Sera's POV
The hidden passage smelled like death and old stone.
I stumbled through the darkness, clutching my tiger cub against my cracked ribs. Each breath felt like knives stabbing my chest, but I couldn't stop. Behind us, the Guards' muffled shouts echoed through the alley we'd just left.
"Keep moving," the scarred old man whispered ahead of me. "These tunnels run beneath the entire city, but the Guards know about some of them. We need to reach the deep sections before they start searching."
"Who are you?" I gasped out, trying to ignore the pain. Through my bond with the cub, I felt his worry for me like a warm pulse against my chest.
"Names later. Survival first." The old man moved fast despite his age, navigating the pitch-black tunnels like he'd memorized every turn. "Tell me—do you know why your family really wanted that phoenix egg?"
The question caught me off guard. "What? To restore our status. Father said—"
"Your father's a fool." The old man's laugh was bitter. "The phoenix wasn't about status. It was about power. Specifically, the power Elena would gain from bonding it—power your parents could control since she's weak-willed and desperate for approval."
I stumbled on loose stones. "That's not true. Elena's talented, everyone says—"
"Everyone's wrong." He glanced back at me, his scarred face barely visible in the dim light filtering through cracks above. "Your sister has mediocre talent at best. But the phoenix was bred specifically for easy bonding. Any tamer with basic skills could bond it. The question is: why did your parents want a powerful beast bonded to their weaker daughter instead of their stronger one?"
My mind raced, even as my body screamed for rest. "You're saying... they planned this? The humiliation, the stolen egg, all of it?"
"Think, girl. Your father spent twenty years' savings on that phoenix egg. Would he really let a simple theft happen on the most important day? Or did he arrange for Elena to 'steal' it so they could discard you publicly and keep all the power in the family?"
I stopped walking. The cub in my arms stirred, and through our bond, I felt his agreement with the old man's words.
"They wanted me gone," I whispered. "From the beginning."
"Finally catching on." The old man kept walking. "Your Soul Resonance ability made you dangerous—a daughter who could bond beasts beyond your parents' control. So they orchestrated your downfall, knowing you'd either die from shame or become someone else's problem."
Rage burned through me, hot enough to forget my cracked ribs. "Then why help me? What do you want?"
He stopped at a junction where three tunnels met. For a long moment, he just stared at the sleeping cub in my arms. When he spoke, his voice carried something I hadn't heard from anyone in days: respect.
"Fifty years ago, I was Master Fenton Greymoor, the empire's greatest tamer. I bonded a sacred beast—a Dragon Turtle that could level mountains." His scarred hands clenched. "The Imperial family feared my power, so they spread lies that I'd used forbidden magic. They took my beast, broke our bond, and left me for dead."
"Master Fenton?" I breathed. "But you're supposed to be—"
"Dead? I should be. Breaking a sacred bond should have killed me." His eyes hardened. "But rage kept me alive. Rage and the knowledge that someday, I'd find a student worthy of learning what I know. Someone the system tried to destroy, just like they destroyed me."
The cub suddenly tensed in my arms. Through our bond, I felt his alarm spike.
"Someone's coming," I whispered. "Fast."
Fenton cursed. "The Guards must have tracking beasts. This way—run!"
We bolted down the left tunnel. My ribs screamed, my vision blurred with pain, but I forced my legs to keep moving. Behind us, I heard claws scraping on stone. Multiple creatures, moving with deadly purpose.
"There!" Fenton pointed ahead at a rusted metal door. "Through there—it leads to the old catacombs. Even the Guards won't follow us into—"
An explosion rocked the tunnel. Stone rained down behind us as something massive burst through the wall. I risked a glance back and my blood froze.
A Void Hound—a hunter beast that could track souls across dimensions. Its body was made of living shadow, eyes burning red.
"That's impossible!" Fenton's face went white. "Those are only used by the Imperial family for—" He grabbed my arm, his grip desperate. "Sera, listen carefully. That beast is hunting your Divine Beast specifically. Someone very powerful wants your cub badly enough to unleash a Void Hound."
"What do we do?"
"The only thing we can." He shoved me toward the metal door. "I'll buy you time. Get through that door, follow the catacombs to the eastern exit. You'll find a safe house—tell them Fenton sent you."
"No!" I clutched his arm. "You just found us! You can't—"
"I've lived fifty years longer than I deserved." His scarred face softened for just a moment. "That cub of yours is special, girl. More special than even you realize. Don't waste his potential by dying in a tunnel."
He pushed me hard, and I stumbled through the metal door with my cub. It slammed shut behind me, and I heard Fenton shout: "Come on, then! Let's see if you remember me, you Imperial bastards!"
Magic exploded on the other side of the door. The entire tunnel shook.
"No, no, no." I pressed against the door, but it wouldn't budge. Through the metal, I heard Fenton's battle cry, heard the Void Hound's shriek, heard—
Silence.
Terrible, complete silence.
My cub made a distressed sound, his small claws digging into my chest. Through our bond, I felt his grief mixing with mine. We'd known Fenton for all of ten minutes, but he'd sacrificed himself for us.
Why? I thought desperately. Why would he do that?
The cub's amber eyes stared up at me, too intelligent for any normal beast. In their depths, I saw determination. A promise.
We'll make it worth it, those eyes seemed to say. We'll become strong enough that his sacrifice matters.
I forced myself to turn away from the door and look at the catacombs stretching before me. Darkness. Unknown paths. No food, no water, no supplies.
Just me, my mysterious cub, and whatever waited in the shadows below the city.
"Okay," I whispered, my voice shaking but steady. "Okay. We keep going. For Fenton. For everyone who believed we were worth saving."
I took a step forward into the darkness.
And froze.
Because there, carved into the stone wall beside me, was something that made my blood run cold:
A message, freshly scratched into the ancient rock. The letters still had stone dust falling from them.
"The girl with the star-marked beast will either save the empire or destroy it. The Divine Council has voted. Capture her alive. Kill the beast. —Prince Dorian"
My cub went rigid in my arms.
Prince Dorian—the crown prince who'd fought us in the tournament semifinals. The one who'd shown us respect.
He'd ordered my cub's death.
But what made my hands shake wasn't the death order.
It was the first line: "star-marked beast."
I slowly unwrapped the cloth around my cub's tiny body, examining him in the dim light filtering through the cracks.
There, hidden beneath his white fur on his right shoulder, was a mark I'd never noticed before. A constellation of six silver stars, glowing faintly.
"What are you?" I breathed.
The cub's eyes met mine, and through our bond came one clear feeling:
Something even more dangerous than a Divine Beast.
Something that was never supposed to exist.
Footsteps echoed in the darkness ahead—not behind us, but in front.
We weren't alone in these catacombs.
And whoever was coming had been waiting for us.