The dreams came again.
But this time, they were not his.
Kael stood in an endless black ocean beneath a fractured sky. Ash drifted downward like dying snowflakes. In the distance, something massive stirred beneath the surface.
A heartbeat echoed.
Slow.
Heavy.
Ancient.
Kael looked down at his reflection in the dark water.
It wasn't him.
Golden eyes opened beneath the surface.
And then—
The ocean split apart.
He woke with a violent gasp.
The room was cold.
Colder than before.
His curtains were frozen at the edges.
Breath fogged in the air.
The Abyss System flickered urgently.
> Abyss Energy Threshold Reached.
Secondary Manifestation Available.
Warning: Emotional Instability Detected.
Kael sat upright.
The dream lingered in his mind—not like a nightmare, but like a memory.
Not his memory.
Something else's.
The heartbeat still echoed faintly inside his chest.
Then he felt it.
Not outside.
Inside.
Something had formed within the Abyss.
Not a skill.
Not a shadow.
A presence.
Cedric knocked at the door.
"My lord? There is… an issue."
Kael stood slowly. "Explain."
"The eastern industrial district is in chaos. Workers report tremors beneath the streets. Several buildings have partially collapsed."
Tremors.
Kael's gaze darkened.
The heartbeat pulsed again.
He understood immediately.
It wasn't coincidence.
It was resonance.
He had pulled too much corruption yesterday.
And something answered.
"Prepare transport," Kael said quietly.
Cedric hesitated. "My lord… the Holy Order has already dispatched knights."
Of course they had.
Correction pressure again.
"Then we must not be late."
—
The eastern district reeked of smoke and panic.
Factories spewed half-burned coal fumes into the air. Workers crowded the streets, shouting and pointing toward a cracked plaza where the stone had fractured in a spiderweb pattern.
Knights of the Holy Order formed a perimeter.
Darius stood at the center.
His blade was drawn.
The ground pulsed faintly beneath his boots.
Kael arrived just as the earth split open.
A deafening crack thundered across the district.
Stone exploded upward.
And something rose.
Not fully.
Not completely formed.
But massive.
Black scales shimmered like wet obsidian. A single horned skull forced its way through shattered stone. Molten cracks glowed faintly along its neck.
One eye opened.
Burning gold.
The crowd screamed.
"Monster!"
"Retreat!"
Darius stepped forward instantly.
"Civilians evacuate! Form defensive line!"
Knights moved with trained efficiency.
Kael remained still.
He could feel it now.
The heartbeat from his dream.
It was this.
The creature roared.
The sound was not merely loud.
It was ancient.
Grief-filled.
The ground trembled again.
Darius leapt first.
Radiant light exploded from his blade as he struck downward.
The attack collided with the creature's skull.
Light and shadow erupted violently.
The monster recoiled but did not fall.
Its eye shifted.
Locked onto Kael.
Not Darius.
Kael.
The Abyss System flared violently.
> Manifestation Identified.
Origin: Erased Timeline Fragment.
Emotional Core: Despair.
Bond Compatibility: 87%.
Kael's pulse quickened.
It wasn't attacking randomly.
It was incomplete.
Lost.
He stepped forward.
"Stop!" Darius barked. "This creature is unstable!"
Kael ignored him.
The monster's neck strained upward from the fractured ground, but the rest of its body remained trapped beneath the city.
It was being pulled upward by something invisible.
Or forced.
Darius struck again.
Light carved across scales, leaving a glowing scar.
The creature screamed.
The sound stabbed into Kael's mind.
Memories flooded him—
A ruined world. A battlefield covered in corpses. Himself—lying dead. This dragon—standing over his body before dissolving into nothing.
It was from a previous cycle.
One where he had summoned it too late.
It remembered him.
"Don't kill it," Kael said.
Darius stared at him like he'd gone insane.
"It will destroy the district!"
The dragon's body convulsed.
Buildings cracked further.
Kael stepped closer despite the tremors.
The knights shouted for him to retreat.
He reached inward.
Into the Abyss.
Not to devour.
To connect.
The golden eye narrowed.
Recognition.
The System pulsed.
> Bond Formation Attempt Initiated.
Warning: High Risk.
Kael extended his hand toward the creature.
"Calm," he whispered.
The dragon's roar faltered.
Darius hesitated.
The golden threads in the sky flickered violently.
Narrative pressure rising.
The world did not want this.
The dragon's massive jaw opened.
Heat poured outward.
Knights raised shields.
Kael did not move.
"Look at me," he said quietly.
The eye locked fully onto him.
For a brief second—
Everything stopped.
Then—
Dark energy erupted from Kael's shadow.
It surged upward, wrapping around the dragon's skull like chains of smoke.
The creature thrashed violently.
Pain ripped through Kael's nerves.
It felt like his bones were splitting apart.
He gritted his teeth.
"Submit."
Not dominance.
Understanding.
The dragon's roar shifted.
Not rage.
Anguish.
The System screamed in warning.
> Narrative Stability: 95%
Correction Force Escalating.
The ground exploded again.
Golden light struck from above.
