Kelvin had been hailed a savior by some, feared by others.
The Rift Lieutenant's defeat had stirred the entire Sanctum and as expected, the whispers began, the ones that moved through corridors, classrooms, and even the Grand Hall.
Soul Convergence was not just rare; it was a taboo outside battlefield desperation. To invoke it and survive it meant more than just compatibility. It meant power.
It meant danger.
But the accolades did not bring peace they brought silence.
A soft knock stirred him.
"Come in," he said.
The door opened slowly, revealing Lyra his friend whom he had meet in Sanctum few days before his journey took place, her long silver hair damp from the rain outside, her robe slightly reveled that she had rushed over. Her amber eyes flicked over his form, softening with visible relief.
"You idiot," she whispered, stepping in. "You absolute reckless idiot."
Kelvin managed to smile. "Thank you for coming, I am glad you came around."
She walked up to Kelvin and punched his shoulder gently, but enough to release a small pain. "You could have died, Kelvin. A Rift Lieutenant? Alone?"
"I was not alone," he responded, turning his gaze to the window. "Xerion was with me."
"That is not the same with what am saying and you know it."
She sat down on the edge of his bed. Her tone softened. "You have been pushing harder than anyone. I know why, but... what are you chasing? What is it you really want, Kelvin?"
For a moment, he did not answer. Then, quietly, "To never be powerless again."
Their eyes met, and something deeper passed between them. Aria reached out, her fingers brushing the back of his hand. Warmth bloomed from the touch, surprising and welcome.
"You are not alone in this, you know," she said. "You do not have to bear it all yourself."
He turned his hand and held hers, gently. "It is hard to believe that sometimes."
"Then let me remind you that you are not alone because you have me," she told Kelvin.
After Lyra left that evening Kelvin went back to sleep and could not wake up throughout the night.
**********************************
The next morning Kelvin sat at the edge of his cot with his fingers digging into the bandages still wrapped around his palms.
Xerion slept in the outer courtyard, his body encased in a cocoon of faint red runes—healing glyphs etched by the Sanctum's finest Masters. Even for a creature like him, channeling that much power had left a scar.
The door opened he turned with his heart flickering.
But it wasn't Lyra. It was Instructor Nalia.
She closed the door behind her with an elegance that only heightened Kelvin's unease.
"You are walking and that is something great."
"Barely," he muttered under his breath. "I am surprised that am not quarantined."
She raised her eyes and looked at Kelvin, saying. "You think we treat miracles like threats?"
Kelvin said nothing.
Nalia sighed. "Soul Convergence is... forbidden in training because it is meant for bonded pairs who have gone through years of life-death synergy. Not fresh-bonded students."
"Then why didn't it kill me?"
She paused. "Because your bond predates the ceremony that is much clear now."
Kelvin's eyes narrowed. "You mean... like fate?"
"No." She folded her arms and responded. "Like a prophecy."
Below the Sanctum's main halls, beneath layers of reinforced obsidian and anti-tampering wards, lay the Deep Vault a repository of the Sanctum's oldest truths.
Kelvin walked beside Nalia with each step echoing into the abyss.
"You were not supposed to know about this yet," she said. "But your actions in the Rift demand context."
At the final archway, a lock opened with a blood seal, a drop from Nalia's finger. Inside it lay ancient parchments, relics, and an altar etched with draconic glyphs.
"Five centuries ago, a tamer named Serik formed the first true Soul Convergence with a Prime-Class beast," Nalia began. "The world remembers him as the First Ender, the one who halted the Rift Wars."
Kelvin walked slowly to the altar, eyes drawn to a mural carved into the stone. A man who is not older than twenty was fused with a dragon cloaked in obsidian flame.
It looked exactly like Xerion. Kelvin's breath ceased as he said. "That's him?"
"Yes."
"And that is his beast?"
Nalia nodded. "That was Xerion. The original."
"But... he's bound to me now."
"Or perhaps," she said softly, "he was never unbound."
Kelvin stood on trembling legs under a pale sky as the early morning chill was biting against his still-healing body. His robes were light, his chest still bandaged, but his stance was firm.
Xerion emerged from the mist beside him, his wings were fold neatly. You should rest.
"I've rested enough," Kelvin muttered, tightening the strap on his wrist guard. "That fight showed us both and we are not ready."
You defeated a lieutenant-class Rift beast.
"Barely. And only because we got lucky. If it had been smarter, faster and if there had been two of the rift beast we would've died."
Xerion was silent.
Kelvin stepped forward and pressed a hand against the beast's massive forearm. "We have to be stronger.
That Soul Convergence... I felt something, Xerion. Like a door opened that we have not even begun to explore."
You wish to train with it?
"I want to master it."
In the upper towers of the Sanctum, Instructor Nalia stood beside Grandmaster Belrick, peering through the mana-threaded observatory lens. A projection shimmered above the basin, replaying the Soul Convergence frame by frame.
"His body should have broken," Belrick murmured.
"It almost did," Nalia replied. "But he withstood it. Not through brute force... but because his soul was already attuned."
Belrick's gaze sharpened. "You think the dragon chose him before the bond?"
Nalia nodded. "Or perhaps... he was never meant to be a tamer at all. Perhaps he is something else."
*****Training Ground *****
It had been a full week since the battle, and Kelvin was no longer staggering. Flames flowed like breath between him and Xerion now, flickering in elegant patterns of controlled resonance.
They had learned to pulse the Soul Convergence in bursts, temporary mergers that enhanced reflexes, strength, and perception without invoking the full fusion.
But the full transformation... that remained risky.
"Again!" Kelvin barked.
Xerion surged forward, flames wreathing his body. Kelvin darted beneath his claws, redirecting with acrobatic grace. The training constructs enchanted targets mimicking Rift movement and were obliterated in synchronized strikes.
After the last one fell, Kelvin dropped to a knee, gasping.
A slow clap echoed from the observation deck.