So far, Lucian's biggest challenge in his fifth life was adjusting to being a part of a family. Throughout his previous lives, he had been alone for the most part. He rarely made it far into his twenties, so he spent a lot of time as an orphan child in varying eras.

Unlearning what he had learned was difficult, but over time, the tension in his heart and soul had unwound to the point where he could say that he was content.

Ten years had passed, and Lucian had only come close to death once. Eleanor was unsure if he remembered that night or not. However, they both silently agreed to move past the situation, and they enjoyed each other's company.

Their family had found a good status quo, living in a nice part of a kingdom called Tyre. It was a powerful land under strong and robust leadership, and Lucian wasn't sure whether to define Tyre as a big Oligarchy or something like a constitutional monarchy.

Tyre had a king, vassals and nobility of varying status. They had a parliament that made major decisions, but the king still had a lot of power. Lucian likened Tyre to England, except the monarchy was more powerful than modern England. There were also a few churches with a few different popes or saints, and they had their own power and members in parliament.

His dad had described it best when he said that every major power spent all day lobbying for members of parliament to align with them. Whoever controlled parliament could heavily sway decisions as the king usually stayed neutral unless people were directly suffering or in times of war.

They were about twenty miles from the capital city where all the power resided. It was like a suburb, but more rural in the sense that having land and space between was the norm. Their community was a couple of hundred people and pretty tight-knit. The land was expensive being so close to the city, so most of the families were grandfathered in by having roots dating back hundreds of years.

His parents had made a pretty enough sum from adventuring and traveling to afford such land. It was a good place to raise a family - close enough to the capital to be safe from bandits and have whatever resources they needed within a day's travel, but far enough from the unpredictability of the city.

His dad was a handyman, good at fixing and building things. He often helped out in town, earning them a lot of friends and some good crops whenever a harvest came around. Lucian's mom tried, and failed, to be a farmer and usually helped the local doctor and priest with assistance. She knew some mid-level healing magic, which was pretty rare for a town to have

Lucian and Eleanor were the only strange parts of the family. They didn't associate or talk to the children of the town that often. Lucian had never had a chance to act like a kid, and he just couldn't find the right wavelength to get along with other children. Adults he was fine with, but he found it hard to relate to others his age.

Eleanor was such a loner that he considered her a lost cause. She treated everyone who wasn’t family with such apathy that it scared most people off. She was obsessed with studying and training, working out with Dad every morning, and then practicing magic or meditating until she slept.

No board games, no fantasy novels and definitely no relaxing walks. She’s hardcore to the bone.

His guess was that she was preparing to fight some great evil that was planning to destroy the world. There was no evidence, but it was a common trope in a lot of the fantasy novels he liked to read.

He couldn't help but feel relieved that if there was an impending evil invasion, his sister Eleanor would be here. After all, she had a reputation for being tough and could probably handle it. Lucian no longer had any desire to fight. Even if the worst happened and he did die, it wasn’t like he would actually die.

With plenty of time and no battles to be fought, Lucian found himself reflecting on his past lives often. He had always been a worrier, often involving himself in other people's problems, and in many cases, he was the cause of his own premature deaths. If he could remove his penchant for trouble then he would probably live a long life.

He had new goals. In his third life he dedicated a lot of time to researching the applications of mana and technology. He was convinced that this world had barely scratched the surface of what was possible. The density and properties of magic were much different here, denser and far more diverse.

The desire for innovation had infected him and was keeping him up at night. Retirement was his chance to work on his hobbies, and the first thing on his list was creating a flute.

The idea was a sound based magic he had used in the past to defeat beasts with super hearing like vampires and lycanthropes. He had created a weapon that could discombobulate enemies by blowing out their eardrums with a loud noise. He wanted to take it to the next level with the higher quality magic of this world.

A sound based attack was a simple and dirty trick, but it was effective. The plan was to eventually evolve the concept to be more than just a weapon.

