Zetterburn.
Not wood on bone. Wood on superheated, rock-hard claw. The bat shattered. But the impact was perfectly placed. It drove Zetterburn’s weight onto his haunches, stopping his forward momentum cold. The lion snarled in surprise. rivals of aether ness
Ness tightened his grip. The psychic pulse of this strange, elemental world was a chaotic drumbeat compared to the steady hum of Eagleland. His PSI felt… muffled. Sluggish. Like trying to shout through a pillow. But the fire in Zetterburn’s eyes was real. The heat on his cheek was real. And the quiet, desperate courage that had made him face Giygas was still real, too. Zetterburn
The clearing was silent but for the hiss of Zetterburn's cooling fur and the drip of melting frost. The lion glared at him, a thousand-year hatred burning behind his eyes. But he was also, for the first time, truly seeing the boy in the striped shirt. Not a curiosity. Not prey. The bat shattered
He was right. The PSI Magnet was cracking. Ness felt the psychic feedback lancing behind his eyes. He couldn’t hold. He dropped the shield.
Ness didn't run. He stepped in . Close. Too close. He could smell the sulfur on the lion's breath, feel the individual points of heat radiating from his mane. He pressed two fingers to his own temple.