The voice came from the darkness between the trees—smooth, amused, utterly without fear.
"Well, well. If it isn't the Monster Queen herself."
Lily's head turned slowly. Behind her, Tusk's flame-mane flared brighter, a low growl building in his massive chest. B-04 shifted behind them, those golden-red eyes tracking the shadows.
A man stepped into the light.
He was bald—completely, unnaturally smooth, as if even hair had been deemed unnecessary. Tubes ran across his skull in intricate patterns, pulsing with faint blue light, disappearing into the collar of his dark coat. His eyes were pale, almost colorless, and they held the particular emptiness of someone who had seen too much and cared too little.
Lily didn't flinch. Didn't step back. Just looked at him with those empty, scarred eyes.
"Bring Wolfen Welfric back."
The man's lips curved. Not a smile—something older, something that had forgotten how to smile genuinely.
"And what do I get in return?"
"Your life." Lily's voice was ice. "You'll keep it."
"Hmm." The man tapped his chin, the tubes on his head pulsing faster for a moment. "And what if I were to say that I sent him somewhere no one could survive? Somewhere even he couldn't walk away from?"
Behind Lily, Tusk's growl deepened. The ground trembled slightly as B-04 shifted her weight.
Lily's expression didn't change. "Bring him back. He won't die. He has a reason to live."
The man's pale eyes flickered—something almost like interest. "What if I say I won't? The Architects offered me more than you ever could. Power. Resources. A place in the new world."
He felt it then.
Breath on his neck.
Something massive, something ancient, something hungry standing just behind him in the darkness. He didn't turn. Didn't dare.
His hand rose slowly, almost casually. The tubes on his head flared bright, and a portal opened in the air beside him—a swirling vortex of yellow light that hummed with impossible energy.
They waited.
Seconds passed. Minutes. The portal churned.
Then a figure emerged.
He was barely recognizable as human. Long hair, matted and wild, hung past his shoulders. From head to toe, he was covered in black blood—thick, viscous, alien. It dripped from his chin, his fingers, the tattered remains of his clothes. His golden eyes, visible even through the grime, blazed with something that might have been fury, or exhaustion, or simply the will to keep breathing.
Wolfen Welfric.
He didn't move. Didn't speak. Just stood there, radiating violence like heat from a dying star.
Lily looked at him for a long moment. Then she turned away.
"Go back to Eva and the rest."
She climbed onto Tusk's back, settling into place behind his flame-mane. The massive creature turned, carrying her toward the forest, toward the darkness, toward wherever the Monster Queen went when her work was done.
Behind her, Wolfen's head turned slowly. His golden eyes found the spot where the bald man had stood.
It was empty.
The man was gone—vanished into whatever hole he'd crawled from, leaving only the fading echo of his laugh and the lingering smell of ozone.
Wolfen stood alone on the beach, covered in the blood of gods knew what, staring at nothing.
Then he began to walk.
Not toward the others. Not toward anything. Just... forward. Into the world. Into whatever came next.
The ocean churned behind him. The forest waited ahead. And somewhere in the distance, a queen of monsters rode her tiger into the dark, leaving questions unanswered and debts unpaid.
Maya, Derek, and Leo were not there.
They had never been there.
Only Wolfen. Only the blood. Only the long, empty road ahead.