The tremors didn't stop.
They rolled through the ground in a steady, heartbeat-like rhythm—far too rhythmic to be natural, too heavy to be human-made. Kairon felt each pulse thrum against his bones as he, Arin, and Lira stood on the ruined edge of the plaza, gazing down into the crack that had split the concrete open minutes before.
Wind whipped Arin's hair across his face. His eyes still shimmered faintly with draconic gold—a glow that hadn't faded since the clash with the second awakened dragon. He tried to steady his breathing, but every inhale came with a burning heat that wasn't his.
"Something's rising," he whispered.
"No," Kairon corrected quietly, claws half-formed at his fingertips. "Something's waking."
A final pulse—far deeper, far louder—shook the street.
Then silence.
Lira stepped back, tightening her grip on her twin daggers. "Whatever the Bureau was hiding underground… I think we're about to meet it."
A metallic crack echoed from below.
Then a second.
Then the fissure widened with a roar as something forced its way to the surface.
The street exploded upward in a storm of shattered pavement and dust. Arin threw up his arms as debris flew like shrapnel. Kairon shielded him, body half-shifted, wings flickering into existence for a moment to deflect the falling slabs.
When the dust thinned, they saw it.
A towering figure rose from the crater—at least four meters tall, humanoid but wrong in every proportion. Its body was made of sleek, overlapping black plates that resembled dragon scales carved from metal. Veins of violet energy pulsed between the plates, like molten magma trapped inside a shell.
Its faceless head turned toward them—smooth, rounded, with only a thin vertical slit of glowing purple splitting down the center.
Lira's breath caught.
"A Sentinel…"
Kairon's entire body stiffened.
Arin swallowed. "What… what's a Sentinel?"
Kairon didn't answer. His tail flicked into existence and lashed the ground hard.
Because the Sentinel moved.
It took one heavy step onto the ground, leaving a deep indentation. Energy crackled around its forearms—shifting patterns of runes neither draconic nor human.
Then its head lifted, and it faced Arin directly.
A deep vibration filled the air, and then an artificial voice, cold and layered, echoed:
"TARGET IDENTIFIED."
Arin stepped back instinctively. "W-wait. Me?"
"Of course you," Lira hissed, pulling him behind her. "You're the anomaly from the collision. The Bureau tried to contain this thing. They must've programmed it to—"
The Sentinel didn't let her finish.
"PROTOCOL 01: ACQUIRE THE UNBOUND DRAGON."
Arin's pulse spiked. "Unbound—? No, no, I don't want to be acquired!"
"Stay behind me!" Kairon snapped—and launched himself forward without hesitation.
He hit the Sentinel like a cannonball, claws scraping against its chest plate, sparks flying. But the Sentinel barely budged. Instead, it raised one massive arm and caught Kairon by the throat with terrifying precision.
Kairon gagged, feet lifting off the ground.
"Let him go!" Arin yelled.
The Sentinel ignored him and lifted Kairon higher, scanning him.
"IRRELEVANT DRACONIC SIGNATURE. SECOND-PRIORITY THREAT."
Kairon's pupils narrowed into slits. "Second…?"
The Sentinel's grip tightened.
Lira dashed in, daggers glowing with Bureau-issued energy seals as she slashed at its elbow joint. The blades sparked but barely cut a centimeter deep.
The Sentinel simply backhanded her.
She flew across the plaza, slammed into a pillar, and dropped coughing.
Arin froze as the Sentinel turned its attention fully toward him again.
Kairon roared—a sound torn between pain and fury—and unleashed a burst of raw flame directly into the Sentinel's arm. The metal glowed red-hot. The machine's fingers spasmed.
He tore himself free, landing with a wheezing gasp.
"Kairon!" Arin reached toward him.
"Don't— run!"
But Arin didn't run.
He couldn't.
Because the Sentinel had begun walking straight toward him with slow, deliberate steps that shook the ground.
Arin's chest tightened as something deep inside him stirred—hot, ancient, and angry. His aura flared uncontrollably, rippling the air around him.
Kairon looked back over his shoulder—and froze.
Arin's eyes were blazing now. Not golden.
Full draconic amber, swirling with molten light.
Kairon's heart stuttered. This aura… how is it already this strong?
Lira forced herself up. "Arin, breathe! You have to control it—!"
But the power that surged through him wasn't listening.
Arin felt his heartbeat echo in his skull, each pulse syncing with the tremors in the earth. Heat radiated from his skin. The ground beneath his feet cracked.
The Sentinel halted—and its head tilted in clear analysis.
"AWAKENING ACCELERATION CONFIRMED."
Arin's vision flickered gold.
Stop… stop looking at me…
But the Sentinel continued.
"PRIORITY TARGET LOCKED."
Something inside Arin snapped.
A wave of force burst outward from him—shoving Kairon, Lira, and even the Sentinel back several meters. Dust lifted from the ground in a swirl around him. Shimmering lines of energy traced across his skin, like spectral scales.
Kairon's eyes widened.
He's going to shift—too early!
