The sky cracked with thunder as the final beast bond was made.
Golden auras lit the ancient arena. Parents cheered. Instructors nodded with pride. Magical beasts howled in excitement, freshly linked to their new tamers.
Everyone… except one.
Aras stood alone at the center of the circle, hands trembling, blood running from his palm. His soul circle remained dull—no light, no connection.
Nothing.
The high elder's voice cut through the silence like a blade.
"Aras Cael, you have failed the Ceremony of Bonding. You possess no compatibility with beasts."
Gasps echoed around the stone amphitheater.
"But… that can't be," Aras whispered, voice cracking. "I trained. I felt the call—"
"You are beastless," the elder spat, turning his back. "Leave the sanctum. From this moment on, you are exiled from the Tamer's Guild. Your name shall be struck from the Codex."
Laughter broke out.
One of the noble heirs, Kael Draven, smirked as he leaned against his lion-type beast. "Guess you should've been born a street rat instead of pretending to be one of us."
Aras's fists clenched. The sting of betrayal burned hotter than the blood pooling from his sliced palm.
He'd grown up believing he had a destiny. Believing his bloodline mattered.
His parents were dead. His only inheritance was a tattered bestiary and a dream.
And now—he was being discarded like trash.
The sky growled again. Rain began to fall. The crowd scattered. No one stopped to look back at the boy left kneeling on cracked stone.
He didn't scream. Didn't cry.
He simply stood… and walked into the storm.
---
Hours later, Aras stumbled through the Gravemaw Forest, forbidden grounds bordering the city. His robe was soaked, his face bruised from a scuffle with a beast hunter who tried to rob him.
His body ached. His soul felt hollow.
No compatibility…?
But he'd always felt something—especially near the ruins. Like a voice whispering to him. Like something asleep beneath the soil… waiting.
Lightning split the sky again.
That's when he saw it.
A small black cub, curled beneath a shattered monolith covered in ancient glyphs. Its body trembled with shallow breaths. Blood soaked its fur. A deep gash cut across its side.
Aras rushed to it, kneeling without thought.
A beast… abandoned.
Just like him.
"Hang on," he whispered, pulling off his robe to wrap it. "You're not dying here."
The moment his hand touched the cub—
The monolith pulsed.
A golden circle lit beneath them. Ancient runes flared to life, spinning with impossible speed.
And then—
DING!
> [Primordial Sync System Activated.]
[Beast Compatibility: 100%.]
[Establishing Forbidden Bond… Soul Merge Initiated.]
"What…?" Aras froze. The air turned heavy. Power surged through his limbs, raw and unfiltered.
The cub's eyes snapped open—one pure silver, the other black like the void.
> [Congratulations. You have formed a Primordial Sync with a Sealed Mythical Beast. Evolution Path Unlocked.]
Aras felt his mind flood with visions—beasts of old roaring across skies, devouring suns, shattering continents.
He wasn't taming the cub.
He was becoming something with it.
The cub blinked up at him, then spoke—not aloud, but into his mind.
"…You… found me."
Aras's heart stopped. "You can… speak?"
"Not yet. But soon. You… are my bound. And I… am yours."
The glyphs on the monolith faded, then shattered into dust.
The cub's wound began to glow, slowly knitting together with golden light.
Aras stood in silence as the storm faded and moonlight broke through the clouds.
He wasn't beastless.
He was something the world didn't understand.
---
The next day, back in the outer city slums, Aras sat beside a fire in a broken-down shack, the cub asleep on his chest.
His thoughts raced.
Primordial Sync System? Forbidden Bond? Mythical Beast?
A faint blue screen appeared in his vision again.
> [Beast Companion: Name Unknown (???) – Sealed Form]
[Sync Rate: 8%]
[Next Skill Unlock at 10% Sync.]
[Warning: This contract is forbidden by all Guilds. Exposure may result in extermination.]
Extermination?
Aras didn't flinch.
"They already tried to erase me," he murmured. "They failed."
He looked down at the sleeping beast.
"You and I… we'll rewrite the Codex."
Suddenly, movement outside.
Voices.
"…He went this way."
"…Find him. Lord Draven wants his head."
Aras's jaw tightened.
Of course. Kael wasn't satisfied with exile. He wanted to kill the 'beastless failure' just to be sure.
A shadow moved across the window.
Aras quietly set the cub down and slid his hand toward a broken dagger near the fire.
The door burst open.
Two cloaked beast-tamers stormed in. One unleashed a vine serpent; the other readied a fire mantis.
"Well well," one said, grinning. "Found the little reject."
"Don't resist," the other sneered. "We'll make it quick."
Aras stood.
No fear in his eyes.
Then—
> [Sync Surge Triggered: Emergency Combat Bond Activated.]
[Beast Awakening: Partial Form Breakthrough.]
[Skill Unlocked: Shadowflame Bite.]
The cub's body pulsed with shadow and fire. It leapt forward like a phantom.
The vine serpent hissed—too late.
Its head was torn clean off in one bite.
The fire mantis screeched—burned alive by black flames.
The assassins screamed, scrambling to run.
But Aras had already moved. His dagger flashed across one man's throat. The other stumbled, tripped—
And the cub landed on his chest, fangs bared, glowing eyes piercing.
The man sobbed. "W-What are you?!"
Aras stepped into the moonlight.
His eyes glowed faintly gold.
"I'm what your Guild fears most," he said coldly.
"A tamer… the world can't control."
---
By dawn, Aras had left the city outskirts. A black cloak covered his face, the cub curled in his arm again.
The System chimed softly.
> [New Quest: Reach Sync Rate 25%. Unlock Hidden Evolution.]
[Optional: Hunt Rank D beast for faster Sync Boost.]
[Warning: You are now marked as an Outlaw Tamer.]
Aras smiled.
Let them hunt him.
Let them chase him.
He was no longer part of their world.
He would forge his own—one beast, one battle, one soul at a time.