The flames faded, but the consequences did not.
Kael Viren stood at the edge of the ravine long after the last ember vanished, the wind tugging at his cloak as if the world itself was testing whether he still belonged to it. Inside him, three presences moved—not clashing, not merging, but circling one another like wary predators forced to share the same territory.
Dragon Hybrid slept lightly, molten strength coiled and patient.
Harvester watched everything, silent and calculating.
Flamingo… thought.
That alone changed everything.
Kael clenched his fist slowly. Power no longer felt like something he wielded—it felt like something that answered.
Rion approached, his steps careful. "Your aura's different," he said quietly. "Not heavier. Sharper."
Kael nodded. "Because it's not just mine anymore."
Flamingo's voice echoed calmly within his mind.
> Independence does not mean betrayal. It means perspective.
Harvester responded instantly.
> Perspective leads to deviation. Deviation leads to loss of control.
Flamingo laughed softly.
> Control is an illusion you cling to because you fear chaos.
Kael exhaled through his nose. "Enough. Both of you."
The internal tension eased, though it didn't vanish. That, Kael realized, was the truth of his future. Not silence—but balance under constant pressure.
"We move now," Kael said aloud. "Before the Empire tightens its grip."
Rion straightened. "You have a target?"
"Yes," Kael replied. His eyes hardened. "A prison."
The Empire called it Iron Vein—a remote detention and research outpost hidden deep within the mountains, far from cities and witnesses. Officially, it held traitors and dangerous criminals. Unofficially, it was where the Empire tested suppression techniques, gene extraction methods, and psychological breaking protocols.
Kael knew the place.
He had seen it once—through the memories of a dying experiment subject during his captivity. Screams echoed in that memory. Silence followed.
Rion's expression darkened as Kael explained. "If that place exists," he said, "then people are still suffering there."
Kael nodded. "Including someone I owe my life to."
Rion's breath caught. "Your teacher."
"Yes."
Harvester stirred, shadows thickening.
> High-risk target. Imperial-grade defenses. Probability of elite response: near certainty.
Flamingo's tone was eager.
> Good. Resistance breeds adaptation.
Kael didn't smile. He didn't need to.
They left before sunrise.
Far away, beneath layers of reinforced stone and spellwoven steel, Iron Vein pulsed like a diseased heart.
Chains clinked softly.
Cells lined the corridors—each etched with suppression runes designed to weaken qi, gene resonance, and mental focus. Prisoners sat in silence, most too broken to scream anymore.
In the deepest chamber, bound by threads of light and metal, Rion's former colleague—Kael's rescuer—opened his eyes.
He felt it.
A tremor.
A pressure he had not sensed in years.
"…Kael," he whispered hoarsely.
The mountain shook.
That was the first sign.
Guards barely had time to register the vibration before the outer wall folded inward, stone bending as if softened by invisible heat. Flames followed—not wild, not explosive, but precise, eating through defensive formations and leaving clean, glassed edges behind.
Alarms screamed.
Kael stepped through the breach.
He did not rush.
Flamingo walked beside him, fully manifested, its form radiating layered fire that bent the air. Harvester's shadows stretched across the corridor ceilings, silent and ready. Dragon Hybrid remained within Kael, restrained—but listening.
Imperial soldiers formed ranks, weapons glowing with suppression light.
"Target confirmed!" someone shouted. "Avatar-class anomaly—!"
They never finished.
Flamingo raised one hand.
Blue flame surged—not hot, but cold enough to freeze qi itself. Weapons crystallized mid-activation, soldiers collapsing as their energy pathways locked solid.
Kael moved.
Mental Disruption rippled outward, distorting perception. To the guards, Kael appeared in three places at once. To Harvester, openings bloomed like cracks in glass.
Shadows struck.
Clean. Efficient.
Rion followed behind, threads snapping suppression runes apart, freeing prisoners cell by cell.
"This is too easy," Rion muttered.
Kael didn't respond.
Because he felt it.
A presence ahead.
The corridor widened into a chamber of black steel and runic light.
At its center stood a single figure—tall, armored, face hidden behind a mask engraved with imperial scripture. The air around them warped slightly, heavy with authority.
An Imperial Inquisitor.
"Kael Viren," the figure said calmly. "You have escalated beyond tolerable parameters."
Kael stopped.
Flamingo's flames dimmed slightly, cautious.
Harvester hissed.
> Threat level: Extreme. Suppression authority confirmed.
The Inquisitor raised one hand. The space around Kael tightened, invisible pressure bearing down, targeting his gene lattice directly.
"By decree of the Emperor," the Inquisitor continued, "your existence is classified as a destabilizing variable. Surrender, and your death will be… merciful."
Kael felt his breath strain.
Then Dragon Hybrid stirred.
> Permission to engage?
Kael's eyes burned. "Granted."
The pressure shattered.
Dragonfire erupted—not uncontrolled, but focused, merging with Flamingo's erosion flames into something new. Gold and multicolor fire twisted together, tearing through suppression fields like paper.
The Inquisitor staggered for the first time.
"What—"
Harvester struck from below, shadows binding the Inquisitor's legs.
Flamingo stepped forward, eyes sharp. "You rely on authority," it said. "Authority burns."
One strike.
Not explosive.
Final.
The Inquisitor fell, armor cracked, mask shattered, revealing shock-frozen eyes.
Silence followed.
Rion stared. "That was… an Inquisitor."
Kael exhaled slowly. His hands trembled—not from fear, but from restraint.
"We're not done."
They reached the deepest chamber moments later.
The teacher was still alive.
Barely.
Kael froze when he saw him—bound, thin, bloodied, but breathing.
For the first time in a long while, Kael's composure cracked.
"I'm here," Kael said quietly.
The man smiled weakly. "Took you… long enough."
Rion rushed forward, threads slicing through bindings.
As the suppression faded, the entire prison trembled again.
Not from Kael.
From reaction.
Imperial reinforcements were already moving.
Kael turned away from the freed prisoners, his expression resolute.
"This is the first chain," he said. "And it won't be the last."
Flamingo's flames flared behind him.
Harvester's shadows spread outward.
Dragon Hybrid rumbled, eager.
Outside, the Empire was already mobilizing.
And Kael Viren, Avatar Sovereign in the making, took his first step from survival… into open rebellion.