The tunnel wound deeper into the earth, where the rock throbbed faintly with an inner pulse. Roots hung from the ceiling like strands of forgotten hair. The Staff of Verdance in Lybid's hand glowed faintly, guiding them like a heartbeat through the dark.
Khoryv walked ahead barefoot, his long coat flowing behind him like a robe of bark and twilight.
"So," he said over his shoulder, "what's the outside world like now?"
Yurko opened his mouth, but Methodius spoke first.
"Loud. Divided. Faithful."
Khoryv chuckled. "Faithful. Hah. I can taste it on you. You're drenched in it. Your God… he's stronger now, isn't He?"
He turned and stared straight at Methodius.
"I feel it. In your bones. In your words. Like steel pressed to my throat."
Methodius narrowed his eyes. "If you fear 'Him'—"
"Oh, I don't fear 'Him'," Khoryv interrupted, grinning. "But I respect power. And He… wasn't always this loud. Once, 'He' whispered. Now 'He' commands. I once met him at the Land of the Gods, he is a good guy."
Methodius held back his anger.
He walked a bit further, voice lower now. "The world has shifted. Rod fades. So do all old gods. But Mara remains. Because death, you see—death never needs belief. It simply waits."
The path opened suddenly.
A wide cavern of marble-veined stone split into three narrow tunnels—each one lined with roots and ancient sigils, pulsing with conflicting energy.
Khoryv stopped.
"This," he said, gesturing to the divide, "is where most would falter. Each path leads to a different truth. Most fail here because they choose alone. But you… you can pass."
Lybid stepped beside him. "Why didn't you and Baba Yaha come yourselves?"
Khoryv's expression turned unreadable.
"Because the seal was made with witnesses. You needed the blood of the earth—me. The breath of the veil—her. And the will of those who live and die outside the forest."
He looked at the group.
"You are new life. That's what we never had. We were part of the seal. We were the lock, not the key."
Shchek tilted his head. "And now?"
Khoryv smiled faintly. "Now, the key walks. The staff breathes. And the seal begins to tremble."
He turned to the group, gesturing to the three paths.
"All tunnels now lead to the same place. Because of her." He nodded to Lybid. "Choose freely."
And then, for the first time, he stepped behind them.
He gently patted the wolf.
"Because I'm no longer meant to lead. You are."