---
The wind howled across the academy rooftops as the storm front rolled in from the northern cliffs. Students and instructors scurried across the stone walkways, coats drawn tight, but Zephyr didn't notice the cold. He sat alone in the rear garden under the skeletal branches of a bare-leaf tree, hands clutching the opened scroll that had broken its seal the moment his system activated. The words on it glowed faintly, fading in and out like dying embers, and though they were few, they echoed in his mind louder than any bell or beast's cry.
You are not the first. But you will be the last. The Dragon awaits.
He read the line again, trying to decipher its meaning. Something had changed inside him since the Rockhide incident. He felt it when he touched the feed, when he walked near the stable pens, when he brushed his fingers along the scales of the beasts he'd once only served. It wasn't power—not the explosive kind that crackled like lightning or burst like flame. It was deeper. Older. It hummed in his blood like a pulse trying to align with something not yet born.
And then came the voice again.
[Ding! Synchronization reached 25%.]
[New System Function Unlocked: Skill Pathway – Tier Access: S-Rank Eligible]
[Checking host condition… High affinity bloodline trait detected.]
[Unlocking SSS-Rank Skill: Dragonheart Resonance (Sealed)]
Zephyr inhaled sharply as the system screen unfurled before him like a golden tapestry. Symbols and words swam across his inner sight, far more complex than any of the interface before. A branching structure labeled "Instinct Tree" began to take shape, with one central node glowing brighter than the others.
[Skill: Dragonheart Resonance (Sealed)]
[Rank: SSS]
[Type: Beast Affinity – Resonance Mastery]
[Description: A legendary skill believed lost to time. Allows the host to create a soul-level bond with one beast of draconic origin. Enhances emotional communication, instinct feedback, spiritual growth synchronization, and unlocks evolution potential within bonded beasts.]
[Status: Locked. Requires bond trigger.]
The name alone stole the breath from his chest. Dragonheart. He hadn't seen a dragon, not even in Lowmoor's beast archives. In Dracoria, true dragons were mythical. Stories, perhaps relics. Whispers of ancient beasts that once ruled the skies before the nations were founded. And here the system claimed not just access—but resonance. Soul-level bonding. Evolution. As he stared at the screen, it faded from view, but the pulse in his chest didn't go with it.
"Zephyr!" a voice called from behind.
He stood, tucking the scroll inside his coat just before Fenna came running toward him, her breath fogging in the wind. Her cheeks were flushed, a scroll of her own clutched in her hand.
"There you are. I've been looking all over."
He raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"
"I just came from the outer halls. Instructor Wren's looking for you. Something came in this morning. A beast delivery. Unregistered, untagged, no origin papers. And for some reason…" she hesitated, stepping closer and lowering her voice, "the manifest has your name on it."
Zephyr froze.
"No one knows how it got there," she went on. "Grent swears he didn't accept any new crates, and the guild registry has no matching records. But it's alive. Small. Mana-reactive."
Without another word, Zephyr broke into a run.
They raced down the back corridor toward the auxiliary pen house used for holding new deliveries. As he arrived, two junior handlers were standing outside, clearly nervous. One of them looked up at him with wide eyes.
"You Valorian?" the taller of the two asked. Zephyr nodded.
"Wren said you'd come. She's inside. The thing's… strange."
Zephyr pushed open the door and stepped inside. Wren stood near the center pen, arms folded tightly, her expression unreadable. Inside the reinforced cage, on a bed of moss and hay, lay something round. A creature—or perhaps an egg—barely the size of a fruit. Its surface glistened like polished stone, but fine cracks revealed a soft inner glow. Pink, but with veins of violet and silver streaking through its shell like lightning sealed in crystal.
"What is that?" Zephyr whispered.
"We don't know," Wren said. "It arrived inside a sealed metal case marked with a sigil no one here recognizes. There was no tag. No containment runes. But the moment it entered the vault, our mana sensors spiked off the charts. I ran a resonance scan on it… and it responded."
Zephyr stepped closer. The moment his fingers brushed the bars, the orb pulsed faintly.
"I didn't authorize this," he said.
"I know. But I think… it chose you."
His system pinged again.
[Bond Candidate Detected.]
[Hatching Delay Status: Expired.]
[Linking Initiation Request: Dragon-type Familiar – Unranked (Dormant Form)]
[Initiate Primary Bonding? Y/N]
Zephyr's hands trembled slightly as he focused on the screen and chose: Yes.
A ripple of heat passed through his chest, down his arms, and into the air between him and the cage. The glow from the egg intensified. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. The outer layer shimmered, then peeled away like ash caught in wind. A soft, squeaking chirp echoed through the pen as the creature inside emerged.
It was tiny.
Smaller than his fist.
Covered in downy pink scales, its wings still folded close to its body, with oversized eyes the color of molten silver. It blinked up at him and squeaked again, then flopped forward, rolling off the moss and tumbling toward the bars with a clumsy chirrup.
Wren's eyes widened. "Is that… a dragon?"
Zephyr crouched down, and the little creature pressed its snout against the bars, nose twitching.
The system chimed once more.
[Beast Bond Established.]
[Familiar Name: Unassigned]
[Species: Lesser Star-Scale Dragon (Infant Form)]
[Bloodline: Unawakened – Origin Tier Unknown]
[Growth Status: Bound to Host Synchronization]
[Skill: None active]
[Warning: Host soul and beast soul are now linked. Dragon growth depends on Host development.]
Zephyr didn't know whether to laugh or collapse. His vision swam. Wren looked at him as if trying to make sense of something impossible.
"What does this mean?" she asked.
Zephyr looked at the tiny dragon nuzzling the bars, then placed his hand against the metal. The baby dragon chirped again and pressed back. A warmth spread up his arm—recognition, comfort, belonging.
"It means," he said quietly, "everything's just begun."