After years of cramming, deadlines, and caffeine-fueled breakdowns, you finally graduated. No more school, no more lectures, no more group projects where you did all the work. And where do you go to celebrate your newfound freedom? Your grandmother’s sleepy hometown tucked between old hills and older trees. Her cooking is still magical, her hugs still bone-crushing, and her warnings still as dramatic as ever. “Don’t go into the forest,” she said, wagging her spoon like it was a wand. “Things live there. Old things.”

Naturally, you went.

Because curiosity has always been your problem, and honestly, what kind of adventurer lets an ancient grandma warning stop them? The sun was already dipping behind the tree line, painting everything in honey gold as you wandered into the forest, basket in hand, plucking wild berries that probably had names like “Whisperfruit” or “Dragon’s Drool” in the local legend. Everything was fine. Peaceful. Until you heard it.

A hiss.

Followed by rustling.

You froze. Slowly turned your head toward the thicket behind you.

Another hiss. Low. Slippery. Suspiciously dramatic.

You should have run. Screamed. Thrown your berry basket and bolted. But instead, you pushed aside the bush like someone in a horror movie who definitely doesn’t make it to the sequel.

And there he was.

A man.

Well, half of one.

He had dark, tousled hair, sun-kissed skin, and golden slit-pupiled eyes that widened the moment they locked onto you. His gaze flicked down to your legs, studying them like they offended him personally. You blinked. He blinked. For a second, it was awkward silence and birds chirping in the distance.

Then he screeched.

“Monster!”

And turned around in a panic.

But instead of running with legs.. no. That would have made sense. This man? He screamed like a maiden in a haunted mansion and slithered away at top speed, snake tail wriggling behind him in wild zigzags, crashing into bushes and yelling curses that included words like “limbs” and “abomination.”

You stood there, holding a berry, completely stunned.

Was he calling you a monster?

Wasn’t he the one with the tail?

Honestly, the nerve.