The sky was burning.
Aren Vale noticed it before he noticed the pain.
At first, he thought it was dawn—an unusually red sunrise creeping over the horizon. But dawn did not roar. Dawn did not shake the earth beneath his feet or rain molten fire from the heavens.
This was something else entirely.
The clouds above the city of Eldermarch had split open like torn flesh, revealing an endless sea of crimson and black. Massive shadows moved within the smoke, their wings blotting out the light as they passed overhead. Each beat of those wings sent shockwaves through the air, rattling windows, collapsing roofs, and driving people to their knees.
Dragons.
Real ones.
Aren lay on his back in the middle of a shattered street, his ears ringing, his vision blurred by dust and embers. The cobblestones beneath him were cracked, still glowing faintly from the heat. Somewhere nearby, a building collapsed with a thunderous crash, followed by screams that were abruptly cut short.
He tried to move.
Agony exploded through his body.
A sharp gasp tore itself from his throat as he clutched his side. His fingers came away wet and warm. Blood. Too much blood.
"So… this is how it ends," he muttered hoarsely.
Just hours ago, Eldermarch had been alive—loud, crowded, irritating in the way only a trade city could be. Merchants shouting prices, guards complaining about long shifts, children running through the streets with wooden swords, pretending to be heroes.
Now the city was dying.
Fire poured down from the sky in rivers of gold and white, reducing stone to slag and people to shadows burned into walls. Towers that had stood for centuries crumbled like sandcastles kicked over by an uncaring god.
Aren forced himself to turn his head.
Above the central plaza, perched atop the shattered remains of the Grand Spire, was a dragon so large it seemed unreal. Its scales were obsidian black, edged with glowing lines of molten red, as if fire flowed just beneath its skin. Its eyes—burning, intelligent, ancient—swept across the city with lazy disdain.
Every time it opened its jaws, another district ceased to exist.
"That one…" Aren whispered. "That's the one from the stories."
The Ashen Wyrm.
One of the High Dragons. A calamity-class existence. A being whose name was spoken only in legends and prayers meant to ward off doom.
And it was here.
Aren laughed weakly, the sound turning into a cough that sprayed blood across his chin.
"Figures."
He had never been special.
Not strong enough to be a knight. Not clever enough to be a mage. Not important enough to be noticed by anyone who mattered. He was just a courier—someone who ran messages through dangerous roads because his life was worth less than the letters he carried.
And now, it seemed, his life was worth nothing at all.
A shadow fell over him.
Aren's breath hitched as heat washed across his skin. Slowly, painfully, he tilted his head back.
Another dragon circled lower—smaller than the Ashen Wyrm, but still massive. Its scales were bronze, its wings torn and scarred, its movements sharp and aggressive. It descended toward the street, claws gouging deep trenches into the stone as it landed.
Its head lowered.
Its golden eyes locked onto Aren.
For a moment, time seemed to stretch.
Aren felt an overwhelming pressure settle onto his chest, crushing his lungs, pinning him in place. He could not move. Could not scream. Could barely think.
The dragon studied him.
Not as prey.
As something… curious.
Then it spoke.
Its voice did not come from its mouth, but from everywhere at once—deep, resonant, layered with a power that made Aren's bones vibrate.
"Another one still breathing."
Aren's heart hammered wildly.
It could speak.
Of course it could. Dragons were ancient, intelligent beings. He had always known that.
Knowing it and hearing it were two very different things.
"P-please," Aren rasped, though he wasn't sure why. "I… I don't have anything worth—"
"Silence."
The single word slammed into him like a physical blow. Aren's vision went white, then snapped back into focus.
The dragon leaned closer, nostrils flaring as it inhaled. Heat poured from its breath, searing Aren's skin, but stopping just short of killing him.
"You smell wrong," the dragon said slowly."Not marked. Not bound. Not claimed."
Aren had no idea what that meant.
"I'm just… a courier," he whispered. "I don't matter."
The dragon's eyes narrowed.
"Everything matters," it said."Especially anomalies."
It raised one massive claw.
Aren closed his eyes.
So this was it.
He thought of nothing profound. No grand regrets. No heroic last stand.
Just a quiet, bitter thought:
I didn't even get a chance.
The claw came down—
—and stopped.
A sharp, piercing sound cut through the chaos. Not a roar. Not an explosion.
A chime.
