The woman's silver eyes locked onto Arin the moment the broken door swung open. She didn't look at the shattered lock, or the cracked hinges, or the glowing blue boy standing defensively in the center of the room.
Just at Arin.
Her voice came out layered—two tones overlapping in perfect sync.
"You carry dragon aura. The bond is confirmed."
Kairon stepped in front of Arin, scales crawling down his arms.
The glow in his eyes intensified, sharp and predatory.
"Stay back," Kairon warned, voice low.
The woman didn't move.
She didn't blink.
She didn't even breathe like a normal person.
Her gaze flicked to Kairon finally, studying him with quiet calculation.
"You are weakened," she said.
Kairon's jaw tightened. "I am more than enough for you."
Her silver eyes narrowed slightly.
"No. You are injured. And still half-dormant."
Then she smiled.
It was not a pleasant smile.
Kairon reacted before Arin understood what was happening.
He lunged.
Not at her—
past her.
Arin blinked in confusion until he realized what Kairon sensed before anyone else:
The woman had a second presence.
A shadow.
A second aura.
A duplicate layered behind her real body.
Kairon tore through the illusion like it was thin paper.
The air shimmered—and the real woman appeared on the opposite side of the room near the kitchen.
She had moved silently, instantly, without disturbing a single object.
Kairon growled low, standing between her and Arin.
"You dare use mirage arts in my presence."
The woman tilted her head, intrigued.
"So you are conscious enough to perceive them. Interesting."
Arin's heartbeat spiked. "How did she—? How did you—?"
Kairon didn't look back.
"Arin. Do not speak. Your voice gives away your focus."
"Why is that bad?!"
"Because she can use it."
Arin shut his mouth immediately.
The woman slowly raised her hand.
Her fingers were long, unnaturally elegant, ending in sharp, metallic nails. When she spread them, silver threads formed between them—thin, glowing strands like spider silk.
Arin instinctively stepped back.
"What is that—?"
Kairon answered without turning his head.
"Bind threads. If they touch you, you will not move again."
"Oh. Good to know," Arin muttered hoarsely.
The woman finally spoke again, her dual-toned voice echoing faintly.
"Dragon of the Deep Sky. Kairon. Sealed for one hundred and thirty years. Records marked you as extinct."
Arin's eyes widened.
"…One hundred and thirty—?"
Kairon cut him off sharply.
"Do not reveal my past to him."
The woman, however, continued.
"You were sealed after the Great Fracture War. Your body was broken. Your heartstone dimmed. You should not be alive."
Kairon's voice dropped into a cold snarl.
"You know too much."
She smiled again.
"I belong to the Phenomenon Observation Bureau. Knowing is our purpose."
Her coat shifted, and Arin finally noticed the emblem pinned to it—
a circle split in half, one side dark, one side glowing, like two worlds overlapping.
Kairon hissed at the sight.
"That mark—"
"Yes," she said. "We monitor unnatural beings. And you, Kairon, are the most unnatural thing to appear in our records since the Fracture."
She didn't raise her voice.
She didn't threaten.
But Arin felt a chill run up his spine.
Arin's Awakening Begins
Kairon stepped forward, shielding Arin so decisively it startled him.
"You will not touch him," Kairon said.
The woman let silver threads dance between her fingers as she walked toward them slowly.
"Why protect the human?" she asked. "He is simply the catalyst. The bond makes him replaceable."
Arin blurted out, "Replaceable?! I didn't even ask for any of this!"
Kairon growled. "You will not speak to him."
The woman stopped.
"Interesting," she murmured. "You are attached to him already. That makes things easier."
"Easier for—?"
Kairon didn't let her finish.
A surge of blue light burst from his arm and formed a jagged line across the air.
Arin felt the shockwave hit him even though it wasn't aimed at him directly—raw, unfiltered power. It rattled the windows. The air grew heavy, pulsing with heat.
The woman stepped aside calmly—far too calmly—as the blast hit the wall behind her, carving a clean slice into the plaster.
She glanced at the destroyed wall.
"Not bad," she said. "But you're still weak."
With a flick of her hand, she launched the silver threads straight at them.
Kairon reacted instantly, grabbing Arin's wrist.
"Brace yourself."
"For—WHAT—?"
