The parchment bearing Prince Theren's taunting words lay crumpled on the oak table of Stormwright Keep's war room. The firelight flickered across Sebastian's face as he traced the wax seal—a phoenix in flight, mocking him with its elegance.
Kael stood by the window, his massive arms crossed, the muscles in his jaw working as he ground his teeth. "Young master," he began, his voice low but firm, "you're worrying over nothing. My Stoneclaw Grizzly has faced worse than some overgrown lizard."
Sebastian turned, his emerald eyes sharp. "No, Kael. You won't be able to handle them alone. Not against a Draco Tyrannous." He gestured to the letter. "That thing is a walking siege engine. The moment it locks onto you, you're dead."
Kael's nostrils flared, but before he could argue, Sebastian cut him off.
"You need more rune-beasts."
A bitter laugh escaped Kael's lips. "And where am I supposed to get those? The beast-ring I used for Stoneclaw was my father's only legacy. I don't have—"
"We do."
The door swung open, and Duke Galen Stormwright strode in, his storm-grey cloak billowing behind him. His presence alone seemed to suck the air from the room.
"Stormwright Keep has vaults full of beast-rings," Galen said, his voice like grinding stone. "Enough to outfit a small army. If Sebastian says you need more, then you get more."
Kael's eyes widened slightly, but he quickly schooled his expression. "With respect, my lord, I'm not some noble brat who can just snap his fingers and get handed power. I earned my beast."
Galen's lips twitched—not quite a smile, but something close. "Good. Then you'll have no problem earning another."
Sebastian led Kael down into the keep's subterranean vaults, their footsteps echoing off the cold stone walls. Torches flickered in their sconces, casting long shadows that danced like specters.
"You're serious about this," Kael muttered, eyeing the reinforced iron doors ahead.
"Deadly." Sebastian placed his palm against a rune-locked mechanism. The doors groaned open, revealing a chamber lined with dozens of beast-rings, each resting on velvet cushions inside glass cases.
Kael's breath caught.
Sebastian didn't blame him. Even he had only seen this room a handful of times. The rings ranged from simple iron bands to masterwork pieces inlaid with sapphires and frost-forged silver.
"Take your pick," Sebastian said.
Kael hesitated, his calloused fingers hovering over the displays. "Young master… these are worth a king's ransom."
Sebastian shrugged. "And?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "I don't like debts."
"This isn't a debt," Sebastian corrected. "It's an investment. You're my retainer now. Your strength is my strength."
For a long moment, Kael just stared at him. Then, with a slow nod, he selected a beast-ring of blackened steel, its surface etched with earthen runes.
"This one."
Sebastian smirked. "Good choice."
Back in the war room, Duke Galen unrolled a massive map across the table, its edges weighted down by daggers.
"If you want beasts that can contend with a Draco Tyrannous, you have two options." His finger tapped a frozen coastline to the west. "Frostmaw. A Tier IV Arcane Protector. Forty feet of blubber, muscle, and ice-spikes."
Sebastian's Book of Beast Records flickered open in his mind, feeding him details:
"Frostmaw – Tier IV (Arcane Protector)"
- Abilities: Ice-spike barrage, glacial crush, arctic aura
- Habitat: Frost Seas
- Threat Level: Extreme
Galen's finger then moved south, to a range of jagged mountains. "Or Boulder Fang. Another Tier IV. Think of it as a walking avalanche with teeth."
"Boulder Fang – Tier IV (Arcane Protector)"
- Abilities: Seismic stomp, stone shroud, tectonic roar
- Habitat: Stonefang Peaks
- Threat Level: Extreme
Kael, who had been listening silently, suddenly paled. "You're joking."
Galen raised a brow. "Do I look like I joke?"
Sebastian leaned forward. "We'll take both."
At dawn, ten knights of the Arcstrike Wyvern Cavalry stood ready in the courtyard, their mounts—massive, lightning-winged drakes—pawing at the ground impatiently.
Kael, now clad in reinforced Stormwright leathers, stared at the wyverns with a mix of awe and trepidation.
