The system audit wasn't supposed to happen for another three months.
Every student at the Arcadia Beast Academy knew that. It was standard—scan your pet log, verify contract integrity, ensure no tampering. A dull, harmless formality.
So when Kairo was summoned by name to the Audit Hall—a whole floor below the main campus—he knew something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
"Mote," he whispered. "Are they onto us?"
"Unclear. But the trace from the Undernet left residual ping echoes. Someone could've followed."
"Can we purge it?"
"We'd need Level 6 System Access… and a legal backdoor."
Kairo sighed and stepped into the scan chamber.
A woman waited inside.
Young. Too young.
Silver hair cut short. Grey suit. No badges, no guild crest, no name tag. Her eyes weren't normal—they shimmered like static.
"Tamer Kairo Veylan," she said softly, tapping at a floating screen. "You've been selected for an early-cycle behavioral and registry scan."
Kairo's mouth went dry. "Why?"
She smiled, but it never reached her eyes.
"Random flag by the registry AI. Just a ping anomaly."
"From what?"
"A pet signature spike. Five days ago. Coincided with a virtual field resonance disruption during your combat class.""A pet… 'too small to matter,' wasn't it?"
Mote shimmered beside him, silent.
Kairo remained still. "It's within legal levels."
"Barely."
She stepped closer. No scanner, no tools. Just her eyes, boring into him.
"Tell me. Do you know what a Throne-level breach looks like?"
"No," Kairo lied instantly.
"They say the first sign is silence," she said, circling him. "Then a name begins to echo. Not a skill, not a command—just a name. Ancient. Too large for the system to contain."
Kairo didn't move. His fingers itched toward the override switch on his pad—but that would flag him instantly.
"You've triggered something," she said at last. "The system isn't sure what yet. But it remembers echoes like you."
She turned toward the door.
"We'll be watching."
Mote said nothing for an hour.
When they were back in the dorm wing, behind shielded walls and noise-null fields, Kairo finally asked:
"Who was that?"
"She wasn't human. Not fully."
"Then what?"
"A Host."
"Of what?"
"Of the System's Watchdog Protocols. Physical vessels it uses to verify data reality against what it allows to exist."
"They're sent when a Throne starts awakening."
Later that night, Mira slipped into his room without a word, dropped a holo-pad on the desk, and locked the door behind her.
"You're not paranoid," she said, staring him dead in the eye. "You're marked."
"They sent a Watchdog."
"I figured. I also cracked into the audit queue. Your file's been tagged with a red-level seal.""Want to guess what the label says?"
"…Throne-Watcher Candidate."
Kairo felt the storm again—just under his skin.
Mira leaned in close.
"You've bonded with something ancient. And now the System's eye is on you."
"If you want to survive this—truly survive—we need allies."
"We need to find the other Thrones."
[System Update: Pet 'Mote' has reached Level 5]**[Skill Unlocked: Data Rift] — Phase through sealed zones temporarily. 1-use per day.[Throne Bond Level: 15% — Second Throne Stabilizing]
And deeper in the system, hidden from every human interface:
[Observer Report #007: Kairo Veylan interacting with High-Risk Echo Signatures.Recommend escalation to Tier 2 Surveillance.]
And beneath that…
[Third Throne — Observer of Endings: Sync Level 3%][Status: Curious.]