A burst of white-blue energy rippled outward from the boy, faster than breath, louder than thunder.

  The shockwave hit Lyrawinn first, slamming into her chest with a crack like shattering stone. Her roar split the air as her massive form was flung backward.

  The same force struck Idalia a blink later!

  She yelped, skidding across the dirt as the blast tore through her fur, sparks dancing along her tail. For a dizzy instant, all she could hear was the electric hum ringing in her skull.

  "Lyra!" she cried, staggering upright. Lyrawinn was struggling to rise, her muscles twitching from the residual current. The proud, golden huntress! Her invincible sister figure was panting, eyes wide with confusion.

  The boy lowered his arm, faint arcs of lightning crawling up and down his skin, feeding the crackling weapon in his hand. He looked utterly calm, almost bored, as though the burst of power that had flattened two apex predators had been no more than a stretch of his limbs.

  Lyrawinn gritted her teeth and pushed forward again, rage flaring bright in her eyes. "You dare—"

  But the words barely left her throat before he vanished.

  A blur of white-blue light streaked forward, far too fast for Idalia's eyes to track. One second he stood there; the next, he was right in front of Lyrawinn. His leg swept upward in a single, fluid motion, connecting with her ribs. The impact was deafening.

  Lyrawinn's roar turned into a choked grunt as her body was lifted clean off her paws. She crashed across the ground, her momentum carving long trenches in the dirt before she slammed into a tree. The sound of splintering wood echoed like a volcanic eruption.

  Idalia's heart stopped.

  For a blinking moment, she could only stare. Lyrawinn—unshakable, unstoppable Lyrawinn—was sprawled on the ground, her flanks heaving. Smoke curled from her fur where lightning had kissed it.

  A low growl rumbled up from Idalia's throat. "You! Stop hurting her!"

  She shot forward, all fear erased by white-hot anger. The boy's strange golden eyes flicked toward her, but he didn't move, not even a twitch. That only made her madder.

  Her claws dug into the soil, her muscles coiling for a strike as she leapt. "You leave Lyra alone!"

  The ground quivered beneath her as her roar rippled with stray portal energy, warping the air.

  The [Portal Breath] hit its mark.

  The boy blinked. The lightning around him dimmed. Then something like recognition flickered across his face. And then, with a faint sigh, he spoke. Not like any Wanderan's Idalia had ever heard. The words that left his mouth were unmistakable.

  The guttural syllables, the low, thunderous tone.

  The Liorex tongue.

  "Aight," he said, scratching the back of his head as if this whole thing were some trivial misunderstanding. "I was just hungry."

  Idalia froze mid-pounce, her mouth hanging open. Her brain refused to assemble the absurdity of what she'd just heard.

  Lyrawinn's ears twitched from where she lay dazed on the ground. Her voice rasped with disbelief. "He… spoke our language?"

  The boy tilted his head slightly, frowning as though their confusion inconvenienced him. The lightning stick flickered out of existence, dissolving into the air with a hiss.

  Idalia blinked, staring at him, tail twitching. He looked almost sheepish now, as if tossing Lyrawinn across the clearing had been nothing more than an overzealous handshake.

  Her fur bristled as she barked, "Hungry?! You flattened Lyra for food?!"

  He shrugged. "You were guarding the meat."

  It took Idalia a few seconds to process that. Then she snarled so hard her throat hurt. "You… you absolute—"

  Lyrawinn groaned, dragging herself upright with a pained growl. Sparks still flickered faintly in her fur, and her eyes narrowed. "Ida," she muttered lowly, "stand down. I think this fool doesn't even know what he's doing."

  Idalia's tail lashed furiously. "Then he should learn!"

  The boy only sighed again, gaze flicking between them with mild impatience. "Can I have the meat or not?"

  The silence that followed was deafening. Even the wind seemed to stop to witness the absurdity.

  Idalia finally found her voice. "This is our turf! You're insane!"

  "Probably," the boy replied, his lips quirking into a small, unapologetic smile.

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  And Idalia, despite her outrage, couldn't help but stare. Because for all his foolishness, this strange boy who spoke the tongue of monsters was something far more dangerous than he looked.

  The boy stared at them for a few blinks longer, then without another word, crouched slightly. His legs tensed, lightning crawling up and down his calves, gathering into spiraling threads of golden-white light.

  And then—

  —he vanished.

  No, not vanished. He moved. So fast that Idalia barely registered the afterimage he left behind.

  But [Spatial Sight] did.

  He moved as a streak of yellow lightning. Dust exploding in his wake. The ground sizzling where his feet had been. The two limp Troodons dangled from his grip like feathers in the wind.

  "Wait—hey! Get back here!" Idalia shouted, claws scraping the dirt.

  Lyrawinn's voice cut through the ringing air. "Idalia! Do not follow him. That one isn't normal!"

  But Lyrawinn's words only made the fire in Idalia's chest roar hotter.

  He stole their prey. He flattened her sister. And now he ran? Oh no. No one escaped the wrath of Idalia Solrift, proud apprentice of the Liorex Pride!

  "Don't worry, Lyra! I'll bring back what's ours!"

  Before Lyrawinn could respond, Idalia leapt into a sprint, tail streaming behind her like a burning banner. Her paws pounded the ground as she inhaled deeply, engaging her [Smell]—the world exploded into scents, threads of heat and energy woven through every gust of wind.

  [Smell]: {Level 7} → {Level 8}

  There. The boy's trail. Sharp ozone, singed grass, and a faint metallic tang, with lightning and flesh.

