Three thousand six hundred years ago, the world shattered in an event known only as the Merging - a catastrophic collision of dimensions that tore reality apart. At first came the breaking of the physical world where oceans boiled into toxic steam, mountain ranges collapsed overnight, and vast regions froze solid while the skies burned with unnatural fire. Millions perished in those first terrible days as civilizations crumbled, but this was merely the prelude to greater horrors. Then reality itself began to betray its own laws. Monstrous entities emerged from nowhere - creatures that defied all biology, shadows that moved with purpose, beasts that existed outside nature's order. The very air cracked open in places, revealing glimpses of alien realms beyond, while the land twisted in impossible ways with forests growing to full size in hours and rivers flowing backward against their beds.
Humanity's greatest armies and brightest minds proved utterly powerless against these new threats. Our weapons failed, our science became meaningless, and within years mankind was reduced from planetary rulers to desperate survivors. The final descent came with the appearance of the Casam - a permanent wound in reality where dimensions bled together. From this epicenter of destruction poured true annihilation: storms that rewrote geography, entities that devoured entire cities, and regions where time and space unraveled completely. By the time the initial Merging stabilized, less than one in four humans remained alive, the survivors huddled in whatever stable regions they could find, building fortifications against the ever-present chaos.
Yet humanity endured through what should have been Thier extinction. Over generations, they learned terrible truths - that the Merging was incomplete, leaving pockets of relative stability amid the madness; that the Casam represented both existential threat and unimaginable opportunity; and that prolonged exposure to this new reality was changing some of us in fundamental ways. Those who developed supernatural abilities - the Awakened beast catalysers - became both our protectors and sometimes our new rulers. Bastion-cities rose from the ruins, islands of order in an ocean of chaos, while daring frontier-stalkers ventured into the twisted wilds beyond the casam, seeking power, knowledge or simply a way to protect what little humanity had. But the Merging's final chapter has yet to be written. The Casam still pulses like a sleeping god, and beyond it lies the intersection of an unknown number of worlds harbouring within it humanity's demise or Thier chance at salvation
However Our story begins at the present day in the Star Orchid Citadel, one of humanity's last bastions in this broken world. Within its towering walls lived a young man named Courage Petacos—early twenties, freshly graduated, and supposedly on the cusp of adulthood's prime. At least, that's how it should have been. Instead, he was slumped face-first on his desk, buried under a stack of papers in his cramped apartment. After a long moment of stillness, a heavy sigh escaped him, proving he wasn't, in fact, dead.
Courage dragged himself upright, rubbing his face where the imprint of paperwork still lingered. Now that he was vertical, his unremarkable appearance came into focus: slightly short, with tan skin and modest features—neither fit nor scrawny, just painfully average. His hair was cut short and dry black, and his most striking feature was his eyes—deep, dark brown, so rich they could pass for black in dim light.
With another sigh, he peeled a sheet of paper stuck to his cheek and stared at it, bitterness twisting his expression.
** Aptitude Test Results:**
**[Current Aptitude: Low]**
**[Growth Potential: Low]**
**[Estimated Accomplishment Level Post-Awakening: Level 2 Beast catalyser at best.]**
Each line was a knife to the gut. Deep down, he always known it would turn out this way. aptitude was tied to lineage, and his late father—the only Beast catalyser in his family—had peaked at Level 3. That knowledge had always loomed over Courage's future like a storm cloud. Still, he hoped. That Maybe, just maybe, Lady Luck would smile upon him for once, blessing him with a rare gift like those storied underdogs in novels. But alas, Miss Fortune was a harsh mistress,
To make things worse, another document sat in front of him, its bureaucratic coldness salt to the wound:
*Dear Courage Petacos,*
*As you have now graduated and are considered a fully independent adult, you are no longer eligible for the government allowance program. The Citadel will provide financial support for the next two months, during of which you must complete your Awakening and secure sustainable employment. Additionally, as you did not meet the mid-to-high aptitude threshold, your request for collegiate debt relief has been denied. We wish you the best of luck, and may your future shine like the stars.*
Courage let out a hollow chuckle. So not only was he doomed to mediocrity as a Beast catalyser but soon he wouldn't be able to afford rent for his shoebox apartment. And let's not forget the debt—oh, the glorious debt. Not even from a prestigious academy, but from one of those bottom-tier colleges where "sleep for dinner" was practically the motto.
"Welp. I'm screwed," he muttered flatly.
He turned the problem over in his head. A normal job would take years to dig him out of debt. But if he became a Beast catalyser after Awakening, he'd earn more—even the weakest catalyser lived better than most civilians. The world revolved around their kind now.
Of course, there was a catch. There's always a catch.
Beast catalyser had one of the highest mortality rates. Every day they flirted with death. And even if Courage somehow survived, his low aptitude meant he'd never be strong enough to climb the ranks. Weak catalyser got the dregs—low-paying jobs, high-risk assignments, and barely enough income to cover the costs of maintaining their beasts, He'd be stuck in a viscous loop: too weak to thrive, but just strong enough to keep risking his neck. Not much of a choice at all.
Putting his palms atop his head and kicking it back, Courage inhaled deeply as he thought.
Under normal circumstances, someone in his position would be better off taking the former option—after all, it was better to be broke than dead. And Courage? Oh, he was tempted to do the same. But no matter how much he toyed with the idea he could never fully embrace it.
There was another factor at play—a reason unrelated to money: agency.
Sure, choosing a regular life would spare him immediate peril, but in doing so, he'd strip himself of all control. And in a world where strength determined fate, surrendering his agency was a death of its own.
Courage stood and began pacing the cramped space of his apartment, rubbing his neck.Then, with a glance at his companion, he asked, "Hey, Tusk—be honest with me. Do you see me as a Beast Catalyser?"
Tusk, his pet kabuto beetle, lay motionless on a log inside its enclosure, which sat atop the desk. As expected, the little bug offered no clear answer—just the slow twitch of its antennas, a gesture open to interpretation. But Courage seized it anyway.
"Yeah, yeah—you're right!" he said, rallying.
"So what if my aptitude's low? So what if it's gonna be hard—super dangerous, even? Hell, I should be grateful! Like you said, God sends his toughest battles to his toughest men. Besides… what do I have to lose?"
His voice brimmed with forced confidence, a thin veil over the doubt gnawing at him. But he clenched his fists, committing himself to the path of a Beast Catalyser.
Tusk, meanwhile, let out a soft chirp—one that, if you listened close, could swear carried the faintest note of helplessness.