The once grand chapel was now a mangled skeleton of sacred stone and smoldering ash. Craters littered the earth, statues of saints lay shattered in prayerful ruin. What remained of the congregation had long fled — save for the few brave, foolish, or loyal enough to remain behind.

  Rell leaned against a broken pillar, barely able to keep his eyes open. Blood dried across his chest in webbed trails, his breathing was shallow, and the adrenaline had finally faded.

  Thessia knelt beside a cluster of children, checking their injuries, whispering encouragements. Her armor was cracked. Her blade was gone. Her hair, usually so tightly braided, now fell loose and streaked with soot.

  None of them spoke at first. They just sat among the broken pews and rubble, grateful to be breathing.

  Then came the groaning of wood and metal.

  “Other caravan,” Umbwe said, stepping forward, eyes sharp. “I sense its return. The one with your owl.”

  Thessia blinked. “Wait. Owl?”

  Rell just smiled, wiping dust from his eyes. “Was girl. Not girl.”

  She blinked again. “...What?”

  From the edge of the ruined courtyard, the disguised owl — now back in her true form — descended from a large transport cart surrounded by injured guards. The surviving children she rescued clung to her feathers. Behind them, a few older townsfolk ran forward, gasping and sobbing as they recognized sons, daughters, nieces.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Reunions bloomed like wildflowers after rain.

  Thessia stood frozen, hand clenched over her wrapped arm where Rell had healed her. Her eyes darted to the girl — Lirah — hugging an older elf woman tightly, tears soaking her hood.

  “…So it was real,” Thessia muttered. “All of it.”

  Umbwe nodded slowly. “You doubted.”

  She shot him a look. “I don’t trust anything by default.”

  “A good trait,” the lion said. “Until it costs lives.”

  She didn’t answer. Just turned toward Rell.

  He was climbing onto Umbwe’s back, wincing with each movement. Still wounded. Still stubborn.

  “Where are you going?” Thessia asked, stepping forward.

  “Rest. Heal. Forest,” Rell said simply, adjusting his body weight.

  “You think you can just vanish after that?”

  Rell tilted his head, a tired grin creeping up. “Come. Find out.”

  She paused — the first real pause since she met him — and looked down at her hand. The one he’d held after regrowing her arm. It still tingled.

  “If I did…” she started, eyes narrowing. “Would you let me in?”

  Rell didn’t answer. Umbwe began walking.

  “Hey,” she called after them.

  Rell turned his head halfway.

  “You’re the first man I ever lost a fight to and still wanted to talk to afterward.”

  He gave her a look over his shoulder. “Talk. Later.”

  Then he slumped over the lion’s back, eyes fluttering shut.

  ?

  The sun dipped below the mountains as the jungle creatures disappeared into the horizon. One by one, they vanished like stories whispered into wind.

  The guildmaster arrived shortly after with the royal knights. They took the church remains into custody, helped secure the freed children, and began the legal storm to come.

  Thessia stood at the edge of it all, arms folded, watching Lirah speak to the king’s envoy. She saw the girl turn and wave to her, smiling with real gratitude. Not illusion. Not survival.

  “Guess you were right, jungle boy,” Thessia muttered to herself.

  Ko Mala glided over beside her. “He still is.”

  She didn’t jump. She’d stopped being surprised hours ago.

  “You care for him?” he asked softly.

  “I care about not seeing good people crushed,” she deflected.

  Ko Mala gave a soft owl chuckle. “Yet your heart is louder than your words.”

  She looked away. “Will I see him again?”

  The owl blinked. “You know where we rest.”

  “And if I came?”

  “You may be cursed with honesty.”

  She scoffed. “That a yes?”

  He smiled. “It’s a welcome.”

  ?

  Later that night, the mystical beasts gathered in a stone circle deep in the forest outskirts. Magical sigils flickered beneath their paws and talons.

  Ko Mala perched high, watching the town behind them dim into candlelight silence.

  “He did well,” he said aloud.

  The owl beside him nodded. “Exceptionally.”

  The creatures disappeared one by one.

  Magic folding them into the jungle’s heartbeat.