Lightning Is the Only Way

After about two hours, the water receded. Gravis opened his eyes and stood up. He felt different. He had already realized that he could breathe in the water some time ago. He didn't know how that was possible but decided that when all of this was over, he would ask Forneus. Right now, there were other, more important things.

When the water completely vanished, the purple light returned in the middle of the room. After it disappeared, Gravis saw a mountain lion. Its height was around the same as the tortoise's. Thick beige fur covered its entire body, and two red eyes watched him.

Without pause, the mountain lion charged at Gravis with surprising speed. It was about as fast as Gravis himself. Gravis readied his saber and stood his ground. He felt fear again, but this time, he managed to control it. The tortoise and the water helped him shed a layer of his weaker self. Even though he was still afraid, it did not impact his judgment.

The mountain lion jumped and clawed at his torso. Gravis jumped to the other side and kept watch on the mountain lion. After it missed, it turned to him and pounced. Gravis sidestepped again. He was not attacking until he either could no longer easily evade or knew all its tricks. That he survived the initial snap of the tortoise was only luck, and he never wanted to bet his life on luck again.

The mountain lion continued attacking in different manners, but all its movements were predictable and straightforward. Running away from something was always easier than to kill something. Even though both of them had about the same speed, with Gravis always sidestepping and keeping track of the mountain lion, he never got hit once.

After about a minute of doing this, Gravis felt confident that the mountain lion had no more surprises for him. Now, he wanted to test something else. The mountain lion swiped at him again, but this time, Gravis didn't sidestep. Instead, he slashed at the incoming claw. The edge of the saber hit the middle of the mountain lion's paw and cleanly severed it. The defenses of the tortoise and the mountain lion were incomparable.

It stopped its barrage of attacks and just watched Gravis cautiously. It knew it was outclassed here, so it retreated and ran away. Gravis just watched it as it tried to find an exit

felt as if he was about to do something wrong. He felt the same when he watched the tortoise slowly die. The mountain lion was no danger anymore, so there was no real reason to kill it. The

passed, and both of them sat on different sides of the cave. Gravis no longer felt serene. Instead, he felt extremely frustrated. Again, he was forced to do something he didn't want, just because he was too weak. Before, he was forced to watch his best friend die, and now, he was forced to kill something, he didn't want to kill! If he were stronger, would he

couple of hours, Gravis gritted his teeth in frustration until a trickle of

HE!

HATED!

THIS!

was no other way. He had to kill it! Gravis channeled his frustration into rage and ran at the mountain lion, which quickly stood up and ran away. In their top

thighs. It turned around and tried to bite him, but Gravis sidestepped again. "I should, at least, make it as quick

and frustration will not help me. First, I need strength, and only then will I gain freedom!" He pulled the corpse to the side of the cave and placed it beside