The hall was silent.
Too silent.
Even after the ceremony ended, the echo of laughter still lingered sharp, mocking, unforgettable. The nobles left in groups, talking among themselves, while the commoners dispersed quietly, their eyes filled with the same mixture of pity and distance that always followed failure.
Alex stood at the edge of the chamber, his hands trembling slightly at his sides around him, the shattered remains of pride and hope scattered like ash.
He had stood before the sacred egg, felt it pulse, glow for a fleeting second and then fade. It hadn't hatched. Not for him.
And that silence, that hollow stillness afterward, had felt like the world turning its back.
Elen's voice still echoed in his mind like a wound that wouldn't close.
"Even dragons know better than to bond with a failure."
Laughter followed those words, cruel and bright, stabbing deeper than any blade.
He turned and walked out, shoulders squared but steps unsteady every face he passed carried judgment some smirked, some whispered some just looked away none offered comfort.
None offered truth.
The long corridors of the academy felt colder than usual. His reflection followed him in the polished floors, a pale shadow of someone who had once believed he could belong here.
By the time he reached his dormitory, the night had already settled a heavy, starless black pressing down on the academy walls.
Inside his room, only moonlight greeted him.
The silver glow spilled across the floor and stopped at the small pedestal where his egg sat, untouched.
It gleamed faintly, black as midnight, veined with dull crimson streaks that pulsed so faintly they might have been illusions.
The other students' eggs bright, shimmering, alive were symbols of power and promise. His looked like something that should have been buried.
Alex walked to it slowly. His throat was dry, his heartbeat uneven.
"You're not… rejecting me," he whispered. His voice sounded too small in the quiet. "I felt you i know you heard me."
Nothing.
Not even a flicker.
The egg remained still, reflecting the pale light of the moon. Cold. Silent.
Something twisted in his chest his fists clenched until his nails cut into his palms. "Please…" he whispered again, barely audible. "I can't keep being the one they laugh at."
The moonlight dimmed as clouds drifted across the sky, and the room grew darker. The silence grew thicker.
And then
[System Notice: Emotional Threshold Crossed.]
The translucent blue text appeared before his eyes, flickering faintly in the shadows.
[Bond Resonance Strengthened: +1%]
[Warning: Dormant Dragon Exhibiting Anomalous Traits.]
[Observation Recommended.]
His breath caught. "What?" he whispered, looking around as if the System itself could hear him.
Then he turned to the egg again.
For a heartbeat just one heartbeat the crimson veins pulsed brighter. The glow wasn't warm it was dark, like embers caught in smoke.
And something… moved inside.
Alex froze his pulse thundered in his ears he took a step closer.
The shadows inside shifted again slow, liquid, like ink swirling under glass and then he saw them.
Eyes.
Faint at first, but unmistakable two dim, ember-colored eyes staring out from within the shell not burning like flame, not gleaming like light, but glowing with a strange, quiet intensity.
Cold crept up his spine. Every instinct screamed at him to step back but he didn't. He leaned closer, until his breath fogged the surface of the shell.
The eyes didn't blink they didn't move.
They simply watched.
A low hum echoed through the room so low it was almost inaudible, like a vibration felt more than heard. The crimson veins pulsed again, faster this time, matching the rhythm of his heartbeat.
[System Notice: Hidden Trait Detected.]
[Entity Classification: Unknown Subspecies.]
[Name: Shadowflame Dragon (Unhatched)]
[Status: Dormant]
[Condition: Awaiting Catalyst]
Alex's eyes widened his mind went blank Shadowflame?
He had never heard that name before fire, lightning, frost, wind, even void dragons those were known, studied, revered. But Shadowflame? The name itself felt wrong. Like something forbidden.
He tried to access the information panel.
[Error: Data Restricted.]
[Warning: You are not authorized to access this record.]
"What?" His voice cracked. "Not authorized? I'm the one bonded to you!"
The System responded coldly.
[User Notification: Disclosure of Entity Information Prohibited.]
[Recommendation: Conceal your bond from others.]
He staggered back, his heart pounding the faint hum faded, replaced by the heavy quiet once more. The egg's crimson veins dimmed until they were almost invisible again, leaving only darkness and stillness.
Alex fell to his knees, breathing hard.
His mind raced what had he just seen? Eyes, shadows, restricted data it didn't make sense.
He glanced at the egg again, half expecting it to vanish or change, but it was the same still silent unmoving.
Yet deep in his chest, where his soul connection pulsed faintly with the System, something burned small, weak, but alive.
"You're not rejecting me," he whispered again.
"You're waiting."
[System Notice: Bond Acknowledged.]
[Resonance Level: 3%]
[Hidden Effect: Unknown energy detected in link.]
A faint warmth spread through his chest ,It wasn't comforting ,It wasn't gentle ,It felt like the edge of a blade pressing against his heart testing him, measuring him.
He slumped back onto his bed, eyes fixed on the egg he couldn't look away.
Even when the moonlight returned, even when the world outside the window turned silver again, his gaze stayed locked on that dark shell.
