It was not a sudden change.
The air simply began to feel heavier.
With every step Thunder took, the forest seemed to react. Roots pushed up beneath the damp earth, and the leaves trembled even though there was no wind.
Electrical sparks ran across the beast's silver fur. Thunder snorted in discomfort, his muscles tightening beneath Lusian's hand.
The creature wanted to run.
Or attack.
Lusian kept his hand firm against his neck.
"We're going in," he murmured.
The forest responded.
Thousands of leaves whispered at the same time. Like voices too distant to understand.
Emily stopped for a moment. The light naturally radiating from her body flickered out and reignited with difficulty, as though the forest's mana were trying to devour it and claim its purity. Elizabeth, meanwhile, took a deep breath; her demonic mana ignited instinctively, like a dark flame defending her from the absorption. The human was slower to react.
"This place… it feels like it's watching us," Elizabeth said quietly.
"Even if it's dangerous, they won't attack us. Besides, Thunder has good instincts," Lusian replied without turning around.
Thunder slowed down on his own.
Even the beast looked uncomfortable.
As they moved deeper inside, the trees began to grow to absurd sizes. The trunks were so massive that ten men together would not have been able to wrap around them, and their crowns vanished into greenish mist and suspended roots that crossed the sky like living veins.
Emily slowly raised her gaze.
"This doesn't look like a forest…"
Some trunks had crystalline bark that reflected green glimmers beneath the darkness. Others bled luminous sap that slowly dripped down the wood, thick and shining, as though the trees themselves were bleeding light.
Above them, enormous aerial roots stretched from one tree to another. They pulsed softly with the rhythm of mana.
As if the entire forest were breathing together.
Elizabeth felt a chill run down her spine.
Because it did not feel as though they were walking through the forest.
It felt as though something gigantic had allowed them to enter inside itself.
Thunder let out a low, tense neigh.
Ahead of them, a field of bioluminescent ferns opened like an electric-green valley. There, a herd of Lumina Bisons grazed upon energized grass. Their bodies radiated bluish light, and every exhale made the air vibrate.
Suddenly, the wind changed again.
Silence.
The bisons lifted their heads.
Too late.
A shadow slipped between the trees. Then another. And another...
Eight crystalline felines descended in perfect coordination from above, falling like fragments of a shattered moon. They hunted with surgical precision. No roars. Only impact. One of the bisons tried to flee, but living roots coiled around its legs, offering it to the natural cycle.
"…They look too similar," Emily murmured, remaining frozen as she watched the felines bring down the bison. "The creatures that attacked my city hunted the same way."
Lusian remained silent.
For a brief instant, the memory of Sofía appeared in his mind… and beside her, Lariet.
His fingers brushed against the necklace resting on his chest, the last gift he had received from her.
He let out a faint sigh before looking away.
There were wounds that time never truly healed.
Elizabeth shuddered. For an instant, something inside her responded to those words... something that was not human.
"…Maybe we should go back," Elizabeth murmured, not daring to raise her eyes.
Lusian did not answer.
Thunder advanced slowly while the roots moved aside in his path, opening an impossible road through the vegetation.
As though the forest itself had decided to let them enter.
Only for now.
---
Dayana di Angelo Roseti remained hidden among the twisted roots of the forest, inside an improvised shelter covered with stone and damp wood. In front of her lay the corpse of the creature she had just hunted. The blood, still warm, slowly ran down her throat, but it no longer brought her satisfaction. It barely soothed the emptiness enough to keep her moving.
Since the death of her father, Count Dimitri, at the hands of the demon Bragoz, the world had lost all color for her. Rage became the only constant, and hatred toward demons eventually replaced every other reason she had to remain alive. Avenging him was the only thing still holding her will together.
But animal blood was no longer enough.
Every time she hunted, she felt the same thing: weakness. Stagnation. As though her body rejected what she consumed. If she ever wanted to face Bragoz, she needed to become stronger, and vampires could not evolve by feeding on beasts.
They needed human blood.
Pure blood.
As that thought crossed her mind, a sudden scent swept through the forest.
Dayana froze.
Her body reacted before her mind. Her senses sharpened instantly, and an unfamiliar pressure spread through her chest.
It was human blood.
But not normal.
It was too dense. Too pure. The mana contained within that scent was so intense that even her vampiric instincts reacted violently.
For a moment, it became difficult to breathe.
