Chapter 39 — Range
Rei ran and the forest came apart around him.
The first impact hit the ground hard enough to shake his teeth. He shortened his stride on instinct just as a trunk ahead of him burst, bark and splinters screaming through the air. Rei cut toward the opening without slowing, boots slipping once before catching again. Jinx streaked past his knee in a flash of white and red, tail snapping sharp. Vesper's weight pressed down at the base of his skull, steadying him as the world lurched.
The bear tore through the gap like a landslide given muscle.
It came low and fast, shoulders driving, forelimbs ripping saplings out by the roots. The air punched out of Rei's chest as he slid sideways, letting the bulk thunder past close enough to feel heat rolling off fur. His gloved hand tore across its flank as he passed, claws biting deep. Warm wetness splashed his forearm.
The bear twisted with a roar that shook leaves loose from the canopy.
Something slammed into Rei from the side. He hit the ground hard and rolled, grit tearing at his eyes. Wood cracked nearby as a backhand folded a young tree in half. Jinx flashed in and out of the bear's vision, fire snapping bright enough to drag its head after her before she vanished again. Vesper pressed firm and low, keeping Rei's spine aligned as he forced himself up.
The bear charged again.
Rei ran straight at it.
The space around him warped as he cut at the last instant. The bear's line dragged wide, claws gouging earth where Rei had been a moment before. The ground bucked under the impact. Whatever had twisted the space snapped apart as Rei stumbled, timing ripped loose, and the bear clipped him anyway.
Pain tore through his ribs. He skidded across broken soil and stone, breath ripped from his lungs. He forced air back in and moved before the follow-through could land.
Mud sucked at his boots as he broke into a low stretch of ground churned soft by rain and roots. His foot sank to the ankle. He wrenched free, staggered, and used his gloves to catch a half-buried root before he went down again. The bear hit the same patch a heartbeat later and drove straight through it, weight collapsing the ground into a sliding mess.
Rei scrambled, slipping, hauling himself forward with claws and raw grip. The bear's injured shoulder dragged through the muck, blood streaking dark through its fur, but it kept coming. A forelimb slammed down near Rei's head, sending mud spraying. Rei twisted away and felt claws rake his side, heat flaring as skin tore.
Jinx darted low, snapping fire against the bear's face. It snarled and swiped, missing her by inches and tearing a trench through the ground instead. Vesper's presence surged, forcing Rei's limbs to answer even as pain tried to lock them.
Rei broke free of the mud and ran.
The forest ahead collapsed under the bear's passage. Rei drove into the wreckage, vaulting a fallen trunk and landing hard. His gloves bit into bark as he hauled himself over shattered wood, claws shrieking as they held. Behind him, the bear plowed through the same space, crushing obstacles instead of slowing, breath huffing wet and heavy.
Something else lunged from cover, drawn by noise and blood. It came fast and wrong, limbs jerking, mouth opening too wide. Rei turned toward it on instinct and slammed pressure into it hard enough to stagger it mid-leap.
The bear erased it.
Bone and flesh smeared across stone as the bear's shoulder clipped it out of the air. Rei used the chaos to cut left and run uphill, breath burning as the slope steepened.
Roots tore at his boots. He slipped, caught himself with one hand, claws screaming against rock as they held. Jinx streaked past his shoulder, fire snapping at the bear's face. It snarled and swiped, missing her and gouging stone instead.
Rei crested the rise and didn't slow.
The ground ahead broke into uneven shelves and short drops. He leapt, landed, rolled, came up running again. The bear followed, relentless, its weight cracking stone beneath it. Rei felt something give in his side with a sharp, sickening heat as he took another glancing blow and kept moving anyway.
The bear closed.
Rei turned and met it head-on.
Both gloved hands slammed into the bear's forelimb as it lunged. Claws sank deep. The impact drove pain up his arms and rattled his teeth. Blood splashed across the rock, thick and dark. The bear bellowed and wrenched free, its injured limb dragging for a half-step before it corrected.
It came anyway.
The bear hit Rei like a wall. The world went sideways as he slammed into the slope, ribs screaming. He rolled, skidded, and came up gasping. Jinx crashed into his chest and rebounded with a snarl, planting herself between Rei and the bear for an instant that mattered. Vesper pressed down, fierce and steady, forcing Rei's lungs to work through the pain.
Rei staggered up and ran.
Stone skittered and broke under the bear's weight as it followed. Rei cut through a narrow gap between boulders, shoulder scraping rock, then leapt and caught a ledge one-handed. His claws bit deep. He swung, boots skidding, and hauled himself onto a shelf barely wide enough to stand.
The bear barreled into the gap and wedged for a breathless instant. Stone ground against fur. Then it tore free with a wrench that split rock and widened the passage, climbing again despite the blood matting its shoulder and flank.
Rei backed up.
The shelf crumbled under his heel.
Pebbles slid away and vanished into open air. Wind surged up fast and cold, tearing at his clothes. Rei planted and found nothing behind him.
The bear charged, injured and furious, its weight cracking the edge beneath it.
Rei ran three steps and jumped.
Air tore the sound out of him. Weightlessness flipped his stomach as the world fell away. Jinx yelped and leapt with him, twisting midair to stay close. Vesper surged outward, wrapping Rei in pressure and warmth—
—and then both foxes dissolved into him in a rush of heat and motion, tails folding inward as if pulled by something deeper than thought.
The bear followed, committed, a massive shape surging over the edge with a thunder of breaking stone.
Wind screamed.
The world turned inside out—
Rei reached for where Jinx had been—
—and there was only falling.