The Wendigo shrieked and charged. Kaizer braced himself, planting his feet as firmly as his ruined leg would allow. His grip tightened on the bone spear. The creature’s mangled skull dipped as it lunged, claws outstretched, mouth gaping in a broken snarl.

  Yet somehow, impossibly, it missed. The Wendigo tore past him, slashing empty air inches from his face. Its claws carved a deep trench into the dirt where Kaizer’s neck had been a heartbeat earlier. The monster skidded, stumbled, and slammed shoulder-first into a cedar trunk with a wet crack. Splinters exploded outward.

  Kaizer blinked through the blur in his vision. That had not just been luck. The Wendigo had clearly made a mistake, it overcorrected. It turned too sharply and misjudged the distance. Its remaining eye darted wildly, wide with an unfocused rage, unable to track him clearly even when he wasn’t moving around. The Wendigo was clearly blind on one side.

  “So that’s it,” Kaizer breathed. The Wendigo jerked its head toward the sound, claws raised, tracking him only with its good eye. Kaizer shifted slowly toward the creature’s ruined side. The Wendigo froze. Its lone eye swept straight past him without recognition. It could not see him.

  A small spark of hope cracked through the haze of pain clouding Kaizer’s mind. He tightened his fingers around the spear. Sweat dripped into his eyes. His breathing came in rough bursts, but he moved. Slowly. Carefully. Step by step.

  The Wendigo snarled in confusion, swinging wildly and tearing a chunk from a nearby log. Kaizer waited. He watched for the lunge. He watched for the moment it put weight on its weaker leg. The Wendigo charge again, both faster but also sloppier. Kaizer slid deeper onto the blind side. The wendigo thundered past, claws once again raking empty air. As it passed, Kaizer thrust his spear. It struck true on the Wendigos leg, drawing a small gash of blood.

  Kaizer continued waiting. He watched the weight shift on the Wendigos legs. He watched the posture dip and twitch. He watched as the monster continued to overextend. Each time, Kaizer thrust his spear, making small knicks, cuts and gashes, all adding up.

  The Wendigo took its bearings, charging again. Missing again. The beast lashed out, claws gouging great chunks from a moss-covered boulder behind Kaizer. The thud shook the ground. Kaizer ducked behind a thick cedar trunk. Its wide base concealed him entirely from view. The monster sniffed at the air, head jerking in sharp, broken motions. It growled and slashed at the tree. The trunk splintered violently. Kaizer rolled away just as the cedar cracked in half and toppled.

  He forced himself up, limping heavily. Leaves stuck to the blood coating his leg. Bark scraping his cheek as he ducked behind another tree. The Wendigo barrelled forward, smashing into the falling cedar and sending it rolling. Kaizer jabbed again, the spear hitting the back of the Wendigo’s knee yet again. This time forcing a larger flinch and a small crack, still not enough.

  The Wendigo twisted violently, claws sweeping backward. The movement was so inhuman Kaizer barely recognised it as an attack. He dove under the arc, sliding in the dirt and crashing into a cluster of shrubs. His thigh erupted in fire as brambled scraped against his wound, some even getting stuck. He forced himself up, panting hard. Stabbing again, more shallow cuts.

  The monster turned to track him, but its vision had failed. In its rage, it wasn’t using other instincts. It could have used its heightened sense of smell but wasn’t thinking. Once again, the Wendigo swung at empty air. Kaizer circled, dragging his wounded leg. He thrust, higher this time, hitting the elbow joint. A glancing blow at best. Kaizer thrust again at the ribs. Spear scraping bone but doing nothing more then continuing to make the Wendigo mad. The Wendigo continued shrieking in rage. Continuing the charge.

  Kaizer darted behind a fallen tree trunk. The monster smashed right through it, splinters flying like shrapnel. A large chunk clipped Kaizer in the ribs. He grunted, stumbling backward into a patch of ferns. He thrust again from behind cover. The blow caught the Wendigo’s ribs yet again, simply scraping bone. The Wendigo’s roar fractured into something desperate. Kaizer continued dodging behind trees. The Wendigo’s claws slicing through trunks, sending more and more trees crashing.

  Branches scraped Kaizer’s shoulders as he continued to roll out of the way. Gasping for air, he felt his chest tightening. He tasted blood but he continued moving. Another thrust at the knee. Another scrape. Another howl of frustration. The Wendigo lashed out. Smashing its fist into the earth where Kaizer had been standing. Dirt exploded upward. Kaizer shielded his eyes as soil rained down over him.

  His muscles screamed for rest. He was reaching his limits, fingers numb around the spear. He stepped backward, shoes sliding on loose leaves. He nearly fell over an exposed root but caught himself against a maple trunk. The Wendigo charged the sound and slammed into the tree with enough force to send splinters exploding outward. Kaizer slipped around the far side, thrusting again towards the ribs, trying to hit its heart. Too shallow yet again.

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  The Wendigo clawed at the trunk, shredding it apart, losing balance in its fury. Kaizer stabbed at its wrist. Its flank. Ribs again. Its hip. Its thigh. Every hit too shallow. Every hit insufficient. Together though, the damage was adding up. The Wendigo’s laboured breathing rattled like broken glass. Blood seeped from cuts along its flank. Its roars grew strained, hoarse. Its claws dragged the dirt with each step. Movements losing all coordination.

  Kaizers lungs screamed for air, he was no better off. His wounded leg trembled with each step, blood continued spilling. He thrust again for the Wendigos knee. This time he scored a deeper hit. Enough to make the Wendigo stagger. He thrust again and again. Each thrust slightly deeper, carving away at its joint. Each thrust draining the monster’s strength.

