Kael stared into the eyes of the creature before him.
They weren't red or gold like the dragons in books. These eyes were deep gray, filled with slow swirling galaxies, as if time itself was trapped inside them. The beast's body shifted like smoke, but its presence was crushing. Heavy. Ancient.
It spoke again.
"You heard me. That means the seal is breaking."
Kael stepped back. Just one step. Not from fear, but from instinct. His heart beat faster, not in panic... but in recognition.
"What are you" he asked, voice low.
The beast tilted its head.
"I am what they buried beneath ten realms of silence. I am what the Guilds erased from their books. I am your first."
The summoning circle at Kael's feet glowed darker. Black lines twisted outward, rewriting the ground with unfamiliar runes.
Kael clenched his fist. The cursed mark on his arm pulsed again, brighter now. A memory not his own flashed across his vision.
Chains.
Blood.
A tower of screaming light.
He blinked, breathing heavy.
"I didn't call you" he muttered.
"No" the beast replied. "But your soul did. And I answered."
The beast moved closer, its form shifting between shadow and matter. Wings stretched behind it, but they didn't flap. They floated, wrapped in silence. When it spoke again, Kael could feel it inside his bones.
"I am bound to no one. But I will follow you."
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"Why"
The beast grinned.
"Because the world fears what you are. And I do not fear the cursed. I honor it."
The summoning circle cracked. The glow faded. The beast's form dimmed and vanished like mist in the dark. But Kael felt it.
Still there.
Still watching.
Still waiting.
The next morning, Kael returned to class.
Same broken cloak. Same cold stares. Same whispers.
But something had changed.
He could feel it in the way the ground felt lighter. The way the mark on his arm no longer pulsed in pain, but in rhythm. Like it had found its heartbeat.
"Oi. Rank Zero. Ready to fail again" a student sneered, cracking his knuckles.
Kael looked at him.
No words. Just a stare.
The boy flinched. Just slightly.
Kael walked past.
He didn't need their approval anymore.
Because now he had something stronger than power.
He had proof.
And soon, the world would see it too.