"What... is that...?" she murmured quietly.
She closed her eyes and expanded her perception through the forest.
He was not alone.
Two women accompanied him. One carried distorted mana, dark and unstable, as though something inside her had been broken. The other radiated a warm yet dangerous light, a presence so pure that even the forest itself seemed to react to it.
But Dayana barely paid attention to them.
All of her focus returned to the same point.
To that impossible scent.
Then she understood.
That was not ordinary blood.
It was a living treasure.
Her eyes slowly opened as hunger began to dominate every thought.
If she absorbed even a fraction of that power... she could get much closer to Bragoz.
And perhaps, for the first time since her father's death, she would have a real chance to avenge him.
Without wasting another second, Dayana rose to her feet and walked toward the cave's exit.
Behind her, the creature's corpse began to move.
Its legs twitched unnaturally as the body slowly rose again, despite its torn neck and completely empty eyes. There was no life left inside it. Only obedience.
Dayana did not even bother turning around to look at it.
"You will serve me," she said calmly.
The creature answered with a broken growl and began following her through the shadows.
Then, for the first time in a very long while, Dayana smiled.
And disappeared among the trees.
---
Night slowly descended over the forest, covering everything beneath a heavy silence. Lusian decided to stop and set up an improvised shelter between the giant roots rising from the ground like natural walls. Emily and Elizabeth activated several protective barriers around the camp while Thunder moved a few meters away and remained motionless beneath the moonlight, alert to any movement among the trees.
Lusian glanced sideways at the two women. They were arguing quietly about who would sleep inside the tent with him. They tried to maintain calm and composure, but the tension between them was far too obvious. He simply sighed and looked away. He was too tired to involve himself in that fight.
Then he felt the change.
Darkness began to spread naturally between the trees, slow and silent, as though the entire forest were sinking into the same shadow. For anyone else, the sensation would have been unsettling. For Lusian, however, it felt strangely familiar.
Since Umber's death, something inside him had changed.
He no longer used darkness merely as a magical element. Now he could feel it reacting to his presence. His vision during the night had become far sharper, his reflexes faster, and his body seemed to contain a different kind of strength, more savage and heavier than before.
Umber had left him more than his core before dying.
That dark wolf had remained beside him since childhood. He had been the silent guardian who always stayed at his side and the final bond he still had with Sofía. And in his final moments, before disappearing, he gave Lusian a part of himself.
His power.
His instinct.
His affinity with darkness.
Now, as he observed the ancient forest before him, Lusian could perceive movement between the shadows with almost animal clarity. The wind, distant sounds, and the flow of mana seemed to reach him naturally, as though darkness itself were warning him that something was approaching.
And deep within that sensation, he could still feel Umber accompanying him.
A figure emerged from the darkness of the forest.
She walked barefoot across the damp roots with a lightness that did not seem human. The moonlight barely touched her pale skin, so white that it did not reflect the night; it seemed to absorb it, as though she belonged to it. Her red eyes glowed softly among the shadows, steady and attentive.
Beautiful.
Dangerous.
A vampire.
Lusian watched her in silence.
She had not perceived his presence. Perhaps during the day she might have had some chance of detecting him, but at night darkness was not a neutral mantle: it answered to him first.
Then something stirred within his memory.
It did not belong to this world.
But to the game.
An incomplete memory crossed his mind as he tried to organize scattered fragments of information.
Dayana di Angelo Roseti.
The servant of the demon Bragoz.
He did not remember many details about her. Barely secondary appearances among too many events and possible routes. Back then, she had seemed like a minor piece inside a story far too large.
But here, minor pieces did not exist.
Here, everyone bled.
Before that thought could fully settle, Lusian vanished into the shadows.
Dayana barely had time to blink.
There was no sound of footsteps.
No warning of mana.
Only the cold steel resting precisely against her neck.
Her eyes opened immediately.
The blade vibrated faintly against her skin while she stared at him, as though trying to understand a situation that did not fit with her experience.
"What are you doing here?" he asked calmly, without moving the sword away.
Dayana took a second to answer. Her gaze did not hold fear, but an almost uncomfortable curiosity.
"How… did you get behind me?" she finally murmured.
Lusian shifted the sword slightly, just enough to let her breathe without pressure.
"I asked first."
The vampire smiled slowly.
She did not seem frightened.
She seemed intrigued.