"Arin!" Kairon shouted, rushing toward him. "Look at me. Only me. Focus—"
But the Sentinel moved faster.
It lunged.
Kairon cursed and dove forward, grabbing Arin by the shoulders just as the Sentinel's fist came crashing down. A shockwave rippled through the plaza as its punch carved a crater into the ground.
Kairon dragged Arin backward.
"Snap out of it! If you shift now, your body won't survive it!"
Arin's breath hitched. "I—I can't stop it… It's too much…"
Lira rejoined them, limping but determined. "We can't fight that thing. Not with him like this."
Before Kairon could respond, the Sentinel straightened and raised its left arm. Runes ignited along its forearm.
A beam began charging.
Lira went pale. "Kairon… that's a capture beam. If it hits him—"
"I KNOW!"
Kairon slammed his foot into the ground, cracking it, and launched forward in a burst of flame, intercepting the Sentinel before it could fire. But the Sentinel adapted instantly, shifting its arm to strike him mid-dash.
The two collided with a sonic boom.
Kairon skidded back, claws scraping across metal. The Sentinel didn't move an inch.
Kairon's flame dimmed.
"This thing… it's designed to fight dragons."
Lira tightened her grip on Arin's arm. "And it's locked on him. If it gets him, the clans will lose all chance of negotiation."
The Sentinel's chest split open.
A core of pulsating violet light emerged, spinning like a mechanical heart.
"INITIATING SUPPRESSION MODE."
More plates shifted, unlocking.
Lira's blade trembled in her hand. "It's evolving. It's been reactivated after decades—it's adapting to modern draconic signatures."
Arin took a shaky step backward.
Inside him, the thing that wanted to emerge clawed at his ribs. It wanted to breathe, to burn, to take shape.
"Please…" he whispered. "Not now…"
The Sentinel moved.
It blurred—far faster than before—and appeared behind Arin.
Kairon reacted instantly, teleporting through a burst of flame and crashing into Arin, tackling him out of the way as the Sentinel's arm sliced through the space Arin had just occupied.
The air whistled with the force of the near-miss.
Arin hit the ground hard, gasping.
Kairon crouched protectively over him, panting.
The Sentinel turned.
"THE UNBOUND DRAGON MUST BE SECURED."
The Sentinel raised both arms, runes glowing intensely.
Kairon realized it too late.
"LIRA, GET DOWN!"
A pulse of violet energy exploded outward.
Kairon threw up his wings and shielded Arin. The blast slammed into him, hurling both of them across the plaza. Kairon felt something crack in his chest. His vision blurred.
Lira was thrown into a parked bus, shattering the windows.
When the dust settled, Arin crawled to Kairon.
"Kairon? Kairon! Stay with me—"
Kairon coughed, blood slipping from his lips, but he managed a smirk.
"You… really know how to attract the worst things."
Arin's throat tightened.
Then the Sentinel began walking toward them again.
Slow.
Inevitable.
Unstoppable.
Arin looked at Kairon—hurt, bleeding, shielding him even now despite everything.
He looked at Lira—struggling to stand, but ready to die fighting.
He looked at the Sentinel—towering and merciless.
And something inside him shifted.
Not fear.
Not power.
Resolve.
He stood.
His aura flared again—still unstable but focused, no longer thrashing wildly.
Kairon's eyes widened. "Arin…?"
Arin stepped forward, standing between his friends and the advancing machine.
"I'm done running."
The Sentinel halted.
"SURRENDER FOR CONTAINMENT."
"Come take me," Arin said quietly, "if you can."
Golden energy erupted around him—not as wild as before, but sharp and controlled.
A draconic outline flickered behind him—wings, horns, eyes blazing.
The Sentinel recognized it instantly.
"THREAT LEVEL ESCALATED."
It lunged.
Arin didn't move.
He raised his hand—and the air warped as golden energy surged forward like a shield.
The Sentinel struck it—and for the first time, it staggered.
Kairon's jaw dropped. He stopped that?
Lira stared, stunned. "Arin… what are you?"
Arin gritted his teeth, holding the barrier against the massive force pressing down.
The ground beneath him cracked in a spiderweb pattern.
The Sentinel leaned in, pushing harder, overwhelming the shield inch by inch.
Arin's knees buckled.
The barrier splintered.
Kairon forced himself up. "Arin! Move!"
The barrier shattered—and the Sentinel's fist struck Arin squarely in the chest.
The world went silent.
Arin flew backward, crashing into a building with bone-crushing force.
Kairon screamed his name.
The Sentinel Advances on Arin
Arin slumped from the impact, gasping, vision blurring. He tried to stand, but his limbs trembled violently.
The Sentinel approached, steps deliberate and final.
"CONTAINMENT IMMINENT."
Kairon and Lira both ran toward Arin—but the Sentinel fired a shockwave that sent them tumbling back.
Arin could only watch as the looming figure reached him.
It extended its hand toward his throat.
Its fingers closed—
And the Sentinel spoke its final command:
"UNBOUND DRAGON — CAPTURED."