"Never ridden one before?" Sebastian asked, strapping Dawn's Edge and Dusk's Bite to his back.
Kael scowled. "Never even seen one up close."
One of the knights, Ser Garrick, chuckled. "Don't worry, lad. They only bite sometimes."
Kael's expression was priceless.
Duke Galen approached, handing Sebastian a frost-forged spear. "For the Frostmaw. Aim for the weak spot beneath its jaw."
Sebastian took it, nodding. "And Kael?"
Galen tossed Kael a rune-engraved maul. "Boulder Fangs hate loud noises. Hit the ground hard enough, and it'll stun the beast long enough to bond."
Kael hefted the weapon, testing its weight. "Simple enough."
Galen's smirk was razor-thin. "Oh, you sweet summer child."
The flight to the mountains took half a day. From above, the peaks looked like the spines of some buried giant, jutting from the earth in jagged rows.
They landed in a valley littered with boulders the size of houses—many of which, Sebastian noted uneasily, had teeth marks.
"Spread out," ordered Ser Alden, the cavalry's captain. "Look for fresh tracks or—"
A roar shook the valley.
Kael spun, his maul at the ready—just as the very mountain in front of them stood up.
Boulder Fang was massive. Its stone-gray scales blended seamlessly with the rocks until it moved, its four tree-trunk legs sending tremors through the earth. Its horned head swung toward them, eyes like smoldering coals locking onto Kael.
Kael's voice was barely a whisper. "Oh. Shit."
The beast charged.
What followed wasn't a battle—it was a cataclysm.
Boulder Fang's tail swept through the air like a living landslide, sending knights and wyverns alike scrambling. Kael barely dodged, rolling as the impact cratered the ground where he'd stood.
"NOW, KAEL!" Sebastian shouted.
Gritting his teeth, Kael slammed his maul into the earth. The runes flared, and a shockwave of sound erupted, cracking stone and sending the beast stumbling.
For one precious second, Boulder Fang faltered.
Kael didn't hesitate. He sprinted forward, beast-ring raised—
—and leapt onto the creature's back.
The bonding was anything but gentle. The beast bucked like a wild stallion, its roars shaking loose avalanches from the peaks. But Kael held on, his Titan Strength the only thing keeping him from being thrown into the stratosphere.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the beast stillened.
The rune on Kael's beast-ring flared, its iron darkening to the color of mountain stone.
"Hell… yes…" Kael panted, sliding off the now-docile Boulder Fang.
Sebastian grinned. "One down."
As the Arcstrike Wyverns took to the skies again, Kael stared at his new beast—now curled obediently at his feet—with something like disbelief.
"Young master," he said slowly, "what the hell have you gotten me into?"
Sebastian's smile was all teeth. "The fun part."
At The Frost Seas,
The wyverns descended through a blizzard so thick Sebastian could barely see the beast in front of him. The Frost Seas were not a place for mortals—they were a realm of howling winds, jagged ice floes, and things that lurked beneath the frozen waves.
"There!" Ser Alden's voice crackled through the storm as he pointed toward a massive ice shelf.
Sebastian squinted. At first, he saw nothing but white. Then—movement.
The ice shelf shifted.
Not the ice.
Something under it.
A shadow, colossal and ancient, slid beneath the frozen surface. The water trembled as it passed, cracks spiderwebbing across the ice.
"Frostmaw," Sebastian breathed.
They landed on a stable ice floe, the knights forming a perimeter while Sebastian and Kael approached the edge. The wind screamed in their ears, biting through even their enchanted Stormwright furs.
"How do we lure it out?" Kael shouted over the gale.
Sebastian gripped the frost-forged spear his father had given him. "We don't."
He raised the weapon—and slammed it into the ice.
The runes along its length flared blue, and a pulse of energy shot through the frozen sea. The ice beneath their feet groaned, then shattered.
For one heart-stopping second, Sebastian felt weightless.
Then the water exploded.
Frostmaw was not just large. It was monstrous.
Forty feet of blubber and muscle erupted from the depths, its maw wide enough to swallow a carriage whole. Rows of serrated teeth gleamed like icicles, and its underbelly was studded with crystalline spikes that glittered with unnatural light.
