Chapter 2 — The Edge of Ruin
Night in Helion Spire was never fully dark. The city glowed from within, its towers pulsing with faint elemental light like a massive, slumbering beast. Yet in the lower districts — where the tower's radiance struggled to reach — shadows pooled thick and cold, swallowing every whisper of warmth. It was here that the twins made their home, in the fractured remains of an abandoned structure, half collapsed from a monster raid years before they were born.
Wind howled through the broken walls, carrying the distant sounds of clashes between cultivators and wandering monsters. Metal clanged, energy cracked, and somewhere far off, a dying scream was cut short. Helion had never been a safe place. The twins had simply learned to live with it.
Kael perched on the edge of their makeshift rooftop, legs dangling over the side, staring at the chaotic glow of the city streets below. His grey eyes reflected each flicker, bright and alive. "Tonight feels different," he murmured.
Rian stood behind him, wrapping worn cloth around his hands. His movements were slow, controlled, the opposite of Kael's restless energy. "Different how?" he asked, though he already felt it too — that subtle, crawling sensation beneath the skin, like something buried was trying to push free.
Kael shrugged, leaning back on his palms. "Can't explain it. Feels like something's waiting for us." He smirked. "You feel it too."
Rian didn't deny it. Instead, he turned toward the alley below where shadows shifted unnaturally. "Something's watching."
Kael stood instantly, body tensing. The twins exchanged a look — the same look they'd shared a thousand times since childhood, silent communication honed by necessity.
Rian nodded once. "Let's go."
They dropped from the rooftop with grace that should've belonged to trained cultivators, not two unawakened sixteen-year-olds. The city swallowed them as they moved — two silhouettes weaving through ruined alleys with unnatural ease.
The lower district's labyrinth of broken structures and collapsed pathways had long been abandoned by most of Helion's residents. Monsters crept here freely at night, drawn by the leftover energy from the spire's foundations. For Kael and Rian, it was the perfect training ground — or as close to training as two unranked humans could manage.
They moved in silence until Rian raised a hand. Kael froze, eyes narrowing.
A low growl vibrated from the darkness ahead.
A pair of glowing yellow eyes emerged from the ruins, followed by the hulking shape of a Savage-class monster. Its body was twisted and powerful, muscles bulging beneath roughened hide, jagged bone protruding from its shoulders like crude armor. Drool hissed against the floor where it fell.
Kael grinned. "Big one."
Rian's expression remained unreadable. "We shouldn't engage."
"We've taken worse."
"We've never taken anything this size alone. And something else is nearby."
Kael's grin widened. "Perfect. More fun."
Before Rian could respond, the monster lunged — a blur of muscle, fur, and killing intent.
Kael moved first.
He ducked beneath the monster's swipe, its claws slicing the air inches above his head. Dust exploded around him as he slid across the ground, pivoting sharply to avoid the creature's jaws. His body moved as if guided by instinct, honed over years of fighting with nothing but reflex and desperation.
Rian didn't hesitate either. He kicked off a broken pillar, launching himself onto the creature's back. His arms wrapped around its thick neck, holding tight as the monster roared and bucked violently.
The twins didn't possess cultivation. They didn't wield energy or elemental arts. But their bodies — hardened from years of surviving the worst streets of the city — moved with a precision that made even trained fighters pause.
Kael slammed his fists into the creature's ribs, aiming for weak points he'd memorized through endless observation of monster fights. Each hit was placed perfectly, though lacking the power a true cultivator could muster.
Rian held on as the monster spun wildly, claws shredding stone, its massive bulk smashing into walls and pillars. He gritted his teeth, muscles straining. One wrong move and he would be crushed.
The monster slammed its back against a broken wall, trying to pin Rian. He barely dropped away in time, hitting the ground with a roll — but the creature's tail whipped out, striking him across the chest and sending him crashing into a pile of debris.
"Rian!" Kael shouted, but he didn't slow.
The monster turned toward his brother, fury twisting its malformed face.
Kael's expression changed instantly — the playful, reckless glint replaced by something sharp, dangerous. He rushed forward, leaping onto the creature's shoulder and driving his knee into its jaw. The monster staggered, roaring in pain.
Rian stood shakily, wiping blood from his lip. "I'm fine," he muttered. "Just keep moving."
The monster lunged again, its movements becoming frenzied. Rocks shattered under its weight as it tried to tear them apart in a frenzy of claws and teeth.