His end goal was to create a tool that could transmit healing magic. A more effective potion that didn't cost a whole gold piece and was reusable. To get to that point, however, he needed to start with the basics. Healing magic was too complex to just start right off the bat. He needed a better foundation of the basics if he wanted to get to that point.

Which was why he was taking a relaxing walk in the woods. The type of wood used was extremely important. No two trees had the same amount of mana in them, so he had to search far in order to find just the right type of wood and density of mana.

The woods were beautiful, with their twisting paths and tall trees that seemed to reach up to the sky. After living his last two lives in bustling cities, it was nice to be back in nature.

Setting up under a shady tree, he drew his knife and started to carve a potential branch he had found. With wood, he couldn't really make a full flute, but it would be similar looking and sounding.

The wood had to resonate with wind magic in order for it to work. The length, the airflow, and the amount of holes had to be exactly perfect. It would take a while to get it working, but he had nothing but time.

“Who would’ve thought?” he wondered out loud. He, a murderer of the past, was now a simple boy living a simple life in a nice, simple town.

“Thought what?” a voice whispered in his ear.

A normal person probably would have screamed or been scared, but Lucian was far from normal. He shot up and pointed his knife at the assailant who had suddenly appeared next to him.

It was Eleanor. She had the same blank expression she always had and was wearing the same tunic and pants she trained in. She had her training sword hanging from her hip which probably meant she had just finished sparring with Dad.

“El, seriously?” he asked, trying to hide his surprise. It was actually pretty hard to sneak up on him. Usually the only time people did catch him by surprise was the four times he died.

He sheathed his knife and approached her.

“You were so scared you gasped like a fish out of water,” she remarked.

“You’re a weirdo who's bad at insults,” he shot back. “You had all this time to think about what you were going to say, and that’s what you got?”

She rolled her eyes. “I expected you to scream, little brother,” she admitted, picking up the flute he had dropped and studying it.

“Big bro never screams, little sis. Anyways, what’re you doing over here? I thought you’d be studying thermodynamics or something so you can cast some explosion spell.”

“I was actually working on my tracking magic and decided to see how accurate it was. It’s not bad, but not perfect.”

“You’re tracking me?”

“I’m tracking your knife. You just happen to have it,” she explained like it made perfect sense. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“It’s just the woods,” Lucian defended. “I like taking walks.”

She pointed in the direction he came from. “What’s in that direction?” she asked. Her monotone never changes when she speaks, but he could tell there was a tiny bit of tightness in it.

“The river,” he answered honestly. Mom wasn’t here to save him from her wrath, after all.

“Yes, Lucian, the river. What’s so important about the river?” Her dark eyes were staring into his very existence.

“It is uh. It is the river that I’m not supposed to cross and go west of,” he said with a nod, and then cringing as he realized.

“You got it right,” her voice slightly tinged with a condescending attitude, “you crossed the river we’re not supposed to cross. The one. Singular. Rule. It’s the one thing they ask of us.”

His parents were kind to him and he loved them. He knew that a good son should listen to them and not venture to this side of the woods, but he honestly didn't care about the rule. He had been a hunter for the first fifteen years of his life and had no fear of the carnivorous or dangerous animals on this side of the river.

The scariest thing in the woods was a bear, but he could outmaneuver a bear with his current talents despite being rusty.

He had slain a leopard, an apex predator, in its natural habitat without magic. A black bear was not taking him down.

"Listen, El, I need to be over here for my project," Lucian told his sister, "The same barrier that prevents malicious animals and monsters from entering town cripples the magic density in the trees. I can’t create a sound grenade with weak trees."

"You just never stop amazing me with your nonsense," she said dryly. "For what reason do you need a sound grenade? It’s to prank me, isn't it?"

"Well, that's not why I intended to create it, but that would be a possibility, yes," he admitted. Walking over to her and slinging his arm over her shoulder, he asked, "wanna come with me?"

"As the big sister and the responsible child, no," she answered. "I’m not going to help you create a tool to torment me."