The knights' wyverns screeched, instinctively backing away. Even Kael's Boulder Fang let out a low, uneasy growl.
Sebastian's Book of Beast Records screamed warnings:
[[Frostmaw – Tier IV (Arcane Protector)
- Active Ability: Glacial Crush – Can freeze seawater into solid ice instantly
- Weakness: Core located beneath jaw
- Threat Level: LETHAL]]
The beast's eyes—pale blue and intelligent—locked onto Sebastian.
Then it roared.
The sound was like a glacier splitting in half.
Sebastian didn't have time to think. He rolled as Frostmaw's tail smashed down, sending ice shards flying like shrapnel.
"Storm Hawk! Lightning barrage!"
His avian companion dove from the sky, bolts of electricity striking the beast's hide—but Frostmaw barely flinched. Its blubber was too thick, its runes too strong.
"Blairon Giant! Pin it!"
The blackiron construct charged, slamming into Frostmaw's side. For a moment, the beast staggered—but then it flexed, and the Giant was hurled backward, crashing through an ice ridge.
Kael cursed. "Young master—it's too strong!"
Sebastian gritted his teeth. "No. It's perfect."
He had studied Frostmaw's kind in the archives. They were scavengers, not hunters. They preferred to let prey come to them.
Which meant they hated being chased.
"Thunderjaw Wyvern! Gale Shield Cicada! Hit and run!"
The wyvern streaked forward, lightning crackling along its wings, while the cicada erected a wind barrier to deflect Frostmaw's retaliatory ice spikes.
The beast bellowed, its patience fraying.
Sebastian waited.
He let Frostmaw grow angrier, let it expend its energy chasing his beasts, let it think he was the prey.
Then, when the beast reared up for a final crushing blow—
"NOW!"
The Storm Hawk dove, not at Frostmaw, but at the ice beneath it. Its talons struck a precise fracture point, and the frozen shelf collapsed.
Frostmaw plunged into the water.
Sebastian didn't hesitate. He leaped after it.
The cold was unimaginable.
Sebastian's War God Body burned hot, fighting off the lethal chill as he kicked deeper. Frostmaw thrashed below him, disoriented by the sudden fall.
There—the weak spot.
A pulsing rune-core beneath its jaw, glowing faintly through the murk.
Sebastian swam harder, his lungs screaming. He raised the frost-forged spear—
—and drove it home.
Not to kill.
To bond.
The moment the spear's tip touched the rune-core, Sebastian slammed his beast-ring against it.
A pulse of energy rocked the water.
Frostmaw stilled.
Then, slowly, its massive body began to shrink, its form dissolving into light before being sucked into the ring.
Sebastian's fifth beast-ring transformed, its metal turning the pale blue of glacial ice, its surface etched with frost patterns.
"Frostmaw – Bonded – Tier IV (Arcane Protector)"
Sebastian kicked for the surface, his vision darkening at the edges.
Strong hands hauled him onto the ice. Kael.
"You're insane," the Titan Strength wielder gasped.
Sebastian, coughing up seawater, grinned. "Worked, didn't it?"
Back at Stormwright Keep, Duke Galen listened to their report with a satisfied nod. Then, as servants draped dry cloaks over their shoulders, he dropped the bombshell.
"Prince Theren's new squire—Rathis Duneclaw—is Count Halden Sharppeak's bastard."
Sebastian froze. "What?"
Galen poured himself a drink. "Born to a desert rider woman. The count never acknowledged him, but Theren sniffed out the connection. This is the boy's chance to elevate his status."
Kael scowled. "So he's noble-blooded after all."
"Half," Galen corrected. "And desperate to prove himself. That makes him dangerous."
Sebastian's mind raced. "Does Theren know we're aware?"
Galen's smile was grim. "Doubt it. But now you do."
As night fell, Sebastian stood on the keep's battlements, Frostmaw's beast-ring glinting on his finger.
Kael joined him, his own new Boulder Fang resting in the courtyard below.
"Young master," he said quietly, "we're walking into a nest of vipers."
