Light washed over Yao Yao the moment she crossed through. She squeezed her eyes shut on instinct, then blinked until the blur softened enough for shapes to return.
Dry ground met her boots, firm soil mixed with smooth stone. Nothing like the soaked floor she had crawled across. The air was strangely quiet after everything on the other side.
A huge tree stood at the center of the chamber. Its roots spread across the floor like old stone paths, thick and uneven, some dark with water, some pale and dry. The trunk rose so high she had to tilt her head to follow it.
Far above, the branches disappeared into an opening where soft light poured down. It felt like the dim edge of dawn, the kind of light that made it hard to tell if this place was buried deep or if the sky was simply too far away to see.
She turned slowly, letting her eyes adjust.
Shelves lined one side of the room. Some were neat. Others looked as if someone had tried to organize them before giving up entirely. Books were stacked sideways, scrolls half-unrolled, loose sheets piled wherever they wanted.
Only then did she notice the man standing in front of the tree.
Black clothes. Straight back. Still.
She parted her lips—
—but something moved at the far end, pulling her attention sharply.
Rui.
He was tied to the trunk—arms pinned tight, legs folded awkwardly—and his mouth was full of paper. Stuffed so much that both cheeks puffed like a squirrel storing a year's worth of winter food.
"MMF—!!"
He tried to shout, but it was nothing but panic and damp parchment.
And beside him sat the culprit.
A rabbit. Small, very serious, sitting upright beside an open book. It tore out a page carefully with both paws, rolled it into a ball, and pushed it straight into Rui's mouth with the focus of someone doing assigned work.
Rui spat it out at once.
"MMF—Yao—!!"
The rabbit ignored him, tore another page, and stuffed that one in too.
Yao Yao stared.
"…What are you doing?" she asked, not entirely sure if she meant Rui, the rabbit, or whoever put them here.
Rui made a strangled noise. The rabbit reached calmly for the next page.
For a moment she forgot there was a man standing not too far away.
Her gaze drifted back.
Elyas hadn't moved at all. Not a flinch, not a glance. If the chaos beside the tree bothered him, it didn't show.
She walked closer, picking her way across the roots. Some roots were slick, some dry, so she stepped where she could and hoped she wouldn't slip. When she reached the root beside him, she paused.
Her boots were dry.
His were standing in water past the ankle, and he did not seem to notice or care.
She looked up.
He still hadn't turned, attention stayed on the tree as if everything else could wait. And it struck her, suddenly, that she had never seen him just stand still before. Every moment she remembered was loud—fire, wind, him flicking her through portals, talking over her, disappearing, reappearing, mocking, or catching her just before she fell unconscious.
But here, without all that. Just him, the tree, and the peaceful silence.
She finally saw him properly.
He looked taller up close. Steady. Broader than she expected under plain black clothes. His hair brushed just past his ears, moving slightly in the faint breeze that drifted through the chamber. There was no grand pose or dramatic aura. He simply felt present in a way that settled into the space around him.
For the first time, she understood why he had always felt just out of reach, even when he was right beside her.
She hadn't meant to call his name.
But it slipped out on its own.
"…Elyas."
Her voice came out softer than she meant, but she knew he heard. His shoulders shifted, a small change, and after a moment he turned his head as if matching the voice to the person next to him. When his eyes met hers, there was a brief flicker in them, almost like surprise that she had used his name at all.
Before she could say anything else—
"MMF—YA—MMF—!!"
Rui spat out another wad of paper.
The rabbit stuffed the next one in before he could breathe.
Yao Yao jumped and quickly hurried over, hopping across roots until she reached him.
"Stop, stop. What are you doing?" she shouted, grabbing at the paper and pulling it out of his mouth.
Rui coughed hard. "It's not me!"
The rabbit froze halfway through tearing the next page, then rolled the half-torn sheet and tried to shove that one into Rui's mouth too.
"Hey. No," Yao Yao yanked it away.
The rabbit dropped onto its back in an instant, feet up, kicking weakly at the air as if the world had wronged it. Another loose page slid down and landed by its ear.
"Yao Yao, how did you even get in here, wait, no, someone untie me first."
She blinked, half listening. His question landed a beat later.
How did she get in?
Right.
Her throat tightened.
"I… I passed the beast," she said. "I actually did it."
He was looking at her now.
He held her gaze long enough that she started to shift her weight, unsure if she needed to say more. His expression did not change at first. Just when she began to wonder if he had even heard her properly, the corner of his mouth moved.
