Kael'thir flew higher, the sky thinning as he climbed, the cold bite of the upper atmosphere pressing against his scales.
But he felt nothing.
The chill, the pressure—irrelevant.
His body was beyond such trivialities now.
What mattered was the power burning within him, surging like an untamed current, trying to reshape him from the inside out.
The mana from the fallen warrior had been more than just energy.
It was a seed.
A fragment of something ancient, buried deep within the marrow of his being.
And now—
It was awakening.
Kael'thir's mind raced with visions not his own.
Worlds layered upon worlds.
Floating islands suspended in realms of fractured space.
Oceans that defied gravity, spiraling upward into endless voids.
And beings—entities of pure mana and consciousness, their forms shifting between reality and illusion.
But the most jarring vision of all—
A gate.
An enormous structure woven from threads of space and time, its surface flickering with symbols that seemed to burn into his mind.
A threshold.
A path beyond this world.
Kael'thir's wings faltered slightly, his breath sharp as the vision faded.
What was that?
A memory from the warrior?
Or a glimpse into his own future?
Either way—
He wanted it.
Needed it.
Because beyond that gate, he could feel it—power unlike anything this realm could offer.
And Kael'thir was born to devour.
He descended rapidly, the wind roaring past him as he spiraled down toward the earth.
He needed to ground himself.
Focus.
Control the raging storm within.
His wings snapped open just before impact, and he landed hard atop a jagged plateau, cracks spider-webbing out beneath his claws.
The echoes in his mind didn't fade.
Instead, they grew louder.
More insistent.
They weren't just fragments of memory.
They were instructions.
Blueprints.
Guiding him toward something he'd always possessed but never understood—
His connection to space and time.
Kael'thir focused inward, drawing on the mana that pulsed through his core.
Not just to fuel his body—
But to shape reality itself.
His claws flexed, and the air around him rippled.
For a brief moment, the world warped.
The rocks beneath him shifted slightly—not moving, but existing in two places at once.
His heart pounded.
He'd done it.
Not by accident.
But through will.
This was only the beginning.
A mere flicker of what was possible.
But it was enough.
Enough to prove that he was meant for more than just hunting beasts.
More than just consuming mana.
He was meant to reshape reality itself.
But control wasn't enough.
Kael'thir needed to test it.
To push it.
To break it if necessary.
Because only through breaking would he find his limits—and then shatter them.
His gaze shifted to the horizon, where distant peaks pierced the clouds like jagged teeth.
There was something there.
Something old.
Something powerful.
A presence that pulsed like a heartbeat, faint but undeniable.
Not prey.
Not yet.
But soon.
Kael'thir spread his wings, feeling the air respond not just to his form but to his very will.
And then he flew, faster than ever before, the world blurring beneath him as he chased his next challenge.
Far below, the fox still watched.
But this time, she didn't just observe.
She moved.
Her golden eyes glimmered with ancient knowledge, her form shifting slightly as traces of hidden power flickered around her.
She wasn't just following Kael'thir.
She was waiting for the moment when her own evolution would begin.
And that moment was drawing closer.
Because Kael'thir wasn't the only one with secrets buried in his blood.
The world was changing.
And soon—
So would she.