After Kelvin finished with Mr. Aelin coming outside, he meet with Instructor Kael standing above stairs with his hands folded behind his back, he is a Stern-eyed and notoriously impossible man to impress, the man was known across the Sanctum for producing the finest tacticians and battle tamers in the last two decades.
His presence was rarely summoned unless something of grave or prodigious importance was away.
"Not bad," Kael said as he descended the stairs. "Your coordination with your beast has improved, though it still lacks discipline."
Kelvin pushed to his feet with his jaw clenched. "We have been training non-stop for a while now. Although it is not perfect, but it is in progress."
Kael's boots crunched against the charred gravel of the training arena. "Progress is a kind word for surviving a miracle and turning it into habit.
But understand this, boy, Soul Convergence is not a trick you wield for applause. It is a storm you ride. And storms…." his gaze darkened, "are only loyal to the worthy ones."
Xerion's eyes flickered. He questions your worth.
Kelvin's clenched his fist in anger, but he didn't speak out. Instead, his gaze met instructor Kael's gaze with his hard, unflinching eyes and said. "Then I will earn it."
Kael studied him for a moment longer, then turned his back. "You will join the expedition to the Southern Riftline. A newly awakened nest is stirring. We need a team of elites. Tamers that are capable of countering Rift beasts before they breach into civilian zones."
Kelvin's heart skipped. "A real mission?"
"A real battlefield," Kael said without turning. "If your Soul Convergence fails you there, you won't wake up in a recovery chamber. You will be bones in the ash."
"I accept."
Kael paused, then nodded once before vanishing back into the tower's shadowed interior.
Xerion turned his head, smoke curling from his nostrils. You seek fire, Kelvin. Now you will find it.
That evening, as the sun bled violet and orange into the sky, Kelvin stood at the top of the Sanctum's outer wall with his fingers gripping the edge of the stone. The wind whipped his cloak behind him, but his thoughts were still tangled in Kael's words.
"I will be bones in the ash," he murmured.
"That is a terrible word to say."
Kelvin turned, surprised.
Lyra stood behind him, arms crossed, eyes shimmering with that same intensity from before.
She wore a soft lavender training robe, slightly wrinkled and stained with soot and oil—likely from her own beast drills. Her silver hair caught the wind like strays of waste on water.
"You always find me when I least expect it," Kelvin said with a faint smile.
"That is because you are always standing somewhere dramatic." She stepped beside him. "And I heard about the expedition that will take place. Is it true?"
He nodded. "Instructor Kael himself is leading it and he wants me to join."
Lyra bit her lip. "Why? You are still healing."
"I will never stop healing. That is the point." He looked out toward the horizon. "I need to face what is out there. Really face it, I can't just be in training rooms. I need to be out in the open, where failure means something."
She was quiet for a moment. Then... "And what if you did not come back?"
Kelvin turned and asked her. "Would you miss me?"
Her expression faltered for a moment, then softened. "Yes, I would."
A silence settled between them, but it was not cold. It was warm and soft. Full of everything they had not said yet.
Lyra reached out, brushing a piece of hair from his face. Her fingers lingered longer than they needed to.
"You don't have to prove anything to me, Kelvin." He touched her hand. "But I want to."
Their eyes met with each other's own, and for a brief moment, the world around them ceased to matter to them, the towers, the sky, the war that was waiting just beyond the mountains.
There was only the warmth of her palm in his, and the unspoken bond that had begun to grow between them from the moment they first fought side by side.
She stepped closer and so did he and at that moment their lips met.
It was soft, unsure, but real. A kiss that was not born out of desperation or borrowed time but the one that promised something they could return to, even after the fire.
When they were about to part from each other she told Kelvin to come back to her."
He rested his forehead against hers. "I will."
********Southern Riftline ******
The air was toxic with mana-scorched ash.
Kelvin dismounted from the Sanctum's transport glider, his boots were crunching over the blackened soil that was round him, the elite team fanned out.
Tamers were paired with beast partners, weapons at the ready with their eyes scanning the shifting shadows beyond the veil of fog.
A ruined village lay ahead, devoured by creeping Rift rot. Buildings were half-swallowed by glowing vines, their windows were bleeding violet light.
The ground trembled now and then, pulsing with the slow heartbeat of something ancient beneath.
Kael's voice cut through the static of the communicator crystals. "Scouts reported a movement. Three Rift beast signatures are found which are unclassified."
Kelvin's own communication stone lit up. "Understood."
Xerion hovered beside him, his form more ghost than dragon beneath the corrupted moonlight. There is something foul here. A hunger not felt in centuries.
Kelvin nodded. "Let's find it first."
Their squad moved in silence. It wasn't long before the earth cracked open.
Three Rift beasts emerged, they are not just monstrous, but they evolved. They didn't match any of the known species in the archives. Twisted sinew and corrupted scales, multi-eyed and draped in unholy shadow, they hissed in a language that bled pain.
And they came fast.
"TAMERS...ENGAGE!" Instructor Kael's command roared through the link.
The battle exploded into chaos.
Kelvin leapt back as one of the creatures lunged, its claws were raking a crater into the ground. Xerion countered with a jet of infernal flame, but it twisted midair and evaded with uncanny agility.
"Too fast!" Kelvin barked.
He pulsed mana through his chest. "Xerion! Partial Merge!"
Their souls brushed in that instant with a surge of power, and Kelvin's form lit with crimson threads. His eyes became slitted, his strength doubled. His heartbeat matched Xerion's.
He dodged, rolled and brought down his fist in a blow that cratered the earth beneath one Rift creature's leg. It starggered but didn't fall.
Another beast barreled into one of the Sanctum Tamers, piercing her shoulder with a jagged horn. She screamed and her beast was already down. Blood spilled in the darkness.
Kelvin roared. "Fall back and regroup!"
But there was no regrouping. The creatures were not just strong, they were coordinated and intelligent.
Kelvin, Xerion's voice boomed in his skull. We must go further. Use the full merge!
Kelvin clinched his teeth. "I don't know if I can hold it..."
Then let me hold you. There was no time to hesitate.
He opened the door within his soul and the fire consumed him.