Because he knew, somehow, that behind that shell behind the shadows something was awake.
Something was watching.
Something that didn't belong to this world of light.
And it was waiting for him.
Morning came too soon.
The golden sunlight spilled across the academy grounds, painting towers and courtyards in hues of fire. Laughter and chatter filled the air as students gathered for the day's training.
But Alex heard none of it.
He walked through the crowd silently, the whispers of last night still echoing behind him.
"He couldn't even hatch his dragon."
"A commoner of course it failed."
"Maybe his egg was just dead."
He kept his gaze forward, his steps steady. Every word cut deep, but he didn't react not this time.
elen brushed past with his entourage, smirking. "Careful, everyone the curse of failure might spread."
Laughter erupted around him.
Alex didn't respond. He didn't even look up. His fists were clenched, but his expression was calm too calm.
Because beneath the shame, beneath the pain, something else had begun to stir.
The night's images still burned in his mind those eyes , those shadows that pulse.
They were real.
And though everyone believed his dragon was lifeless, he knew the truth.
It wasn't dead.
It wasn't silent.
It was listening.
[System Notice: Dormant Dragon—Activity Detected.]
[Soul Link Stability: Increasing.]
[Catalyst Threshold—42%]
He stopped mid-step, pretending to adjust his sleeve to hide the notification flickering before his eyes. His heart raced the System hadn't lied something was changing.
He glanced briefly toward the distant spires of the academy, where the dragons that had hatched yesterday were now training under sunlight and flame. He envied them but more than that, he pitied them.
Because whatever was inside his egg wasn't like theirs.
It wasn't born of pure fire or noble light. It was born of shadow and flame something the world had tried to forget.
As he continued walking, the wind brushed past, carrying faint whispers that no one else seemed to hear.
Awaken…
Soon…
He froze, eyes darting around the voice was faint neither male nor female, neither human nor dragon. It came from nowhere yet deep inside, he knew its source.
His dragon was speaking.
He pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the faint vibration of his heartbeat and beneath it, a deeper, unfamiliar rhythm. Two pulses ,Two lives.
[System Notice: Mental Synchronization Detected.]
[Link Resonance: 6%]
[Warning: Unstable growth pattern—Shadow Essence interfering with Flame Core.]
[Advise: Caution during emotional surges.]
Alex's breath quickened. "Shadow Essence? What are you?" he whispered.
The System didn't answer.
The crowd around him moved on, laughter and conversation blending into meaningless noise but Alex couldn't shake the feeling that something had shifted the world looked the same but it wasn't.
He returned to his room later that day, ignoring every glance, every whisper as soon as the door shut behind him, he turned to the egg again.
The air felt thicker, charged.
He sat cross-legged before it, placing both hands gently on the shell it was warm this time. Warm but not comforting the heat came in pulses, erratic, like a living heartbeat.
"Can you hear me?" he asked quietly. "If you can… show me."
No response.
Then just as he started to pull away the faintest flicker of red light passed beneath his palms.
The veins pulsed again faster.
And a whisper, so faint it might have been imagination, brushed against his mind.
I hear you.
Alex froze.
You waited… long enough.
The glow vanished instantly the room was silent once more but his heart was pounding so hard it hurt.
He stared at the egg, trembling his hands refused to move.
[System Notice: Catalyst Threshold—56%. Awakening Sequence: Incomplete.]
[Event Trigger: Emotional Synchronization Achieved.]
[Awaiting Final Catalyst.]
He swallowed hard final catalyst what did that mean? What more did it need?
Outside, thunder rumbled across the distant sky, though no storm clouds were visible. The windows trembled faintly, and for a moment the shadows in the corners of the room stretched farther than they should have reaching, twisting, almost alive.
Alex rose slowly, his breath shallow. "What are you trying to become?" he whispered.
No answer came.
Only silence.
Only shadows.
And yet, deep within him, he felt it again the faint presence of the creature that wasn't yet born, whispering from the other side of the shell.
Not flame. Not light.
Both and neither.
Alex's eyes widened as the meaning sank in.
It wasn't just a dragon of flame. It was something entirely new something that shouldn't exist.
And for the first time since the ceremony, he smiled faintly, though the expression was laced with fear.
Because if this creature was truly his bond then maybe his failure wasn't the end.
Maybe it was the beginning.
[System Log: Bond Progress Updated.]
[Shadowflame Dragon — Catalyst 58%]
[Warning: Concealment Protocol Engaged.]
[This information must not be revealed.]
That night, as the moon rose again over Pyrelith, Alex lay awake on his bed, eyes fixed on the egg. The crimson veins glowed faintly again, like the heartbeat of something dreaming in the dark.
And when the shadows inside shifted one last time, he saw them those same faint ember eyes, opening once more, gazing directly at him.
Silent.
Patient.
Alive.
Waiting for the final spark.
And somewhere deep inside the System, unseen and unheard by all others, a new line of text flickered briefly before vanishing again.
[Hidden Evolution Protocol: Preparing to Initiate.]
[Designation: Shadowflame Awakening.]