The horned girl tilted her head slightly, eyes lighting up with sudden interest.
"Oooh…"
A slow smile spread across her face.
"You don't know what Nhal'kor and a Graveclaw Stalker are, do you?"
Leah's expression tightened.
Confusion.
Fear.
Something deeper; like she felt the names, even if she didn't understand them.
"…I.....no…"
Her voice was faint.
Unsteady.
The horned girl's smile widened just a little more, clearly entertained.
She turned her head slightly and lifted her hand, making a small, lazy gesture toward the masked warrior.
"You explain."
A pause.
Then, more casually;
"I think she deserves the scary version."
The masked warrior didn't react immediately.
He stood still for a moment;
Then stepped forward.
Slow.
Measured.
Leah tensed instantly as he approached, her body pressing tighter against the tree, her eyes locked onto him.
He stopped a few steps away.
Not too close.
Not threatening.
But firm.
"You were attacked," he began, his voice calm, steady, cutting cleanly through the tension, "by a Graveclaw Stalker."
Leah's breath hitched.
Images flashed in her mind;
Claws.
Blood.
Henry;
Her fingers trembled.
"That creature," he continued, "is not random. It hunts with purpose. It does not chase blindly… it waits until escape feels possible."
Leah's eyes widened slightly.
The portal.
Henry running;
Her chest tightened.
"It breaks the body," he said.
A pause.
"And prepares the mind."
Leah's breathing grew uneven again.
"…prepares… for what…?"
The masked warrior's gaze didn't shift.
"For Nhal'kor."
The name landed heavier this time.
Like it meant something;
Even if she couldn't fully grasp it.
"Nhal'kor is not a creature you can fight," he continued. "It does not exist the way that did."
His eyes lowered slightly;
Not to her body;
But to her.
"To your mind."
Leah froze.
Her fingers curled tighter.
"You've already seen it."
Her breath stopped.
The voices.
The blood.
Their faces;
Accusing;
"You were not imagining those things," he said quietly.
"That was Nhal'kor."
Leah shook her head slightly.
"No…"
Barely a whisper.
"It feeds on fear," he continued, unwavering. "On guilt. On what breaks you from the inside."
Her vision blurred slightly.
"I didn't..."
"It doesn't care what's real."
That stopped her.
"It only cares what you believe."
Silence fell.
Heavy.
Leah's breathing trembled as she looked down for a moment, her hands shaking faintly in her lap.
"One more thing...." Horned girl interupted.
" Nhal'kor and a Graveclaw Stalker are,"
The horned girl's voice cut in sharply, playful yet deliberate.
"Bound together… like me and him."
The masked warrior's gaze flicked to her; sharp, annoyed, unamused.
Leah blinked rapidly, confusion twisting her stomach. She barely understood the words, but she felt them; threads of dread tightening around her chest.
The warrior ignored the interruption.
His voice remained steady.
Deliberate.
"The Graveclaw Stalker devours souls in your realm… and through that, it opens a portal to the Netherroot Abyss. Nhal'kor… feeds on them there."
A pause.
Heavy.
"If a soul dies in the Netherroot Abyss," he continued quietly, "then in the real world… the person is gone."
Leah's breath hitched.
Her stomach dropped.
The images came;
Uncontrolled.
Henry's body;
Torn;
Eyes wide.
Mauris....
Still.
Her fingers curled tightly into fists.
"My… friends…!" she cried, her voice breaking, her body trembling as her knees weakened beneath her.
The masked warrior spoke again.
Calm.
Unforgiving.
"This young boy… and that warrior…"
A slight pause.
"…are gone."
Silence.
Leah froze.
Completely.
Her breath stopped.
Her body didn't move.
Didn't react.
As if her mind refused to accept what it had just heard.
The world around her dulled;
Muted;
Distant.
"…what about Thalia…?"
The words came out suddenly.
Sharp.
Desperate.
Her voice cracked as it rose;
"…what about Thaliaaaa?!"
Her eyes snapped up toward them, wide, shaking, filled with something breaking apart inside her.
The horned girl answered this time.
More direct.
Less playful.
"Her soul is not here…"
A small pause.
"But she is alive."
Then, quieter;
"For now."
Leah's chest tightened violently.
The words didn't comfort.
They hurt.
Because they weren't safe.
They weren't certain.
They were a countdown.
Her vision blurred;
And the images came again.
Thalia; Bleeding; Struggling to stand;
Still fighting.
Still moving.
As Leah;
Was being pulled away.
Dragged into the light.
"GO!"
That last push.
That last moment.
Leah's fingers trembled violently as the memory locked into place.
Her breathing became uneven again, her chest rising sharply as if she had been struck.
"…no…"
A whisper.
Broken.
Her head lowered slightly, strands of hair falling across her face as her shoulders trembled.
"…she was still fighting…"
Her voice shook.
"She was still there…"
Her hands tightened against her knees, nails pressing into her skin as if trying to ground herself.
"…I left her…"
The realization hit deeper than anything else.
Not just fear.
Not just loss.
Guilt.
Heavy.
Crushing.
Her breath hitched again.
Then broke.
"I left her there…!"
The words came out louder this time, raw, filled with panic and disbelief as she looked up again, eyes glassed with tears.
The horned girl watched her closely.
Silently.
No teasing this time.
No interruption.
Just observing.
The masked warrior remained still.
Unmoving.
Letting the truth settle.
Letting it hurt.
Because it had to.
Leah's chest rose and fell rapidly, her entire body trembling now, caught between grief and something rising beneath it;
Something sharper.
Something more dangerous.
"…we have to go back…"
Her voice was quieter now.
But not weak.
Not anymore.
"…we have to go back," she repeated, looking at them; really looking this time.
Fear was still there.
But now; So was resolve.