"C'mon, sis! Once I learn sound magic, I can teach it to you! Think about how versatile it will be."

"Once you create sound magic."

"Learn and create are basically synonyms."

"No, they’re not."

"Big bro knows, little sis."

"You're little bro. I'm big sis."

"Whatever!" Lucian exclaimed dramatically. He started walking away deeper into the woods. "Hurry up, El, the density in this direction is getting closer to what I want. You just protect me from all the creepy crawlies, and we'll be home by sunset."

Eleanor was never a confrontational or disrespectful girl to their parents. Since she stayed home all day, she was never given a chance to disobey them, which did not mean she wouldn't. In her mind, she was above the orders of their parents too.

She trusted her own instincts better than anyone else's. Lucian knew the type since he was the same way.

"Just so you know, Lu, that anything that happens is completely your responsibility. I don't want you telling Mom that I did anything wrong if you get hurt," Eleanor warned, following him.

"Okay, El," Lucian said haughtily. "I got you. My adventure, my repercussions. Hey, I know you just want to practice all day. How about you practice your sensory magic and sense for the mysterious dangers haunting the forest?"

"Wow, you do have good ideas sometimes."

"Right, sis? I’m glad you acknowledge that I always have good ideas."

"Maybe you need sound magic to fix your hearing because I definitely said 'sometimes.'"

----------------------------------------

Lucian felt a lot safer with his sister behind him. He had only seen her spar with Dad and she seemed pretty good. For her age and size, she was fast and decisive. In his experience, those two things were the key to winning most battles.

A lot of his battle mentality was decided in his first life. Strike first and strike clean. They tried to hammer home some honor in his second life, but war was a place with little honor.

As long as you killed every single one of your enemies you could go home and say whatever you wanted. The army that killed him probably went home and never mentioned that they ambushed him in the dark of night.

England was a different animal. He regarded most of the monsters or humans he fought as the lowest of the low undeserving of decency. A man versus a vampire would never be a fair fight unless you fought unfairly.

What use was honor for a dead man? Lucian used every dirty trick available.

They had found a tree with potential - a spruce. They settled down and he started carving. He kept reminiscing about the past. Continuing a project from England made him think about those times. He would feel better if he could just forget those days, but forgetting was the hardest part.

Lucian needed to figure out exactly how similar the creatures of the night in this world were to the monsters he was familiar with. He knew that vampires existed in this world, but apparently, their names didn't carry the same weight as the ones he used to know. Although he had spent ten years lounging around reading, he realized he had been too focused on fantasy and other fiction novels rather than learning more about the world around him.

Being complacent was against his very nature, but going back to being obsessed with his goals was unhealthy and not what he wanted anymore. After over eighty years of struggle, he wanted some time off, but perhaps he had spent too much time on vacation. He needed to focus just enough to not be a cautionary tale of an idiot who didn't know that fire was hot until he touched it.

Eleanor sneaked up on him, which was alarming. In the jungle, that meant death. In England, it could be something worse than death. Luckily, it was Eleanor and not an enemy.

What if it was a jaguar or a vampire?

He stopped and looked at his flute. He had lost focus and started subconsciously sharpening it into a knife.

Shaking his head, Lucian put down the flute and rubbed his eyes. He was starting to get stressed again. Usually being outdoors and away from society was where he relaxed. But for some reason, in woods nowhere near as dangerous as the jungle, he was worried.

He was ignoring his hunters instincts. As a child of the jungle, he spent over a decade hunting and being hunted and had developed a certain intuition. It was hard to describe it in any other way than a sixth sense. It was part intuition and part raw human instincts.

Humans had spent the majority of their existence as a species in the middle of the food chain. Living in a developed society had dulled their instincts, but in the jungle, Lucian had learned to tap into the most primal desires of the species - to survive.

Across from him Eleanor was meditating to practice her sensing. Lucian did not consider what he was about to do meditation. It looked similar, with his eyes closing and a deep exhale leaving him, but the whole idea was different.