A quiet sound slipped out of him, almost like a laugh.
Yao Yao blinked. "What?"
He did not answer that.
Instead, his eyes stayed on her, and there was something else in them now that she could not quite name. It made her spine straighten a little on its own.
Then he spoke.
"You're not from our world, are you."
Her heart stopped.
She stared at him, wondering if she had heard wrong. Rui froze too, halfway through forcing out the last bit of paper.
Yao Yao's fingers curled into the fabric of her dress.
"I… why would you say that?" she asked quietly.
"The tree told me."
Her head snapped toward the trunk before she could stop herself. What tree?! A second later she straightened again, too quickly, like she could somehow pretend she had not reacted at all.
Elyas let out a small, soft sound that might have been another laugh.
Rui's expression shifted. The stubborn look he usually carried faded out of his eyes, replaced by something heavier that he did not bother to hide.
And Yao Yao noticed.
Her gaze moved between him and Elyas, an odd feeling sinking in. It was like she had walked into the middle of a talk that had started long before she arrived, one she was not meant to hear the end of.
"You passed," he said. "I will contract you, as promised."
Her chest lifted.
"For real?"
He stepped down into the roots, water curling around his boots with each movement. His hand rose slightly, palm open in front of him.
"My contract isn't like the usual kind."
A faint gleam gathered in his hand. It trembled in the air, trying to form and losing shape again.
"It has to be created."
He closed his fingers partway, and the light steadied. When he opened his hand again, a single strand of gold unfurled from his palm.
Just one.
It drifted upward slowly, thin as a hair and bright enough that she could see every soft curve as it moved. It did not split into dozens of threads. It did not wrap around her like the contracts she had seen in the arena. It simply traced a slow loop in the air, curling until it folded over itself.
For a brief moment it held the shape of an infinity sign.
Yao Yao held her breath.
The thread floated toward her chest and sank in.
Warmth pressed in, soft but clear. A small glow pulsed once under her ribs, then faded deeper.
Her mouth stayed open.
Rui went still. His eyes widened as he watched the last of the light disappear into her.
Elyas lowered his hand.
"There," he said. "It is done."
Rui's fingers twitched against the bindings. His jaw worked like he was trying to force a sound out, but nothing came. The rabbit, still at his side, tilted its head as if curious.
Yao Yao looked down at her chest, then back up at Elyas.
"That's it? We are contracted now? You are really my spirit?" Her voice rose a little at the end, unsure but hopeful.
Rui finally managed to spit out.
"That is not—"
The rabbit shoved another piece into his mouth on instinct, hands moving faster than his words.
"Mmf—!"
Elyas did not look back at him.
He stepped forward instead and caught Yao Yao lightly by the back of her collar. Her feet left the ground in a small, surprised lift.
"Wait," she yelped, hands flying to hold onto his wrist as she dangled. "Just to double confirm, we are contracted, right? You are my spirit now. Properly. For real."
He began walking, carrying her like a misbehaving kitten.
"Elyas?" she tried again. "You heard me, right? For real?"
He did not answer. His steps were steady as he crossed the roots toward the door on the other side of the chamber.
A wind moved through the room again.
This time it came from above, brushing through the leaves of the great tree. They rustled in a low, rough sound that rolled through the space. The light from above felt a shade brighter now, like dawn pushing a little harder at the edges.
Elyas stopped.
He did not turn all the way back, but his head lifted toward the branches. For a brief moment he stood there, shoulders very still, as if he was listening for something only he could hear.
No voice came.
The leaves settled. The rustling faded back into quiet.
He let out a breath that was almost invisible, the sort that left no trace once it was gone. Then he shifted Yao Yao's weight in his hand and continued forward.
The door opened as he approached. Light drew a line across the floor. He stepped through with Yao Yao still in his grip, her questions trailing after him, and the door closed behind them with a soft, final sound.
Silence wrapped around the chamber.
Rui spat out the paper clogging his mouth with an angry cough.
"That wasn't even a real contract!"
His voice hit the tree, the shelves, the air, and fell flat. Elyas was already gone. Yao Yao too.
The rabbit stared at him, round eyes blinking once. It tilted its head to one side, as if trying to understand what he was upset about, a forgotten scrap of paper slowly slipping off its paw.
Only the tree of life seemed to answer, a faint shiver running through its leaves before it, too, went quiet.