Mr. Mealin ordered Kelvin, "Come with me now if you can still walk, there is much to do."
Kelvin followed him immediately without questioning.
Mr. Mealin took Kelvin to the awakening hall, when they got there and was about to step in, he told Kelvin that they will need to be sure of the beast that he has awaken before they can go further.
They entered into the chamber, the chamber was cold and ancient, carved from stone adored with glowing crystals. Torches burned with blue fire, casting eerie reflections on the walls.
This was the Hall of Awakening, a sacred chamber deep within the Sanctum of Bonds, where the truth of a tamer's soul was revealed.
Kelvin stood within a glowing circle etched into the floor, the Sigil of Revelation. The runes around its edge glows slowly, as if sensing his presence.
There were seven high-ranking tamers, who were there as they watched silently from the edges of the hall, their robes were marked with the glyphs of mastery.
Mr. Maelin stood just beyond the circle with his arms folded tightly across his chest.
"Focus on your beast," he instructed Kelvin with a sharp voice. "Call it. Do not resist it, just guide it."
Kelvin nodded with his eyes closed without blinking.
As he inhaled deeply, the sigil on his chest, the strange mark he had carried since he meet with Xerion burned hotter than ever.
Kelvin reached inward pass the fear and fatigue he felt but into the storm that raged within his soul.
And there he found it.
Xerion stirred and coiled like an eclipse waiting to unravel. The moment Kelvin touched its essence, the runes on the ground flared. The projection exploded into a being.
A colossal statues form rose behind Kelvin, stretching toward the ceiling. Wrapped up in black flame and surrounded in celestial light, the creature's wings bore ancient runes of ruin and rebirth.
Its horns were twisted like obsidian spires. Its eyes are like pits of molten fury that looked at the gathered tamers.
The ground trembled and one of the elder tamers stumbled back. "That is not a normal projection," he said.
Kelvin tried to withstand the pressure that nearly crushed him. The Xerion's raw presence threatened to overwhelm his consciousness and his knees were becoming week.
But he held onto his strength.
Mr. Maelin stepped forward, with a low voice but a clear one.
"Beast Rank: SSS-Class; A mythic-tier which is known as the End-Tyrant, a draconic sovereign of ancient calamity that holds dominion over entropy, flame and fate."
Someone screamed in surprise.
Another tamer muttered, "That is beyond a royal bloodline... That is a world-tier being."
Kelvin felt the heat of the sigil as it subside, as Xerion's form receded into the ether, leaving silence and a scorched stone behind.
Mr. Maelin turned toward the panel of observing masters and continued.
"Bond Strength Level: Currently Harmonized Bond. Emotional and spiritual resonance confirmed but unstable under stress."
He looked down at Kelvin, who was now kneeling down on the floor panting but conscious.
"Tamer Rank: Assessed at Novice-Level, unranked officially within Sanctum hierarchy but with the potential to reach Master Tamer or higher pending training, synchronization, and survival."
The ranking crystal embedded in the floor pulsed and then displayed the official evaluation:
Tamer Rank: Novice (Unranked)
Beast Rank: SSS-Class (Mythic-Class) - "Xerion, the End-Tyrant"
Bond Strength: Harmonized Bond (Moderate Stability)
Taming Sync Ratio: 17% - Severe instability risk. The tamer may be overwhelmed if synchronization falters.
Kelvin raised his eyes to the display, with his heart panting.
He barely had control over the creature that coiled within his soul, a beast that could level cities… and yet it stirred for him.
Mr. Maelin bent off beside him, with his voice now lower, almost a whisper. "Do you understand what this means?"
Kelvin swallowed his saliva. "This means that I am not strong enough."
"No," Mr. Maelin said. "This means that you are one of the few ever born who could become strong enough."
He stood, facing the council. "I will take responsibility for his training, this one… he is not just another student but he is a turning point."
One of the elders narrowed her eyes, as she interrupted. "Or a catastrophe waiting to happen."
Mr. Maelin didn't flinch but added. "Perhaps. But I have seen worse unleashed beast with far less hope behind them that succeeded."
Kelvin stood up, unsteady but firm. The air around him still blows faintly with residual heat from Xerion's manifestation.
