Nia kept her back against the rough tree trunk while the enormous black beast stood directly in front of her, rainwater sliding steadily through its fur in dark streams. Her fingers still gripped the branch she had picked up earlier even though both of them clearly understood by now that the thing would do absolutely nothing if the creature decided to attack her. The branch was too thin, too weak, and her arms had already started aching from holding it raised for so long.
Still, lowering it completely felt like surrendering the last illusion of control she had left.
The beast watched her without blinking.
Its golden eyes followed every movement she made with an intensity that should have frightened her more than it already did, but confusion had begun weaving itself through her fear in ways she could no longer ignore. Since appearing from the forest, the creature had done everything wrong for a predator. It had approached her cautiously instead of aggressively. It reacted to her voice. It paused whenever she ordered it to stop, even if it only obeyed for a few seconds before moving closer again. And when she had touched its forehead moments ago, the deep rumbling sound that rose from its chest had sounded disturbingly close to satisfaction.
Nia had no explanation for any of it.
Rain rolled down the back of her neck while cold wind pushed through the trees around them, carrying the rich scent of wet earth and crushed greenery through the storm. Somewhere deeper in the forest, strange cries echoed faintly through the darkness, but the beast standing in front of her remained completely focused on her face as though the rest of the world barely existed.
“You really are listening to me, aren’t you?” she asked carefully.
The creature’s ears flicked immediately.
Nia stared at it before letting out a slow breath through her nose.
“Actually, nothing about this situation is normal.”
The beast tilted its head slightly while continuing to watch her with that same unnerving concentration.
Up close, its size still felt difficult to fully process. Its shoulders stood nearly level with her head even while it remained relaxed, and thick muscles shifted visibly beneath sleek black fur whenever it moved. The creature was enormous enough that it should have looked clumsy simply from sheer scale, yet every motion it made carried frightening precision and control.
The beast took another slow step toward her.
Nia immediately lifted the branch higher again despite herself.
“I told you to stay over there.”
The creature paused.
For several seconds neither of them moved while rain poured steadily around them. Then the beast lowered itself onto its haunches once more, large paws sinking slightly into the mud beneath its weight.
Nia narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“You are either very smart,” she said cautiously, “or this world is even stranger than I thought.”
The creature blinked slowly at her.
The slow, unhurried motion unsettled her more than open aggression would have. If the beast had snarled or lunged at her, she could have treated it like any dangerous animal and reacted accordingly. Instead, she found herself standing in the rain having what almost felt like a conversation with a monster large enough to tear her apart effortlessly.
The thought should have terrified her more than it did.
Fear was still there, sharp and heavy beneath her ribs, but curiosity had begun pressing against it despite her better judgment. Every movement the beast made carried the same careful restraint it had shown from the beginning, and the longer she watched it, the harder it became to reconcile that behavior with the monster standing in front of her.
Nia’s eyes drifted briefly over the massive paws resting in the mud before lifting again toward the beast’s face.
“You’re definitely still dangerous,” she said firmly, mostly to remind herself. “I don’t care how calm you act.”
The beast’s tail flicked once behind it.
Then it stood again.
Nia let out a disbelieving breath.
“You really don’t like being far away from me, huh?”
The creature moved closer before she could decide whether she regretted saying that aloud.
This time, instead of backing herself fully against the tree again, Nia forced herself to remain still while the beast approached. Fear still tightened her muscles automatically, but she refused to let herself panic every single time it moved. If the creature truly wanted to hurt her, it had already had plenty of opportunities.
The beast stopped directly in front of her once more.
Warmth spread faintly through the cold air surrounding them from the sheer heat of its body. Up close, she could see individual strands of black fur shifting beneath raindrops while golden eyes studied her with unwavering focus.
Then the creature lowered its massive head toward her again.
Nia hesitated only briefly before lifting her free hand.
The instant her palm touched the center of its forehead, the beast froze completely beneath her hand.
The reaction startled her enough that she almost pulled away immediately.
Heat radiated through the thick fur against her skin, and another deep rumbling sound vibrated through the creature’s chest so strongly that she could feel it through her arm. The beast’s eyes narrowed slightly while it leaned almost imperceptibly into her touch.
Nia stared at it in disbelief.
“Oh, you definitely like that,” she murmured.
The rumbling deepened.
Despite everything, a small burst of incredulous laughter nearly escaped her. The sound lodged halfway in her chest because the situation remained far too dangerous for genuine amusement, but the absurdity still hit her all at once. She was cold, exhausted, stranded in another world, and apparently petting a giant monster that reacted like an oversized cat receiving affection for the first time.
“You are ridiculous,” she said softly before she could stop herself.
The beast continued staring at her.
Not at her hand.
At her face.
That strange intensity returned immediately, heavy enough that her pulse quickened again beneath her ribs. The creature looked at her with a level of focus that felt deeply personal despite the fact that they had known each other for less than an hour.
Nia slowly lowered her hand again.
The beast followed the movement slightly before stopping itself, and for the briefest moment she could have sworn disappointment flickered across its expression.
Before she could process that thought properly, another sound rolled through the forest.
A distant roar echoed somewhere far beyond the trees, deep enough that the ground beneath her feet seemed to vibrate faintly with it.
The change in the beast happened instantly.
Its entire body tightened.
The strange calm curiosity surrounding it vanished beneath sudden alertness while its head snapped sharply toward the darkness beyond the forest. A low sound spread through its chest again, but this rumble carried none of the strange satisfaction from earlier. The vibration sounded rougher now, edged with warning.
Nia felt her stomach tighten immediately.
The beast stepped sideways until its massive body partially blocked her from the direction of the sound.
It took her several seconds to fully understand what it had done. The creature had moved between her and whatever lurked beyond the trees.
Another distant growl echoed through the forest, closer this time.
Nia’s grip tightened painfully around the branch while her eyes searched the darkness beyond the rain. She could not see anything clearly through the storm, but movement flickered faintly between distant trunks before vanishing again.
There was more than one creature out there.
The realization settled heavily into her chest.
The black beast’s tail lashed once behind it while another low warning sound vibrated through the air. Its posture had changed completely now. Every muscle beneath dark fur looked tense and ready while its gaze remained fixed on the forest around them.
Nia swallowed hard.
The creature in front of her was terrifying on its own, but watching it react cautiously to whatever approached through the storm made the forest suddenly feel far more dangerous than before.
A branch cracked loudly somewhere deeper in the darkness.
The black beast bared its teeth.
Nia sucked in a breath despite herself. Long white fangs flashed briefly beneath the storm, sharp enough that imagining them tearing through flesh made her stomach twist uneasily.
Then a voice cut through the rain.
The sound startled her so badly that her entire body stiffened.
The words were deep and sharp with authority, spoken in a language she had never heard before, yet somehow the meaning slid directly into her mind as clearly as if the speaker had used English.
“Leave.”
Silence fell almost immediately afterward.
The distant growling faded slowly into the storm.
Nia’s heart pounded violently while confusion crashed through her thoughts all over again. She looked around instinctively for another person hidden somewhere beyond the trees before realization hit hard enough to make her freeze.
The voice had come from directly in front of her.
Slowly, the massive black beast turned its head toward her again.
Golden eyes met hers steadily.
And suddenly the impossible expanded into something even larger than waking up in another world, because somehow the creature understood her, responded to her, and had just spoken to something else in a voice that absolutely did not belong to an ordinary animal.