A breeze swept through, and a leaf broke loose from a branch.
As it began its descent, it danced in the air like a feather caught in a lazy drift, before gently landing on the face of a man lying on the ground.
Kael's eyes snapped open.
In the span of a single breath, he pushed himself upright, propping himself up with his hands behind his back.
He immediately began scanning his surroundings.
The horizon was blocked by dense, lush forest, but the sky had shifted, from a gentle blue to a menacing gold.
He turned, checking the area behind him, until his gaze met another's.
Next to him, a massive beast lay still, staring straight at Kael.
But something was off.
Its eyes were dull, and its chest no longer rose or fell.
Kael flinched, then let himself fall back with a thud.
"I must have dozed off for a few hours."
He wiped at his face, but the dried blood refused to come off.
Only the harsh scrape of his coat brushed across his skin.
He raised his other arm and looked at it as it trembled.
His jaw tightened before he let it fall limp to the ground.
A dull, spreading ache surged through his shoulder.
He let himself lie there for a moment, watching the clouds drift overhead, before pressing himself up and rising to his feet.
His eyes turned toward the beast.
'I underestimated its reaction time. The delay cost me the first strike. Missing it threw the entire fight into chaos.'
Kael's gaze shifted to the Wolf Tiger's hind legs.
'Ah. I see. That must be what happened.'
Kael had planned to trap both back legs with the rope, but the creature's senses had been too sharp.
Even the slightest tension in the line caught its attention.
It twitched. It jumped.
The rope caught only one leg.
That was enough to shift the outcome.
It was enough for the beast to become alert and spot Kael the moment he emerged from the brush.
It could almost be considered negligible, but such a small mishap gave it the time it needed to react, avoid his attack, and launch a counter.
After flinging Kael aside, the beast had a moment to calm itself and assess the situation.
And the instant it caught sight of Kael's broken state, its instincts surged.
It lunged toward him, completely forgetting the rope still tied around its leg.
As it rushed forward, the rope stretched to its limit.
Carried by its own momentum, the cord snapped tight, yanking the beast sideways and slamming it into the ground with brutal force.
A sharp tear followed as one of its tendons gave out, buying Kael just enough time to launch an attack of his own, finishing the fight.
Kael walked toward the beast, his right hand resting in his side pocket to avoid putting strain on his shoulder.
He bent down and grabbed one of its fangs with a firm grip, then pulled.
The wolf's head shifted with the tooth but didn't budge, not even a fraction.
Kael's expression hardened.
He placed his foot on its skull, pressing down with more weight.
Drawing in a sharp breath, he summoned all his strength.
A soft, sickening squelch followed as the fang finally loosened, breaking free with a loud snap.
As it gave way, Kael stumbled backward and landed on his back, still gripping the tooth in his hand.
He sighed and walked back to the beast, retrieving the last fang.
A quiet scoff escaped him.
'I finally got the first ingredient. But I'll need to plan more carefully next time.
If every piece takes this much effort to gather, I won't even live long enough to refine the mote.'
He glanced over his shoulder one last time at the Wolf Tiger, then turned and walked away, leaving even its valuable hide and parts behind.
As Kael approached the streets of Velthoria, people instinctively moved out of his path.
And how could they not?
He walked through the city covered in blood, carrying two massive fangs in one hand.
Everywhere he passed, the heavy scent of iron lingered in the air like a warning.
Even as he passed the great library where Kerrin preached each day, the man faltered mid-sentence.
His voice caught for just a moment as he watched Kael stride past, bloodied and silent, leaving only silence and unease in his wake.
As Kael opened the door and stepped into Syleena's house, she looked up from the papers in front of her and gave him a sharp, questioning glance.
"Do not touch anything before you take a shower."
Kael didn't respond or even look her way as he walked past toward his room.
Syleena exhaled quietly and returned to her papers, having grown more accustomed to his presence.
He placed the two fangs beside his bed, then walked to the wardrobe, gathering everything he needed to clean himself.
Stepping into the bathroom, he removed his clothes and leaned over the counter, resting his arms against it as he stared into the mirror.
His face was stained with dried blood, once crimson but now nearly black where it had mixed with dirt.
His upper body was marked with bruises, and his shoulder was visibly swollen from the earlier impact.
The only feature left untouched was his deep green eyes, still cold and unreadable.
He raised a hand and pressed it against one of his lower ribs.
His jaw clenched.
'Two fractured ribs. One dislocated shoulder. No wonder, im struggling to move.'
He threw the towel over his shoulder and walked to the shower, hanging it on a hook.
This fight had gone worse than expected.
It was the most damage he had taken in a long time.
He turned on the shower.
As mist began to gather across the glass walls around him, he stood still and let the water run, slowly washing the dried blood from his skin.
As soon as he had cleaned himself, he stepped out of the shower and changed into a fresh set of clothes.
He walked over to the bed, picked up the two fangs, and brought them to the desk.
Lowering himself into the chair, he set the fangs down beside him.
Extending one arm to the side, he turned his palm upward.
A faint yellow light flickered to life.
In the blink of an eye, a golden rod shot out from his palm, reaching its full length.
Kael took hold of the end and brought it toward one of the fangs.
He placed a bowl in front of him, then began to file the surface of the tooth with the golden rod.
The saber tooth was made from beast bone, harder than stone, but still soft compared to a weapon created through a mote.
He pressed forward, drawing the rod back and forth across the tooth, grinding the dense bone into fine powder that settled into the bowl below.
"That should do it."
After what felt like an eternity, Kael wiped the sweat from his forehead and dismissed the golden rod. It dissolved into a mist of golden dust before fading from sight.
The bowl in front of him was now filled with a pale mound of fine powder, rising well above the rim.
'Finally. That makes one. Just a few more to go.'
Even though he had only gathered a single ingredient, it was progress.
The lower the rank of a mote, the simpler the recipe.
And while Kael hadn't even started the refining process yet, this was the beginning. The easiest stage of creating a mote.
Still, he felt it.
A quiet sense of satisfaction.
Even a flicker of excitement.
He had never refined a mote before. Everything he knew was theoretical.
But now, with the first piece in front of him, the idea of crafting one with his own hands stirred something deeper than he expected.
Kael pushed the bowl to the back end of the desk and threw the remaining parts of the fangs at the end of the bed on the floor. Leaned back in his chair, slumped his head against the backrest, and let his eyes rest on the ceiling above.
The pursuit of strength had its difficulties. That much was obvious.
The path was slow, uncertain, and often steeped in compromise.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
But the excitement was undeniable.
He pushed the chair back, the legs scraping against the floor with a sharp screech, and rose to his feet.
The day was giving way to night, but there were still things he needed to do before he would allow himself to rest.
Kael stepped out of his room and entered the living room, where Syleena sat near the fireplace, peacefully sketching in her notebook.
The soft glow of the low-burning fire cast warm shadows across her figure, outlining the lean, elegant lines of her frame with quiet grace.
He paused beside Syleena and glanced down at her drawing.
She stopped, then slowly closed her sketchbook, resting her hands on top of it as she looked up.
Her hazel eyes met his with calm curiosity.
"What's up?"
Kael looked at her for a moment, then gave a quiet nod, signaling her to follow.
"Come. Let's go out for a while."
Syleena raised an eyebrow, a hint of confusion in her expression.
She shrugged lightly and stood, slipping the sketchbook under her arm.
"Sure, why not? The night sky is beautiful tonight anyway."
Syleena quickly grabbed her coat, and together they stepped out of the house, entering the moonlit streets of Velthoria.