren stared, unmoving, then rapidly signed.**
『Hellborn. Amphibian class..』 **The roof creaked. Something enormous heaved outside. A shadow passed over the fire... a vast, bulging eye stared in through the smashed wall. It blinked sideways. Its slimy throat pulsed, and then—**
# RRRRRRUUUUUURRRRPP.
**The belch shattered what was left of the window. The stench hit Veyle like a wall of rot and pondwater. He gagged.**
"OH GODS I CAN TASTE IT—— SEREN WHAT THE HELL IS IT DOING?!"
{Territorial display} **Seren signed, fast, eyes locked on the monstrosity. The frog——**
**——if you could even call it that.. dragged its entire body closer. The ground slid under it like mud, massive limbs thudding and splashing. It didn't hop. It oozed or rather Dragged. Its skin glistened like a wet swamp, its throat bubbling with slime. Veyle reached blindly for her hand.** "We have to go. Like, now. Or we are the soup." **The monster's jaws unhinged with a wet tear, exposing a cavernous throat rimmed by endless, overlapping spirals of needle-sharp teeth..**
"YEP!" **Veyle screamed.** "NOPE! NO THANK YOU!" **He yanked Seren and bolted toward the back of the hut, the fire behind them dying out in the frog's gaping shadow. The creature towered over them, its monstrous form blocking out the dim light from the swirling mist. Veyle glances at Seren, urgency in his eyes.**
"Can we kill it?" **he growls, his voice tight with frustration. Seren's hands move quickly, signing——**
[——What——!!! no—–—!! Are you crazy?!?] **each motion was entirely deliberate, but the desperation in her eyes matched his. Veyle's lips curled into a sneer.**
"Shit… shit… shit... shit...." **He cursed under his breath, as a bead of sweat tricked down his temple. The creature growled, getting closer and closer.** "I'll distract it. You run—!!" **he says, his voice sharp, forcing the command into the air. Seren's hands move again, more frantic this time, signing–—–**
「–—–no.」 **She shaked her head, her expression was entirely pleading. She had made up her mind and she wasn't going to leave him behind. But Veyle's hand shot out, grabbing her arm. His grip was firm, almost too firm, and without hesitation, he shoved her.**
"Run!" **His snarl left no room for negotiation. Seren looked up at him one last time, guilt flashing in her eyes, before she turned and bolted into the mist. Veyle watched her disappear, his chest tight with conflicting emotions, but a deafening roar snapped him back to reality.. He doesn't have time to think. He pivoted toward the beast, adrenaline flooding his veins. He charged forward, fists raised, adrenaline pumping. He didn't have a plan. He doesn't have time to think. The creature snaped its jaws at him, but Veyle ducked and rolls to the side, narrowly avoiding its deadly teeth.**
"Come on!" **Veyle growled, as he threw a wild punch at its face. The beast howled in frustration, its massive body whipped around to crush him. Veyle's breath comes in ragged gasps, his eyes locked on the beast.**
"——I HAVE TO BUY HER TIME! SO AN UGLY MUT LIKE YOU CAN'T GET PAST ME—!!!! YOU CAN COUNT ON ME SEREN!!!"