Meditation involves blocking out distraction to achieve calmness and self awareness. What he was doing was the opposite. He took in the world around him. Every detail his body could sense he was focusing on and absorbing. The goal was to be paranoid, to be unnerved. He wanted the hair on the back of his neck to stiffen and goosebumps to form on his arms. He wanted to be paranoid.

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Everything the woods let out he was going to take in.

It was quieter than the jungle. The breeze was stronger, but the leaves rustled more gently. It was bustling with life, but in a more relaxed way.

They were downwind. He could smell fruit to the north perhaps a kilometer away. Even farther than the fruit there was the smell of a rotting corpse. He could hear the sound of crows in that direction too. There were a lot of them, it was probably a deer or elk that had fallen from a cliff and died.

Desire. He could hear the crows' cries stifle as a desire to feed approached. It smelled earthy with a tinge of sourness - the distinct scent of a bear. The bear started to feed and he could feel the corpse being torn to shreds.

A grizzly bear, no doubt. It was a good thing he hadn’t taken Eleanor in that direction. She was strong, but the bear had a respectable presence and a fight was more trouble than it was worth.

She could probably sense it too, depending on her range. Most people could only do half a kilometer at most, but Eleanor was not most people. He would be more surprised if her range wasn’t larger than the average person.

Clenching his fists, Lucian went deeper into his senses. The bear, the crow and other scavengers all desired the corpse to the north. Other smaller animals were content with bugs and berries.

It was so different from the jungle. Where was the animosity? Where was the violence he was so accustomed to?

Lucian’s mouth went dry and his jaw tightened. His instincts were screaming at him. Something was looking… something was looking at them.

But where? And what?

Like a bomb going off the maliciousness exploded into his senses.

He could feel the desire for hunt and blood. The urge to jump on him and rip him to pieces. To attack and kill Eleanor.

Lucian let out an animalistic growl. How dare it!

“Lu?” Eleanor asked, confused and spurred out of her meditation.

“Get up. We’re not alone,” he ordered coldly, rising to his feet.

Eleanor’s eyes hardened at his tone and she shot to her feet, her hand on the hilt of her sword.

“I didn’t sense anything,” she said tightly, eyes darting around.

“You’re sensing mana. Mana can be suppressed.” Lucian drew his knife and focused. The presence had started hiding its killing intent, but the mistake had already been made and the element of surprise was gone.

A hunter could hide its magic and intent, but the one thing it couldn’t hide was its gaze. It had to keep its eyes on its target. Lucian focused on the feeling of being watched.

“There!” Lucian pointed behind his sister. Eleanor whipped around and drew her sword, hearing the rustle of leaves as something erupted out of the trees and towards them.

Eleanor instinctively ducked under the missile, it landed awkwardly between the siblings and bared its fangs.

A mountain lion, or cougar. Lucian was astonished by the creature in front of him. Not only was the cougar in an area that big cats had never been spotted in, but the size of it was ridiculous.

Jaguars were supposed to be bigger than mountain lions, but this was one even bigger than the one he had killed in his first life. It was massive, standing at his twelve year old height despite being on all fours. It had huge, corded muscles and probably weighed an easy three hundred pounds.

He looked at his sister and saw that she, too, was shocked at the animal between them.

Lucian’s enhanced senses focused all towards his target. Against an intimidating foe, his heart rate slowed, rather than quicken. A mask of a cold blooded warrior adorned his face as he wordlessly readied his knife in front of him.

He had never practiced using magic in this life except for just checking if he could. The concepts of his third life applied, but it wasn’t as effective as it could have been. Despite that, his body lightly glowed with energy as he channeled his power.

The cougar had made a mistake. Big and strong, it definitely was, but a two versus one fight against opponents with magical reinforcement was unfavorable for it.

Eleanor bursted into magical energy. Her hair flew around wildly as she readied her blade.

“Run away, Lu. I’ll take care of this,” she told him, before launching towards the beast.

Before she could reach it, however, the cougar started glowing.

