The lion moved with intent.
Not rage. Not blind fury. Its massive body shifted with deliberate precision, flames tightening around its form like restrained violence. Kael's breath caught as the image flashed through his mind before it happened. The leap. The angle. The crushing weight of a flaming paw descending on his chest, bones breaking, breath stolen forever.
Death.
His body reacted before fear could fully take hold. Kael twisted sideways, boots scraping across scorched soil as the lion's paw slammed into the ground where he had been standing. The impact shook the clearing, cracked earth exploding outward as burning embers scattered through the air. Heat washed over his skin, searing and suffocating. He rolled instinctively, barely stopping before another attack followed, faster than the last.
Too fast.
Kael forced himself upright, heart pounding so loudly it drowned out every other sound. The lion did not pause. It did not roar. It adjusted its stance, shifting its weight, recalculating.
That was when Kael understood.
"It's learning," he whispered, the realization sending a chill through him that had nothing to do with the heat.
The next attack came with a different rhythm. A feint. A sudden change mid leap that his foresight failed to fully clarify. The future fractured, overlapping images colliding instead of lining up cleanly. Kael stumbled backward as flames grazed his arm. Pain exploded instantly. He gasped, biting back a scream as fabric burned away and skin blistered beneath it. The sharp agony tore him out of focus, his vision swimming for half a second.
Half a second was almost enough to kill him.
He threw himself forward as fire tore through the space behind him. The ground cracked open, flames pouring from the fissure like something alive. Kael landed hard, chest slamming into the dirt, breath leaving his lungs in a painful rush. He stayed down for a moment, hands shaking as he pressed them into the ash-covered earth.
His heart was no longer racing with excitement. This was panic now.
"So this is it," he thought grimly. "This is what happens when I get careless."
The thrill he had felt earlier faded, replaced by a heavy pressure crushing down on his chest. Control was slipping. The future was no longer clean or precise. Images came too fast, too tangled, like reflections in shattered glass.
The lion circled him slowly, massive paws sinking into scorched ground. Its eyes burned brighter than before, not wild, but sharp and calculating. Kael pushed himself up, ignoring the pain screaming through his arm and ribs. His breathing was uneven, shallow. Each inhale felt insufficient. Each exhale burned.
"I can still see," he told himself. "I just need to stay calm."
But calm was becoming harder to maintain.
The lion roared, the sound slamming into Kael like a physical force. Heat surged outward, the air trembling violently. Trees that had somehow endured until now finally collapsed, burning and cracking as they fell. The battlefield shrank, escape routes erased in moments. Kael's foresight showed him fewer safe steps. The future narrowed until it felt like a closing fist.
"Damn it," he muttered.
He dodged again, barely avoiding another swipe. His foot slipped on loose ash this time. He recovered, but not cleanly. Flames licked at his side, searing through fabric. Pain shot through his ribs, sharp enough to blur his vision. Blood soaked into his clothes, warm and real.
Kael staggered, coughing, chest tight. The thought crept into his mind uninvited.
"I could die here."
Not dramatically. Not heroically. Just burned, crushed, forgotten.
His mother's image surfaced immediately. Her frail hands gripping the wheelchair. The forced smile she wore whenever she tried to hide her pain. The way her breathing sometimes hitched when she thought he was not looking. Kael's jaw clenched.
"No," he whispered. "Not like this."
He forced his breathing to slow. In. Out. In. Out.
The Farsight Wisp pulsed faintly within him, not stronger, but steadier. Kael noticed something then. When fear surged, the future fractured. When he steadied himself, the images sharpened, even if only slightly.
"So that's how it works," he realized. "It's not just seeing. It's holding yourself together."
The lion lunged again.
This time, Kael did not retreat immediately. The decision shocked even him. Instead of fleeing, he stepped closer, heat scorching his face as claws passed inches from his chest. He moved with intention rather than speed, trusting the exact moment he saw death arrive and stepping aside only then.
The ground behind him exploded.
His heart slammed against his ribs, but beneath the fear, a strange clarity emerged. The closer he stayed, the less room the lion had to overwhelm him with wide, destructive attacks. It was reckless. Insane.
But for a moment, it worked.
Then the pressure changed.
The lion stopped moving. It stood tall, flames roaring higher as its presence pressed down on Kael like a mountain. The air grew heavy. Breathing became difficult. Kael's legs trembled under an invisible weight.
"This is its true power," he realized through clenched teeth.
His foresight showed something different now. Not a single clear death. Not a clear path forward. Multiple endings flooded his vision, too many to process. Fire. Crushing force. His body broken in countless ways. The future became a storm he could no longer navigate cleanly.
Kael's knees bent involuntarily. He caught himself with his sword, blade sinking into the earth for support. Sweat poured down his face, mixing with ash and blood.
"This thing is far beyond me," he admitted silently.
And yet, the thought from before returned stronger than ever.
"I can't beat it," he thought. "But do I really need to?"
His grip tightened around the sword. Spirits were not just beasts. They were will, presence, authority. What if subduing a spirit was not about breaking its body, but enduring its pressure?
The idea was terrifying.
Kael forced himself upright, ignoring the pain tearing through his body. He met the lion's gaze directly. Fear surged, but he did not look away.
"I won't run," he said quietly. "Not anymore."
The lion reacted instantly, gathering fire into its mouth. Heat condensed into something far denser than before. Kael's foresight struggled violently, overlapping futures collapsing into chaos. This attack was different. Stronger. Final.
He saw himself failing in more futures than he could count.
His hands shook.
But he stayed.
He planted his feet and steadied his breathing the way he had learned moments before. In. Out. In. Out.
"I don't need to win," he told himself. "I just need to endure."
The lion released the attack. The world turned white with fire.
Kael moved at the last possible moment, not away, but through a narrow gap his foresight barely caught. Heat tore past him, close enough to blister skin and scorch hair. The force hurled him backward. He slammed into the ground hard, the impact knocking the air from his lungs. Pain exploded through his ribs, sharper than before. He coughed, blood filling his mouth.
He did not get up immediately.
The lion advanced, slow and certain. Kael lay there, staring at the burning sky, chest rising and falling in shallow gasps. His body was failing. His strength was draining fast.
But his eyes were calm.
"I can still see," he thought faintly. "Just barely."
The Wisp pulsed again. Not awakening. Not evolving. Just holding on.
Kael rolled onto his side and forced himself to his knees, sword shaking in his grip. He met the lion's gaze once more, battered, burned, bleeding.
The fight was no longer about survival.
It was about will.
And Kael refused to let go.
The lion raised its paw. Kael's vision fractured into countless possible deaths.