The forest changed its face when the sun truly disappeared.
Darkness did not come as a single color.
It descended layer by layer, consuming the last traces of orange above, filling the gaps between branches, then crawling down to the ground until everything lost its shape.
Dio closed his eyes for a moment, letting his senses adjust to the absence of light. When he opened them again, the world did not become brighter—only clearer in a different way.
He could start distinguishing the near-dark from the far-dark.
Tall trees became upright shadows.
The large root in front of him looked like a black winding line.
The sky, barely visible, left only one or two pale slits.
No moon.
No stars.
The forest seemed to swallow them all.
Dio pulled the shield closer to his body. A small sound—dry leaves stepped on by the wind—passed by his left side. He waited, listening to the long silence that followed.
No footsteps.
No growl.
No heavy breath.
But the stillness of this night… was different.
Earlier, the silence felt like distant observation.
Now, the silence felt like something clinging to his skin—not touching, but close enough for him to sense it.
He steadied his breathing. His back rested against a large tree root. The ground beneath him was cold, but did not drain his warmth.
He had no intention of sleeping.
Not because he feared death—the twenty-four-day protection remained—
but because pain here was still real pain.
Death might be impossible, but breaking… was very possible.
And the night forest offered no mercy.
---
The first sound came from his left.
Not a step—more like something scraping the ground slowly.
Just once.
Then gone.
Dio did not move.
He sharpened his hearing.
The distance… not close.
Not far either.
But the sound was too deliberate to be wind.
A few seconds passed.
Then came the second sound.
Not scraping.
More… pressure.
As if the ground were being pressed slowly by something heavy.
Once.
Silence.
Dio straightened his back slightly.
His hand rested on the sword's grip.
He did not draw it. Not yet.
The dark in front offered no shape.
Only the sense that something was there.
He lifted his chin slightly, trying to catch a pattern.
There was none.
He waited longer than he expected.
Then the third sound came—from behind his right.
Not loud.
Not fast.
But clear enough to say one thing:
The creature was circling him.
Dio shifted slightly to the side, his back still against the root. He chose a position that gave him a wider viewing angle—enough to see a moving shadow, if there was one.
He raised the shield halfway.
His sword stayed sheathed.
He knew the sound did not belong to anything small.
Its tone was too deep.
Its weight too consistent.
Yet large creatures did not move like this.
They did not circle.
They did not keep distance.
This… was something that knew how to evaluate.
As if waiting for a weakness.
---
Time moved slowly.
Or perhaps very fast—Dio wasn't sure.
Until a new sound appeared.
Not footsteps.
Not scraping.
Softer.
Breath.
A long breath…
then short…
then gone, like someone trying not to be heard.
Dio felt his heartbeat adjust.
Not fast.
Not loud.
His body learned to restrain its reactions.
He leaned forward slightly.
Not advancing—just adjusting his shield's angle.
In the dark, a faint line appeared ahead.
A shape like a trunk, but too low.
Or perhaps a root?
He narrowed his eyes.
Not a root.
Not a trunk.
Something shifted slightly.
A motion too controlled to be leaves touched by wind.
Yet too slow to be a small animal.
Dio didn't breathe in.
He only waited.
The faint line moved.
Very little.
Very slowly.
Then stopped.
Silence returned.
But this silence was not the same as before.
Earlier silence watched.
This silence waited for him to make a mistake.
Dio knew this was the moment where many ordinary people would panic and run blindly.
But he also knew:
in a forest he didn't understand, running was the fastest way to die.
Protection or not, the feeling of being torn apart would still be the feeling of being torn apart.
He lowered the shield slightly—not to surrender, but to find a better angle for quick movement.
He crouched slowly, picking up a small pebble.
He threw it to the side, not forward.
Slowly…
quietly…
toward a dark bush a few meters to his left.
The pebble hit a small tree trunk with a soft sound: tak.
For a split second, the silence cracked.
From the front—where the faint line had been—something moved.
Not approaching.
Not retreating.
Just… shifting position.
Like someone turning their head.
Dio felt the skin on his hand warm.
He did not lower the shield.
He did not intend to sleep.
He did not intend to look away again.
If something large was there…
it wasn't a predator.
Predators don't stay still like that.
This… was an assessor.
Something wanting to see how far a human could endure.
---
No follow-up steps.
No other sounds.
And after several minutes of waiting, Dio realized something:
The creature did not leave.
But it also didn't want to attack.
It was only confirming he was still there.
And when silence shifted into a coldness that numbed the body, he understood:
The first night was not over.
And the forest was still learning who he was.
---
When the creature's sound finally faded—soft, like mist pulled by wind—Dio knew something more important than the threat:
Tomorrow…
he would not be alone.
No matter how far he walked.
The forest would never truly let him go.