The night had fallen over the camp with a silence far too deep to be natural.
The campfires, reduced to glowing orange embers, barely held back the darkness. Beyond their faint glow, the forest stretched like an ocean of shadows.
The wind stirred the branches above the tents.
Lusian paid little attention to it.
Ever since they had set out for the Empire, a persistent unease had settled in his chest.
Elizabeth was heading straight into the heart of the conflict.
And he could not shake the feeling that, without realizing it, she was walking straight into a trap prepared by the gods.
Then the night wind carried a strange murmur.
A slight fracture in the stillness.
Lusian stopped.
He did not need to look back.
He felt the presence before he saw it.
A shadow appeared between the trees.
"You're wandering away again."
Lusian did not turn around.
"I didn't know I needed permission to take a walk."
Kheris remained silent for a few seconds.
Then he stepped out from between the trees.
The shadows seemed to part before him.
"You still move like someone who wants to run away."
"And what if I do?"
"Then you'd already be on your way to the duchy."
That drew a low laugh from Lusian.
Empty.
The duchy.
For a few seconds, he imagined how easy it would be.
He could go back.
Hide.
Prepare himself for whatever was coming.
Maybe, if he stayed there, he could preserve his life.
But he could not make the same mistake again.
Not after losing so much.
Kheris took another step.
"You can still go back. The Heralds won't look for you there. Not for now, at least."
He paused briefly.
"You can live."
Lusian finally stopped.
The wind stirred the branches above them again.
"'Not for now'…" he repeated. "Live?"
The word sounded strange in his mouth.
"That's what you said the first time."
Kheris frowned slightly.
"You don't understand the magnitude of what is about to happen. What's coming will be too dangerous. Go back."
"No."
Lusian turned his head slightly.
"You're the one who doesn't understand."
The shadows around Kheris stirred.
"You're walking straight toward your death for a woman."
There was no mockery in his voice.
Only confusion.
Genuine confusion.
To Kheris, it made no sense.
Humans were small, fragile, and replaceable creatures. Clinging to a single person to the point of risking one's own existence was something a god could hardly comprehend.
And yet, Kheris was trying to understand it.
"No."
Lusian turned to face him completely.
"Elizabeth is a tool for the gods, isn't she?"
Kheris's eyes remained still.
"They want to use her for their own plans."
Lusian clenched his jaw.
"I won't allow it."
Silence fell between them.
Kheris did not answer.
Lusian took a step toward him.
"You killed me."
His voice remained low.
"You tore me away from my world because I was useful to you. Because you needed something from me."
His eyes hardened.
"You never cared about what I wanted."
Kheris remained motionless.
"And now they want to do the same thing to her."
For the first time, something changed in the god's expression.
It lasted only an instant.
But Lusian saw it.
"Elizabeth doesn't even understand what they plan to do to her. They want to turn her into a monster. Into something capable of bringing chaos and destruction…"
Lusian clenched his fists.
"All so humanity will beg the gods for salvation once again."
His gaze locked onto Kheris.
"And you want me to stand by and watch."
Kheris took a long moment to answer.
"You don't want to live."
The statement came with a strange mixture of confusion and frustration.
"You're willing to sacrifice yourself for that woman."
A pause.
"Why?"
Lusian did not answer immediately.
Kheris continued.
"You're human. There will be other women."
The casual way he said those words left a bitter feeling in Lusian's chest.
"Just find another."
Lusian let out a quiet laugh.
This time, there was no humor in it.
"So that's how you see us, isn't it?"
Kheris remained silent.
"As things that can be replaced."
The god opened his mouth.
But he did not answer.
Because he had no answer a human could accept.
To Kheris, hiding in the duchy for a few more years was enough.
Breathing.
Eating.
Sleeping.
Waiting.
That was living.
But Lusian had already lost everything once.
And he was not willing to spend the rest of his existence running away the same way.
"If you return to the duchy, you'll keep your life," Kheris insisted. "You still have that choice."
Lusian watched him for several seconds.
Then slowly shook his head.
"My life."
He paused.
"My choice."
Kheris remained motionless.
Lusian held his gaze.
"'I am free.' Isn't that what you said?"
He stepped forward.
"So, as a free man…"
His voice did not waver.
"I choose to protect the woman I love."
The darkness surrounding Kheris exploded.
"Fool!"
The entire forest trembled.
Branches creaked.
Leaves rained down from the trees.
Kheris rarely lost control.
But this time, fear pierced through his voice.
His plans could collapse.
And he still needed Lusian.
Yet Lusian did not step back.
"It's my decision."
His gaze remained firm.
"And I'm not going to change it."
Kheris stood perfectly still.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Finally, the god closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, the darkness surrounding him began to change.
It slowly spread across the ground.
Climbed the trees.
And finally enveloped Lusian like an invisible veil.
Lusian felt Kheris's mana course through his body.
It wasn't a barrier.
It was a seal.
A concealment spell.
His presence was completely masked.
If anyone was watching from the capital, the Heralds would not be able to sense him.
Kheris lowered his gaze.
"I can't allow you to die."
The words came slowly.
As though admitting them was almost unbearable.
Lusian did not answer.
Kheris disappeared.
Without a sound.
Without leaving a trace.
As if the night itself had swallowed him.
Lusian remained among the trees for a few seconds.
Then he returned to the camp.
He felt no victory.
Nor relief.
Only a strange sensation in his chest.
For the first time since arriving in that world…
he was not following fate.
He was not obeying a god.
He was not trying to survive because someone else had decided that he should.
He had chosen.
And that choice was entirely his own.