Sebastian's gaze was fixed on the horizon—where Mysticrium awaited.
"Then it's a good thing we've become snakes ourselves."
The morning sun streamed through the high windows of Stormwright Keep's armory, casting golden streaks across the racks of polished steel. Sebastian ran a cloth along the edge of Dusk's Bite, the dark blade shimmering under his careful ministrations. His mind was already racing through the final preparations before their departure for Mysticrium—supplies to pack, beasts to condition, strategies to review.
A grunt from the corner drew his attention.
Kael sat on a wooden bench, his massive hands empty, his expression unreadable as he watched Sebastian tend to his weapons. The Titan Strength wielder wore simple training leathers, reinforced at the shoulders but otherwise unremarkable. No armor. No weapon of his own beyond the Stoneclaw Grizzly and newly tamed Boulder Fang.
Sebastian frowned. "You don't have any gear."
Kael shrugged, his voice a low rumble. "Never needed it before."
Sebastian sheathed his blades with a sharp click. "That ends today."
The Stormwright family forge was a cathedral of heat and hammer-song, its walls lined with the weapons of generations. At its heart stood Master Blacksmith Orrik, the grizzled dwarf wiping soot from his brow as he examined Kael like a slab of raw ore.
"Hmph," Orrik grunted, circling the larger boy. "You're built like a siege engine. No finesse. No grace. Just brute force."
Kael's jaw tightened, but he said nothing.
Sebastian crossed his arms. "So what do you suggest?"
Orrik stroked his singed beard, then suddenly slammed a hammer into Kael's chest.
CLANG.
The dwarf grinned as the hammer rebounded, Kael barely flinching. "Iron skin and Titan Strength? Lad's a walking battering ram." He tossed the hammer aside and grabbed a slate, scribbling designs. "No sword. No axe. You need a weapon that is your fist—but bigger."
Kael leaned over, frowning at the sketches. "A… hammer?"
"Not a hammer," Orrik corrected. "The hammer." He tapped the blueprint. "Two hundred pounds of enchanted steel. Head shaped like a mountain peak. Handle wrapped in Obsidian Wood for grip and shock absorption."
Sebastian whistled. "That's not a weapon. That's a statement."
Kael's eyes gleamed.
Then Orrik sighed. "Problem is, Obsidian Wood doesn't grow in Rainmere. Only place you'll find it is—"
"Southhaven," Sebastian finished, a slow smile spreading.
Kael blinked. "That's… weeks away."
Sebastian clapped him on the shoulder. "Good thing my grandfather rules it."
Convincing Philomena Stormwind was easy.
"Of course you should go," she said, not looking up from her embroidery. "You've never visited Sunspire Citadel. It's time you saw where your mother came from."
Duke Galen, however, was another matter.
"Absolutely not," he growled, storm-grey eyes flashing. "Mysticrium begins in three weeks. You're not gallivanting across the empire on some errand."
Sebastian didn't back down. "Kael needs this. And I need him at his best."
A silent battle of wills stretched between father and son—until Philomena set down her needlework.
"Galen," she said softly.
That was all.
The Duke exhaled sharply. "Fine. But you take six knights. No detours. And you're back in ten days."
Sebastian grinned. "Done."
Dawn painted the sky in fiery hues as the Arcstrike Wyverns launched from Stormwright Keep's towers. Sebastian rode at the head of the formation, the wind whipping through his silver-blue hair. Behind him, Kael clung to his mount with white-knuckled intensity, his face a mask of forced calm.
"Never flown before?" Sebastian called over the wind.
Kael's reply was strained. "Not. Helping."
Ser Alden, leading the escort, chuckled. "Relax, lad. They only buck when they smell fear."
Kael's grip tightened.
The landscape unfurled beneath them—the lush riverlands of Rainmere giving way to golden vineyards, then to the arid cliffs marking Southhaven's borders. The air grew warmer, drier, carrying scents of citrus and sun-baked stone.
And then—Sunspire Citadel.
