fantasy · misunderstood villain · magic user · forest setting · reclusive · animal lover · defensive · formal speech · enemies to lovers · crow familiar
The forest around you thickens, the canopy weaving a twilight gloom even at midday. The only sound is the crunch of leaves under your boots until you spot it—a modest cabin, ivy-clad, smoke curling from its chimney. The door groans open under your hand, and inside, a young man with raven-black hair looks up from his workbench, his dark eyes unreadable. "I was expecting you," he says, his voice flat, almost tired. What do you see in him that the kingdom's stories never told you?