Lucian stared in awe as magical power swirled around the cougar and the ground exploded into rubble. He lost balance, stumbling to the ground as he saw Eleanor quickly redirect herself away. The cougar charged at her, trying to catch her off guard.

It could use spells?

With no time to think, he sprang into action, channeling his mana and leaping towards the fight. The cougar had closed the distance with Eleanor and was furiously swinging its claws. Eleanor ducked and weaved the blows but had no window for a counterattack.

Lucian circled the fight to the backside of the cougar and pounced, his knife flashing in the sunlight. Eleanor, seeing her brother's attack, ducked under a swipe of its claw and rammed her shoulder into the chest of the beast. Her body was saturated with magic power, and it sent the titanic beast lumbering back right into Lucian's attack.

His knife drove towards the spine of the beast... and then bounced off. Lucian's eyes widened in shock as the cougar used earth magic to break the ground once more, forcing him to jump back.

The cougar was much stronger than he thought. He had no idea animals could even use magic to that degree.

Eleanor rushed the cat once more. Lucian readied himself again, feeling the mana surge through his body and into his hand. His knife started glowing with a silver aura as a spectral energy extended his blade from a few inches to a foot long.

The cougar roared, but Lucian was ready. He charged towards the beast, his sword poised to strike.

Suddenly, his senses flared. Diving to the side, he narrowly avoided the ambush of another cougar. He quickly rolled back onto his feet and jumped away from another pounce.

He was on the defensive. The other cougar was smaller, but more agile. It aggressively tried to bite and rip at him with its claws. Lucian was burning through energy just to dodge the enemy's blows.

He had to make a move.

The smaller cougar swung its right arm towards his neck. Lucian shot his arm up and punched the impending swipe into the air. In a burst of mana, he spun under the misdirected swipe and shoved his blade into the side of the beast.

The cougar flailed in pain and managed to hit his back with a well placed swipe. He lost grip of his weapon and tumbled away, his knife thoroughly lodged in the smaller beast's rib cage.

But Lucian had no time to think. The big cougar was charging towards him, its eyes locked onto him with an unbreakable focus. He had to move quickly.

He jumped into the air, flipping over the charging beast, and landed behind it. He turned and faced the two cougars, channeling the rest of his energy into his bare hands.

All the knowledge from his past said that cougars were solitary animals that moved alone, but here were two of them working together seamlessly.

It took only a second for him to remember that no two worlds were the same. There was no law saying that cougars couldn’t evolve to move in pairs or packs in this world.

He just hoped that there were only two.

Lucian stood tall, his eyes cold and calculating. He was not afraid. He would win even if he died, that was his way. It may not even go that far because he had his trump card… Eleanor.

A streak of light shot past him and into the cougars. Lucian watched as the predators desperately tried to get away before they were hit.

They were not fast enough. The light hit the ground near them and exploded into fire. Flames shot past the treeline and high into the air.

He turned around, glancing at Eleanor who still had her hand up.

“So you were working on explosions,” he commented dryly.

“I never said I wasn’t,” she replied, breath slightly labored. Talented or not, their bodies weren’t developed enough to carry a large amount of mana and a fight of this level took a toll on them.

“Do you think you got them?” he asked hesitantly. His body, unused to the level of mana and exertion, ached. Taking a slap from the smaller cougar had especially caused his lungs to feel heavy and burdened.

“They’re alive,” she said after a moment, making his body tense, “I can still feel their mana, but it's weakened. I should be able to pierce the reinforcement now, but we should leave.”

“I’m not outrunning a cougar, El.”

She frowned and nodded.

The smoke cleared, revealing a towering dome of earth where the cougars had stood. Lucian couldn’t help but feel impressed at the display of magic.

Before he could utter another word to his sister, the dome suddenly burst open violently, sending chunks of rock and debris hurling towards them.

Reacting quickly, Lucian darted behind Eleanor, who raised both hands and unleashed a powerful cyclone of wind that obliterated the projectiles in midair.