Clear. Metallic. Artificial.
Ding.
Aren's eyes snapped open.
In front of him—floating impossibly in the air—was a translucent blue screen.
SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE
User detected: UnregisteredStatus: CriticalSoul compatibility: Confirmed
Initiating Emergency Protocol…
"What…?" Aren breathed.
The dragon recoiled, wings flaring wide as it snarled.
"Impossible."
The screen pulsed.
UNIQUE SYSTEM ACCESS GRANTED
Reason: Dragon-Class Calamity EventCondition: Survival Threshold Reached
Do you accept the System?▶ YES▶ NO
Aren's thoughts raced.
A hallucination? A dream? His mind breaking apart as he died?
But the heat was real. The pain was real. The dragon in front of him was very, terrifyingly real.
And something in his gut—something deeper than fear—told him this was his only chance.
If he even hesitated, he would die.
"Yes," he whispered.Then louder, desperate: "YES!"
The moment the word left his lips, the world shattered.
SYSTEM ACCEPTED
Binding User…Binding Complete
Pain unlike anything Aren had ever known tore through him.
It felt as though molten metal was being poured directly into his veins, rewriting him from the inside out. His heart seized, then slammed back into motion with brutal force. His vision filled with cascading lines of text, numbers, symbols he did not understand.
He screamed.
Or tried to.
No sound came out.
The dragon roared in fury, rearing back as golden light erupted from Aren's body, forming intricate geometric patterns in the air—circles within circles, runes locking into place like gears in a vast machine.
"A System bearer… here?" the dragon bellowed."In this era?!"
The Ashen Wyrm turned its massive head, its gaze snapping toward Aren's location. Its eyes burned brighter, ancient hatred and recognition flaring within them.
"Kill him," it commanded."Now."
The bronze dragon hesitated.
Just for a fraction of a second.
And that was enough.
EMERGENCY STABILIZATION ACTIVE
HP restored: 1 → 15Fatal damage negated (once)
Aren gasped as air flooded his lungs. The pain receded just enough for him to think.
He pushed himself up on shaking arms, staring at the glowing interface only he seemed able to see.
STATUS WINDOW
Name: Aren ValeRace: HumanLevel: 1Class: UnassignedHP: 15 / 30MP: 10 / 10Stamina: 12 / 20
Attributes:
Strength: 5
Agility: 6
Vitality: 5
Intelligence: 6
Willpower: 7
Titles: None
"I… I'm alive," Aren whispered.
The bronze dragon lunged.
Instinct took over.
Aren rolled to the side just as claws smashed into the ground where his head had been. Stone exploded outward, fragments cutting into his skin.
He scrambled backward, heart pounding.
"I don't even have a weapon!" he shouted, half to himself, half to the invisible presence that had just rewritten reality.
The screen flashed again.
TUTORIAL QUEST GENERATED
Quest: Survive the Dragon's GazeDifficulty: ImpossibleObjective: Escape immediate dragon threatReward: Class Selection + Random SkillFailure: Death
Aren barked out a hysterical laugh.
"Impossible? That's encouraging."
The dragon reared back, inhaling deeply.
Aren felt the temperature spike.
Fire was coming.
"Think, Aren," he muttered. "Move. Run. Do something."
His eyes darted around the ruined street.
Collapsed buildings. Burning debris. A half-buried sewer grate, twisted open by the earlier impact.
An idea sparked.
A terrible, desperate idea.
Aren sprinted.
Every step sent agony through his battered body, but the System-fed strength kept him moving. The dragon unleashed its breath—a torrent of blazing fire that consumed the street behind him, melting stone like wax.
Aren dove.
He slammed into the sewer opening and tumbled into darkness just as flames roared overhead.
The heat was unbearable. The air burned his lungs. But the fire passed.
Silence followed.
Broken only by the distant sounds of destruction above.
Aren lay in the darkness, gasping, shaking, alive.
QUEST COMPLETE: Survive the Dragon's Gaze
Reward Acquired!
The blue screen glowed softly, illuminating the tunnel walls.
CLASS SELECTION UNLOCKED
Available Classes (Limited):
Dragonbound Initiate
System Adept
Survivor (Hidden)
Aren stared at the options, heart racing.
Above him, the world burned.
Below him, something new had begun.
He clenched his fists.
"This time," he whispered, eyes reflecting the System's glow,"I won't be powerless."