A hush settled over the stone courtyard of the Tamer's Arena as the final names were called.
Aeris Vale stood in line, her hands clenched so tightly her knuckles had turned white. Around her, other initiates chatted excitedly, faces glowing with pride as their spirit marks shimmered faintly on their forearms visible signs of their worthiness. Beast-bound, blessed, and admired.
Except for her.
The instructor's voice echoed across the square. "Aeris Vale."
She stepped forward.
Whispers rippled through the crowd.
"That's the markless girl."
"She hasn't summoned a single beast all year."
"Why is she even here?"
Aeris kept her gaze locked ahead as she approached the Bonding Stone, an ancient obelisk etched with runes pulsing faintly in gold. This was the day each tamer candidate reached into the spirit veil to call forth a familiar a creature aligned to their soul, their first beast.
She knelt, fingers pressed against the stone. It was warm, humming softly beneath her palm.
"Focus on your heart," the instructor said, tone flat. "Call out. Reach within."
Aeris inhaled slowly, eyes closing.
She searched for that thread of connection something, anything. Her mind floated through the void, feeling only silence. No warmth. No stirrings of magic. No reply.
Only the cold.
A minute passed. Then two.
The murmurs grew louder.
Finally, the instructor cleared his throat. "That's enough."
Aeris opened her eyes. The Bonding Stone was dim. Lifeless.
She rose slowly, face pale, and turned back toward the crowd.
No beast followed her.
By dusk, the other tamers had already been placed into ranks E through A, some rare S-levels. Their new companions sat beside them: blade-tailed panthers, fire foxes, thunder falcons, and vine serpents. Proud creatures with glowing eyes and auras to match their power.
Aeris sat alone on a bench under the shadow of the coliseum archways. Her pack lay at her feet, untouched.
A few older tamers passed by and smirked.
"Should've been a cook, not a tamer."
"She's cursed, I heard. Born during a moonless eclipse."
Aeris stared down at her bare forearm. Not even a faded trace of spirit ink. No mark, no glow. Nothing.
She hadn't cried when they laughed during training. She hadn't cried when her father left after her tenth birthday, ashamed she couldn't summon even a ratling. But now, as the torches were lit and the plaza emptied, she felt the sting behind her eyes.
Not sadness. Not fear.
Anger.
"Maybe they're right," she whispered, the words like ash in her mouth.
But even as she said them, her hand clenched around the ribbon tied to her wrist the last gift her mother gave her before vanishing into the north woods. Woven with faded threads, it shimmered faintly when held to firelight. She had never understood why her mother said never take it off, no matter what.
Tonight, it felt warmer than ever.
She wandered the stone hallways beneath the arena, drawn by something she couldn't explain. Most initiates weren't allowed down here, not after dark. But no one had stopped her. Maybe they didn't care. Or maybe they'd forgotten she even existed.
A cool draft brushed her cheek. The air smelled of dust, iron, and moss.
She found a staircase behind a broken statue and descended, torchlight flickering above. The steps led to a sealed corridor half-collapsed and unused. Vines had pushed through cracked stone, and strange markings coated the walls, almost like claw slashes… but larger. Much larger.
And then she saw it: a doorway, perfectly round and rimmed in silver.
Her ribbon pulsed.
Drawn by instinct, Aeris stepped through.
Inside was a vast chamber, glowing dimly from the inside of a circular ceiling rune. The floor was etched with an enormous summoning circle—ancient, layered with forgotten language. At the center was a pedestal, and atop it, a single obsidian shard floated above a bowl of ash.
The moment she stepped in, the ribbon on her wrist tightened.
Then unraveled.
The threads spun from her arm into the air, glowing gold and red, spiraling toward the shard.
"No!" she gasped, trying to grab it back.
But it was too late.
The shard flared with molten light.
Flames erupted across the room, swirling upward, and Aeris was thrown to the ground. Heat washed over her like a wave, but it didn't burn. It embraced her. Sank into her skin.
A voice thundered in her mind.
"WHO DARES AWAKEN THE ETERNAL EMBER?"
Her heart almost stopped. The presence behind the voice was enormous, ancient. It felt like standing before a volcano held together by will alone.
"I… I don't know what I did," Aeris stammered aloud. "I'm not even a real tamer…"
The flames shaped into a long snout, sharp horns, and massive glowing eyes.
"AND YET YOU CALLED ME. WITHOUT A MARK. WITHOUT A SUMMONING RITE."
"I didn't mean to," she whispered. "I was just… forgotten. I don't have anyone."
Silence.
Then, the flames curled inward, forming a shape wings, limbs, a long tail. A dragon, massive and coiled, glowing embers drifting from its body like fireflies.
It stared at her.
"YOU ARE SPIRITBOUND."
Aeris blinked. "What… what does that mean?"
"THE LOST CLASS. ONE WHO BINDS NOT BY RANK OR POWER, BUT BY FATE."
The dragon's body shimmered, shifting into an ethereal, scaled beast of flame and smoke.
"YOU ARE MY BOUND. AND I AM YOURS."
A mark flared across her forearm a radiant golden spiral, entwined with red and black flames.
Aeris gasped. "You're You're an SSS-ranked dragon."
"I AM VELKARTH," the voice rumbled, almost amused. "LAST OF THE FIREWARDEN KIN. BOUND TO YOU BY CHOICE, NOT CHAIN."
The ground pulsed. The ancient circle collapsed into ashes. The runes burned into her memory. Her body felt light—alive in a way it never had before.
"I wasn't supposed to summon anything," she said, dazed.
"AND YET YOU HAVE TAMED ME."
Velkarth coiled behind her, flames dissipating until only a glowing outline hovered like a guardian shadow. His voice echoed softer now, in her thoughts alone.
"Let them call you weak. The fire answers only to one worthy of its flame."
When she emerged hours later into the moonlight, Aeris walked through the empty coliseum grounds with her hood up, her arm glowing faintly beneath the sleeve.
She passed Ryden Thorn, a senior tamer on guard.
He frowned. "What're you doing here so late?"
She paused.
"Just heading home," she said quietly.
He glanced at her, eyes narrowing. "What's that light under your sleeve?"
"Just a reflection," she lied.
As she walked away, Velkarth's deep chuckle echoed in her mind.
"LIES SUIT YOU."
Far above, hidden among clouds, a sigil flared to life atop the Guild Tower. The old magic had stirred. A forbidden bond had formed.
The hunters would come.
But for now, Aeris smiled.
Let them come.
She wasn't nothing anymore.