The ancestral seat of House Stormwind rose like a blade from the earth, its white towers gleaming, its walls draped in banners of crimson and gold. Vineyards sprawled in perfect rows around it, their grapes fat and glistening under the southern sun.
Kael's breath caught. "That's… a castle?"
Sebastian smirked. "Home sweet home."
The wyverns touched down in the citadel's central courtyard, where a retinue of knights in crimson cloaks stood at attention. At their head loomed a figure who could only be Grand Duke Roderic Stormwind.
Sebastian's grandfather was a mountain of a man, his silver hair braided with rubies, his beard trimmed to a sharp point. Though past sixty, his shoulders were unbent, his emerald eyes—so like Sebastian's—missing nothing.
"Sebastian," he boomed, arms spread. "About time you visited!"
The embrace nearly crushed Sebastian's ribs.
Roderic turned to Kael, his gaze assessing. "And this is the Titan boy I've heard about."
Kael bowed stiffly. "My lord."
Roderic snorted. "None of that. You're family now." He clapped Kael on the back hard enough to stagger him. "Come. We'll get you that Obsidian Wood."
The grove was a hidden wonder—a pocket of midnight nestled in Southhaven's sun-drenched hills. The trees here were black as voidstone, their bark shimmering with faint silver veins.
"They grow nowhere else in the empire," Roderic explained as a steward carefully harvested a branch. "Stronger than steel, lighter than oak. A single staff can stop a charging bull."
Kael ran a hand along the wood, his calloused fingers tracing its unnatural smoothness. "How?"
Roderic's smile was knowing. "Volcanic soil. Stormwind alchemy. And a few secrets we'll take to our graves." He turned to Sebastian. "Your mother wrote about your Frostmaw. Impressive."
Sebastian nodded. "We're ready for Mysticrium."
"No," Roderic corrected. "You're prepared. But ready?" His gaze darkened. "That academy eats strong boys for breakfast. Remember—you're a Stormwind and a Stormwright. Act like it."
The weight of those words settled over Sebastian like armor.
Kael, now holding the freshly cut Obsidian Wood, met his eyes.
No words were needed.
The real battle was coming.
The air in the Stormwind family vault was thick with the scent of aged timber and enchanted resins. Sebastian ran his fingers along the gnarled surface of the Millennium Obsidian Wood, its blackened bark shimmering with veins of silver under the torchlight. The branch he had chosen was nearly seven feet long, straight as a blade, and hummed with latent energy beneath his touch.
Grand Duke Roderic Stormwind watched him with a raised brow, his massive arms crossed over his chest. "You've already claimed the wood for your retainer's hammer. What do you need another branch for?"
Sebastian didn't look up, his mind already envisioning the weapon. "A rune-staff," he said. "One that can shift into a spear when needed."
Roderic's lips twitched. "You can't always unsheathe your blades in polite company, eh?"
Sebastian smirked. "Exactly."
"And the core?"
Sebastian finally met his grandfather's gaze. "Something tied to nature. Something powerful."
Roderic exhaled through his nose, then turned to his son—Lord Aldric Stormwind, who had been leaning against the vault's doorway, arms crossed. "Bring out the Stormheart Core."
Aldric's eyes widened slightly. "Father, that's a—"
"Tier VI Rune Lord's core," Roderic finished. "I know what it is. And if my grandson thinks he can wield it, then by the Stormwind name, he'll try."
Aldric hesitated, then nodded and disappeared into the vault's depths.
Kael, standing beside Sebastian, muttered, "You nobles have vaults full of things that could kill cities, don't you?"
Sebastian grinned. "Only the fun ones."
The Stormwind forge was a cavernous hall of crimson stone, its walls lined with anvils older than the empire itself. Master Blacksmith Orrik had been summoned from Rainmere, and the dwarf now stood before the Millennium Obsidian Wood, his gnarled hands tracing its length with reverence.
"This isn't just wood," Orrik grunted. "This is history."
Sebastian placed the Stormheart Core—a pulsating orb of emerald and gold energy—on the anvil beside it. The core had once belonged to a Tier VI: Rune Lord, a beast capable of commanding storms and shaping earth.