The twins moved as if they shared a single mind.
Kael drew the creature's attention, weaving around its attacks with impossible speed for an unawakened youth. Rian struck from behind, targeting tendons and joints. Every time one landed a blow, the other covered the opening.
Even so, the monster was too strong, too fast, too aggressive.
Kael landed a kick. The creature barely flinched.
Rian slammed a stone shard into its flank. It didn't penetrate.
The monster was bleeding, but so were they — shallow cuts, bruises forming fast, breathing growing ragged.
"This isn't working," Rian said between breaths.
Kael wiped blood from his chin. "Then let's change the plan."
Rian frowned. "To what?"
"To surviving."
Rian opened his mouth — then his expression snapped into alertness. He grabbed Kael's arm and yanked him aside.
Another growl answered the first.
Two more monsters emerged from the ruins.
Both Savage-class. Both hungry.
Kael's grin faltered. "Okay. Now that's new."
Rian's voice sharpened. "We run."
Kael didn't argue. They turned instantly and sprinted deeper into the ruins.
The first monster roared, the sound shaking Dust from the ceiling. The other two answered, their heavy steps pounding the earth as they gave chase.
The ruins blurred past the twins as they ran, feet pounding broken stone, breath burning in their lungs. Their bodies were fast — faster than any normal human — but the monsters were gaining.
Kael vaulted over a shattered wall, landing hard but rolling without hesitation. Rian followed, sliding beneath a collapsed beam as one of the monsters smashed through it from behind, splintering wood and stone.
"Left!" Kael shouted.
"Right!" Rian countered.
They split.
Their footsteps echoed through the dark, twisting tunnels beneath Helion's old district. It was a maze of old infrastructure — some parts used long ago to channel energy from the tower, others abandoned after monster infestations made them too dangerous.
Kael ducked into a narrow corridor, the monster too large to enter without forcing itself in. It roared, ramming its massive head through the opening. Kael sprinted harder, lungs burning.
Rian sprinted through a different tunnel, shadows closing behind him. The floor collapsed beneath him, dropping him into an old transport canal. He hit hard but rolled, ignoring the jolt of pain as he scrambled to his feet.
Kael's tunnel ended abruptly — a dead end.
"Damn it," he hissed.
The monster smashed through the narrow entrance, snarling as it forced its bulk into the confined space.
Kael braced himself and yelled into the bond they shared. "Rian!"
Rian heard him. He didn't know how he knew the direction — only that he did. He sprinted through branching corridors, taking turns he shouldn't have been able to predict.
Something inside him burned. Something hot, fierce, awakening.
Kael exhaled deeply, muscles coiled, mind cold and sharp. "Guess it's just you and me then."
He rushed the monster head-on.
Rian arrived just in time.
Kael was pinned against the wall by one of the monster's massive claws, blood wetting the ground. He struggled, but only barely. The creature's jaws opened wide, ready to tear into him—
Rian didn't think. He just moved.
He barreled into the creature's side with every ounce of force he had. It wasn't enough to knock it over — far from it — but it was enough to make it turn.
"Move!" Rian shouted.
Kael dropped, rolling out from beneath the crushing claw as it ripped through the stone where he'd been a heartbeat earlier.
The twins stood side by side, bodies shaking, blood dripping.
The monster roared, shaking dust from the ceiling.
Another roar answered — the second monster arriving from behind.
Kael laughed breathlessly. "We're so dead."
Rian's eyes narrowed. "No… not yet."
The air around them suddenly thrummed.
Kael felt it first — a deep vibration in his bones, like the world itself had turned its gaze toward him.
Rian felt it too — a pulse, rhythmic and ancient, echoing in his skull.
The monsters lunged.
The air split.
A voice — cold, mechanical, ancient — whispered into their minds, overlapping with itself as if spoken from countless directions at once:
— Awakening conditions met.
— Twin Genesis Sequence initializing…
— Binding Origin protocols…
Kael and Rian staggered, clutching their heads as light erupted beneath their skin.
The world froze.
The monsters halted mid-lunge, jaws open, frozen in time.
Energy spiraled around the twins, swirling in patterns no human should ever witness. The ground trembled. The ruins groaned. Dust lifted into the air, suspended as though gravity had forgotten its purpose.
And then—
"Welcome, Kael and Rian.
Your system has awakened."
Their vision went white.