Kelvin's heart pounded like a war drum as the second, then third, and finally the fourth Rift creature materialized in a cascade of flickering void-light.
Their forms showed half-existence, half-nightmare rising with pulses of otherworldly rhythm.
They circled him.
********************
Each step they took warped the very air that was around them, pulling heat from the world, silencing the wind, the trees and the birds. Even Kelvin's breath came out seized.
Xerion stood tall with smoke curling from his nostrils, his dark wings were spread wide.
His right flank still bled from the earlier wound, ichor sizzling where it hit the ground.
Kelvin reached into the bond and poured his will into it, feeling Xerion's breath, heartbeat and flame.
Don't overpush, it he thought. They want you to rage. But we can't burn what we can't touch.
Xerion growled. Then we will change how we touch it.
"Then we change the flame," Kelvin whispered aloud.
One of the Rift beas lunged forward with its elongated claws slashing toward Kelvin like twin spears.
Kelvin rolled, just in time, with its limb slamming into the barkless tree that was behind him and shattering it.
"Xerion, time to synchronize!" Kelvin shouted.
They had trained for moments like this. It was what Master Arwen had drilled into him during Elemental Coordination classes.
Kelvin held his hands out with his fingers splayed, while Xerion rose into the air.
The flames that erupted this time were not raw destruction, they came out, humming in resonance, adapting to the energy frequency of the Rifts beast form.
"Strike only when I say. Keep the movement in placed!" Kelvin told Xerion
***********************
The two Rift creatures on the flanks came near, moving in zigzag patterns that bent physics. Their bodies slipped between blinks, becoming real only long enough to attack before fading again.
I need to see their pattern... Kelvin's eyes tracked every of their movement, every burst of strikes as the beasts warped across the field.
He clenched his teeth. "The Front one left within three seconds!"
Xerion twisted in the mid-air and exhaled a precision burst of that resonant blue fire directly into the spot Kelvin predicted.
One of the creatures went into the fire, screaming as it caught flame.
Kelvin dashed forward, his dagger was glowing with the seal of binding. "Now!"
He drove the dagger into the beast's core and the beast exploded like the last, folding into itself before disintegrating.
"Two left…..!"
The remaining beasts now kept their distance. They had learned from what just happened.
Gusssssshhhhh
Kelvin panted. "They are adapting."
Xerion responded. So must we.
Suddenly, a pulse of energy surged through the Rift. The ground cracked open in a line, and from it, a fifth beast emerged that is twice the size of the others, with six arms and an exposed core heart beating like a drum of light.
Kelvin's body trembled. This wasn't just another Rift beast. This was a Lieutenant-class aberration. With its intelligent it is designed to lead.
Xerion dropped beside Kelvin with his claws digging into the warped earth.
"I will draw the lieutenant's attention. Keep the others off me," Kelvin muttered.
Xerion snorted. No. You will burn from the inside out if you try to take him alone.
Kelvin gritted his teeth. "Then let's do it together."
He grabbed the hilt of the dagger and pulled it free, holding it above his head. "By fire, soul, and pact, Xerion, invoked Soul Convergence!"
A thunderous sound exploded from their bond.
Xerion roared and began to shrink, flames collapsing inward as his form compressed, then it fused into Kelvin's body.
His bones flared with heat. His muscles locked and his veins glowed.
Kelvin's eyes turned gold.
**********************
Flames traced down his arms like tattoos, living fire dancing across his skin. His voice echoed with Xerion's undertones when he spoke.
"This is our soul... unified."
The lieutenant beast turned toward him, hissing in alarm.
Kelvin shot forward.
His every movement was a blur of molten grace. He leaped, slammed his flaming fists into the creature's limbs, knocking it off balance.
It retaliated swiping with all its six limbs at once.
Kelvin dodged the first, jumped the second, twisted mid-air, and used the flames around his arms like whips, searing two limbs in a snapping arc.
He landed behind it and clinched his teeth.
Xerion, channel your breath through me!
Immediately his chest expanded unnaturally.
He roared.
***************
A cone of blinding flame burst from his mouth, hitting the creature's open core. The fire went in deep, resonating with the beast energy and cracking the shell.
But it wasn't enough.
The beast turned, grabbing Kelvin and slamming him into the ground.Pain exploded through his back.
Cracks speeded across the ground as the lieutenant beast raised its claw to deliver a final blow.
**************************
Now…, Xerion! Kelvin screamed within.
A flame surged from inside him with a reaction from both souls igniting in harmony.
His body detonated in a shockwave of dragon fire, pushing the lieutenant backward into the Rift tear.
Flames poured like a torrent from Kelvin's very being, and through the bond, Xerion reemerged behind the Rift beast, full-sized, eyes glowing with judgment.
Together, they attacked.
Kelvin charged from the front with his spear held high.
Xerion struck from above. The lieutenant turned too slow.
Kelvin's spear pierced the core just as Xerion's claw crushed the remaining light.
A pulse echoed outward as the lieutenant dissolved into ash.
The beast groaned, destabilized into piece.
A vacuum sucked the remaining ambient magic into nothingness.
Silence.
Kelvin fell to one knee, chest heaving, his body steaming from internal heat. Blood came out from his mouth.
Xerion knelt beside him, lowering his massive head.
You didn't falter.
Kelvin coughed a laugh. "We did not either. That... was beyond anything I have ever felt."
You are learning.
************
Back at the Sanctum
Instructor Nalia watched the observer seal's recording with a grim expression. Grandmaster Belrick stood behind her, silent.
When the Rift lieutenant appeared, even him leaned in.
"He invoked Soul Convergence," Belrick said quietly. "And survived."
Nalia nodded. "Not just survived. He commanded it."
They watched the final strike in silence.
Belrick exhaled. "He is not just bonded to Xerion. They are synchronizing faster than the old records predicted. Too….. fast."
Nalia's voice was low. "That kind of synchronization... it only happens under extreme duress. Or..." she turned toward Belrick with her eyes narrowed, "...if the soul was already marked before bonding."
A silence stretched between them.
"Mark my words," she said finally. "Kelvin is more than a tamer. He's a pivot. A turning point. If we do not guide him... others will try to use him."
Kelvin lay in bed, chest wrapped in bandages. Darius sat beside him with his arms crossed.
"You were gone for six hours. We thought you were dead."
Kelvin opened one eye. "Technically, I thought so too."
Darius leaned forward. "You fought a Rift Lieutenant….. Alone. Do you know what that means?"
Kelvin slowly nodded. "That I am in over my head?"
"No. That you are changing the hierarchy. Every Elite, Master, even the Grandmasters, they will be watching you now."
"I didn't ask for that," Kelvin murmured.
Darius looked at him, be serious for once. "Power doesn't wait for you to ask. It calls. The only question is will you answer?"
Kelvin looked out from the window, to the stars.
"I don't know. But if I don't... someone else might. And next time, I may not be strong enough to stop them."
Beneath the moonlight, Xerion rested quietly in the training field, flames softly pulsing around him like a sleeping volcano.