A forge fire burned alongside Ranvir’s mana. It burned a yellow so hot and bright it appeared almost excitedly white. It had been nearly two months since he’d dared to release his power. Though the time in Orykto had been torturous, it had also been freeing. If he wanted to release his full power, he could. More often than not, he had to.

And he didn’t need to hold back here either.

Kicking off another hardened platform of space, Ranvir surged across the lake. The rich yellow glow of sand mana surrounded him, spilling over the boundaries of his spirit and reflecting in the lake's dark waters.

Distantly, he sensed two powers perking up. The creature dwelling at the water’s bottom touched him with its tether-sense and realized his target. Ranvir caught a vague hint of self-satisfaction as it pulled back. All throughout the waters, the fish and other animals retreated to the depths.

The king calling its subjects back.

On the mountain, however, smaller animals were fleeing across the boulders and outcroppings as birds took flight above. A massive surge of rain, wind, and water gathered near the peak. Flocks of avians departed the mountain, smaller gatherings flying away in disorder, as well as larger groups forming an amorphous shape as they fled.

Over them all, a creature of immense size rose. Every beat of its wings audibly lashed the air and sent ripples over Ranvir’s outfit. He didn’t hesitate. Shrinking space ahead of him, Ranvir kicked off with all of his might.

Wind rushed in his ears so loudly, he barely heard the bird’s squawk of surprise. Air turned solid around Ranvir moments before impact. Together, the bird and he blasted out of the skies. The frantic beat of wings pulled on the air, almost leaving him breathless.

With a moment to recover, however, Ranvir grabbed a fistful of its feathery chest and haul himself upwards. Diverting his power, Ranvir emphasized defense as he gathered Sand Strike in his other hand. Opening the pocket-space, sand rushed to his fist, swirling wildly.

Grit exploded outwards, blowing the two combatants apart. If only momentarily. Hardening space, Ranvir slammed into a purple network, coming to an immediate and rattling halt. The bird still struggled to gather itself. Ranvir grinned, his senses on high alert as he launched forward.

He sensed the very space around him echo with something. A reflection of their actions. The worldshard itself was preparing for their bonding. Resonating with his intent.

While the fish had clearly decided to bond with the boy, his prey struggled. Pulling his sand-pocket behind him, Ranvir gathered a Sand Strike on each fist, one of flesh, the other of sand and insects. The bird finally righted itself, just in time to see him coming. But it was too lat-

Ranvir stopped in mid-air. The world swam for a moment, blood rushing to his head. Air and water had turned into chains, wrapping him up from head to foot. Realizing his mistake, Ranvir dismissed Sand Strike fully powered his Rage.

With both his power and durability up and running, the barriers holding him gave. But he’d lost his momentum. The bird flung him sideways into a disorienting spin. Unfortunately for it, Ranvir wasn’t a normal combatant. His spatial awareness struggled not at all. Catching himself feet first, he halted both spin and trajectory.

The air howled and split around wind-propelled harpoons of water struck. Sensing them wasn’t enough. Their raw speed slammed him into his own wall. His elbow slammed into it hard enough for his flesh arm to go numb. The next barrage was even more numerous, blowing the wind out of him and catching him in the face. Two struck his jaw hard. Red splattered purple network, before seizing its suspension.

Dismissing the wall, Ranvir let himself fall out of the next barrage of attacks. With a mental twist, Ranvir wrapped himself in space. Just before he vanished, air seized as well. Ranvir felt his pocket-space form just as the wind turned from deafening to blinding. Water and air pushed stabbing his eyes hard enough he had to cover his face, just in time to catch a mountain.

Stone cracked and broke, pebbles washing over him. Blinking once, Ranvir cleared his vision in time to see a painfully familiar salvo heading his way. The attack had failed to bury him in the stone, though his arm of sand had dispersed. Rushing down the hill, Ranvir repeatedly shrunk space. The erratic boosts of speed sent him flying down the rocky terrain at an unpredictable, break-neck speed. Not even the bird’s mana control could keep up.

With a crash and rustle of leaves, Ranvir burst into the forest. His passage initially hewed down a few green-haired giants before he gained enough control to stop indiscriminately killing the local plant life.

Somehow, the bird never lost him. Missiles of water and wind slamming dangerously close. Thankfully, he’d gotten enough distance for accuracy to become a big enough factor to protect him.

Scowling through the canopies, Ranvir examined his target. It was huge. Far bigger than any bird he’d ever seen. If they’d both been standing on the ground, it would’ve still been head and shoulders bigger than he. Each wing was longer than it was tall and regularly slapped the atmosphere, bullying it into keeping it aloft. It didn’t quite match the look of a hawk, but its accuracy still spoke of excellent hunting instincts. Or at least, a killer eyesight.

Black, gray, and a few white feathers made it look the color of a bruised night sky, on the verge of a horrible storm. Its form was broad and powerful, built first for soaring and diving, rather than rapid movement.

