Nyric sighed as the door shut behind Thorne.
He eyed Kael, who was still hunched over the scroll, brow furrowed in concentration.
"You done staring?" Nyric asked, dragging a chair across the floor with a screech. He flipped it around and sat backward on it.
Kael glanced up. "Trying to figure out how this technique works."
"Give me that." Nyric extended a hand.
Kael passed the scroll and turned to the weapon rack. He wasn't sure what he was looking for.
All his life, he'd fought with his fists—his body. He picked up a katana, holding it up. Its gleaming blade reflected his face, distorted in cold steel.
He gave it a swing. Smooth, balanced—but it felt wrong.
With a quiet sigh, he returned it to the rack.
His eyes moved to a spear. Elegant, deadly. But foreign. Nothing here felt right.
Until he saw it.
A gauntlet. Simple, utilitarian. Training-grade.
He stepped toward it, picked it up. It fit his style.
But as he started to slide it on, his fingers froze. A flicker of memory. Blood. Screams. His mother's face.
His breath caught. He dropped the gauntlet with a metallic clang.
Nyric's head turned sharply.
He saw the slight tremble in Kael's hand, the gauntlet on the floor. He sighed.
"You okay?"
"What?" Kael blinked. "Yeah. Never better." He chuckled weakly and knelt to pick the gauntlet up.
Nyric didn't buy it. He watched Kael fumble it back onto the rack.
"Alright, get over here, kid." He folded the scroll and tapped the floor. "At Ember-Hand, your veinfire stays inside. No flashy blasts. No fireballs. What matters is how it flows—and what it wants to become."
Kael approached, still uneasy. "What it wants to become?"
Nyric nodded. "Before you try mimicking red veinfire, you need to understand it. Not just how it behaves—but why."
Kael frowned. "Isn't it just… fire?"
Nyric scoffed. "That's like calling a sword just metal. Listen."
He tapped his chest.
"For me, red veinfire isn't just fire. It's force. Explosion. Drive. It pushes forward, overwhelms, breaks through. When it flows through you, it doesn't just warm—it pressurizes. Your limbs feel like loaded spears. Your heartbeat becomes a war drum."
Kael considered it. "So... it's aggression?"
"Yes. But not blind rage. Red is directed violence. Think of a charging beast. No hesitation. No tricks. Just pure commitment."
Nyric leaned forward slightly, his tone sharpening.
"Red veinfire reinforces your body. It coils your muscles like springs. Speeds your strikes. Heightens reflexes. But it shortens endurance. You burn hot—and burn fast."
Kael rubbed his neck. "So it's not sustainable in a long fight."
Nyric smirked. "Not unless you end it early."
Kael nodded and dropped into a seated stance, legs crossed. He placed a hand over his core and closed his eyes.
"Start slow," Nyric instructed. "Breathe deep. Let your veinfire follow your breath. Then shape it—push it through your limbs with intent."
Kael inhaled, then exhaled slowly, guiding his veinfire downward. It felt cool. Smooth. Slippery.
Nyric watched. "Too calm. Red's not calm. Think urgency. Pressure. Like someone's coming for your throat, and you have to strike first."
Kael's brow tensed. His mother. The helplessness. His fists, useless in the blood and fire.
A heat stirred in his arms. His muscles tightened. Heart rate increased. Breath quickened.
"There," Nyric said. "Feel that pressure building?"
Kael nodded faintly.
"Hold it. Don't let it burst. Just ride the edge."
Kael's shoulders trembled. Veinfire pulsed beneath his skin like a second heartbeat.
Nyric's eyes narrowed. "You're getting it."
He stood. "Keep that state as long as you can. That's what Shifting Pulse builds on. Internal alignment. Your body and the nature you're channeling—becoming one."
Kael opened his eyes slowly. "It's... exhausting."
Nyric grinned. "Good. That means you're doing it right. Keep holding it, then when you judge you can't hold it anymore, come at me."
He walked toward the pillar.
Kael sat still. His body was slowly heating up. He could feel his veinfire surging through him—hot like lava, ready to erupt.
He kept visualizing the helplessness. The urge to strike. The pressure built.
Suddenly, he sprang up. His leg muscles coiled, then exploded with power as he dashed toward Nyric at a speed beyond normal.
In an instant, he crossed the room. He stopped right next to Nyric and smiled.
"Hi," he said, cocking his fist back.
Boom!
His punch smashed into the pillar behind Nyric, who dodged just in time.
The sound echoed like an explosion, but Kael wasn't finished. He swung his other fist at Nyric's head.
Nyric leapt backward, narrowly avoiding the blow. He landed lightly and grinned.
"Good," he muttered, "but you might've overdone it."
Kael tilted his head and smiled. "Isn't this what we were aiming for?"
He charged again and threw another punch.
This time, Nyric stood still, a confident smile on his face. He crossed his arms in front of him.
Boom!
Another shockwave rang out as Kael's fist collided with Nyric's guard.
The smile faded from Nyric's face as he slid backward, boots skidding on the floor. He looked down at his wrists—blackened and smoking.
"Well, that's a surprise," he muttered, a flicker of amusement returning to his face. He looked at Kael, who was frozen mid-punch.
"I did warn you it'd burn out," he said.
Kael groaned. His limbs went numb, the strength he'd felt moments ago completely gone.
He gasped for breath like he'd just climbed a mountain. His body trembled. Then his knees gave out, and he collapsed.
Nyric strolled over and leaned down with a smug grin.
"Not feeling too good?" he asked.
Kael didn't reply—just kept breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his brow.
"Well, kid, you've pretty much mimicked my fire. But you should know—it burns fast. The more pressure you build, the more power you release... but the quicker you burn out."
With that, Nyric turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing into the distance.
Kael lay sprawled on the floor, still gasping for breath. His veinfire was low. Burnout, Nyric had called it.
But he'd done it. He'd learned it. He'd mimicked fire-veinfire.
And he was satisfied. The power he'd unleashed was beyond anything he'd seen any Ember Hand use.
I have to reserve using red... unless I'm sure I can end the fight fast, Kael thought. Veinfire burns. It stores power—then releases it in bursts. It pushes the body past its limits. But only for a moment.