Emil faces the decision his father made:
“Is there a way out?” Emil asks.
“You have his eyes,” she whispers. “Leave before the green takes you.”
“He chose to stay,” she says. “The moss offers eternal memory — you become part of the land, feeling every sunrise, every worm moving through soil. But you lose your name. Your hunger. Your loneliness.”
“You came. That’s enough. Now go home — and tell them the forest is not cruel. It is just full.”