Ranvir shook his head and cleared his mouth of blood. Then he leapt into space, almost immediately appearing behind it. He should’ve appeared behind it. Instead, he was looking directly at another harpoon.

The water struck like it was solid. Ranvir’s vision momentarily blanked out, and he felt himself spiraling, helped along by the bird. His nose had crunched at the impact. Momentum was dragging the blood down his nose and into his mouth as he spun faster and faster.

For once, unable to gather himself, Ranvir was forced to endure. Pouring power into durability, Ranvir stopped himself in midair. Reaching through his Flesh, Ranvir seized the space he occupied and froze it solid.

Everything within Ranvir was forced to a sudden halt, his rapidly rushing heart and aching lungs immediately blacked him out. But he woke up before he’d even really gathered any momentum. His stunt had slipped the bird’s hold on him and he barely escaped into another space returning to the forest.

Even before emerging, the monstrous creature was bombarding him. Water and wind smashing wood and stone. Groaning, he set back to running. The trees swayed around Ranvir. Black and green nausea played havoc with his senses. He clipped a tree, sending a spray of bark and wood shooting off into the forest.

“Enough,” Ranvir said to himself, coming to a halt. Three harpoons struck, one missing and another only grazing his shoulder. But the distance and his defense were enough to shrug it off. “Loce!” he called. Wings reflected the weak light sneaking past the other spheres as Ranvir’s arm of sand reformed.

Calling out a cloud of sand using his Absolute, Ranvir charged the bird. Devoting half power to defense, the other half to Sand Strike, he closed his eyes. Feeling with his tether-sense and hearing, rather than his eyes. Perception immediately jumped to help. He was splitting his focus in many directions, but he could do it. The bird was more fragile than the crussor, even if the terrain favored it more.

A few harpoons impacted him, sending aching slow throbs through his neck and shoulder, but he hunkered down and weathered them. The bird started retreating, but it would have to turn its back on him to escape. Instead, it also gathered power.

Gritting his teeth in a vicious grin, Ranvir stormed the bird as they matched each other. He was more powerful. He could feel it already. But the bird worked with instinctive skill. He was closing in. The wing beats grew louder, more frantic. He could feel them pushing against his hair and rippling over his clothes.

Then the bird attacked.

Ranvir struck its attack out of the sky. Water burst all across, tiny needles leaving white marks on his skin. Opening his eyes, Ranvir pulled back another punch. He could see the bald spot beneath its neck. He’d just barely missed his first attack. This one wouldn’t. The avian squawked confidently, and the water reversed.

Swirling around him, Ranvir realized he’d been trapped. Loce dispersed at his pure shock. Suddenly, he found himself in the eye of a storm. And then it collapsed on him. Water struck with force. Not as strong as the harpoons, but powerful enough to blow the wind out of him. But it didn’t disappear, instead it lingered. There was a continuous pressure as it swirled about him. He was in the eye of an underwater storm.

Spots were appearing in Ranvir’s vision as the bottom fell out of the attack. For a moment, he thought he was saved. Until he it touch down on the beach. A huge twister had formed. A tornado of raging water, and it was funneling him towards the bottom.

Ranvir attempted to wrap space around him, but he was moving faster and faster. He’d marvel at the fact he wasn’t being ripped out of the funnel, if not for the fact that he was quickly heading for the bottom.

The entire attack started glowing with storm mana as he sped up further, rocketing towards the ground. Thankfully, the twisting pattern gave him enough time to gather his defenses.

Considering suspending himself in space again, Ranvir dismissed it. Remembering the last time, he really didn’t want to fully drop what little consciousness he had left, being underwater and all.

The impact was the worst. He had time to see it coming. He’d long since prepared himself as best he could. Yet, there was nothing to do but cradle his head and wait.

Sand splashed into the air, like the ripple of a stone thrown in water. Sound returned to his ears, revealing the screaming wind that fueled the bird king’s twister. Ranvir’s ribs snapped like day-old twigs.

He would’ve screamed if he had any air left to work with. Ranvir took in a lung full of water then, as the ability collapsed. The fall of all that water bothered his smashed ribs, but the lack of air hurt him more. Dark spots became the majority, convulsions started all along his body, uncaring of his injured ribs. Then, just as darkness became overwhelming, there was air.

Gasping, Ranvir sat up, looking into a swarm of insects. Ranvir stared at Loce as water ran down along the edges.

“You saved me,” he rasped, his throat hurting almost as bad as his lungs, which hurt almost as bad as ribs. He could sense the bird flagging. That had been an enormous attack, even on their scale. But it had failed. Coughing up the last bit of water, he sensed the bird rallying. Mana gathered to it, more sluggishly this time, forming more harpoons from the rain.

Sinking his hand into the sand, Ranvir spread his awareness into the beach and all the way down throughout the lake. He needed to return the favor. Drawing fully on his mana, Ranvir burst into yellow fire again, his eyes glowing a vibrant purple.

The bird couldn’t keep pulling attacks like the waterspout, but Ranvir could. He threw a hand upwards, Sand Barrage pulling most of the lake’s silt with it.