The road from the West Gate of Rhea-Nori slowly disappeared behind Quantum as he pressed onward toward the wall of trees looming in the distance. The sun burned its trail across the sky, golden streaks glinting off the wide green plain. In a matter of hours, the city shrank into a speck on the horizon — a memory swallowed by the earth itself.
Quantum walked at a steady, unbroken pace, carrying Nhea in his arms. Before them the Akar Forest rose, an unyielding wall of junipers, tall and ancient, as though they meant to dwarf him with their height. Yet Quantum marched forward unfazed, stepping into the open mouth of the forest.
Orange light from the setting sun pierced the canopy in slivers, falling like blades onto the undergrowth. Shadows stretched long across the forest floor, tangled among thick shrubs and tangled herbs. Birds cried overhead, their squawks fading as they retired to roosts, while the chirping of crickets began to rise — a hymn of night claiming the forest.
Soon enough, the moonlight took its place. The forest floor shimmered in pale blue light, broken into shifting patches as branches swayed in the wind. An owl claimed its post somewhere above, hooting in intervals that filled the air with a periodic pulse of life and danger.
Quantum's strides were deliberate, each crunch of leaf and swish of grass measured. It was then that the girl stirred in his arms.
Nhea's amber eyes fluttered open, first drowsy, then wide and fixed on him. Her gaze locked upon his face — and terror flickered across her features. What she saw was not the Quantum she had known. His face was torn and blackened, scarred like stone scorched by fire. His mouth was split, revealing teeth darkened as if by ash. He looked less like a man and more like a demon dragged from the pit. She stared wide-eyed at Quantum, who continued to navigate through the forest, his footsteps accompanied with the crunching of fallen leaves and the swishing of grass.
"Quantum...is...is that you?", she asked a hint of fear in her voice. She needed affirmation from the entity in whose hands she lay. The entity looked down at her, blue eyes glowing gently. Nhea knew instantly. The face was severely degraded, but the countenance was the same. Gentle and inviting. Filled with ancient wisdom; distant, yet so close.
To appease the girl's uncertainty, Quantum answered, his voice calm and steady, "Yes...it is I."
Nhea felt a warm peace upon hearing his reply, and a slight relief welled up inside her. The monstrous face had not stolen the countenance she trusted. A darkness began to fill her heart, as she tried to imagine the sort of pain Quantum had gone through. She turned her head, drinking in the vast trunks that surrounded them, the crowns that blotted out the sky. Crickets whispered from the grass, the air smelled of moss and earth, and still the steady sound of Quantum's steps grounded her.
"Where… are we?" she asked, her voice small against the darkness.
Quantum replied, "Far from the city. Far from its trouble. This is the Akar Forest. Don't worry — you are safe."
His eyes flicked down toward her legs. "Can you walk?", he inquired.
Nhea nodded hesitantly.
He lowered her gently to the ground. She braced herself against a tree trunk, attempting to stand. At first she looked determined, but Quantum's eyes caught the truth immediately.
"Your ankle is sprained," he said flatly.
"I-I can walk...," she insisted, releasing her grip on the trunk and trying to bear her weight on her sprained ankle. She took one step, gave a short muffled cry in pain, Quantum holding her before she fell to the ground.
He crouched, steadying her on his shoulder, his tone soft but firm. "Don't be foolish. You clearly cannot."
Nhea frowned, embarrassed by her own weakness. Quantum smiled faintly at her annoyance — her face was as easy to read as words scrawled on a page.
An owl's hoot split the silence, and Nhea stiffened. Her eyes darted toward the sound, her heartbeat quickening.
"Calm yourself," Quantum said, his voice carrying the weight of command. "It is only an owl."
Still she watched the darkness, half-expecting something monstrous to burst out of the darkness behind the trees.
"Come," Quantum urged, crouching with his back to her. "Climb on. I will carry you."
