The beast bit down on the tip.

And the Wyrm screamed—a sound like a thousand quenching baths. Fire turned to steam. Scales cracked from thermal shock. The creature’s molten core hit absolute zero in the space of a heartbeat, and it shattered, falling as black snow.

Only when you were truly cool —not cold, not detached, but fluid and patient, like water finding its level—only then did the coolspear feel light as a thought.

The other hunters laughed. "A pretty stick," they said. "Good for stirring drinks."