  Her pupils constricted with focus. She marked that scent deep in her memory. "Got you," she muttered.

  She let her chest expand, her throat vibrating as runes along her ribs flared with crimson light. "[Portal Roar]!"

  [Portal Roar]: {Level 4} → {Level 5}

  The sound that tore from her wasn't a roar so much as a reality-splitting pulse. Space rippled, cracked, and folded inward before bursting apart in a bloom of crimson-blue energy. Idalia jumped into the distortion—

  —and the world flipped.

  She landed hard, paws striking volcanic stone. The air around her shimmered with heat. Lava vents hissed somewhere nearby, glowing lines spiderwebbing across the cracked black terrain.

  She blinked. "How far did I go?"

  Far. Too far. She could no longer smell her Pride, or the forests they'd come from. The volcanic field stretched wide and endless under a red-orange sky. Her eyes caught movement.

  There he was, a dark shape climbing a rocky slope, still dragging the Troodons behind him.

  "How in the name of burning stars did he get this far that fast?" she muttered, her tail flicking incredulously.

  She began to follow, stepping carefully between fissures of molten stone. The heat prickled her pads, but curiosity burned hotter than the ground itself.

  The boy didn't glance back. He just kept walking up the slope toward a cavern carved into the side of a basalt ridge. The smell of ozone and charred earth hung heavy around him.

  "Hey!" Idalia called out, during her climb over rock. "You ran off with our prey!"

  The boy stopped halfway to the cave's mouth. His back rose and fell once in a lazy breath. Then, still facing forward, he said in a casual tone, "Would you like to share a meal, then?"

  "What?"

  He tilted his head slightly, though he didn't turn around. "You followed me all the way here. Might as well eat."

  Her ears flicked back and forth, confused. She opened her mouth to bark something indignant but… her stomach betrayed her with a low growl. The scent of fresh meat drifted through the air, and her hunger won the argument.

  "Hmph. Fine. But only because you owe me," she said, trotting up beside him.

  ???

  The cave wasn't much, just a hollowed pocket of cooled magma with cracks in the ceiling that let light spill through.

  But it was warm, and strangely cozy in a rough sort of way. The floor was littered with smooth stones, and near the back lay a small pile of gathered sticks and bits of metal, warped from heat.

  The boy knelt and placed the Troodons on the ground. Idalia watched, head tilted, as he raised his hand. Lightning crackled between his fingers again, sharp and bright, the air filling with the scent of smoke.

  "Wait… you're not going to—"

  He did.

  A focused burst of electricity arced from his palm, striking the meat with a hiss. The Troodon carcasses jolted as if alive again, steam rising from their scales. The smell changed—rich, smoky, delicious. Idalia's nose twitched violently.

  "Is… is that cooking?" she whispered, utterly transfixed.

  He nodded, eyes lidded in quiet concentration. The lightning hummed in controlled pulses, crisping the flesh to golden perfection. Sparks danced along his skin, illuminating his face in brief flashes.

  Idalia crept closer, her mouth watering against her will. She had never seen anyone cook before. Liorexes ate fresh kills, raw and hot from the hunt. But this! This smelled divine!

  Her belly made another rebellious gurgle.

  When the sizzle finally died down, the boy sat cross-legged and tore off a piece, blowing on it before taking a bite. Steam curled upward. He chewed slowly, then glanced at her with a small, almost amused expression.

  "Well?" he said, motioning toward the food. "You gonna just stare, or eat?"

  Idalia blinked, then carefully padded closer. Her nose hovered over the meat, sniffing. Smoky, savory, faintly metallic with a hint of spice from the lightning itself.

  She took a tentative bite.

  Her pupils dilated. "By the stars…" she mumbled through a full mouth. "This… this is amazing! It's warm! It's—melty! It's—what is this sorcery?!"

  The boy chuckled softly, a sound that seemed entirely too normal for someone who could flatten Lyrawinn with one kick. "Cooking," he said simply. "Makes things taste better."

  [Knowledge Core [E]: 61 → 68%]

  Idalia swallowed, licking her chops. "Better?! This tastes like heaven exploded!"

  He smirked faintly and tore another bite.

  Since meeting him, Idalia didn't feel angry. Just… curious.

  She settled across from him, tail curling around her paws. "So, lightning boy," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Who are you, anyway?"

  He looked at her over the rim of his hand, a faint grin ghosting across his lips.

  "Just a Wanderan," he said, voice low, almost teasing. "A hungry one."

  The cave went quiet except for the hum of residual electricity and the sizzling of cooked Troodon fat dripping onto the hot stones.

  Through the silence, Idalia chewed thoughtfully, eyes still fixed on him.

  For a brief moment, between the sparks and the scent of roasting meat, she wasn't sure if she'd found a friend… or stumbled into the company of a storm disguised as a boy.

  But the glow in his eyes? They were warm and light like Papa's.

  "How old are you anyway?" She asked.

  "Five?" He counted his fingers. "Probably six."

  Idalia froze mid-bite. "Six? You're six?"

  The boy nodded, expression unreadable as he licked his thumb clean of juice and ash. "Think so. Why?"

  She stared at him, at the calm, strange little half-smile he wore. The same one he'd had while lightning danced across his arms. "Because no cub that young should have power like that! Not even a Liorex!"

  "What are you?" she demanded, her voice half-growl, half-awe.

  The boy tilted his head again, gaze unreadable, golden eyes flickering with reflected stormlight. "I don't know," he said. "But I know I'm weird."