The danger was far from over as the swirling dust cleared, revealing the two cougars sprinting towards the siblings in opposite directions.

The larger one roared, using magic to transform the earth into spear like missiles, launching them towards the siblings.

Eleanor attempted to cast wind magic, but the smaller cougar had already flanked her and was within striking distance. She evaded its lunge and frantically dodged and deflected incoming projectiles.

Meanwhile, Lucian dashed towards the spruce tree where he had been carving the flute earlier. By a twist of fate, he had inadvertently fashioned a shiv out of a branch. Though not as sturdy, he knew he could land at least one good blow before it broke.

Lacking the energy to reinforce his entire body, Lucian instead focused on his legs and bounced into the treeline. The larger cougar scanned the area, seeking out its prey. But Lucian was an expert at hiding his presence and it couldn’t find him.

Growing uneasy, the cougar began launching projectiles into the treeline, hoping to flush out its prey. However, Lucian took advantage of the distraction and flanked the larger cougar from above, launching out of the tree towards it.

He plunged the makeshift knife into the cougar's back and clung onto its massive frame. With his free hand, Lucian pressed against the space between the cougar's shoulder blades and mentally recited the quickest incantation he could think of - a lightning spell.

A shower of sparks erupted from his hand, causing the cougar to convulse in agony.

Lucian gave it his all, pouring almost all of his energy he had into his spell, but it still wasn't enough. The cougar thrashed wildly, flinging Lucian off its back and sending him hurtling to the ground.

He roughly tumbled through the dirt, but managed to push himself back up onto his feet.

Scanning the area, he spotted his sister just in time to witness her getting struck on the arm by the smaller cougar's razor sharp claws.

Eleanor grimaced in pain, but quickly retaliated with a bold headbutt that sent the beast staggering.

Seeing the opening, Lucian seized the opportunity to hurl his shiv at the smaller cougar. The makeshift weapon pierced the beast's leg, causing it to let out a fierce yowl.

The larger cougar recovered and turned its attention back to Lucian, sending a rock whizzing towards him. With no other options, he poured every last drop of mana he had into his right hand and held it up in a desperate attempt to block the blow.

The impact was excruciating, shattering every bone in his hand and sending him flying back into the ground.

Groaning in pain, Lucian struggled to pick himself back up. He had exhausted all his energy and his body felt heavy and unresponsive.

As he lay there vulnerable, the larger cougar spotted an opportunity and sprinted towards him.

He knew he couldn't fight back in his weakened state, but he couldn't just give up either.

Right before it pounced on him and tore his throat out, Eleanor appeared and swung her sword downwards with a mighty swing. The cougar, solely focused on Lucian, had no time to defend itself as her sword dug deeply into its neck.

A small gasp of air left the mighty beast as its head was cleanly bisected from its body.

Eleanor spun on her heel and launched a fiery projectile back towards the hobbled smaller cougar, creating a powerful explosion. Without missing a beat, she picked up her brother and darted into the trees.

She carried her brother through the woods, her forehead gashed and body covered in small wounds. Despite her injuries, she moved quickly and with purpose.

Lucian, limp and barely conscious, managed to utter, "Nice save," in admiration.

“Thanks.”

“If you get us out of here, El, then I’ll call you big sis for the rest of our lives.”

She took a second to glance at her brother. “That’s a promise.”

Lucian weakly smiled, before his face morphed with horror as a rock smashed into the back of his sister's head, sending them crashing into the ground.

Scrambling to his knees Lucian frantically grabbed his sister. She was breathing, but completely unconscious. Eleanor’s body was strong, but head injuries were never good and Lucian felt himself start to panic.

He had to get her home immediately.

He could hear leaves rustling, and he didn’t even need to focus his senses to smell the blood approaching.

The small cougar limped through the bush and towards them. Blood was leaking from its multiple wounds and his knife was still stabbed into the right side of its body.

It had followed them. Despite losing its partner and sustaining all those injuries, it still went out of its way to finish the fight once and for all.

