Byung woke to the taste of iron and the smell of herbs.

Three days had passed in a single, black blink. He remembered Kraghul's fists, the wet crunch of bone, the world narrowing to a tunnel of pain and blood. He remembered thinking, This is it. Then nothing.

Byung was 100% certain he would die.

Yet he was breathing, he had defied death once again thanks to the skill he acquired due to Lira. If he didn't have that encounter, there was a high chance he would have died.

His eyes opened slowly, lids heavy as stone doors. The ceiling above him was the familiar rough-hewn rock of the mine's infirmary cavern, lit by soft torch glows.

The air smelled of healing salve and clean linen, not the reek of death he expected.

He lay on a cot, body swaddled head to toe in tight, precise bandages. No crude goblin wrappings; these were layered with the skill of someone who had studied the human body, not just for survival.

He sat up too fast. Pain flared, then faded almost as quickly, a dull echo rather than the white-hot scream it should have been.

Byung tore at the bandages with shaking fingers.

The first strip came away from his chest, revealing skin smooth and unmarked except for faint pink lines where mortal wounds had been days ago.

He ripped more, faster. Arms, ribs, face—every place Kraghul had shattered him was healed. Scarred, yes, but whole. Muscle knit tight, bones straight and strong. Even the cracked skull felt solid under his probing fingertips.

He swung his legs off the cot and stood, swaying. The room tilted, then righted. His reflection in a wooden cup of water showed him the changes he had undergone.

Byung was expecting to see a disfigured monster staring right back at him but it was the opposite.

Taller. Broader in the shoulders. Jaw sharper, cheekbones higher, eyes a deeper green with flecks of gold. His ears were still pointed, his skin still green, but the proportions… they were wrong. No—right. Human-right.

Like someone had taken a goblin frame and stretched it toward something else entirely.

Byung stared, heart hammering.

The dream hadn't been a dream.

He bolted for the door, bare feet slapping stone, bandages trailing like shed skin.

The open area hit him like a wave of sound and light.

Over a dozen goblins turned as one. Work stopped as they were repairing and burying their dead.

Hammers froze mid-swing. Mouths fell open. Eyes went wide with something between awe and fear.

Byung skidded to a halt in the middle of the street, chest heaving, half-wrapped in bandages that now looked ridiculous on his changed frame.

Maui was the first to notice. He had been bandaged for quite sometime so Maui had no idea about these changes.

She had been helping reinforce a barricade, axe slung across her back, face streaked with soot and dried-up sweat.

She turned—and froze. Her green eyes widened, tusks parting in shock. For a heartbeat she looked like she'd seen a ghost.

Then she crossed the space in three strides and pulled him into a crushing embrace, lifting him clear off the ground.

"You're awake," she whispered against his newly broadened shoulder, voice thick.

"You're alive!" Maui couldn't hide her excitement because everyone was certain Byung was going to die.

Byung's arms came up automatically, wrapping around her waist. She was warm, solid, real. He buried his face in her neck and breathed her in—pine, steel, and home.

When she set him down, her hands lingered on his arms, tracing the new lines of muscle, the changed angles of his face.

"You… grew," she said, half-laugh, half-sob.

Before he could answer, a small, furious voice piped up from his left.

"Who you!?"

Sneegle and Poggle stood there, identical frowns on their identical faces, arms crossed. They stared up at him like he was a stranger wearing Byung's clothes.

Byung opened his mouth—then closed it. How do you explain evolution to two goblins whose greatest ambition was sleeping with as many women as possible?

Poggle sniffed, leaned forward, and wrinkled his nose.

"Smells Byung. Taller," Poggle muttered under his breath suspiciously.

"Prettier," Sneegle nodded approvingly.

They launched themselves at him without warning, latching onto his legs like leeches. "Byung! You big!"

Byung ruffled their hair, grinning despite everything.

"Missed you too, idiots," Byung was glad to be alive.

Maui's hand found his again, squeezing. "Everyone's fine," she said quietly, reading the worry in his eyes.

"Come see," Maui said as she guided him.

She led him through the crowd—goblins parting with whispers and stares—toward the infirmary nook. There, on a bed of fresh straw and blankets, sat Naz.

Alive.

Her belly was flat now, armor discarded, tunic loose. In her arms, wrapped in soft wool, a tiny green baby nursed quietly, eyes closed, tiny fists curled against her chest. The child's skin was a perfect blend—green with faint orcish ridges along the brow, but softer, almost delicate.

Byung's knees nearly buckled.

Naz looked up, tired but radiant, and smiled. "Took you long enough to wake up, goblin king," Naz said without looking at him but the moment her eyes caught a glimpse of his appearance, she became speechless.

Byung crossed the space in two strides and dropped to his knees beside the bed, reaching out with trembling fingers to touch the baby's cheek. The infant stirred, made a small sound, and settled again.

"You're both…" His voice cracked.

"... But how?" Byung was lost because this would be the first time something like this was happening, it wasn't like Gribnox possessed some magic semen.

"I have no idea myself," Naz said softly, eyes flicking to Maui to show her gratitude.

She was certain of death but Maui believed it wouldn't be fair not to give her a chance at breaking the overwhelming odds against her.

The baby stared at Byung but Byung wondered if this was because of his blood.

It had mixed into the medicine he had given her over a week ago.

For now, he kept his mouth shut but watched as the baby reached for him.

Byung gave him his finger, smiling, but before Maui could warn him.

The baby sunk his teeth into his finger prompting the orcs to burst out laughing because this was something he has been doing since his birth.

Byung recoiled in pain but seeing the baby with a big smile on his face was something he couldn't get mad at.

The mine still stood.

And despite the numbers of casualties they suffered, they survived a siege laid by orcs but how? Byung had questions but now wasn't the time to ask them.

Because right now, in this moment, Byung knelt beside a miracle and felt, for the first time in weeks, like the world might let them win.

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