A strange, still silence lingered as Leon ran forward, leaping over countless debris toward a ledge.
Behind the ledge, a startled cry shot up and seeped through the skittering sound.
'Is that?' Leon thought as he peered over the ledge. There, a few distances away from the ledge, was Zoe.
'When did she?' Leon paused his thought as he tried to recall if he had seen her and didn't recognize her. But the faces he remembered weren't hers.
Two wolf-like monsters with obsidian fur and glowing eyes like molten slag cornered Zoe against a rock.
A pink barrier was between Zoe and the monsters. It kept on flickering as the monsters struck their claws on it
Leon's instincts screamed at him to run as he watched the barrier flicker whenever the monsters struck it with their claws.
But the terror he saw in the girl's eyes was too real to ignore.
He crouched down and looked at his palms. 'What should I do?'
When he peered again, he saw Zoe's expression tighten into the final look a person carries when they are about to be unmade.
As Leon caught sight of the flying sparks, his father's face flashed into his mind. The painter who kept helping others even when the world gave him little or nothing in return.
The memory lingered in Leon's head as he moved forward with a clenched fist. He scanned the ruins for a weapon as he closed the gap between him and the cornered human.
After finding nothing, the memory of the golden sword flashed through him. It came so sharp that it made him stumble and stare at his palms.
'How do I make it appear?' he thought as pain clawed through him with every passing second the monsters threw a strike.
Though it wasn't him, the sparks gave him the feeling Zoe wasn't even experiencing yet.
Leon gritted his teeth and rushed forward again with the same fury he had used on Tiger's thugs. As the distance kept on closing, memories reeled in his mind.
The ability thief, the creatures he fought with at the Granum Tower, and the other bullies he had dealt with.
When he closed in, he screamed in a loud voice that made the monsters pause their strike. Before they could even turn, Leon slammed into the lead monster's flank.
The force knocked the creature out and made it stumble a few feet away. Before Leon could regain his strength, the other creatures recoiled and snarled at him.
'At least they will back off.' Leon thought as he wiped the sweat from his face. But then, the lead wolf lunged forward. It struck the ground with its claws and leaped toward Leon.
The blade-like claws sliced through Leon's chest, followed by a sprinkling of blood.
Pain rattled through Leon's bones as he stumbled two feet back. 'No. No. No.' Leon placed his left palm on his chest wound and pressed hard, gasping for air.
The two other wolf-monsters readied themselves as they circled Leon with a low growl.
When Leon tried stepping forward, the pain doubled. He collapsed to one knee and watched the circling monster surge toward him.
In a flash, the barrier around Zoe blasted and sent sharp sparks in the air.
As the sound rattled in the monsters' ears, the lead turned and dashed toward Zoe. It hooked a claw under her arm and lifted her, opening its mouth.
"Help!" Zoe screamed in a thin and breaking voice as she watched the creature's jagged teeth near her neck.
The voice, which didn't even reach the two monsters at Leon's front, entered his heart like a blade. Without thinking about himself, he pushed himself up.
With every step he took, his bones shook, but he didn't stop. After three steps, Leon lunged forward and slammed his right shoulder into the creature's flank again.
Zoe fell and crashed on the ground, tears dripping from her eyes.
Instead of fleeing with Zoe, Leon dashed head-on with the creature. Light burst out of his eyes as his collarbone cracked on impact.
"Aaaaah!"
A death cry tore out of him. But before he could hold the collarbone, the two smaller wolves slammed him into the ground.
Leon struggled beneath them, punching them with his left fist. His eyes reddened and widened as the monsters' claws drove through his skin, bone and deep into both of his shoulders.
With no arm left to use, Leon screamed while using his knees. "DIE!"
For a second, the two monsters pulled back. 'Yes,' he thought, gritting his teeth.
Just then, a sharp pain lanced through his neck as one of the two wolves' teeth ripped the veins on his neck.
As his eyes turned red-hazy, his father's voice rose in his head: 'Know who you are!'
The voice faded with everything and sent everything around Leon into a thick blackness.
More blood poured out of his body as the creatures continued ripping him apart.
'Is this it?' He thought as he saw himself nearing the dead end. 'Is this how I die?'
Tears dripped from his left eye and traced thin lines in the blood-stained face.
'Mr. Lee's nephew was right. This is it. The frail Vessel he had spoken of.'
