I stared Lucen down as his cult-like followers murmured quietly behind him, lost in their trance. His white robes gave him the air of a prophet… but I saw right through the act.
"So," I asked, "why the name Veritas? Why not just call your ability 'Convince' or something?"
He tilted his head. "Because it isn't just persuasion. Veritas is true belief. You say 'jump' and they jump. I say 'you can fly'—and they believe they were born with wings."
My stomach tightened.
"You don't command," he continued, voice soft and chilling, "you impose. I… enlighten."
I couldn't take it anymore. I pointed at him, voice sharp.
"Show us where the missing villagers are. Now."
Lucen blinked. For a moment, I thought he might resist. But his body moved.
"…As you wish."
---
In the Forest
We followed him into the forest beyond the chapel. Silent. Cold. The kind of silence that wasn't peace—it was wrong.
Then we saw them.
Bodies.
Dozens of people—half-submerged into the trees.
Their skin fused with bark. Arms melded with roots. Faces still alive, wide-eyed and blank—mouths gasping from within the wood. Like they had willingly let the forest eat them.
Aelira stepped back, hand covering her mouth. "W-What… what is this…?"
I screamed.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
Lucen spoke calmly, as if reciting poetry. "They believed they were one with nature. I said the forest would accept them. They became the trees."
I didn't think. I just punched him.
He staggered back, blood trailing from his lip.
"You monster!"
Lucen laughed bitterly. "I only spoke. They chose to believe."
"Choke yourself." I didn't yell—I commanded.
Lucen gasped and dropped to his knees, his hands tightening around his own throat.
Aelira didn't stop me.
And yet… watching him squirm, his face turning red, something in me cracked.
"Stop," I muttered. "Undo this. Please—undo it."
Lucen coughed, wheezing. "I… I don't know if I can."
I froze.
"What… what do you mean, you don't know?"
He looked up at me—eyes no longer arrogant, but empty.
"I told them they were part of the forest. They believed it with their whole being. That kind of belief… it's not a trick you undo. It becomes real."
The wind howled through the trees. The trees that were once people.
And for the first time since I arrived in this world…
I felt powerless.
---
[To be continued…]