Chapter 2: The Hunter and the Hollow

Ren ran. Blood roared in his ears, louder than the academy’s sirens. His heartbeat had become something wild, something other. Every step shook the ground slightly. His hands trembled—not with fear, but with a power clawing beneath his skin.

He stumbled into the courtyard. And landed in the middle of a trap.

BOOM! A thunder-seal exploded, locking the courtyard in a shimmering dome of blue fire.

From the shadows stepped three Beast Inquisitors—the school’s elite enforcers. Their beast flickered behind them, towering and monstrous. A mantis with blades for arms. A spectral wolf of black smoke. A falcon cloaked in lightning.

“You’re coming with us, Chimera,” the wolf-man growled. “Dead, if necessary. You monster!”

Ren’s fists clenched. “I’m not a monster.”

The mantis smirked. “Then why do you reek of one?”

FLASHBACK: Five Years Earlier

Ren was eleven when his parents disappeared.

They were renowned beast-tamers, said to be close to awakening a new form of power—something beyond traditional Feral Bonds. One day, they vanished without a trace. The Beast Council called it a “research accident.” No body. No funeral.No answers.That’s when the bullying began.

“You can’t awaken a beast because your soul’s broken!”

 “Maybe your parents took your beast with them!”

Ren tried everything—rituals, meditations, blood offerings. Still nothing. When other kids bonded with noble beasts at thirteen, Ren stood in the circle and felt...nothing…Just hollow silence.

The academy nearly expelled him. Only a recommendation letter from an anonymous sponsor saved him. Since then, he swept floors, studied beast theory, and trained alone in secret, hoping, begging for a spark. But no one told him what would happen when that spark became wildfire.

PRESENT DAY

“I won’t go!”Ren shouted.

“Then you die” The student with the wolf said.

Ren’s eyes glowed golden. The tattoos on his arms pulsed like heartbeat. The Inquisitors moved as one. Ren moved faster.

He didn’t know how to fight—but his body did. His instincts—something ancient—guided him. He ducked beneath the falcon’s lightning slash and slammed his palm into the ground.

CRACK!

A serpent-like tail burst from his back and whipped the mantis through a pillar. The wolf lunged—and was met with a bone-wing shield snapping from Ren’s shoulder, deflecting the attack. His own face twisted in confusion as his body shifted, reacted, evolved.

What… am I becoming? Ren thought to himself

The Inquisitors backed off, panting.

“He doesn’t even know how to control it,” one muttered. “He’s fighting on instinct.”

The falcon’s eyes narrowed. “He’ll be unstoppable once he learns.”

BEAST COUNCIL – SAME TIME

Far above, in the Grand Tower, ten silhouettes sat in a circle of flame. Each bore the mark of a ruling beast clan—Lion, Serpent, Crow, Bull, Dragon, and more.

“The Chimera is a world-ending anomaly,” the Lion Clan Elder thundered. “We cannot allow it to exist again.”

“But it chose him, of all people a weakling!” murmured the Serpent. “We should be asking why.”

“Because chaos feeds on emptiness,” the Dragon replied coldly. “That boy was beast less for a reason.”

A cloaked figure stood in the shadows behind them, arms folded.

“You’re all fools,” he said softly. “That boy is not your enemy… not yet. But push him, and he’ll become one.”

They turned.

The man removed his hood—revealing black horns, and glowing crimson eyes.

“Let him live, and he might save you. Kill him, and he’ll become the thing you fear.” The council fell silent looking at each other.

BACK IN THE COURTYARD

Ren knelt, gasping.The Chimera behind him flickered in and out of view—struggling to remain stable. Not fully bonded.

One Inquisitor readied another seal. “This ends now.”

And then—

BOOM.

Smoke erupted.

When it cleared, the Inquisitors were unconscious.

And in front of Ren stood a boy—tall, silver-haired, with mismatched eyes. His aura was calm… but his shadow twitched like a living beast.

“Get up,” he said. “You’re not dead yet. And you’ve got bigger problems coming.”

Ren blinked. “Who are you?”

The stranger smiled.

“Classmate. Traitor. A curse.Pick one.”

The silver haired boy helped Ren up and was about to attack when the high council appeared.

“That’s enough!... seize fighting at once!” The Lion clan council shouted. Behind him stood the other council members.

“The chimera boy shall not be harmed!” the crow clan leader said stepping forward.

Everyone looked at the elders in confusion

What are they planning? Ren thought to himself

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