Not from Darius.
From the sky itself.
A beam lanced toward the dragon.
Kael reacted instantly.
He threw himself between them.
Shadow erupted outward in a crescent wave.
Light and darkness collided.
The impact blasted him across the plaza.
He hit the ground hard, blood filling his mouth.
The dragon roared in fury.
Darius stared upward in shock.
He hadn't summoned that attack.
The sky above glowed faintly gold.
Invisible threads tightening.
Correction.
The dragon's body began dissolving.
Not dying.
Erasing.
"No," Kael growled.
He forced himself upright.
Blood dripped from his chin.
He reached inward with everything he had.
"Bond."
Darkness exploded outward from his shadow like wings.
The dragon's dissolving form froze.
Its eye widened.
Then—
It shrank.
Massive body collapsing inward.
Scales fragmenting into black light.
The entire creature condensed into a single object.
A black crystal the size of a human heart.
It fell.
Kael caught it.
Silence fell across the district.
The tremors stopped.
Smoke drifted slowly through the air.
Darius lowered his blade slowly.
"What… did you do?"
Kael looked down at the crystal in his hand.
It pulsed faintly.
Warm.
Alive.
The System updated.
> Dragon Core Acquired:
Name: Unassigned
State: Dormant
Bond Status: Partial
Ability Unlock: Draconic Manifestation (Limited)
Kael exhaled slowly.
He had done it.
But at cost.
His vision blurred.
Pain wracked his body.
Darius approached cautiously.
"That creature targeted you."
"Yes."
"You shielded it."
"Yes."
Darius' jaw tightened.
"Why?"
Kael met his gaze evenly.
"Because you would have killed it."
"And?"
"And it did not deserve death."
Darius stared at him.
Confusion flickered.
Monsters were not spared.
They were eradicated.
That was the law.
The sword at his side hummed faintly.
Unhappy.
The sky above slowly returned to normal.
The golden fracture sealing.
Correction incomplete.
For now.
Knights began murmuring.
Civilians whispered.
Kael Atticus had stopped a catastrophe.
Not caused it.
That was not how the story was supposed to go.
Kael turned and began walking away.
Darius didn't stop him.
But his voice followed.
"This is not over."
Kael paused slightly.
"It never is."
—
Back at the estate—
Kael collapsed onto one knee in his chamber.
The dragon core pulsed violently in his hand.
Pain surged through his veins.
The System flooded his vision.
> Bond Stabilization Required.
Emotional Synchronization Mandatory.
He gritted his teeth.
Synchronization?
The crystal burned hotter.
Memories flooded him again.
A timeline where this dragon fought beside him. A timeline where it died protecting him. A timeline where he never summoned it.
Grief.
Loneliness.
Abandonment.
He clenched the crystal to his chest.
"I remember," he whispered.
The pain lessened.
The crystal's pulse slowed.
Dark energy seeped into his body.
His veins briefly glowed black beneath his skin.
Then—
Silence.
He opened his eyes slowly.
He could feel it now.
A presence behind his heartbeat.
Sleeping.
But connected.
The System updated.
> Dragon Bond Stabilized (Dormant).
Draconic Manifestation Level 1 Available.
Host Physiology Enhanced.
Kael stood slowly.
His reflection in the mirror shifted briefly.
Golden eyes flickered.
Then returned to normal.
He smiled faintly.
The first dragon.
Earlier than any previous cycle.
Stronger.
And bound.
But the cost was clear.
The sky had intervened directly.
The Narrative Engine would escalate.
A knock came at the door.
Cedric entered nervously.
"My lord… the capital is in uproar. Word spreads that you… protected the district."
Kael turned calmly.
"Let it spread."
Cedric hesitated.
"There is more. The Holy Order has requested your presence tomorrow."
Of course they had.
Investigation.
Pressure.
Perhaps elimination.
Kael walked to the window.
Night had fallen again.
But faint golden threads were now visible to him across the sky.
More than before.
Watching.
Calculating.
He placed a hand over his chest.
The dragon core pulsed softly beneath his ribs.
"I suppose," Kael murmured, "we've made an impression."
—
Far above—
The formless presence stirred again.
Calculations shifting rapidly.
> Villain deviation surpassing projected threshold.
Hero engagement increased.
Correction Protocol Phase Two Initiated.
—
In the northern cathedral—
Darius stood alone before a massive stained-glass depiction of divine light slaying shadow.
His sword rested upright before him.
For the first time—
He questioned the image.
"Was it truly a monster?" he whispered.
The sword pulsed faintly.
But gave no answer.
—
Back in his chamber—
Kael closed his eyes.
And for the first time—
He heard it clearly.
A low rumbling voice inside his mind.
Not words.
But emotion.
Loyalty.
Confusion.
Trust.
The dragon was alive.
And bound.
He opened his eyes slowly.
A faint smile curved his lips.
"This time…"
His shadow stretched unnaturally long across the floor.
"…we fight together."
Outside—
The golden threads tightened.
Storm clouds began forming once more.
And somewhere deep beneath the capital—
Something ancient began to wake.
—