The forest held its breath.
For a long moment, nothing moved—not the dying leaves, not the broken roots, not the dust drifting through the air. Even the wind stilled, as if refusing to carry the scent of the figure standing just beyond the archway of dead wood.
Zerrei couldn't breathe.
Not because he lacked lungs, but because the pulse inside his Heartglow had frozen—
flattened—
halted—
as though his body recognized its maker before his mind did.
The silhouette in the archway stood perfectly still.
Not hunched.
Not tensed.
Not threatening.
Quiet.
Too quiet.
Lyra stepped one deliberate pace forward, blade lifted, her stance solid as iron. "Stay behind me," she murmured without looking back.
Zerrei couldn't move if he tried.
Vessel Five stood beside him like a living fortress, claws embedding deeply into the dry, lifeless soil of the dead zone. Its blue core hammered with unstable light.
"…Creator… physical form… presence confirmed…"
Arden swallowed hard. "Why does he look… normal? That's somehow WORSE."
Oren whispered, "Because—whatever he looks like—he is still the most dangerous arcane entity alive. Hold your tongue, Arden."
Arden whispered louder, "I'm ABSOLUTELY holding my tongue, but it's trying to escape."
The Creator stepped forward.
One step.
Not fast.
Not aggressive.
Just… present.
Now the details became clear:
A long, dark coat lined with thin arcane embroidery.
Hair tied loosely behind his head.
A face that was too calm to be human.
Eyes like cold blue glass—no glow, no fury, but still somehow brighter than any mana Zerrei had seen.
He looked like a scholar, not a monster.
A scientist rather than a destroyer.
And that made him infinitely more terrifying.
Zerrei trembled violently. "He… he…"
Lyra tightened her stance. "Don't look at him."
But Zerrei's gaze was drawn like gravity.
The Creator's eyes fell immediately upon him.
He didn't look at Lyra.
He didn't acknowledge Arden.
He didn't care about Oren.
His gaze skipped over Vessel Five like someone glancing at an abandoned tool.
He saw only Zerrei.
"Ah," the Creator said softly.
His voice was human. That alone made Zerrei's chest collapse.
"There you are."
Lyra stepped directly between them, blade raised. "You take one more step—"
The Creator lifted a single finger.
The air around Lyra thickened.
Not enough to harm her.
Not enough to restrain her.
Just enough to let her know—
He could do both at any time.
"I am not speaking to you," he said calmly, as though correcting a student.
Zerrei felt Lyra shake—just barely. She tightened her jaw.
"You speak to no one here," she said. "Especially not to Zerrei."
The Creator tilted his head.
"Zerrei," he repeated.
Zerrei flinched, jerking backward as though struck.
Lyra reached behind her and grabbed his hand.
"Zerrei. Look at me."
He tried.
He couldn't.
His eyes were locked on the man who had shaped him.
The Creator took another slow step forward.
Zerrei heard Oren scribbling something nervous under his breath.
Arden inhaled a shaky breath and prepared for violence he knew he could not survive.
Vessel Five growled—loud, sharp, unfamiliar.
"…Creator… halt…"
The Creator finally shifted his gaze.
He looked at Vessel Five for the first time.
Then exhaled quietly, as if disappointed.
"So this is all you became."
Vessel Five's body jerked violently, blue sparks shooting from its core.
Arden yelped, "STOP PROVOKING THE KILLER ROBOT!"
But Vessel Five didn't attack.
It trembled—like a child resisting punishment.
"…reject… command chain… reject… designation…"
The Creator lifted a brow. "Your speech routines have stabilized. Curious."
Oren's breath hitched. "He's observing. He's analyzing. We need to reposition—"
"You will not touch him," Lyra said sharply, blade raised higher.
The Creator looked at her without emotion.
"No," he said. "I will not touch you."
He took another step.
Lyra stepped forward too, blocking him again.
He stopped.
Slowly, he lowered his hand.
Then—
He bowed his head.
Slightly.
A gesture Zerrei did not understand.
A gesture Lyra did not trust.
A gesture Arden did not believe.
A gesture Oren feared.
"I am not here for battle," the Creator said softly. "Not yet."
Lyra's grip tightened on her sword. "Why are you here?"
He lifted his gaze.
"To retrieve what is mine."
Zerrei's heart dropped.
"No," Lyra said immediately. "He is not property."
"He was," the Creator said. "He still contains my work. My energy. My design. He is incomplete without me."
Zerrei's breathing hitched. "I… am complete."
The Creator's expression shifted—just barely. A flicker of interest.
"You speak like one who believes he understands completion. You do not."
Zerrei stepped back. Lyra matched the movement to keep him shielded.
The Creator continued walking—not directly toward them now, but slowly circling, like a professor lecturing rather than a predator hunting.
"The forest attempted to stabilize you," he said. "How primitive. How misguided."
He tapped the dead bark of a nearby tree with two fingers. Mana crawled along the wood like frost.
"The Heartwood does not understand what you are."
"It understands better than you," Zerrei whispered, surprising himself.
The Creator stopped.
"Is that so?"
Lyra winced—she knew that tone.
