The forest remained silent.
Traveler's body lay beneath the trees.
Seris remained several meters away, motionless.
The Devourer stood between them.
Twelve enormous tentacles surrounded the ancient creature like the limbs of some forgotten god.
But something had changed.
The Devourer could feel it.
Something had awakened inside the vessel.
Not Arafial.
Not completely.
Something deeper.
Something that had been buried for an age.
The Devourer stared at Traveler.
Then it spoke quietly.
"You saw him."
Traveler did not respond.
His eyes remained closed.
The Devourer lowered its head.
"You saw what should have remained hidden."
A pause.
"The other half."
The forest seemed to become colder.
The Devourer looked toward the sky.
For the first time in countless ages—
its body began to fade.
Not physically.
It was becoming transparent.
The edges of its enormous form dissolved into particles of darkness.
The Devourer looked at its own fading body.
"...So."
Its voice was calm.
"My time in this world is ending."
One tentacle moved toward Traveler.
It stopped just above him.
The Devourer didn't touch him.
It simply watched.
"I followed you across worlds."
Its voice became quieter.
"I searched through civilizations that no longer exist."
"I crossed worlds where your name had become a forgotten myth."
"I consumed those who stood between me and you."
A pause.
"And now..."
Its body faded further.
"...I finally found you."
Traveler's fingers twitched.
The Devourer noticed.
"Even now..."
A faint smile appeared.
"...you still don't remember me."
Then—
Traveler's eyes opened.
Blue.
His vision was blurred.
The sky above him was the first thing he saw.
Then trees.
Then blood.
Then—
the Devourer.
Traveler slowly pushed himself upward.
His hand pressed against the ground.
He breathed once.
"...What..."
His voice was weak.
He looked around.
Then his eyes landed on Seris.
She was lying several meters away.
Her clothes were stained with blood.
Traveler's expression immediately hardened.
"Seris..."
He tried to stand.
His body moved normally.
No pain.
No wounds.
He touched the side of his head.
Nothing.
His back—
nothing.
Traveler looked confused.
Then he noticed the Devourer.
The enormous creature was already fading.
Traveler stared.
"Wait."
The Devourer looked at him.
Traveler's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
For a moment—
the Devourer said nothing.
Then—
it lowered its head.
Not in fear.
Not in submission to the vessel.
In recognition.
"My Lord."
Traveler froze.
The words felt strangely familiar.
But he didn't understand why.
"My lord?"
The Devourer slowly faded.
"You don't remember."
Traveler stared.
"Remember what?"
The Devourer's body became almost transparent.
It looked at him for the final time.
"I remember enough for both of us."
Traveler said nothing.
The Devourer continued.
"You may forget my face."
"You may forget my name."
"You may forget the worlds we crossed."
"You may even forget what you once were."
Its voice remained unwavering.
"But I will never forget."
Traveler's eyes narrowed.
"Forget what?"
The Devourer looked directly into his blue eyes.
"My true Lord."
The final fragments of its body began disappearing.
Traveler took one step forward.
"Wait."
The Devourer did not stop.
Its voice echoed through the forest.
And then—
it gave him the words that had once belonged to Arafial.
The words of the being it had followed across worlds.
The words that survived even when memory did not.
"Even if the worlds forget your name... the Abyss will remember who its Lord is."
The Devourer vanished.
Completely.
No roar.
No explosion.
No trace.
Only silence.
Traveler remained standing.
He stared at the empty space where the creature had been.
Something inside him felt strangely hollow.
He didn't know why.
He didn't know who the creature was.
He didn't know what "Lord" meant.
He didn't know what he had seen in that darkness.
But somewhere inside his mind—
a voice whispered:
Lord of the Abyss.
Traveler turned toward Seris.
She was still bleeding.
His expression changed instantly.
He walked toward her.
"Seris."
No response.
He knelt beside her.
He placed his hand near the wound.
Her breathing was faint.
Traveler looked at the blood covering her side.
His eyes became cold.
Someone had done this.
Someone had thrown them from the mountain.
Someone had tried to kill them.
And Traveler—
remembered almost none of it.
He slowly looked toward the mountain above.
The village was somewhere up there.
His expression became completely empty.
Then he looked back at Seris.
"You're alive."
A pause.
"Good."
He lifted her carefully.
And began walking.
Behind him—
the forest remained silent.
The Devourer was gone.
Its final meeting with its Lord had ended.
But its loyalty had not.
It would carry the memory of Arafial across whatever worlds remained.
Because even if Traveler forgot—
the Devourer never would.