BOOM.
A burst of blue aura erupted from Arin's chest—
not from Kairon's hand.
Arin staggered.
His vision flashed white-blue.
Heat surged through his veins like liquid fire.
His pupils flickered into slit shapes.
His breath came out in short, sharp bursts.
"What's happening to me—?!" Arin gasped.
Kairon's eyes widened, stunned for the first time.
"The bond… is reacting on its own. You're awakening early."
Awakening.
The word sounded wrong—dangerous—like something that wasn't meant to happen yet.
The silver threads hit the blue aura shield that formed around them and evaporated like dust.
Arin stumbled back, chest burning.
"I—I didn't do that on purpose!"
Kairon placed a steadying hand on Arin's back.
"You did nothing. My energy moved through you."
He examined Arin's eyes and added, voice low, "You are more compatible than I expected."
Arin didn't know what that meant, but he didn't like the sound of it.
The woman let her silver threads fade.
"So," she murmured. "He activated the bond already. That complicates things."
She lowered her hand, and the illusion of humanity peeled away from her face.
Silver cracks lined her skin.
Her eyes glowed brighter.
Her voice turned almost mechanical.
"I will take the human."
Kairon's aura burst outward violently.
"No. You will not."
"You are too weak to stop me," she said.
"I do not need to be strong," Kairon replied.
"I need only be faster."
And he moved.
He struck her across the room with a force Arin barely comprehended. The woman crashed into the wall, leaving a crater in the plaster.
She didn't bleed.
She didn't groan.
She stood up immediately, silver lines spreading down her arms like circuitry.
"We are not enemies," she said. "The Bureau wants the dragon alive. And the human—at least alive enough to study."
"Not convincing," Arin muttered.
The woman ignored him.
"We sensed your awakening. Others will sense it too. If you do not come willingly, someone else will come and take you."
Kairon's stance didn't change.
"Your threats mean nothing to me."
"They are not threats," she said simply.
"They are facts."
Arin's phone buzzed in his pocket.
He flinched but didn't dare move.
The woman, however, glanced toward the window.
Her silver eyes narrowed.
"They are already here."
Kairon froze.
Arin's pulse jumped.
"Who's here?" Arin whispered.
"Not mine," the woman said. "Something else."
Kairon moved toward the window carefully and parted a sliver of the curtain.
Arin joined him, hesitantly.
Outside, the street looked normal for a moment.
Then a man stepped into view.
He wore an office shirt. Gray pants. Shoes covered in dust from the construction site.
Normal.
Except—
His shadow lagged behind his movements by half a second.
And then another shadow peeled itself off the wall across the street.
Arin's throat tightened.
"What… what is that?"
Kairon inhaled sharply.
"Shadowbound."
The woman's tone dropped into something grim.
"One of the Fractured Clans has reached this district."
Arin had no idea what that meant, but Kairon clearly did.
"They hunt anything that awakens dragon aura," Kairon said.
The woman turned to Arin.
"You need to come with me now."
Kairon blocked her path instantly.
"He stays with me."
"We don't have time for a territorial argument," she snapped.
"He is in danger."
"He is in danger because of you," Kairon countered. "Your presence draws predators."
"Wrong."
Her silver eyes glowed brighter.
"And your awakening draws everything."
Outside, the shadowbound figure lifted his head.
His eyes were pitch-black.
Arin's heart hammered.
The woman stepped back, her expression tightening.
"We need to leave this building."
Kairon nodded slightly.
"For once, we agree."
Arin stared at both of them.
"Leave? How?! That thing is right outside!"
Kairon grabbed Arin's wrist.
"You will follow my lead. Do not hesitate."
Arin swallowed. "Hesitate about what—?"
Kairon pulled him close and whispered:
"We're going out the window."
Arin blinked.
"WHAT—?!"
But Kairon didn't wait.
He punched through the window with a burst of aura.
Glass shattered outward.
The shadowbound below snapped its head upward.
The woman moved to the window too, preparing to jump as well.
"Move now!" she shouted.
Kairon held Arin tightly, blue aura flaring around them.
Arin's stomach dropped as they leapt from the third floor—
straight toward a creature of living shadows—
with a Bureau agent leaping beside them—
and nothing but instinct guiding the dragon at his side.