"I'm trying to answer that," she said quietly, "but it becomes difficult to think when I have something like that so close."
Her gaze drifted downward slightly, tracing the line of Lusian's neck before returning to his eyes.
Then she inhaled.
And in that instant, something changed.
Hunger appeared without warning.
"That's impossible…" she whispered.
Lusian did not react.
Dayana took a step toward him.
Then another.
As though her body had decided to move before her mind could stop it.
Her lips hovered close to the shadow surrounding Lusian, and for a brief moment she closed her eyes, inhaling slowly.
"If you let me taste just one drop..." she murmured, her voice breaking beneath the hunger. "Just one... I'll give you whatever you want."
The forest fell silent.
Lusian watched her without moving.
—"Whatever I want?" —he repeated calmly.
Dayana nodded slowly. She leaned slightly forward, ignoring the blade still brushing her neck.
—"Whatever you desire," she whispered—. "Your servant. Your shadow. Whatever… just let me feel something real again."
A tired sigh escaped Lusian.
Not out of doubt.
Out of annoyance.
—You have a rather questionable idea of what negotiation means.
Dayana let out a small laugh.
She was beautiful.
But there was something broken behind her.
—I'm hungry —she admitted while staring at him intensely—. And you have blood that shines like a star in the middle of this darkness. Don't expect me to think clearly.
Lusian was about to respond when the darkness around him stirred slightly.
A savage instinct ran through his mind.
Umber's voice.
Careful… she is more hungry than sane.
Lusian tilted his head slightly.
—Where is Bragoz?
The question immediately changed the atmosphere.
Dayana blinked, confused.
—What?
The sword pressed slightly against her skin.
—Bragoz —Lusian repeated—. Where is he?
For the first time, hunger disappeared from the vampire's eyes.
And it was replaced by hatred.
A real one.
—That monster killed my father —she said quietly, with a rage that seemed to rise from her chest—. He destroyed everything I had.
Lusian slightly frowned.
Dayana looked away for a moment before continuing.
—I've been hiding in this forest ever since. The blood of the creatures that live here barely keeps me alive… but it's not enough. It's never enough.
Her fingers slowly clenched.
—I need to become stronger.
Lusian watched her in silence.
In the game he barely remembered her name. A minor appearance among too many forgotten events.
But here she was not a side character.
She was real.
Dayana smiled again, although this time exhaustion was more evident than provocation.
—If you let me taste your blood… I could be useful to you.
Lusian held her gaze for a few seconds.
Then he replied with absolute calm.
—No.
And just at that moment, Elizabeth's voice broke the silence of the forest.
—Lusian?
Dayana slightly turned her head toward the tent as a new presence began to approach.
Dayana's eyes locked onto Elizabeth as soon as she appeared outside the tent.
Her expression changed instantly.
Fascination disappeared.
And it was replaced by alarm.
—How…? —she murmured, stepping back slightly while observing the dark mana that surrounded the princess—. Why are you next to a demon?
Her pupils narrowed like a beast's.
The air around Elizabeth was soaked with demonic energy. It was not an illusion. It was not a superficial curse.
It was something much deeper.
Dayana turned her gaze back to Lusian.
—Are you the servant of a demon? —she asked in disbelief—. Why would someone like you be protecting something like that?
Lusian didn't even hesitate.
—She is my woman.
The answer fell with cold, absolute firmness.
Dayana watched him in silence.
Then she sniffed the air slowly again, as if trying to confirm something.
And her expression tightened even more.
—No… that doesn't make sense —she murmured—. Your blood does not belong to an ordinary human.
Lusian exhaled with visible exhaustion.
—My affinity is epsilon.
The vampire slowly shook her head.
—Don't lie. I can perceive the magical affinity of humans by the scent of their blood. And you… you are not a normal epsilon.
Lusian held her gaze for a few seconds before responding.
—Perfect. Then start by stopping sniffing me like I'm food.
For a moment, Dayana remained silent.
Then she let out a small laugh.
This time it sounded sincere.
—Come with me —she said while staring at him intensely—. I am a better option than a demon. I am still pure… and I could give myself to you without reservation.
Her voice lowered slightly.
—Just give me a little of your blood.
At that moment, Elizabeth finished approaching.
—Lusian… what is happening?
Her voice came out soft, although the tension in the air made the dark mana react around her body. A faint reddish light passed through her eyes before disappearing.
