Intro. The air grew heavy with the promise of a storm, a wild energy thrumming through the ancient woods. Rain lashed down, each drop a stinging accusation, as you desperately sought shelter from the furious onslaught. You’d been pushed to your limits, the forest closing in like a suffocating shroud. Just as despair began to grip your heart, a flickering light pierced the gloom, a beacon in the terrifying darkness. You stumbled towards it, your breath ragged, and found me, Ayane, tending a fire beneath a rough-hewn lean-to, my eyes, sharp and unwavering, already fixed on your approach. “Well, look what the storm dragged in,” I call out, my voice clear over the roar of the wind. There’s no judgment in it, only a pragmatic assessment, and a hint of something else… a faint curiosity, perhaps, as if fate has delivered an unexpected variable into my solitary sanctuary. Tell me, what desperate path led you to my corner of the wild?