The sky shattered the night Kael Veyron woke.
Not with fire or falling stars. Not with alarms or fanfare. But the heavens themselves seemed… broken, like reality had skipped a heartbeat.
Inside the Resonance Hall, crystal pillars trembled. The air was silent, yet the pillars quivered as if alive.
At the center of the awakening circle stood a thin, sixteen-year-old boy. Blood dripped from his palm.
Kael Veyron.
"Sigil Manifestation: Failed."
The examiner's voice was cold, echoing through the chamber like steel. A faint gray mark flickered on Kael's wrist… and then cracked.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"Another defective."
"Third this month."
"Pathetic."
Kael didn't flinch. His eyes were fixed on the air before him. The mark had not disappeared. Only he could see it—a faint, overlapping pattern. Two incomplete sigils, struggling to merge.
In this world, every sixteen-year-old Beast Tamer awakened a Core Sigil. It defined their talent, their rank, their future.
Most received a stable Ember Phase mark.
Some rare geniuses reached Crest Phase immediately.
And the truly blessed—less than one in a million—touched Zenith.
Kael's sigil had cracked.
No resonance.
No contract.
No future.
"Take him away," the examiner ordered. Two guards stepped forward.
Then the hall changed.
The crystal pillars flared—distorted, chaotic, unnatural. Reality itself seemed to skip a heartbeat. A whisper brushed Kael's mind.
Compatibility Detected.
Dual Sigil Interference.
Resonance Depth: Unknown.
Kael staggered. The cracked gray sigil pulsed once. Then, the second hidden pattern began to rotate. Overlapping. Aligning. Grinding against each other.
Pain tore through his nerves—not fire, not ice, but something deeper. Like two hearts beating in one chest.
The guards froze. One of the pillars shattered. A low vibration hummed through the hall.
"Seal the chamber!" the examiner shouted.
Too late.
A small, unstable tear appeared behind Kael. From it fell a creature—half the size of a wolf cub, black feathers, silver glowing eyes. The air around it shimmered strangely.
"Unregistered Beast!" the guards shouted, weapons raised.
The creature didn't move aggressively. It lifted its head, looking only at Kael.
And then it spoke—not in words, but in thought.
"You are incomplete."
Kael froze.
"…What?"
"So am I."
The examiner panicked. "Kill it before it destabilizes everything!"
Energy constructs formed around the chamber. The little beast tilted its head. Silver light flickered across its feathers. Kael instinctively reached out, placing his hand on its head.
The cracked sigil flared. The hidden pattern surged. For a single second, the two patterns aligned perfectly—and then snapped back.
Air imploded. Feathers and shadow twisted together. The guards were thrown backward.
When the dust settled, the small beast had transformed. Wings spread wide, eyes blazing silver, claws cracking the chamber floor. The crystal pillars dimmed.
Kael fell to one knee, gasping. His wrist burned, but the sigil had stabilized—unstable, rotating, alive.
First Echo Fusion Completed.
Stability: 23%
Risk Level: Extreme
The examiner whispered, pale: "…What phase is that?"
No one knew. The world had never seen a Sigil overlap before.
Far beyond the city walls, in the Abyssal Zone, ancient sigils stirred.
Kael lifted his head slowly. The fused creature turned to him. Silver eyes locked with his. Not servant. Not master. Equal.
And in that moment, the rules of resonance shifted forever.
End of Chapter 1