The wind howled across the cliffside, carrying the scent of smoke, steel, and old blood.
Kaela stood at the edge of the ravine, clutching the shard of Kaden's first headset in her palm. Broken tech, old memories. Behind her, the rebel camp murmured with the restlessness of beasts sensing a storm.
Kaden approached silently, cloak fluttering like a shadow behind him. He didn't say anything at first—he rarely did—but his eyes burned with a different kind of heat tonight. Not anger. Not sorrow.
Resolve.
"They're calling it the Trial of Hollowgate," he said, voice low. "Three days from now. Crimson Pact wants a full offensive. But the elders… they want us to swear the Oath."
Kaela turned. "The real one?"
He nodded. "Not the twisted chant the Order uses. The true Tamer's Oath. The one that binds you to your beast—and to the war."
She bit her lip. "We're not ready."
Kaden looked past her. Where Hunter and Ashveil stood facing each other like mirrored gods—storm and flame.
"We'll never be," he replied. "But we're needed."
Later That Night – The Oathfire Ceremony
The camp gathered in a circle beneath the bones of a fallen beast-god—its ribcage arching overhead like the frame of an ancient cathedral.
A sacred fire blazed in the center, crackling not with orange flame, but ghostly blue embers—the fire of pact and soul.
One by one, tamers stepped forward, placing a hand to the hilt of their beast's soulcore—a crystal formed from their shared experiences.
Kaela went first.
Ashveil, now glowing with a phoenix's inner fire, bowed his head as she pressed her palm to his chest.
She recited, voice shaking—but proud:
"By claw, by flame, by fang, by storm,I call thee, beast, beyond all form.Through blood unbroken and bond unshaken,Let this oath be sworn and never forsaken."
Ashveil let out a soft, melodic screech—his feathers bursting with golden light.
Kaela's soulcore flared, etching glowing script across her forearm.
The bond deepened. The pact was sealed.
Then it was Kaden's turn.
He stepped forward. The fire reflected in his eyes.
Hunter growled low, a thunder-like rumble in his chest.
Kaden pressed his palm to the stormbeast's forehead.
His voice was quieter than the others. But steady.
"In light or shadow, in life or death,Our hearts beat as one 'til final breath.Not master nor slave—but soul and soul,Together we rise. Together, we're whole."
Lightning cracked across the sky with his final word. His eyes glowed faintly.
But something was wrong.
A second energy flared inside him. Darker. Wild.
Kaela felt it too.
Kaden stumbled.
Hunter barked and steadied him—but his aura shimmered black around the edges.
Something else inside him had heard the oath.
Something beastlike.