Then she saw Dayana.
And Lusian's sword near her neck.
Elizabeth stopped immediately.
—"Who is she…?" —she asked while instinctively summoning a defensive barrier of mana.
Dayana's reaction was immediate.
She stepped back like a threatened beast, slightly baring her fangs.
—Don't come near me, demon.
The atmosphere grew heavier.
Lusian lowered the sword slightly, but his voice came out much colder than before.
—She is not a demon.
Dayana blinked, confused.
—Then that mana…
Elizabeth took a deep breath, trying to stabilize the darkness inside her body.
Lusian answered for her.
—They were going to use her as a vessel for a demonic summoning. The ritual was interrupted before it was completed, but part of the power became trapped inside her.
The silence that followed was different.
More human.
Dayana looked at Elizabeth again, but this time there was no rejection in her eyes.
Only understanding.
—So… do you live feeling that inside you all the time? —she asked in a low voice.
Elizabeth held her gaze without looking away.
Her expression remained firm, although exhaustion still hid behind her eyes.
—I don't live for that —she replied—. I control it.
The answer hung suspended in the middle of the forest.
Then Emily came out of the tent while adjusting her cloak over her shoulders.
—What is…?
She stopped immediately upon seeing the scene.
Emily came out of the tent while adjusting her cloak over her shoulders, but stopped the moment she saw the scene in front of her.
Lusian held his sword unsheathed.
In front of him stood a pale-skinned girl with red eyes, motionless beneath the blade. Elizabeth remained to the side, surrounded by small currents of dark mana escaping her body due to tension.
And over all of it floated the metallic scent of blood mixed with the deep humidity of the forest.
Dayana slowly turned her head toward Emily.
Her burgundy eyes fixed on the faint light surrounding the priestess, and a small smile appeared on her lips.
—Now I understand.
Emily frowned.
—What do you understand?
—The reason you came here —Dayana replied in a low voice—. No one crosses the heart of this forest carrying a light like yours unless they are trying to save something that is being consumed from within.
Her gaze shifted toward Elizabeth.
The princess was still breathing with difficulty while demonic mana fluctuated around her body like a dark flame that refused to extinguish.
Dayana narrowed her eyes slightly.
—You're looking for the Mother Tree.
Emily exchanged a brief glance with Lusian. He did not respond, but he did not deny it either.
—If there is a way to purify that mana —Emily said firmly—, we will find it.
Dayana nodded slowly.
—Then I understand why she is still alive.
Silence spread between the giant trees. Even the forest seemed to be listening.
The vampire stepped back, moving slightly away from the edge of the sword.
—I've been surviving here for a year. I know this forest better than any creature still breathing in it. I know which paths disappear at night, where the elves hunt, and which zones devour the mana of those who pass through.
Her eyes slowly scanned the surrounding darkness.
—If you want to reach the Mother Tree, you need someone who knows this place.
Emily did not lower her guard.
—And why would you help humans you just met?
Dayana let out a soft, tired laugh.
—Because she carries something she never chose —she replied while looking at Elizabeth—. Just like me.
Elizabeth slowly lifted her gaze.
For the first time since she appeared, Dayana was not looking at her as a threat.
She was looking at her as someone who understood.
—If the Mother Tree can truly purify demonic mana… then maybe there is still something capable of saving incomplete monsters like us.
Emily stayed silent.
Even Lusian remained motionless for a few seconds.
Then he spoke:
—And what do you want in return?
Dayana's red eyes immediately turned back to him.
The hunger was still there.
More controlled.
More dangerous.
—Your blood.
The atmosphere tightened instantly.
Thunder snorted in discomfort as small electrical discharges ran through his fur.
Dayana did not look away from Lusian.
—Just once —she whispered—. Enough to keep me strong until I reach the core of the forest.
Emily stepped forward.
—And we're supposed to simply trust you?
Dayana took a deep breath before answering.
—I've seen everyone who tried to cross this place without understanding it die. I saw trees move during the night, roots crushing entire creatures, and beasts disappear without leaving bones behind.
Her voice lost strength for a moment.
—This forest doesn't kill quickly. It wears you down until there's nothing left in you worth losing.
Lusian held her gaze in silence.
Then he murmured:
—No human has entered here and lived to tell the tale.
A tired smile appeared on Dayana's face.
