The Legend of Ochi

During a hunt, a baby Ochi is injured and separated from its family. Yuri frees its leg from a trap and brings it home to treat it in secret. She discovers the creature is sapient and capable of feeling, not the mindless monster she was taught to fear.

Realizing the Ochi are capable of bond, Yuri vows to return the baby to its kin. She sets off with the infant, while Petro chooses not to intervene, preferring to stay away from the escalating hunt.

Maxim discovers signs of Yuri's departure and the Ochi's presence in her room, and he rallies the hunting party to search for her. He insists the Ochi abducted her, aided by a note and her grandfather’s knife left behind, a gift from Maxim she rejected.

Petro quietly separates from Maxim's group to search for their mother Dasha, who lives in a secluded cabin in the mountains. He hopes for guidance away from his father's militant obsession with the Ochi.

Yuri ventures into a supermarket with the baby Ochi, a move Maxim never allowed. The encounter triggers a chaotic scene, and Yuri is bitten by the baby Ochi, forcing her to steal a car in panic to escape.

The pair take refuge near a pond, where Yuri gradually learns to understand and imitate the baby Ochi's vocalizations. The moment is interrupted when Yuri falls into a caged hole in the ground, risking her safety.

Dasha treats Yuri's injuries using bat-blood remedies and explains that the Ochi language was not learned from venom. She reveals she has studied the language herself and describes her past, including a prosthetic arm and her separation from Maxim.

Maxim and his hunters raid Dasha's storage space in search of maps of the Ochi territory. The confrontation exposes his continued manipulation of Yuri and reveals a gift—she left a note and a knife Maxim had given her, which he had bought as a gas station ploy to impress her.

Yuri uses the Ochi language to reunite with the baby Ochi after their earlier separation. They camp by a river, and the baby speaks of missing its mother while Yuri wrestles with her own conflicted feelings toward her parents.

Seeing Yuri's resolve, Dasha regrets her coldness toward her daughter and resolves to locate Yuri and the baby Ochi. She sets out, determined to bridge the distance created by Maxim's influence.

Yuri constructs a makeshift raft with the baby Ochi and travels down a river toward the Ochi cave system. They glimpse hostiles and attempt to approach the holes in the mountain, which they briefly seal to hide from outsiders.

Petro decides to head into the cave alone to avoid endangering the children, removing his ceremonial armor to swim. He separates from Maxim's group, choosing a path that might bring him closer to his family.

Inside the caves, Maxim's leg becomes trapped by a pile of logs, and Yuri uses the Ochi language to calm him. She apologizes for rejecting his gift, asking him to trust despite the misunderstandings. Dasha's flute and the Ochi vocalizations help cool the situation as the baby Ochi returns to its mother and the group begins a fragile reconciliation.