The guard's question lingered in the sterile environment, sharply contrasting with the primal terror lurking in the darkness beyond the light. "What in the seven hells have you brought here?"
Kaito leaned against the cold metal gate, panting heavily. He shifted his gaze from the guard's stern expression to the horrific creature lurking in the oppressive darkness, its numerous eyes glowing with malevolence.
"I didn't bring it," Kaito replied, his voice hoarse yet composed. "It was pursuing me."
The guard narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "Identification. Now. Show me your BOI readout."
Kaito blinked in confusion. "My... what?"
"Your Binder Operative Interface," the guard explained, his tone laced with impatience, as if speaking to a child. He gestured to a sleek bracelet on his wrist, projecting a small holographic screen displaying his ID and rank. "Every Binder has one. Don't play games."
Kaito glanced at his own bare wrist, still clad in the same school uniform from the lab. "I... I don't have one."
A younger guard stepped forward, studying Kaito's unusual attire, the absence of gear, and the exhausted golden Lumenkin on his shoulder. "No BOI, no gear, no Callstone..." he remarked, realization dawning on him. "Captain... I think he's an otherworlder."
The term ignited intrigue in the stale air. "Otherworlder?" Kaito echoed, genuinely puzzled. "What does that mean? Is it a rank?"
The captain's stern demeanor softened, giving way to shock and fascination. "You don't know? An otherworlder is someone not born here, someone drawn into our realm from another. They're legends. Myths."
Kaito's mind raced. Drawn into this world? That sounded eerily familiar. But it couldn't be true—this was just a game.
"The TLA must be informed," the younger guard said, reaching for his communicator.
"TLA?" Kaito seized the acronym, eager for information. "What's the TLA?"
"The Terran Lumen Authority," the captain replied, his tone turning flat and official. "They oversee the Binders, manage the Lumen Days, control the city. They control everything. If you're truly an otherworlder, you belong to them now."
The word 'belong' sent a chill through Kaito. He was no one's possession. He was a player, the one with control.
The guards' focus shifted to the Lumenkin on Kaito's shoulder. "What about her?" the captain asked, his expression softening slightly. "She's stunning. I've never encountered a species like her."
The younger guard produced a Micro-Luminograph, scanning Auri with a red light. After a moment, the device beeped. "No data," he reported, bewildered. "She's absent from all regional or guild databases. Her signature is completely unique."
This was the critical moment. Kaito needed to tread carefully.
"Her name is Auri," Kaito said, infusing a tone of wonder into his voice. "I discovered her in a ruin deep in the Black Sprawl. There was this... convergence of light. I've never seen anything like it. She was just... there." He let the story linger, blending truth with embellishment. "She's an A-rank, I think."
"A-rank?" the captain exclaimed, eyes wide. "That's incredibly rare. Do you have her Callstone? We must verify the bond."
'Callstone.' Another concept from the game made real. And yet another thing he lacked.
Kaito's mind raced, crafting a believable lie. "I think... I lost it," he said, allowing a tremor in his voice. "When that thing was chasing me. The Sun-Strider crashed... everything was chaotic. I had to flee. I must have dropped it."
It was a convincing story, justifying his lack of equipment and disheveled appearance.
The captain's expression hardened once more. "A lost A-rank Callstone is a serious security issue. This is beyond our jurisdiction." He turned to the younger guard. "Contact the Academy. Inform Headmaster Caldeira of our situation: an unregistered otherworlder with an unidentified A-rank Lumenkin and a lost Callstone. Have her send a retrieval team. Immediately."
The younger guard nodded and began to relay the information into his communicator in urgent whispers.
Kaito stood there, a pawn in a game he didn't fully understand. Yet he was quickly grasping the rules. He had concealed his biggest secrets—the LuminaDrive, Auri's true S-rank status—and positioned himself as a rare, valuable asset. In a world governed by systems and data, a mystery wielded power.
He gazed beyond the guards toward the sprawling, illuminated city of Lumenreach. It resembled a cage, though a gilded one. For now, it was the safest place in this fractured world. He simply needed to ensure he was the one holding the keys.