What do you think the world saw in him? A monster, a miracle, or a mistake. he would need to prove that he was more than just a vessel for destruction.
If he would earn control, the he would become worthy.
They didn't speak until Kelvin had been allowed of food, water and a medic's attention. He sat on a stone bench within the Sanctum's inner court with Mr. Maelin beside him.
"What does it mean?" Kelvin asked finally. "My rank?"
Mr. Maelin's drummed the stone with his finger and said to Kelvin. "The Sanctum uses a six-tier system: Novice, Adept, Expert, Elite, Ascendant, and Apex. You… are currently Unranked."
Kelvin's stomach dropped. "But I....."
Maelin raised a hand and said. "Listen. Your rank is not determined by your beast's raw power. It is based on your bond, your control, your ability to channel and shape the strength of the beast.
Right now, you are an unsteady candle trying to hold a wildfire."
Kelvin said nothing.
"But," Maelin continued, "Your beast places you under a special classification which is Mythbound. There are only five of you that are registered in the entire continent and every one of them had changed the world… and destroyed some part of it."
Kelvin's throat went dry. "Then… what happens now to me?"
"I am going to sponsor your enrollment into the school."
Kelvin blinked. "You can do that?"
Maelin frowned. "I had earned enough favors in this place to move mountains. But they will resist this one. Mythbound tamers are dangerous and the council will see you as a risk."
"Then why help me?" Kelvin asked quietly.
Mr. Maelin stood up, looking out over the academy grounds he said "I am doing this because I failed the last one, after which he went to see the council."
Despite Mr. Maelin's reputation, the Council demanded for a proof.
Kelvin was summoned before them, in a high circle of masked tamers, each bearing one of the founding glyphs of the Sanctum. Seven voices, seven judgments.
They offered him a single chance. Survive the Trial of Binding.
In the belly of the Sanctum lay an arena which is sealed by an ancient magic. There, prospective students proved their worth not through violent strength, but through mastery over bond and beast.
Kelvin would be sealed in with a Mirrorkin Wyrm, a creature that do fed on the unbalanced links between a tamer and its beast.
If he sould loss control, even slightly, the wyrm would devour his bond and leave him empty.
Mr. Maelin spoke no words of encouragement to Kelvin. But as the gates closed behind Kelvin, he nodded once, his nodding was sharp and meaningful. You can do this.
The arena became silent.
******************************
The Mirrorkin Wyrm rose from the shadows and it was a snake-like creature with scales of reflective glass. Each segment of its body reflected with ghost images of Kelvin himself.
It hissed and its reflections twisted, one showed Kelvin crumbling to his knees while another showed him where he was engulfed in flame.
Kelvin gnawed his teeth.
"I am not afraid of what I was," he muttered to himself. "And I won't back down from what I could become."
He tapped the sigil. Xerion surged forward but Kelvin caught the beast mid-way in his mind, directing it not with force but with intention.
He did not just unleash it but he guided it.
An unsteady shining of crimson flame rippled around him, forming a barrier like light. The Wyrm struck but then retreated, hissing as its illusions broke like glass.
After a while it struck again and this time, Kelvin did not fear rather he stepped inside the Wyrm's space and drove his into the creature's exposed neck.
The Wyrm collapsed.
Kelvin didn't roar and he didn't gloat. He simply had a deep breath as he stood up.
Mr. Maelin waited outside the chamber with his arms crossed. When Kelvin emerged, bruised but was standing upright, the old tamer gave him a nod and said, "Welcome to the Sanctum of Bonds."
The Council had no option but to approve of his admission that same hour.
Kelvin looked around, towards the grounds that were beyond the threshold, the training halls, the meditation gardens, the beast pens and summoning arena.
"Where do I start from?" Kelvin asked.
Mr. Maelin smiled faintly and responded. "You will start with a bath."
Then, more seriously, "Orientation is tomorrow and you will be placed in House Cindervale, under Instructor Yhera. She is hard and strict but she is fair."
Kelvin nodded and asked. "What of you sir?"
"I will be watching," Maelin said. "But not guiding you. You need to carve this path yourself, Kelvin. The Phoenix Walker was right. You are either going to save us or you become something we will have to stop."
Kelvin felt the weight of his words. But he looked toward the rising sun.