The forest pressed in on all sides, its canopy twisting the sunlight into fractured beams. Sora froze beneath the shadows, every inch of his gelatinous body quivering.
Footsteps.
Slow. Careful. Deliberate.
Not the wild crashing of beasts through undergrowth, but the measured tread of someone who belonged here. Someone who chose each step.
The Hero.
Panic spiked through Sora's core, a stuttering glow that betrayed him. He tried to shrink against the roots of an ancient tree, his form flattening, disguising itself as little more than a damp smear of moss. But even as he hid, something inside him burned—resentment, fear, and a flicker of something he hated more than both.
Hope.
The Hero's silhouette emerged between the trees. Blade at their side. Eyes sharp, searching.
They stopped.
The silence between them stretched, heavy enough to crush. The Hero's gaze swept the clearing, then settled where Sora trembled. Not with cruelty. Not with pity. But with recognition.
"You're still alive."
The words were spoken flatly, but they struck deeper than any blade. Alive. A monster was not meant to be alive—it was meant to be slain. Yet here he was, lingering because of their choice.
Sora's form rippled, a low vibration coursing through his body, halfway between defiance and fear. He didn't know which part would win.
The Hero tilted their head slightly, almost as if amused by the display. "You should have fled farther."
The blade slid free of its sheath with a soft whisper of steel.
Sora's core flared, panic drowning thought. He shifted, dragging himself backward, roots clawing against his body as if the forest itself wanted to hold him there.
The Hero raised the sword—steady, merciless, inevitable.
And then… paused.
Their eyes narrowed, not at the slime, but past him. Into the shadows.
Branches snapped. A low growl rolled through the clearing. Yellow eyes glinted in the dark, one pair, then two, then many.
The beasts had come to feast on the weak.
The Hero stepped forward, placing themself between Sora and the treeline, sword lifting once more—not against him, but against what lurked beyond.
"Stay down," the Hero said.
The pack leapt.