She hesitated only briefly before agreeing. Her arms curled around his neck — burned, scarred, yet unflinching. She wondered if it hurt him, to feel her weight press against such wounds, but he gave no sign. Any person would certainly cry out from the wounds on his body. He held her thighs firmly and rose, striding deeper into the forest.
For a while, only the rustle of grass and the rhythm of his steps filled the silence, along with the cacophony of crickets. Then Nhea whispered, out of pure concern, "Quantum… you… you don't look okay at all."
Quantum's voice came low, steady, almost tender. "Do not worry for me. I am strong enough to continue." He paused, then added, as though testing her understanding, "All the spirits stand as witnesses to the justification of my actions. These wounds I bear, I chose to take — in pursuit of something very, very precious."
A breeze stirred, carrying his words into the night like drifting smoke, making the strands of Nhea's hair flutter. The silence seemed to hand unto his words, pushing it alongside the breeze. Nhea clung to him, waiting.
At last he asked, "Do you know what that precious thing is?"
Her breath caught. She thought for a moment, and then realization struck. A valuable gem she was, in the eyes of a gentle-hearted entity, who was falling apart. She hid her face against his back, cheeks burning.
Quantum's lips curved faintly. "A little girl who treasures her hair more than anything, who cannot help but mention it to anyone she meets…"
Nhea's arms tightened around him, knowing full well who he was referring to.
"And a mother," Quantum continued softly, "who found her greatest joy in those strands of gold. Who cherished the warmth of her daughter in her arms. That mother now rests among the stars, watching over her child, her dearest gem. It was her desire to see her daughter smiling, even in her absence. She entrusted that gem to me — her daughter's guardian."
The words sank deep into the silence. Even the forest seemed to listen, the vines retreating as Quantum brushed past, the moonlight illuminating the path ahead. The grass and brush seemed to sing a somber tune even within the silence, as they passed them.
Nhea pressed her face harder into his shoulder, her small body trembling. An expression of remorse and self-hatred built up on her face.
Quantum's voice lowered, carrying both weight and gentleness. "Your mother bore pain to bring you into this world. She fed you, clothed you, gave you a place to rest and a relative peace even within the dark world you were born into. She did not do this because you were perfect, but because she loved you — wholly, without condition."
Nhea's eyes brimmed, her breath shallow.
"You are clumsy," Quantum went on, a hint of humor softening his tone. "Carrying water is a trial for you. The other children laugh. You lose focus when learning, your mind drifting to the most trivial things. You once spent hours in staring contests with praying mantises." He chuckled.
Nhea's arms clenched around him tighter. She wondered how Quantum knew all those things about her. She hadn't told him so much in their meetings in the alley. However, she didn't wonder too much. She simply trusted in his warm voice.
"And still," he said, his voice firm again, "she loved you. Because of those very things, her love only grew."
The forest silence evolved as they entered a glade. Quantum stopped some distance into the glade, crouching to let Nhea down. She stood with her head bowed, unable to meet his gaze.
"Nhea," he said, his voice gentle but edged with command, "do not dishonor your mother's love by despising yourself. She entrusted you to me. That was her unspoken covenant — her most precious treasure handed from one soul to another. You are mine to protect, to guide, to see grow."
Nhea's eyes widened. Each word struck deep, melting the self-loathing that had weighed on her heart since the night of loss.
"The best way to thank her," Quantum said, "is to live. To achieve your dreams. To become the light she longed to see."
The memory of her mother's last words cut through her mind like lightning.
He reached out and ruffled her hair gently. A smile touched his lips.
Slowly, hesitantly, Nhea smiled back, her heart easing for the first time since her mother's death.
For a fleeting moment, the glade was still, bathed in peace.
But then Quantum froze. The smile vanished from his face. His eyes sharpened, fixed to the eastern edge of the clearing.
Nhea looked at him, confused. "What is it? What's the matter?"
Quantum's voice dropped to a low murmur, heavy with dread.
"…Horses. Horses are approaching."
And in the distance, faint but growing, came the thunder of hooves.