The air between them crackled with silence.
Karli didn't lower her hand.
And he didn't move.
The forest, so alive just moments before, seemed to hold its breath — as if the trees themselves were watching the two figures locked in an invisible standoff.
His eyes — silver, unblinking — fixed on her with unnatural calm.
He wasn't threatening. Not exactly.
But he wasn't human either, so she was cautious.
She could feel it. Not in his appearance, but in the pressure of his presence. It was like standing too close to a thunderstorm — every hair on her body rose in instinctive warning.
Her mind raced.
Is he a demon? A noble's guard? A spirit?
She said nothing.
Neither did he.
She didn't blink. Neither did he.
Then, slowly, he stepped forward.
One foot.
Two.
Deliberate. Controlled.
Karli stiffened, her power ready to burst from her fingertips like it had moments ago. But he didn't attack. He merely tilted his head again, like a hawk studying an unfamiliar prey — or an artifact long lost.
"Don't come any closer," she warned, her voice low but steady.
"You're afraid," he said, his voice like wind through ancient trees.
Karli's eyes narrowed. "I'm cautious. There's a difference."
A beat.
He stopped. Honoring her boundary — for now.
"You killed that beast," he said quietly, nodding toward the ashes. "Alone."
Her jaw tensed. "I didn't have much of a choice."
Another pause.
She could feel it in his stillness — he was measuring her. Not her strength. Her truth.
Karli swallowed hard. This wasn't someone she could lie to easily — not with that kind of gaze. He saw through things.
Still, she couldn't let him in. Not yet.
Not when her life — her very identity — hung on remaining hidden.
Not when she hadn't figured out what he was.
She tried to shift the balance back into her hands. "You're the one watching strangers in the woods like a creep. What are you?"
Hid expression didn't change, but the air around him did — just slightly.
A shimmer in the light. A shift in the energy.
Enough to confirm her suspicion.
Not human.
Then, finally, he answered.
"I am... something this world has forgotten."
Not a lie.
But not the whole truth either.
---
Karli lowered her hand slightly — just enough to show she wasn't going to strike first. Her body still buzzed with tension, but something in her gut tells her:
If he meant to hurt me, I would have already been dead.
"…And you were watching me because?"
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then, quietly, simply:
"Because you're not supposed to exist."
That sent a chill down her spine.
She masked it with a crooked smile. "Well. That makes two of us."
Karli kept her distance, sitting by the dying fire, glancing occasionally at the tall figure leaning silently against a tree. Kaelir hadn't moved since he'd sat down—his arms crossed, eyes half-lidded, but sharp.
She turned a stick slowly in the embers. Her voice was low when she spoke.
Karli: "You're not human, are you?"
His eyes opened just slightly more. Still, he didn't answer right away.
Him: "...Not entirely."
Karli: (dryly) "Great. That's reassuring."
Him: "And you're not entirely honest."
Karli stiffened. Her fingers gripped the stick a little tighter. The forest around them was too quiet.
Karli: "Excuse me?"
Him: "That spell you cast. No human child could manage that, let alone in a panic."
Karli: (coldly) "You were watching me."
He gave a faint smirk. It didn't reach his eyes.
Him: "You were interesting." Also it's not you,"Kaelir is my name"
Karli: "That's not an answer."
Kaelir: "Neither was yours."
The fire crackled between them. Karli tossed the stick aside and stood, brushing off her hands. She didn't like how his gaze pinned her, like he already knew the parts of her she hadn't shown yet.
Karli: "So what, are you going to report me to the kingdom? Turn me in for illegal magic?"
Kaelir: "Turn you to kingdom is a bother ."
And "if I want you death you would have been."
She blinked, surprised at the bluntness. His tone wasn't cruel—it was matter-of-fact.
Karli: (quietly) "Then why are you still here?"
A pause. Kaelir's gaze lifted to the trees.
Kaelir: "...Because I don't understand you."
Karli: "You're not the only one."
She folded her arms and sighed. Despite everything, her curiosity was growing. He didn't radiate hostility , just a strange stillness — like a creature that didn't quite belong here, watching the world from just outside it.
Karli: "You're not from around here, are you?"
Kaelir shook his head slowly.
Kaelir: "No. I've walked these lands for centuries, but I've never called any of them home."
Karli: "Elf?"
Kaelir: "No."
The words hung heavy, unexplained.
She guessed again.
Karli: "then a spirit, mystical creature, or something"
Kaelir: Dargon
Karli: "...I see." in shock and doubt voice
He turned his head then, meeting her eyes fully. For a brief moment, something flickered behind them — regret, old pain, maybe loneliness.
Kaelir: "You carry something strange inside you. A weight that doesn't belong to this world."
Karli's heart skipped. Her fists clenched.
Karli: "...You have no idea what you're talking about."
Kaelir: (softly) "Don't I?"
Another long silence.
Then Karli sat back down beside the fire, more tired than she realized. The flames danced across her face.
Karli: "...If you're going to kill me, do it in my sleep. I'm too tired to run."
Kaelir chuckled under his breath. A rare, brief sound.
Kaelir: "I don't kill things I'm curious about."
Karli: "Comforting."
They sat together in the dark, neither trusting the other fully, but no longer completely alone.
---