  The Wendigo turned toward him, but its eye swung wildly, unable to focus. It swiped too far to the left. Kaizer slipped the blow, ducking behind shrubs and jabbing once more into the creature’s thigh. Finally. The Wendigo’s leg bucked completely. Kaizer stumbled backward, nearly tripping over a fallen log. He caught himself, chest heaving. His grip on the spear trembled. His veins burned. His arms felt like they were tearing apart.

  With no choice, he thrust. A direct hit to the weakened leg. It folded. Kaizer hit a second time. A third, a fourth. All weak, getting weaker but all precise. The Wendigo’s entire body shook violently. Claws continuing to rake the air helplessly. Its movements devolving into staggering drunken lunges. The monster collapsed, dropping fully to one knee.

  Kaizer’s heart pounded. Finally the momentum seemed to be shifting. It was enough. He moved in, dragging his ruined leg behind him. Vision flickering, but he forced his arm up again, dropped the spear and yelled “Beast Claw”. If the spear couldn’t penetrate, surely his claws could. He thrust his hand toward the monster’s chest. Pain exploded behind his eyes. His claws flickered. Nails split, but the transformation did not come. He was tapped out, his body had nothing left to give.

  “No… not now,” he whispered, voice shaking.

  He tried again. His fingers trembled, refusing to respond. His hand felt numb. His entire arm felt dead. Looking inward, he noticed a lack of essence, a lack of magical power washed over him like ice water. His strength collapsed but he could not falter. Picking the spear back up, his vision warped. Breath stuttered.

  The Wendigo rose slowly, trembling with rage, pushing itself upright with both claws, choosing to stay on all fours. Its lone golden eye burned with hatred. Kaizer saw his chance at a killing blow slowly slipping away. His thoughts fractured. His heart thundered. Terror crawled into his mind, choking everything else. His knees buckled, then everything went silent.

  The forest around him vanished. The Wendigo vanished and pain disappeared. Kaizer drifted in a vast empty dark, weightless and still. A faint glow appeared. Silver at first, then white, now edged with gold. The light swelled and the darkness retreated like a tide pulling back from shore. The void shifted, reshaping itself. Details emerged as if carved from mist.

  A mountain ridge flowed in the distance. Narrow. Cold and lonely. The wind howled across it, sharp as knives. A lone spearman stood on the ledge. He was young, maybe 18 or 19. Broad-shouldered. Balanced and still. His feet planted firmly, spear steady. He thrust forward. Slow, deliberate, focusing on a perfect form.

  Kaizer noticed wind parting around the motion. He tried to move but seemingly had no body, he was simply a spectator, no voice or will. The spearman thrust again. Then again. Time shifted, fast forwarding. Days moved into weeks, months, years. Clouds moved in great slow arcs across the sky. Snow dusted the rocks. The sun dimmed and brightened in rhythm and yet, the spearman stood, thrust. Each repetition the same. Each motion unwavering. Seasons spun by in ripples. The man aged slightly, shoulders sinking. Lines formed along his brow and yet he thrust.

  Wind bending around the strike. Rain splitting into droplets around the spear tip. Mist parting like curtains. Time continued to accelerate, the man continued to thrust. Through thinning, gray hair, hands hardening into stone-like callouses spine bending a little. Still he thrust. Again. Again. Again. Storms battered the mountains. Lightning cracked across the cliffs. Clouds began to be carved open by the spear. Every strike cleaved cleaner, sharper.

  Years went by, followed by decades. The spearman becoming an old man. Bending, weak of body, yet each thrust seemingly becoming stronger. The spear did not waver. He thrust as his breath shook. He thrust when his hands trembled violently. He thrust when the wind nearly knocked him from the ridge. He thrust, not because of strength or talent. A will unbreakable. Even as the mountain ridge crumbled underfoot he thrust.

  Kaizer began to understand. Seasons folded into centuries. The world eroded around him, yet the spear remained. One final time, the spearman lifted his trembling arms. He thrust toward the heavens, in defiance. The clouds split wide, light burst through and gleamed against the old man… No… a young warrior stood. The vision froze, showing the mans smile, defiant as his thrust

  The world shattered into white.

  Sound returned violently. Kaizer gasped as breath slammed back into his lungs. Pain filled him as he trembled. Somehow, he was clutching the spear he had previously dropped. The Wendigo was rising fully now, staggering toward him with a murderous fury.

  Kaizer inhaled sharply. The echo of the spearman’s stance lingered in him. His feet shifted and shoulders aligned. He steadied his grip and thrust. The spear struck the Wendigo’s ribs. A crack. Spear tip glowing slightly blue, Kaizer thrust again. The Wendigo howled as it’s rib bent inward. The Wendigo slashed wildly but it had been pushed back with the thrust. Kaizer tasted blood in his mouth, vision dimmed and legs began to fail but he stepped forward one last time and thrust. Blue light flickered, greater intensity this time. The bone spear slid cleanly through the small gap between broken ribs and pierced the Wendigo’s heart. The monster froze. Its claws twitched and jaw fell slack. Eyes widened in shock. Then, without warning its body convulsed violently, and it vomited blood all over Kaizer as its limbs jerked in spasms, the Wendigo collapsed backward. Kaizer collapsed with it, still holding the spear. He let go and hit the dirt hard, his breath leaving him. He could no longer move.

  Kaizer felt a massive amount of warmth enter his body. It overflowed and sank into him like warm smoke.

  [Essence absorbed]

  [Level Up]

  [Level Up]

  [Level Up]

  The system messages flickered across his fading vision. Kaizer tried to remain awake. He failed as his body went limp. He lost consciousness beside the Wendigo’s corpse.