The serpent woman moved first.
No warning.
No hesitation.
Her beautiful face remained perfectly calm as her body blurred between the trees.
The forest seemed to bend around her.
One moment she stood several meters away.
The next—
She was in front of Traveler.
Her hand reached for his throat.
She expected the same reaction she had seen from countless men.
Fear.
Hesitation.
Loss of judgment.
Instead—
Traveler's hand closed around her throat.
Hard.
Her eyes widened.
Before she could react, Traveler twisted his body and drove her into the ground.
BOOM.
The earth cracked beneath her.
Leaves and dirt jumped into the air.
Her beautiful expression vanished.
Traveler stood over her, one hand locked around her throat.
His blue eyes slowly changed.
Blue disappeared.
A faint purple glow emerged.
Then stronger.
Brighter.
Something ancient looked through them.
The serpent woman's body suddenly went still.
She could feel it.
Not merely strength.
Not magic.
Something fundamentally wrong.
Something that did not belong to this world.
Traveler's fingers tightened slightly.
But the voice that came from his mouth was no longer entirely his.
Cold.
Deep.
Absolute.
"Touch him again..."
The serpent woman's eyes widened.
The purple light in his eyes intensified.
"...and your existence won't matter."
Silence.
Even the forest seemed to stop breathing.
The serpent woman stared into those purple eyes.
For the first time since she had appeared before humans—
she felt something close to fear.
Not because the man was strong.
Because whatever was looking through him did not recognize her as something important enough to fear.
Traveler's head tilted slightly.
The voice continued.
"Who are you?"
The serpent woman struggled beneath his grip.
"I am—"
"Your name."
Her eyes narrowed.
She hesitated.
Then finally answered.
"Seris."
The name disappeared into the darkness between the trees.
The purple glow remained.
Arafial studied her through Traveler's eyes.
"Seris."
He repeated the name as though testing whether it meant anything.
It didn't.
His grip loosened slightly.
Not enough to free her.
Enough to let her breathe.
Then came the question she never expected.
"How do I leave this world?"
Seris stared at him.
"...What?"
Arafial's expression remained emotionless.
"This world."
His eyes swept across the forest.
"The village. The Blood Moon. The dead. Your kind."
A pause.
"None of it is mine."
Seris slowly realized something.
He wasn't asking where the nearest road was.
He wasn't asking how to reach another village.
He was asking how to escape the entire world.
She stared at him.
"You don't know where you are?"
Arafial's eyes returned to hers.
"No."
The answer was immediate.
Cold.
Honest.
Seris swallowed.
"Then why would I tell you?"
Arafial's grip tightened again.
The cracks beneath her widened.
His voice dropped.
"Because I asked."
The purple glow burned brighter.
For several seconds, Seris said nothing.
Then her expression changed.
Not fear.
Recognition of a possibility.
"You really don't belong here."
Arafial said nothing.
Seris looked toward the deeper forest.
"There is a place beyond the mountains."
Her voice became quieter.
"Something lives there."
Arafial waited.
"Something older than the Blood Moon."
She looked back at him.
"It may know how this world was sealed."
Arafial's eyes narrowed.
"Where?"
Seris slowly pointed toward the darkness beyond the trees.
"Beyond the dead forest."
A pause.
"Where the moon never disappears."
Arafial released her throat.
Seris immediately moved away, touching the mark his fingers had left.
Arafial stood.
The purple glow remained in his eyes.
For one final moment, he looked at her.
"Lead me there."
Seris stared at him.
Then at the forest behind her.
Something enormous shifted beneath the ground.
Again.
This time—
it was much closer.
Arafial slowly turned his head.
The forest floor cracked.
Something beneath them had heard everything.
And it was beginning to wake.
The purple light in his eyes did not fade.