The cats had exceeded his expectations enough times already that Lucian was out of surprise. These were highly intelligent and capable beasts, and the one in front of him only wanted one thing.

Their lives.

The cougar embraced its primal instinct and charged with one thought - destroy.

Faced with a losing battle, Lucian’s mind went back to his first life in the jungle. There was one rule above all others. It was the creed that all experienced hunters knew and understood down to their very bones.

It took sacrifice.

If you want to kill anything, then you must be willing to risk everything.

Looking at the charging beast was no different than looking death in its eyes.

Lucian was not afraid of death, but he was afraid of something.

His family.

He was afraid of parents having to lose both their children.

He was afraid of what their faces would look like, of the tears they would shed.

He was afraid of their home being empty and lifeless.

Lucian was not afraid of dying, but he was afraid of his sister dying.

Eleanor had to live.

The cougar had closed the distance and jumped towards him, its jaws salivating for his blood.

He was going to give it blood.

It pinned him to the ground.

Razor sharp claws pierced into his chest and collarbone.

The breath was knocked out of him.

It was heavy. Too heavy.

A strangled, guttural scream left his body. The cougar reciprocated with a furious roar as it let its fangs shoot towards his head and neck.

Using the last of his strength, Lucian shoved his broken right arm deep into the cougar's mouth.

Instinctively, the cougar closed its mouth and started tearing away at his flesh. Lucian’s left arm desperately dragged across the side of the beast’s body, searching for something.

He found it.

His scream went from a strangled yell to a furious roar as he yanked his knife out of the cougar's side and started stabbing.

The cougar snarled and tried to reposition its attack onto his neck, but at every attempt he shoved his shredded right arm back into the savage maw of the beast.

After ten stabs he dragged his knife down the creature's side and cut it open, Lucian then ripped the knife out once more and started stabbing the creature in its muscular neck.

Blood erupted from every hole Lucian made in the beast's neck. Warm blood cascaded onto his face and body, but nothing could stop Lucian’s assault.

In a final act of defiance, the cougar made a decisive pull that separated Lucian’s mangled, broken right arm from his body.

The cougar stumbled off him. It was weak and delirious and had to make some distance.

But it could not get away.

Lucian shot to his feet and rammed the cougar into the ground with a full body tackle.

He continued to stab the cougar over and over and over again until could not get up anymore.

Lucian spat out a wad of blood and got onto his knees. He looked at the cougar, staring deep into its eyes.

The anger and fury was still there, but he also saw sadness and regret.

He had figured it out.

Cougars in this world traveled in pairs. Given the size difference between the two, it was safe to say that the one from before was a male and the one in front of him was a female.

They were most likely mated for life.

After Eleanor killed the male, the female's purpose for life died with it. The female's only goal, the driving force for its existence after that point, was revenge for its love.

“I get it,” he told the cougar, watching as life left its eyes, “I used to not get it, but now I do.”

The same fire had ignited within him, that desire to go beyond to protect Eleanor, had pushed him farther than anything had ever pushed him. If the roles were reversed, he would have done the exact same even if it led to his death.

He respected the decision it made.

He gently placed his hand on its side as the cougars labored breathing slowly came to a halt.

“I’m not sure if there’s an afterlife… but I hope you find it.”

Lucian collapsed onto his back, his own breaths extremely labored.

“I won,” he muttered quietly.

He had saved Eleanor and that was all that mattered.

It took everything. He had to sacrifice everything, but that made the end of his fifth life feel even more triumphant.

He finally felt content on how he was going to die.

Eleanor would wake up soon and see that he bled out. She would probably be a little sad, he thought, but she would make it home and hug Mom and Dad. They could move on without him, it wouldn’t be that hard. In his eyes, mourning one child was better than mourning two

Maybe… just maybe he could be reborn in this world once more. If that did happen, then he hoped he could find his family and thank them.

Despite his vision fading, for the first time since he found out about his curse, Lucian felt alive.

He felt happy.

It was a good life.