Golden petals, radiant in the dim light, stretched upward as if claiming dominion over this place. But what sent chills down my spine wasn't its beauty — it was its shape. It looked exactly like the head of that monster — a sunflower-like bloom, but with a human face and jagged, menacing teeth.
Before I could react, Ashen lunged forward without a word, reaching for the cube that shimmered with three strange hues — the very one I had seen when I first stepped into this place. At the same time, Kai, without warning, lifted me up and hurled me straight through the window.
I tumbled across the hard ground, stunned and aching. Before I could even process what had happened, a loud explosion erupted behind me. Flames surged — violent and unrelenting — devouring the entire house, which had once felt so safe, now engulfed in an inferno.
I screamed in panic,
— "Ashen! Kai!"
No answer.
The silence was colder than fire. I could only watch as the flames swallowed every plank, every memory. And then — as if fate wasn't ready to take them from me — they burst out of the blaze. Clothes scorched, skin singed in places, but alive.
I rushed toward them, but before I could say a word, a strange sound echoed.
We turned our heads together. Thanks to the firelight, I saw it — something between the trees.
A towering creature sat there — at least seven meters tall. Its head was a monstrous sunflower, but instead of seeds, it bore a human face — wrinkled, cracked, and grinning with teeth like blades.
Its body looked dried out, like brittle wood, as if skin had been stretched over splintered bones. On its back, several other sunflowers had sprouted — twisted and tilted in our direction, as if they too were watching.
I gasped, the words escaping my mouth,
— "The Elderwood Beast…"
Kai tightened his grip on my arm, voice low and steady,
— "That's not just any one… that's the mother."
The creature's gaze was not mindless. It wasn't a beast that simply lunged and tore. It watched. It waited. Like a predator that could think — and plan.
Then it rose.
Its massive form creaked like a dying tree coming to life. It tilted its head back and roared — a guttural bellow, like sound echoing from the depths of a long-forgotten well.
Its sunflower head — the one with the human face — began to spin. From between the petals, golden dust billowed out, glimmering like stardust. But the pollen didn't fall.
It was coming straight at us.
Kai stepped forward, ready to act, but Ashen stopped him. Without a word, Ashen pulled a small pouch from his coat — filled with a pale white powder. He strode forward and flung it into the incoming cloud.
The moment they touched, fire exploded — crimson and wrathful, like the spirit of a burning forest unleashed. The flames didn't just consume the pollen in the air; they surged back toward the creature.
The fire reached it — reaching the very spot where the pollen spewed from its flowery head.
The beast screamed.
Its howl shook the earth, like a hurricane rushing through hollow caverns. Its head stopped spinning — but it was too late. Flames had caught its petals, its face, its bone-wrapped body.
I could only stand there, frozen.
In that moment, everything clicked into place like the final piece of a puzzle.
I understood why Kai had thrown me out the window. Why the pristine house had suddenly gone up in flames. It was the pollen — Ashen had thrown that powder into the pollen cloud inside, to keep it from hurting us.
And they — Kai and Ashen — had realized it the moment they saw that sunflower.
I didn't know how dangerous the pollen was, or what it would do if inhaled, but I knew one thing: once again, they had saved me.
Kai lifted me.
But this time, not to throw me away.
He turned and ran. Ashen followed immediately. They didn't speak — just exchanged a look. And in that instant, they bolted into the night.
I turned my head — behind us, the beast still howled in agony. Flames clung to its flowered face, crept across its cracked skin and the twisted blooms on its back. The human eyes in that monstrous head twisted in pain.
And then I knew.
It feared fire.
It weakened in fire. It trembled, lost control. It screamed like something being peeled of its immortal mask.
Ashen and Kai didn't stop. They ran with everything they had. Their bodies moved like they'd done this a thousand times — agile, powerful, precise. Their pace… left me breathless. The wind howled past. Trees blurred around us.
But one thing terrified me more than the beast.
I couldn't see.
Darkness swallowed the path. No moon, no firelight — yet they ran as if guided by an invisible light. No stumbles. No hesitation. No fear.
And that was when I realized — they were used to this darkness. Used to moving in it. Used to becoming it… and fighting it.
And I—
"I've only just begun."
As we ran, Ashen suddenly growled, his voice sharp and laced with fury.
"Some bastard's taken down the wards. The wind chimes, the blue flame pillar… even the glyphs I placed — all neutralized."
I looked up. "He?"
Kai frowned. "You're sure?"
Ashen nodded without a beat. "Absolutely."
His voice dropped. "The beasts — at least around here — don't know how to do that. They hunt on instinct, or at best like that Elderwood Beast just now. But dismantling layers of protection with such precision… there's only one kind of creature in this region capable of that."
I asked, voice barely a whisper, but icy cold:
— "What is it?"
Ashen turned to me. His eyes, no longer cold — now full of fury and pain.
"Humans."