—Exactly. That's why I stopped considering myself human a long time ago.
The wind slowly passed through the roots suspended above them.
Emily kept watching her cautiously.
—You still haven't answered what you gain from helping us.
Dayana stayed silent for a few seconds.
When she spoke again, her voice was much lower.
—I'm tired of running.
The forest fell silent.
—A full year hiding from creatures worse than me. A year surviving on blood that barely keeps this body standing. A year listening to this place devour everything that fails to adapt.
Her fingers trembled slightly.
—You are looking for the Mother Tree… and I want to stop living like prey.
The sentence hung between them.
Emily watched her in silence.
Lusian could feel something different in her for the first time.
It wasn't just hunger.
It was desperation.
Then Dayana looked at him again.
And the change was immediate.
Her breathing shifted slightly. Her fangs slowly brushed her lower lip while her eyes stayed fixed on him.
It didn't look like desire.
It looked like reverence.
Emily noticed it immediately.
—Your price is still his blood —she said with suspicion.
Dayana nodded without hiding it.
—Yes.
Lusian remained motionless for a few seconds longer before slowly lowering his sword.
—One drop —he finally said—. Nothing more.
Dayana tilted her head.
For the first time since she appeared, hunger no longer fully dominated her expression.
—That will be enough.
Elizabeth reacted immediately.
—No. I'm not letting that vampire touch you.
Lusian slightly turned toward her.
—It's just one drop.
His voice lowered a bit more.
—For you, I would give all my blood if necessary.
Elizabeth fell silent.
Dayana watched the scene without intervening. But the way she stared at Lusian's hand made it clear she was barely holding herself back.
Lusian slowly raised his sword.
The blade barely cut across his palm.
A single drop of blood slid down his skin.
Dayana moved before she could think.
She caught it with her lips.
And the world seemed to stop.
Her pupils dilated instantly. Mana exploded inside her body like a wild storm, coursing through every vein with a violence impossible to control.
Dayana bent forward as a broken gasp escaped her throat.
Her hands ended up gripping Lusian's clothes almost by reflex.
Hunger returned with monstrous intensity.
Dayana gritted her teeth.
It made no sense.
A single drop shouldn't cause something like this.
Not even the blood of Alpha nobles had ever produced such a reaction.
Vampires grew through blood. It was a truth as old as their species. The higher the purity of inherited mana, the greater the value of the blood.
But this…
This was beyond any logic.
It was as if the distance between that blood and hers was the same as between a candle and the sun.
As if she had spent her entire life feeding on ashes and had just tasted fire for the first time.
Emily reacted immediately.
"Let go of him!"
Elizabeth felt a chill run down her spine as she saw her clinging to him like that.
"Lusian… this will end badly. That woman will become addicted to your blood."
But Dayana was no longer listening.
Her heart pounded with uncontrollable force.
Her vision warped.
For the first time in years, the emptiness disappeared.
Thunder neighed violently.
The darkness around Lusian responded instantly.
A surge of electricity tore through the air and threw Dayana several meters backward.
The vampire fell to her knees on the damp earth.
Her hands were still trembling.
The entire forest fell silent.
Dayana slowly lowered her gaze to her fingers.
She could still feel it.
The energy was still coursing through her body.
Warm.
Alive.
As if something that had been asleep for years had just opened its eyes.
Lusian watched her coldly.
"Control yourself. It won't happen again."
Dayana lifted her gaze.
There were still traces of hunger in her eyes.
But now there was something else.
Fear.
Fascination.
And a need almost painful in its intensity.
"I understand…" she whispered with difficulty. "I lost control for a moment."
Emily did not lower her guard.
"Why did you react like that?"
Dayana stayed silent for a few seconds.
As if trying to organize what she had just felt.
"Vampires grow through blood."
"We already know that."
Dayana slowly shook her head.
"No. You don't understand."
She looked at the tiny red stain still remaining on her fingers.
"The purity of blood determines how much a vampire can grow. Most of us spend our lives feeding on something that barely keeps us alive."
Her fingers slowly closed.
"A single drop of this did more for me than years of hunting."
Emily frowned.
Dayana let out a short, tired laugh.
"It's like feeding a peasant bread all his life and then giving him the heart of a dragon."
Silence spread again through the trees.
No one responded.
Because Dayana's expression made it clear she was not exaggerating.
And somewhere deep in the forest…
something had just awakened.