Chapter 3 — The Shape of Survival.
The creature's arm came down.
Kael moved without thinking.
He didn't dodge cleanly—he fell, throwing his weight sideways as the shockwave tore past where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. Stone exploded behind him, fragments screaming through the air. One clipped his shoulder, spinning him hard into the ground.
Pain flared. Sharp. Real.
He rolled, gasping, and forced himself upright again. The Correction Entity was already adjusting, its body subtly reshaping, seams of orange light shifting as if recalculating the most efficient way to end him.
"So that's how it is," Kael muttered. "No warnings. No mercy."
The ground beneath his feet trembled again.
Text flashed into existence, closer this time—intrusive.
> STRESS RESPONSE: ELEVATED
COGNITIVE ADAPTATION: INSUFFICIENT
Kael bared his teeth. "Give me a moment."
He backed away slowly, eyes scanning the valley. Running blindly hadn't worked. The terrain resisted straight lines, punished panic. If this place was adaptive, then charging through it like a frightened animal was exactly what it wanted him to do.
The entity took another step forward.
Each movement was heavy, deliberate. It wasn't rushed. It didn't need to be.
Kael's gaze flicked to the stone spires nearby—jagged, unstable, barely holding their own shape. He noticed hairline fractures running through them, the same dull orange glow pulsing faintly within.
"Unfinished," he whispered.
An idea surfaced. A bad one. The only kind he'd ever been good at.
He ran—not away, but toward the spires.
The ground resisted immediately, pulling at his legs like thick mud. Kael leaned forward, forcing momentum, boots scraping stone. Behind him, the grinding sound grew louder.
"Come on," he hissed. "Come on."
The entity followed, pace unchanged.
Kael reached the base of the nearest spire and didn't stop. He slammed his shoulder into it.
Pain exploded through his arm. He cried out as the impact nearly dropped him—but the spire shuddered. Cracks spread rapidly, orange light flaring brighter through the fractures.
The entity paused.
Just for a fraction of a second.
Text flickered.
> ENVIRONMENTAL INSTABILITY: RISING
Kael laughed, breathless. "Good."
He stumbled back as the spire collapsed inward, chunks of stone breaking free and crashing down. Dust filled the air. Visibility dropped to nothing.
The Correction Entity stepped into the cloud.
Too confident.
Kael grabbed a loose stone from the ground—small, jagged, useless as a weapon—and hurled it with everything he had. It shattered harmlessly against the creature's torso.
But that wasn't the point.
The spire gave way completely.
A cascade of stone slammed down, burying the entity's lower half beneath tons of unstable terrain. The ground convulsed violently, shockwaves rippling outward.
Kael was thrown backward, hitting the ground hard. His vision blurred. His ears rang.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then—movement.
The rubble shifted.
A massive arm burst free, stone grinding and reforming around it. The entity began to pull itself out, cracks glowing brighter than before.
> CORRECTION INCOMPLETE
ADAPTATION REQUIRED
Kael lay there, chest heaving, staring at the thing that refused to stay down.
"That was your mistake," he said hoarsely. "You assumed I needed to win."
He pushed himself up, ignoring the pain screaming through his body. Something felt different now—subtle, but unmistakable. The pressure of the world hadn't lessened, but it no longer felt entirely external.
Another line of text appeared. Smaller. Quieter.
> BEHAVIORAL SHIFT DETECTED
SURVIVABILITY: REVISED
Kael clenched his fists.
The entity tore itself free of the rubble and turned toward him, its movements faster now, more aggressive. The fissure in its face widened, distortion pouring out.
The valley shook.
Kael took a step forward instead of back.
"If this world wants to correct me," he said, voice steady despite the fear coiling in his gut, "it's going to have to learn how I break first."
The creature lunged.
And Kael felt something inside him answer.