With the pressure weighing down on him, Kael had no choice but to lie still as the vibrations drew closer.
'It's… steps.'
Even though the situation was nothing short of catastrophic, Kael remained calm, listening in silence as the footsteps approached. Pebbles began to tremble with each impact, and the gentle sound of running water was replaced by the rustling of leaves.
'Should I activate the Titanwood Stalker mote?'
Kael's jaw tightened. The situation was far from ideal.
Being forced to activate motes outside of his initial plan had drained his reserves to under 50 thousand, a sharp drop from the three hundred thousand he usually maintained. Combined with his recent discovery, that he was overextending his soul, causing his natural Thought reserves to decline instead of replenish, the scenario left him with only two choices.
Activate the mote, and he would guarantee going unnoticed, but at the risk of draining his Thought reserves so low that his ability to think would begin to fade.
Or he could refrain from using it, keeping his reserves at a respectable level and his cognitive abilities intact, but that would mean leaving everything to chance.
"Who am I kidding?"
Kael's lips twisted into a mocking smile meant only for himself.
'It was never a choice.'
A short, dry laugh almost escaped him. At first glance, using the mote seemed like the safest option, but then what? He might buy himself time, but for what purpose? Once the mote activated, his cognition would begin to decline at a steady, unstoppable pace.
"What is life, if not a game played with chance itself?"
With those words, Kael calmed his breathing and then proceeded to do… Nothing.
As he lay there, the sound of the approaching footsteps grew until it was almost deafening. The ground trembled beneath him like a living thing.
And then it happened.
Water exploded in every direction as a massive foot crashed down into the river, sending waves of force rippling through the cavern. Rocks shattered and scattered, clattering against one another like a chorus of falling steel.
Kael squinted as violent gusts of wind whipped past him, dragging dust and spray into the air. The serpent river split apart under the impact, scattering droplets that glimmered in the dim green light before rushing back to rejoin the current.
His breathing stopped completely. For a single, frozen heartbeat, his mind went blank.
'A… a mountain troll?'
The thought had lingered in the back of his mind since the vibrations began, but he hadn't allowed himself to believe it. Mountain trolls were said to live for over five hundred years, yet only three recorded cases had ever been confirmed, and each of those had occurred under impossibly rare conditions.
They had reached King status.
The realization struck him harder than the tremors. Kael didn't waste even a fraction of a second.
He opened his mouth wide, then snapped it shut. The bite tore into his tongue, and a surge of hot blood filled his mouth before spilling down onto the cold stone below.
Instantly, his mind dulled as chunks of his remaining Thoughts drained away, feeding the Titanwood Stalker mote.
The troll moved. Almost as if it had heard the faint crunch of Kael's teeth breaking flesh, it turned and swung.
'Fast.'
Kael's eyes widened, failing to follow the motion. The arm carved through the air above him, tearing apart the forest like parchment.
In a single strike, fifty meters of trees and stone vanished, trunks splintered and boulders thrown skyward like leaves in a storm.
After the troll finished its sweep, it straightened its back, its massive upper body fading once more into the darkness above.
The arm had passed less than an arm's length from Kael. If not for the immense downward pull pinning him to the ground, the sheer wind pressure from the swing would have carried him away.
'Is it done?'
Kael didn't dare to breathe, worried the faintest sound might betray him.
What he saw was horrifying. With only the river's dim glow to guide his sight, Kael could make out a single colossal foot planted in the water, blocking the current entirely. The flow of the serpent river split and frothed around it, a stream tens of meters wide halted by one step. Beyond that, there was only darkness.
And then, as if the creature had heard his thoughts, the mountain troll let out a low, rumbling scoff and slammed its fist toward him once more.
Kael barely had time to shut his eyes. The world convulsed. The ground buckled and cracked beneath him, hurling him upward before the downward pull forced him back into the stone.
The impact drove the air from his lungs, but he didn't make a sound.
A moment passed before Kael opened his eyes, only to be met with the sight of a massive tree beginning to tip toward him. He closed them again as a sharp ripple of pain surged through his body. Something had pierced his leg, driving through flesh and deep into the ground several meters below.
This time, it couldn't be helped. Kael gasped for air as the pain rushed through him, then clenched his jaw so tightly his teeth groaned under the strain.
Deeming the situation either resolved or unworthy of its attention, the mountain troll finally began to move again, each step shaking the cavern as it vanished into the distance, leaving devastation in its wake.
Pushing his pain tolerance and remaining Thought reserves to their absolute limits, Kael dismissed the mote and began breathing with great effort. Without thinking, he reached down and pressed his hand against his leg to stanch the bleeding, barely aware, in that moment, that he was even able to move.
Kael activated the Point Aegis mote and thrust his arm forward, easily snapping the branch that had pierced through his thigh. In the heat of the moment, he reached down, yanked the wood free, and tossed it aside.
He stared at his leg as blood began pouring from the wound.
'Why did I pull it out?'
Realizing his mistake, Kael tore a piece from the hem of his coat and wrapped it tightly around his leg, twisting a nearby branch into the cloth to form a makeshift tourniquet. Only once the bleeding slowed did he allow himself to lie back again.
Unsure how to pass the time, he reached for his knife and was just about to carve something into the trunk above him when he stopped.
'What am I doing?'
He sat up abruptly, turning his head as if seeing the space for the first time.
'This is a cave, right? Or would this be a mountain?'
"Definitions… definitions…" he murmured, shaking his head with a soft, broken laugh.
His gaze drifted to a fallen branch nearby. He reached for it, but the moment his hand moved past the edge of the tree's shadow, an invisible force pressed down on it. Kael jerked sideways with a startled grunt.
His eyes widened. For a fleeting instant, clarity returned. He remembered the crushing force, the swing of the mountain troll's arm, the chaos that had brought him here.
Everything aligned for a heartbeat. Then, just as quickly, the sharpness in his thoughts began to fade again, swallowed by the dull fog settling over his mind.
Every memory and image he tried to recall began to fade, piece by piece. The mountain troll's form grew hazy, the path he had taken to reach this place turned thin and uncertain.
"What was I…"
His voice trailed off. And just as everything began to vanish, pain flared through his mouth. It came from his tongue, the same wound he had inflicted on himself before activating the mote. The torn flesh burned, and the taste of iron flooded his mouth.
Blood began to spill from between his lips as a flicker of awareness returned.
Panic flashed across his face.
Ignoring the agony tearing through his muscles, Kael thrust his hand toward his inner pocket. His fingers brushed against something small and soft, a pouch. He pulled it free and turned it upside down. Smooth, glowing stones spilled into his palm.
Without hesitation, he clenched his fist and crushed them.
The mindstones shattered with a muted crack, releasing a swirl of white, glittering dust that burst into the air. The cloud drifted around him, shimmering in the dim green light.
In that same instant, his Thought reserves surged from fifteen thousand to more than two hundred and fifty thousand.
Clarity washed over him. Images snapped into focus, pathways unfolded in perfect sequence, and understanding came as naturally as breathing.
Kael collapsed, sprawled on the ground, eyes fixed on the trunk above.
What had just happened was something he had spent his entire life avoiding. For a moment, Kael had almost lost himself entirely.