It was curiosity.
The most dangerous thing he possessed.
Zerrei's chest flared with golden light. "It accepted me."
The Creator smiled.
Not wide.
Not cruel.
But indulgent.
"Of course it did. It seeks anomalies. You are a perfect anomaly."
The golden-thread mark across Zerrei's chest pulsed painfully.
Arden shouted from behind Lyra, "HEY! STOP TALKING LIKE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING!"
"I do know everything," the Creator replied without looking at him.
Arden sputtered. "OH YOU SMUG—"
Oren grabbed him. "Do NOT finish that sentence."
The Creator resumed walking, circling slowly.
His coat brushed silently over dead leaves, leaving faint mana sparks in its wake.
"You were my second attempt," he said as if reciting history. "The first was flawed. Too brittle. Too obedient. Too easy to break."
Vessel Five growled—its chest surged with blue light.
"…Creator… cease… talking…"
"And you," the Creator said, glancing at Vessel Five, "were my fifth. My strongest. My most durable. And yet you disappoint me as well."
Vessel Five shook violently, almost lunging—
Zerrei screamed, "STOP!"
Vessel Five froze mid-motion.
Not from obedience.
From Zerrei's voice.
"…Zerrei… input… stabilizing…"
Lyra seized Zerrei's shoulders. "Don't let him drive you into a reaction."
Zerrei nodded, body trembling.
The Creator looked intrigued.
"You calm him," he said. "Interesting."
Lyra glared. "You don't touch him. You don't speak to him. You don't breathe in his direction."
"I breathe where I wish," the Creator said pleasantly.
Zerrei finally found his voice again—thin, trembling, but real.
"Why… why did you come yourself?"
The Creator turned to him, expression softening almost imperceptibly.
"Because you called me," he said.
Zerrei recoiled as though struck. "I did NOT!"
"When you broke Vessel Four, your resonance changed."
He stepped forward again.
"When you resisted Vessel Five, your signature flared."
Another step.
"When you killed my tether at the rift, your identity burned bright enough to reach me from across the continent."
"I did not call you," Zerrei whispered.
The Creator's voice lowered, almost gentle.
"You did. Every mistake you made was a beacon."
Zerrei shook.
Lyra snarled, "His mistakes do NOT belong to you."
"They do," the Creator said calmly. "He is made of them."
"NO."
Zerrei's voice erupted from deep inside him.
Golden light burst across his chest.
His Arcane Loop flared with brilliant intensity.
"I am NOT yours."
The Creator stopped walking.
His eyes sharpened—not angry, simply calculating.
"Say that again."
Zerrei's breath came ragged.
But he said it.
"I am NOT yours."
The Creator's expression stilled.
Zerrei felt tiny pieces of terror inside his chest—terror of disobedience, terror of consequence, terror carved into him in the deepest layers of arcane design—
—but beneath it all was something stronger.
Identity.
Lyra pulled him closer.
Supported him.
Held him upright.
Arden raised his axe in solidarity.
Oren braced a defensive sigil.
Vessel Five lowered itself into battle stance.
The Creator looked at all of them.
Slowly.
Thoughtfully.
"You believe you have become something other than my creation," he said. "You believe autonomy is possible."
His gaze settled back on Zerrei.
"Very well."
He extended a hand.
Not to attack.
To invite.
"Show me."
Zerrei shook so violently he nearly collapsed.
"I don't want—" he gasped.
"I didn't ask what you wanted," the Creator said.
Lyra snapped, "You don't get to ask ANYTHING."
But the Creator wasn't listening to her anymore.
He walked forward, stepping beneath the dead archway and entering the dead zone.
For a split second—
everything froze.
Even the forest outside held its breath.
He looked at Zerrei with those cold, glass-blue eyes.
"Come," he said. "Walk with me. If you truly believe you have become something new—prove it to me."
Zerrei's Heartglow stuttered.
His breath vanished.
The ground beneath him trembled.
The pulse of his Chestlight flickered painfully.
"Zerrei," Lyra whispered, voice trembling for the first time, "don't move."
He didn't.
He couldn't.
Because the Creator was too close.
Too real.
Too familiar.
Zerrei whispered—
"Why would I walk with you?"
The Creator smiled faintly.
"Because whether you wish it or not—you still reflect me."
Zerrei felt something inside him tear.
Not physically.
Not magically.
Emotionally.
He staggered forward—
and Lyra caught him before he touched the ground.
"No," she said. "We walk together. Or not at all."
The Creator regarded her.
Then gave the smallest nod.
Understanding.
Acceptance.
Or calculation.
"Then let us walk," he said.
Silence dropped heavily over the clearing.
Zerrei felt the world tilt under him.
Lyra whispered in his ear, "If you take even one step toward him without choosing it—blink. I will cut him open myself."
He couldn't breathe.
But he nodded.
Vessel Five stepped in front of Zerrei and roared—
"…Zerrei… does not… walk… ALONE…"
The Creator's eyes sharpened.
He considered.
Then he stepped back—
one small step—
and the ground trembled in answer.
"Very well," he said.
"Let us see what you have become."