There was no "wind-up." No warning. One moment Kael was standing, the next, the floor slammed into his cheek so hard his vision flashed. His helmet clacked against stone. His gauntlets scraped as his hands reflexively tried to catch him, but even that felt like lifting against a collapsing ceiling.
"F-fuck!" Kael cursed as he couldn't move, he desperately tried to lift his body up, but no amount of strength was going to help him do that.
It wasn't just his limbs refusing. It was the space itself saying "no." His ribs compressed. His lungs struggled to expand. Even his tongue felt heavy in his mouth, like speaking was something he had to purchase with pain.
Kael felt fear, real fear, that Climbers were dangerous, this man was dangerous, deadly even.
Not the kind of danger Kael could outthink with a rune trick. Not the kind he could outrun with [Momentum]. This was the kind of danger where your options stopped existing.
