Only then did Ryan tighten his grip on the staff,
his voice low and steady—
not a command, but a release:
"By what was confined to the dark,
and by what no longer accepts restraint,
I break the stillness…
and set you free."
The moment the final word was spoken…
the shadows burst from the staff all at once.
They did not emerge separately,
but layered and entangled,
as if hurled from a deep, unseen abyss into the world.
A body fell among them.
It struck the ground…
then stood.
Siron's eyes widened.
"...You——?."
He stared at him directly.
"The Shadow."
He stepped forward once, disbelief clear in his voice.
"How were you summoned?"
The shadow glanced at his hands for a moment,
as if they no longer belonged to him,
then slowly raised his head.
"I don't know,"
he said in a low voice.
"I didn't control my body."
Sera stared at him in genuine shock.
Then she spoke slowly, realization fully settling in:
"The energy I sensed from the very beginning... it wasn't in the forest."
She lifted her gaze to Ryan, then looked back at the Shadow.
"It was inside him."
Siron smiled—this time without mockery.
"Then this is no longer just a transformation."
He added with deadly calm:
"This is a war of wills."
The staff pulsed in Ryan's hand, its voice returning to him with a dangerous serenity:
— This is only the beginning.
And the forest...
was no longer the same.
Yet within that shifting darkness, a new light took root.
Not the light of peace—but the light of resolve.
Whatever awaited them beyond this moment,
they would face it awake, united, and unafraid.
For even as the forest changed,
so did those who stood within it—
stronger, aware, and ready for what was to come.