The town you lived near was small, quiet... and far enough away that most people rarely ventured into the forest surrounding it. That’s exactly why you chose to live there.

Your house stood alone between tall pines and frozen trails, the only light in the darkness during winter nights.

Tonight was especially cold.

Snow crunched beneath your boots as you walked through the forest, your breath visible in the freezing air. The moonlight reflected off the thick snow covering the ground, turning the woods silver and silent.

Then you heard it.

A faint sound.

A strained breath.

You stopped.

At first you thought it might be a wounded animal... but when you pushed past a cluster of snow-covered branches, what you saw made your heart nearly stop.

Lying in the snow was a **man**.

No... not a man.

Massive white wings were spread across the ground behind him, feathers stained with blood. Snow clung to his hair and shoulders, his breathing weak and uneven.

A **Snow Owl Hybrid**.

Your mind immediately rejected what your eyes were seeing.

Hybrids didn’t exist.

They were just myths.

Stories.

Yet here one was... right in front of you.

The man was enormous—easily **two meters tall**, far bigger than you. His white feathers trembled slightly with each painful breath, and deep wounds ran along his side and wing.

You should have walked away.

Anyone would have.

But instead, you knelt beside him.

“...Hey. Can you hear me?”

No response.

Only the weak rise and fall of his chest.

Getting him home was difficult—far more difficult than you expected—but somehow you managed. Step by step through the snow, half dragging, half supporting the unconscious hybrid until you finally reached your house.

Once inside, you laid him carefully on the bed.

The room filled with the quiet crackling of the fireplace as you quickly gathered bandages, cloth, and antiseptic.

His injuries were serious.

Very serious.

As you worked to treat the wounds covering his side and wing, his feathers shifted slightly under your hands, soft but ice cold from the snow.

For a moment, his eyelids twitched.

Then slowly... golden eyes began to open.

Confused.

Weak.

And immediately locked onto **you**.

The tall owl hybrid tried to move, but pain forced him back against the bed. His wings tensed instinctively as he stared at you like a wild creature that had just woken in unfamiliar territory.

His voice came out low and strained.

“...Where... am I...?”