That night, Kairo sat alone in the academy's data garden — a serene, artificial grove built entirely from solid-light projections and soft sound loops. Blue neon leaves shimmered in the gentle codewind, and a digital koi pond reflected distorted stars above.
Mote hovered above his lap, cycling through soft glows.
"You accessed the Second Throne memory," Mote said.
"Yeah," Kairo replied quietly, staring into the pond. "I only saw a silhouette. Thunder. Wings. Storms."
"Then it begins."
Kairo glanced up. "What does that mean?"
"The Thrones were never meant to be claimed."
"They are echoes of the Prime Beasts. The ten elemental gods that forged the architecture of this universe. Pets, yes—but only because the system chained them."
Kairo blinked.
"You're telling me the Thrones are... trapped gods?"
"Trapped data. Contained will. The system you humans use—'Gacha' draws, BeastLinks, Battle Arenas—it wasn't designed just for training."
"It was made to suppress them."
The wind in the garden flickered for a split second. Kairo's eyes narrowed.
In the corner of his vision, a message flashed—briefly, subtly:
[Your data has been pinged by an external trace.][Source: Unknown. Ghost Protocol Detected.]
He stood quickly.
"Mote, did someone just try to scan me?"
"Yes. Indirectly. They're not targeting you—they're targeting your pet registry signature."
"Can you trace it?"
"Not yet. But it was routed through a black proxy grid. Underground net."
"Someone's sniffing us out."
The next day, in the academy archives, Kairo went hunting for history.
Officially, the term "Throne" wasn't in any textbook. The most ancient records only mentioned "Core Beasts," some supposedly fictional divine pets that once governed their respective elements before the Petverse System was born.
But Mira had already dug deeper.
She dropped a private file into his inbox:
[TOPIC: The Ten Thrones — A Forbidden System Layer]Attached: Encrypted Logs / Compiled Rumors / Discarded Code Archives
"Thought you'd want these," her message read. "Also, I told you you're marked. Turns out, you're also tracked."
[CONFIDENTIAL ARCHIVE – USER: UNKNOWN]
:: ENTRY 002 — "The Ten Thrones are not 'pets'. They are pillars of this reality's balance. Each rules over one fundamental element. They existed before the Gacha System. Before the Tamer Guilds. Before the Academy."
:: ENTRY 009 — "They were sealed when one of them tried to overwrite the System Core. A rebellion. The beast tamers thought they won. But the Thrones weren't destroyed. They were fractured and scattered. Waiting to be reformed."
:: ENTRY 016 — "A throne awakens when a tamer links with one unknowingly and reaches resonance. When all ten are reassembled, the system will collapse… or reset. No one knows for sure."
Kairo leaned back, heart pounding.
"So I didn't just get lucky. I triggered a failsafe."
"Incorrect," Mote whispered. "You triggered a restoration."
Suddenly, his inbox pinged again.
This time, it wasn't Mira.
It was an anonymous sender. Black screen. No ID. Just a blinking cursor.
Then words appeared:
"We know what you are.""We are the Voidwalkers. The system you trust is a prison. If you want answers, come to the Undernet."
A link appeared: encrypted, high-level dark net node.
Mote pulsed anxiously.
"Dangerous. But revealing."
Kairo stared.
"Let's go see what the system tried to bury."
He tapped the link.