The cave was dim, the silence broken only by the girl’s shallow breathing. She lay near the fire, unconscious, her arms charred from wrist to elbow. Sixteen, maybe seventeen. Her body bore the marks of a rift’s rage — raw burns, blistered skin, trembling muscles beneath scorched flesh.

Selene crouched beside her, trying once more to press poultices into place. The herbs had stopped the bleeding, but the damage went far deeper than skin. “She’s not improving,” she whispered. “The wounds aren’t responding.”

Kael stood nearby, still, eyes fixed on the girl's ruined arms. She had collapsed just outside their cave. Before passing out, she had said one thing: “If you’re fighting the rifts… I want in.”

Selene sat back, defeated. “We don’t have what she needs. No more salves. No potions. Not even hope.”

Kael didn’t move. “We’re not letting her die.”

“There’s nothing more we can do.”

“There is,” Kael said, softly. “There has to be.”

He walked away from the fire and sat cross-legged near the wall. He closed his eyes and placed his hands in his lap. Not to meditate — to calculate.

Kael didn’t believe in miracles. But he believed in patterns.

If mana could be used to ignite, shape, push, pull — then surely it could also be used to repair.

He visualized the girl’s body like a structure, a broken system — skin torn like cracked stone, blood vessels ruptured like burst pipes. He imagined the mana as invisible threads. If he could guide it, instruct it, maybe he could knit it all back together.

He stood and walked to her, kneeling beside Selene. “I need space,” he said. She nodded and stepped back, watching with wide, uncertain eyes.

Kael hovered his hands just above the girl’s forearms. He inhaled slowly.

No crystals. No chants. Just purpose.

Mana began to stir.

Kael focused on her injuries. He pushed his mana outward — not in a blast, but like threads weaving into flesh. He pictured layers of skin rejoining, muscle fiber realigning, heat dispersing from deep tissue.

The girl flinched. Her breath hitched. But Kael didn’t stop.

He adjusted the mana pressure — not brute force, but modulation. Precision.

He followed the pulse of her body, syncing his rhythm. Bit by bit, the redness faded. The cracks in her skin sealed. Burnt flesh restructured, soothed by invisible stitching.

Minutes passed. Sweat rolled down Kael’s brow. His fingers trembled.

And then —

She exhaled.

Her face relaxed. Her breathing deepened.

Kael removed his hands. The arms once torn open now looked whole — pale scars remained, but the pain was gone.

The girl’s eyes opened slowly. Confused. Alert.

“You...” she rasped, “you healed me.”

Kael collapsed backward, chest heaving.

Selene rushed to him. “Kael!”

“I didn’t heal her,” he murmured. “I just... told her body how to fix itself.”

Selene looked from Kael to the girl, eyes wide with disbelief.

Healing magic wasn’t supposed to exist. Not like this. Not born of logic. Not created by a child.

But now it did.

And it had begun with him.

Later that night, after Kael had regained his strength and Selene had helped the girl drink some warm broth, the fire burned low between them. The girl sat up, arms now fully functional, wrapped in clean cloth.

Kael’s voice was quiet but steady. “What happened to you?”

The girl stared into the flames. Her jaw clenched. “My village is gone.”

Selene leaned forward. “Was it a rift?”

She nodded. “It opened just beyond the valley, deep in the forest. We thought it was a storm at first. Then the ground split and... something came through. I ran. I didn’t look back.”

Kael exchanged a glance with Selene. “Do you remember the location?”

The girl hesitated, then nodded. “A day’s walk from here. Past the broken bridge near the black pines. There's a clearing... I saw the creature feeding on something glowing. I think it was eating mana stones.”

Kael frowned, thoughtful. “That’s far from the last rift we encountered.”

Selene’s eyes narrowed. “Then the cracks are spreading.”

Kael nodded slowly. “This beast… it may still be there.”

He stood. “It’ll be dangerous. But if we observe it from a distance — it could be good practice. We need to understand how these creatures behave… before we enter another rift.”

The girl looked up at him. “You’re going after it?”

Kael’s eyes held no fear. Only clarity.

“Yes,” he said. “We’re not just waiting for danger anymore. We’re preparing for it.”

At dawn, the cave was quiet again. The girl slept soundly for the first time in days, her body finally at rest.

Kael stood near the entrance, strapping on his makeshift belt. Selene joined him, her expression unreadable but calm. Luman perched on Kael’s shoulder, tail flicking as if already sensing the tension ahead.

They moved without speaking, the forest mist curling around their feet as they stepped outside. The broken bridge, the black pines, the clearing — it waited for them.

Kael’s steps were light but measured. His mana was still low, but his focus was razor-sharp.

“We’re not here to fight,” he said, glancing at Selene. “Just to learn. Observe. Understand.”

“And if it sees us?” she asked quietly.

Kael didn’t stop walking. “Then we test what we’ve built. And what I just discovered.”

Selene nodded. Luman growled low, alert.

Together, they vanished into the fog, heading toward the place where the forest had been broken — toward the beast that would define what came next.

They reached the clearing just past midday. The black pine trees stood like sentinels around a wide open field where the earth was cracked and darkened. The air buzzed faintly, a strange vibration running through the ground.

Kael raised a hand, and the group stopped behind a fallen tree.

“There,” Selene whispered.

The beast stood across the field, hunched over a pile of shattered mana stones. Its body was massive low to the ground, muscular, with skin like shifting coal. No eyes, just sensing. Its jaw cracked unnaturally as it devoured glowing fragments.

Kael narrowed his eyes. “It’s absorbing the mana directly. Like fuel.”

He began sketching its movement in a small notebook. “Its front legs drag slightly. That could be a weakness.”

But then 

Luman shifted. Just slightly. A twig snapped beneath his foot.

The beast paused.

Its head snapped toward them.

And it roared.

In a blink, it leapt across the field, faster than either of them expected. Selene grabbed Kael’s arm and pulled him down as the creature’s tail smashed through the fallen tree.

“Move!” Kael shouted.

They rolled aside just as the ground erupted. Dust and splinters flew.

The observation was over.

Now, they had no choice.

They would fight it — head-on.