Nightfall – Beast Academy Dorms. Ren crept past the common room, avoiding the eyes of a snoring horned student sprawled across the floor. His shoulder still ached from the trial, but curiosity burned hotter than pain.Haru was already waiting outside, perched on a branch like a bored cat.
“You sure about this?” Ren whispered.
Haru dropped down, silent as a shadow. “You want answers, right? About the Chimera? Your parents? Then follow me.”
They slipped through the dark campus toward a barred building hidden beneath the main tower. Its name “Department of Extinct Forms.”
Haru pulled out a forged beast seal—an artifact that shimmered with unstable energy. “Stole this from Saya’s desk,” he said, spinning it between his fingers. “She won’t miss.” He said holding it up to the door.
With a pulse of energy, the seal unlocked the massive gate. The metal groaned open, revealing a stairwell plunging into darkness.The Forbidden Archive,It wasn’t a library,It was a graveyard. Rows of frozen beast skeletons floated in massive tubes. Some had wings. Others had multiple heads. One had no face—just a mouth running down its torso. Ren felt his Chimera pulse in fear.
“Your beast remembers,” Haru said. “They killed all of these. Hundreds of ancient spirits wiped out by the Beast Council. Said they were unstable, uncontrollable.”
He stepped toward a sealed capsule. Inside floated a creature with goat horns, dragon wings, and a shattered core.
Ren froze. “That’s… that’s another Chimera.”
“Was,” Haru said. “It never bonded. The Council made sure of it. Come follow me"
They moved deeper into the vault, where old files lay hidden behind beast-coded locks. Haru pressed his palm to a glyph, and a drawer opened with a hiss. Inside: a single black scroll sealed with crimson wax. He handed it to Ren.
TOP SECRET — RESEARCH 42-B: HYBRID THEORY / PROJECT CHIMERA
Ren’s heart pounded as he read:
“Subject shows promise. Hybrid beast souls are evolving independently of traditional Feral Lines. Potential to rewrite the hierarchy of power. Recommend continued study—under extreme caution. Dr. S. Kaido and L. Kaido insist bonding is possible. Council disagrees. Order issued: terminate research. Destroy samples. Silence researchers if necessary." Ren’s hands trembled. His parents… weren’t just researchers. They had created the first modern Chimera. And the Council had tried to erase them.
“They killed them,” Ren whispered.
Haru didn’t speak. He just stared ahead, jaw clenched.
“I’m going to make them pay,” Ren said. “Every clan that let this happen.”
“Good,” Haru said. “Because you’re not the only extinction they’re afraid of.”
A pulse echoed through the room. The vault lights turned red.
“Unauthorized presence detected,” a cold voice announced.
THUMP. The floor shook. Something moved inside one of the tubes. Then it broke out. A beast made entirely of fused bone, flame, and decayed spirit—a failed hybrid—screeched as it launched toward them. Ren activated his Chimera form, but the creature was resistant, its core fluctuating. Haru dropped his playful tone.
“Get ready. That thing's not a test subject anymore—it’s a weapon.”
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