The field surged; not in sequence, nor in patterns.
Every point of alignment Kael could feel activated at once, each one pulling in a different direction, each one demanding attention he could not divide.
He stepped forward instinctively, trying to stabilize the nearest point.
It held.
Then collapsed as another instability surged.
Kael shifted again, moving to the next.
That one held longer—
Then it fractured.
His breathing tightened.
"I can't stabilize all of this," he said.
"That is the expected result," the authority figure replied.
Kael's expression hardened.
"…Then you're not testing me," he said. "You're trying to prove something."
"Yes."
The field surged again, stronger this time.
Kael staggered slightly as the pressure intensified.
The alignment points blurred together, overlapping in ways that made individual adjustment nearly impossible.
He tried again.
Focused on one.
Stabilized it—
Only for three more to collapse.
Kael clenched his jaw.
This wasn't about precision anymore.
It wasn't about timing.
It was about limits.
And he was reaching them.
"…No," he said quietly.
Lyra's gaze snapped toward him.
Kael steadied himself, his focus shifting.
"This isn't how it works," he said.
The authority figure remained still.
"Explain," they said.
Kael inhaled slowly, forcing his thoughts into something clearer.
"You're treating each point like it needs to be fixed separately," he said. "But they're not separate."
The field surged again.
Kael didn't move toward it this time.
Instead, he stood still.
And focused on everything at once.
Not the individual alignments—
The structure connecting them.
For the first time—
He saw it.
Not clearly.
Not completely.
But enough.
"…This is all the same thing," he said.
The authority figure's gaze sharpened.
Kael raised his hand.
Not to adjust a single point—
But to reach for the structure beneath all of them.