Lily and Li Mei's smiling faces flashed in Leon's head. And in that breaking moment, something inside Leon gave way like a lock opening.
His mind stopped reeling memories. His heart stopped beating fast. And his body became numb like a corpse. But in the hollow space that opened inside him, the golden energy rushed out.
Though he was dead for two seconds, he felt his body reweaving itself.
The golden light moved through him like an angry snake. It fixed the broken bones, sealed the wounds, and stitched the flesh with molten threads.
For a split second, he could feel the pain transform into a fierce, humming warmth.
The monsters' growls came first as his ears opened. When his vision steadied, he saw Zoe on her knees, while the wolf-monsters slowly turned toward her.
Bloodied and dust-covered, Leon slammed his palms on the ground and pushed himself up. "Hey!"
The monsters turned as Leon's voice traveled like a train blast.
"Come and get me!" Leon screamed, slamming his palms together. He snatched a stone and hurled it forward.
When it struck the lead monster, the two smaller ones turned fully and charged at Leon.
Leon's shoulders rose and fell as he inhaled deeply, feeling the golden energy moving through him like his blood.
"No more watching." He whispered, shaking his head. "No more hoping for something or someone to save me. I save me!"
A crackling sound echoed around him as he tightened his knuckles into an unbreakable fist. He closed his eyes, steadied his breath, then slowly cracked them open.
When he looked into the charging monsters' eyes, the fear was gone. For the first time, he had a feeling that the power he wielded was less like a curse and more like a tool that needed to be sharpened.
As soon as the creatures reached his side, the world slowed. Leon met the first two wolf monsters with a clean deflection.
As soon as the lead wolf lunged, everything came back to normal as its claw streaked across Leon's face and dragged over his right eye.
The impact boomed through Leon's skull and pushed him back, yet his head did not snap back. He swiped his palms across his face, only to see his skin untouched. Not even a scratch.
The creature lunged again at an unstoppable speed. The impact caused Leon to gag blood, but he wiped it away and smiled.
Fighting with the creatures gave him one understanding: he wasn't just healing. He was becoming harder to break.
When the creature tried attacking a third time, Leon sidestepped and moved toward the two smaller ones.
He drove a fist into the monster's temple and in an instant, black blood burst from the point of impact. Leon continued hitting it like it was a drum.
The second smaller wolf lunged onto Leon and sent him skidding back.
Dust spiraled around Leon as he stopped and steadied himself.
While he watched the creature near him, he shifted his focus to Zoe and froze. 'How?' He screamed in his head when he saw a different Zoe standing there.
She wasn't the quiet girl he knew. Nor was she the terrified one he had just tried saving. She looked at him and smiled.
As Zoe straightened her arms and dashed forward, the air thickened with a breaking force. The stone she was cornered against shattered in an instant.
While Leon fought with the second smaller monster, Zoe became a blur. She met head-on with the lead wolf-monster and with one strike, the monster dropped to the ground, lifeless.
She sighed in disbelief and turned toward the one Leon had been battering. She leaped and brought down a single crushing blow.
The blow sent the creature flying and spinning. It smashed into a rock a few meters away with a sickening crunch.
After several minutes, everything went quiet. But Leon wasn't. His ragged breathing and the fading hum of the golden power in his veins filled the air.
He looked in the dead monster's direction, then shifted his attention to Zoe's.
She stood there with an assessing look. The same way Feng had looked at him during the drive home.
Zoe's eyes dropped to Leon's arms, where the golden light hadn't faded, then nodded. Her reaction was not thanks or acknowledgement. It carried only a single meaning: I see what you are.
…
When all the golden light on Leon's skin faded, his skin went pale. Chills ran down his spine as his pains began rushing through his skin.
He sat on the bloodied ground, knees pulled to his chest, watching the dust settle around Zoe's boots.
Zoe's eyes shifted from Leon and remained on the sickly green sky.
The purple clouds pulsed like a slow, tired heartbeat when Zoe sighed.
When Leon looked up, the memory of him and his father sitting on the roof of their building flashed through his mind.
It was a dark, star-filled night. Chilled air flew across their skin like ice as Andrew pointed a finger at the constellations.
"Son, when things get hard, look up." He said, wrapping his arms around little Leon's shoulder.
"The sky is the only place that doesn't care about your problems, but will remind you that pain is not the only thing that exists."