A week after the battle was softer than it should’ve been.

  Light cut through the treetops in golden streaks, and the jungle exhaled slow — like it had survived something too big to name.

  Rell sat on a thick tree root, bandages tight across his shoulder. He stared at his hands.

  They were still shaking.

  But not from pain.

  —

  Umbwe approached slowly. No roar. No dramatic entrance.

  Just pawsteps like thunder turned down to a whisper.

  “You fought well,” the lion said.

  Rell didn’t look up. “I got lucky.”

  “You got better.”

  Umbwe sat beside him, a weight to the earth. His mane still shimmered faintly with the sigils of grace — flickering in rhythm with his breath.

  “There was a time,” he said, “when I thought strength was born in silence. That the jungle only respected dominance. But you—”

  He tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly.

  “You’re loud. Stubborn. You bleed out loud.”

  Rell huffed. “Thanks?”

  “I mean it as respect.”

  They sat quiet a moment longer.

  Rell finally spoke.

  > “Why me, Umbwe? Why not Ko’Mala? Or Vaelok? Or… hell, someone actually from this world?”

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  Umbwe’s eyes fixed on the sky.

  > “Because none of them were born from a choice.”

  > “You were.”

  Rell’s brow furrowed. “That don’t even make sense.”

  “It does,” Umbwe said softly. “The angel chose to seal her soul. The demon chose to cling to your body. And now you must choose what to do with what’s left.”

  > “You’re not fate’s prisoner, Rell.”

  > “You’re its editor.”

  The words hit deeper than he expected.

  Rell didn’t respond at first.

  He watched a group of smaller creatures play near the edge of the grove — a lemur hopping around a wolf pup, laughing like it hadn’t seen death yesterday.

  He looked back at Umbwe.

  > “Then I’m choosing this.”

  > “I’ll fight. I’ll grow. I’ll do everything I can to keep this body from going dark.”

  Umbwe nodded.

  > “But—” Rell held up a finger. “If I’m gonna be stuck here…”

  > “I get to explore. I get to see the world. I need to know it before I protect it.”

  Umbwe smiled.

  > “Then we’ll show you the roads. But the roads will show you yourself.”

  —

  The chapter closed not with a warcry or a spell.

  But with a lion and a boy sitting shoulder to shoulder, watching the jungle breathe.

  The jungle whispered nothing.

  But it listened.

  And that was enough.