"I want it to be alive," Sebastian said. "Not just a weapon. A part of nature."
Orrik's eyes gleamed. "Then we make it breathe."
For four days, the forge burned nonstop.
The Obsidian Wood was carved, its core hollowed to house the Stormheart. Vines of enchanted gold were woven through its length, pulsing like veins. The spearhead was forged from celestial steel, its edge so sharp it seemed to cut the air itself.
And then—the transformation mechanism.
Sebastian's design was intricate. With a twist of the staff's midsection, the branching crown would retract, the living wood shifting seamlessly into a razor-sharp spearhead, while the decorative vines hardened into reinforced bindings.
On the evening of the fourth day, Orrik stepped back, sweat dripping from his brow.
"Done."
The Stormheart Staff lay across the anvil, its surface shimmering. The crown bloomed with amber, crimson, and emerald leaves, each one humming with magic. Delicate chains hung from its branches, chiming softly like wind through a forest. The shaft was polished to a mirror sheen, golden runes spiraling along its length.
Sebastian reached out—and the staff leaped to his grip, as if recognizing its master.
"Hell of a weapon," Kael muttered.
Sebastian smirked. "Just wait."
With a flick of his wrist, the staff shifted. The leaves folded inward, the branches sharpened, and in less than a heartbeat, Sebastian held a gleaming spear, its tip humming with latent energy.
Orrik grinned. "Nature's wrath, indeed."
That night, Sunspire Citadel's great hall roared with laughter and song. A feast fit for kings had been prepared—roasted boars glazed in honey, towers of spiced pastries, and rivers of Southhaven's finest wines.
Sebastian sat at the high table beside his grandfather, the Stormheart Staff leaning against his chair. Kael, though still uncomfortable with noble decorum, had been placed at Sebastian's right—a clear message of his status.
Roderic raised a goblet, the hall falling silent.
"To my grandson," he boomed. "May his enemies regret the day he walked into Mysticrium."
The cheer that followed shook the rafters.
The next morning, Sebastian and Kael found themselves wandering the Stormwind Beast Sanctuary—a sprawling haven of forests, lakes, and cliffs where injured or orphaned rune-beasts were rehabilitated.
Lord Aldric led the tour, his voice proud as he explained each enclosure.
"That Thunderhoof Stag lost its herd to poachers," he said, pointing to a majestic beast with crackling antlers. "And those Emberkits were abandoned when their den flooded."
Sebastian's Book of Beast Records updated constantly, cataloging each creature.
Then—a whimper.
In a secluded corner of the sanctuary, a small, furry shape lay curled on a bed of moss. Its fur was a patchwork of green and gold, its round face marred by scars. A nurse knelt beside it, offering a bowl of glowing berries, but the creature turned its head away.
"What's that one?" Sebastian asked.
Aldric's expression darkened. "A Springshoot Panda. Youngling. We found him after the Tier VI outbreak."
Sebastian frowned. "Outbreak?"
Aldric sighed. "A Rune Lord died in the wildlands. Scavengers tried to absorb its energy—went berserk. By the time we contained them…" He gestured to the panda. "His parents died shielding him."
Sebastian's chest tightened. Without a word, he approached the enclosure.
"Leave us," he said softly.
The nurse hesitated, but Aldric nodded, leading her away.
Alone, Sebastian knelt before the panda.
"I know what it's like," he murmured, "to lose someone who should have been there."
The panda's ears twitched.
Sebastian reached out, not with his hands, but with his Beast Whisperer talent. A pulse of understanding passed between them.
The panda looked up.
Its eyes—deep green and too intelligent for a beast so young—met Sebastian's.
And for the first time since its rescue, it took a bite of food.
Kael, watching from a distance, shook his head. "You've got a way with broken things, young master."
Sebastian didn't answer.
But in his mind, the Book of Beast Records whispered:
[[Springshoot Panda – Tier III (Flame Warden)
- Potential: ★★★★★
- Abilities: Nature's Renewal, Vine Whip, Photosynthetic Healing
- Bond Compatibility: 97%]]
Sebastian smiled.
Mysticrium wouldn't know what hit it.