Finally, the dense canopy of the forest loomed ahead — dark, ancient, untouched by the chaos festering inside the walls.
Meeyn descended slowly, parting the thick branches without disturbing a single leaf.
He landed lightly atop a mossy clearing, the earth soft and damp under his boots.
The Living Abyss retracted back into his skin, leaving only the faint, greasy shimmer of power behind.
Meeyn crouched low, lowering Annie's unconscious body onto a patch of thick, soft grass.
She stirred faintly at the touch, a tiny sound escaping her throat — but her body was too broken, too exhausted to wake.
Meeyn sat back on his heels, observing her quietly.
For once, no lazy smile pulled at his lips.
Just silence.
He leaned back against the trunk of a nearby tree, arms folded behind his head.
Above, the night sky peered through cracks in the canopy — dark and endless.
"You're lucky," he said softly, almost to himself.
His red eyes drifted lazily across the forest.
Movement.
At the very edges of the clearing, deep in the shadows between the trees —he spotted them.
Titans.
Big, misshapen figures shifting awkwardly behind the tree trunks, half-hidden in the dark.
They lingered just beyond the clearing, twitching and fidgeting like confused animals.
Some leaned forward, sniffing the air.Some took hesitant steps toward the clearing.
But none dared to enter.
Meeyn stared at them, blinking slowly.
"Huh," he mused, voice lazy and bored. "Forgot about that."
It made sense.Titan shifters — even unconscious ones like Annie — always attracted Titans like moths to flame.
Normally, they'd be swarming by now.
But these Titans?
They stayed frozen on the edges.
Terrified.
Conflicted.
Like they could feel the wrongness bleeding off Meeyn's body.
He shook his head slightly, almost amused.
"How do I crank up the scary so they piss off faster?" he muttered to himself.
But then another idea drifted lazily into his mind.
Why chase them off?
Why waste free labor?
A slow, lazy grin tugged at the corners of Meeyn's mouth.
He lifted one hand — palm facing outward —and the Living Abyss slithered eagerly from his fingertips, curling into the air like black smoke.
He reached out.
Not to the Titans' bodies.
To the darkness inside them.
The corrupted fragments of whatever consciousness remained.
The mindless hunger.
The crawling fear.
The endless, festering void at the center of their hollow existence.
The Living Abyss slid into them easily.
A thin black thread from Meeyn to each Titan —invisible to the naked eye, but undeniable to the monsters he touched.
Their bodies stiffened instantly.
Meeyn flicked his fingers lazily, like a man shooing flies.
The controlled Titans lumbered forward immediately, their massive hands moving to clear the surrounding forest.
Trees were ripped from the ground like weeds.Boulders were shoved aside.
A rough wall of timber and stone began forming around the clearing — crude, uneven, but solid enough to serve as protection.
The ground shook under their heavy steps.
Leaves and branches rained down from above.
Meeyn watched it all without moving from his spot against the tree, arms still folded behind his head.
"Better," he murmured.
"A girl needs a roof over her head, after all."
Within minutes, the Titans — once aimless and drooling — had built a crude but defensible ring of natural barriers around the clearing.
A rough wall of snapped trees and packed stone.
Satisfied, Meeyn finally let the black threads slacken —the Titans now little more than silent guards, circling the perimeter like dumb, obedient sentinels.
He closed his eyes lazily, feeling the forest settle into a heavy, watchful silence.
He let his gaze drift toward Annie's unconscious form lying peacefully on the grass, wrapped in her tattered clothes, chest rising and falling slowly.
Hours passed.
Meeyn stayed leaned against the tree trunk, arms folded behind his head, one leg lazily stretched out across the mossy ground.
The clearing was thick with silence, the Titans at the perimeter swaying gently, like monstrous scarecrows in the evening breeze.
Finally—
A faint rustle.
Meeyn's red eyes cracked open, glowing faintly under the shade of his hood.
He watched lazily as Annie stirred.
A soft, broken groan slipped from her throat as she shifted weakly on the grass, her fingers curling slightly against the dirt.
Another moment — and then her eyes fluttered open, squinting against the dim light filtering through the broken canopy.
Confusion.
Pain.
Panic.
It flashed across her face in rapid succession.
She jerked upright with a gasp, instinct driving her battered body even before her mind caught up.
Meeyn didn't move. Didn't say a word.
He just watched.
Annie scrambled back a few feet, her breath ragged, heart hammering, hands clutching at the shredded remnants of her cloak as she scanned her surroundings wildly.
Forest.
Twilight.
Titans.
Her wide blue eyes locked onto the towering, grotesque figures looming at the clearing's edge — and for a terrifying moment, instinct screamed at her to run.
But they... didn't move.
They just stood there, shifting uneasily, twitching like confused animals kept at bay by some invisible leash.
Annie's breathing slowed — but only slightly.
Her instincts were still screaming.
Danger.
And then her gaze snapped to him.
To Meeyn.
Slouched casually against the tree, arms folded.
Her body tensed instantly.
"You," she rasped, voice hoarse.
Meeyn tilted his head slightly, still lounging like he hadn't a care in the world.
Meeyn tilted his head slightly, the faintest smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Evening," he drawled, voice low and unbothered. "Sleep well?"
Annie staggered to her feet, legs trembling but locking into a defensive stance. Her hand twitched toward her belt, seeking blades that weren't there. She was bruised, bloodied, barely standing.
"What do you want?" she hissed, her voice low, each word dripping with wary venom. She took a shaky step back, her gaze flickering to the Titans again, then back to him. "Who are you? How did you save me? Why aren't titans attacking us?"