The hall was cold.
Rows of stone pillars held up the roof, carved with beasts that no longer walked the earth — wolves with too many eyes, serpents longer than rivers, tigers whose roars shook mountains. Their shadows stretched across the floor like they were still alive.
In the center stood the Awakening Stone. Veins of pale light crawled under its surface, pulsing like a beating heart.
At the far end, the elders watched. Men and women wrapped in dark robes, with eyes sharp as blades. Each had once stood where the students stood now, pressing their palms to the Stone. Each had awakened something rare, something strong. Their beasts were the reason entire villages still stood, the reason raiders and monsters dared not cross the borders.
To bear their gaze was to feel the weight of a mountain.
One by one, students stepped forward.
A skinny boy with crooked teeth pressed his hand to the stone. The glow rose, dim and green.
[Goblin].
The crowd chuckled. One elder shook his head. The boy bowed low, ashamed, and hurried away.
A girl with silk ribbons in her hair stepped up next. The stone answered with a rush of blue-white flame.
[Frost Serpent].
Gasps spread through the hall. Even the elders leaned forward, their expressions softening. A Frost Serpent could freeze rivers, choke armies. If nurtured well, it could rise into a true Frost Hydra. The girl's knees nearly buckled from relief.
The next student.
[Iron Boar]. Reliable.
Then another.
[Direwolf]. Dangerous.
And so it went, until only a handful were left.
"Xu Feng."
His name echoed. He walked forward under dozens of stares.
The Awakening Stone loomed in front of him. Cold. Heavy. Older than any elder in the room.
He pressed his palm against it.
For a heartbeat, nothing.
Then the veins brightened. Cracks spread across the surface, glowing like fire under ice.
Words carved themselves into existence.
[Half-Shadow Dragon Vessel]
Silence.
Someone whispered, "…Half?"
A snort broke the stillness. Then laughter.
"Not even a full beast?"
"Hah! A vessel? What's he carrying, someone else's leftovers?"
"Even goblins can evolve. What's a half supposed to become? Half-trash, maybe!"
Xu Feng's lips twitched. He almost laughed with them. Almost.
The elders frowned. One narrowed his eyes. "A vessel…" he muttered. "Defective. Worthless."
Another spat on the floor. The man's beast had once been a Storm Roc — the monster that patrolled the skies for decades. His word was law. If he called a student worthless, who would dare say otherwise?
Xu Feng's hand trembled. He turned his palm over, searching for answers in the skin.
And then—
A voice.
It didn't echo in the hall. It didn't come from the stone.
It came from inside his skull.
"Pathetic vessel."
"Fragile flesh. You dare carry me?"
The laughter blurred. The voices of his classmates faded.
Something vast stirred in the dark behind his eyes. He felt claws scraping against his bones. Heat like fire, cold like shadow.
The world tilted.
"You think yourself chosen? Fool. You are nothing but my cage."
Xu Feng staggered, but no one noticed. They were too busy laughing.
And in the depths of his soul, the Shadow Forgotten Dragon opened its eyes.