Chapter 2: The Weight of a Tamer

  The night air was crisp, carrying the faint hum of the Core Beast Seed now bound to Aria’s soul. Though the pain had faded, a lingering pressure remained—a stant remihat something fn ed within her.

  Seleched her daughter in silence, arms crossed. Then, she turned, motioning for Aria to follow.

  "The tract is just the beginning," she said. "Your Beast Space is empty. A barren world. You o feed it, shape it, stre."

  Aria nodded. She had read about this process before. amers had to fight, train, and adapt to expand their Beast Space. But theory was nothing pared to reality.

  Selene led her to a reinforced chamber, its walls lined with impact-resistant pting. The st of metal and oil filled the air—this was a training room meant for bat.

  Aria’s muscles tensed. She knew what was ing.

  "Summon it," Selene anded.

  Aria exhaled, reag inward toward the faint ember within her mind. She willed it fuiding its presehrough the link—

  A bright light fred in front of her. Sparks crackled. Metal shifted.

  Then, a form materialized before her.

  It was small—only the size of a coiled metallic serpent. Its sleek bck pting gleamed uhe chamber lights, ated by streaks of red along its segmented body. Its eyes, burning e, flickered like heated embers.

  A prototype. A hatg in meical terms.

  The moment it stabilized, its head twitched toward Aria. Its gaze locked onto hers—cold, unreadable, calg.

  "Good," Selene murmured. "It reizes you."

  The small serpent coiled itself, its steel body shifting with meical precision. Unlike biological beasts, it didn’t breathe or dispy obvious emotions. Instead, it emitted a faint hum, its internal systems adjusting to its ence.

  Aria took a cautious step closer. She had read about meical beasts but had never ied with one up close. They were different from living creatures—logical, precise, and ruthless if not properly trolled.

  She extended her hand slowly.

  The serpent’s eyes fred, and its pting shifted slightly—a warning.

  Aria froze.

  Selene’s voice cut through the tension. "It’s assessing you. A meical beast doesn’t a instinct. It calcutes risk and efficy. Right now, it’s deg if you’re worth listening to."

  Aria swallowed. Unlike biological beasts, whied emotional bonds, meical beasts operated on logic, efficy, and performance. If she failed to prove herself, her ow might reject her.

  She had to establish trol.

  "Watch closely," Selene said. She stepped forward, her ow appearing beside her in a burst of light—a t, sleek-winged struct with razed pting. Its form was both dragon-like and avian, exuding sheer dominance.

  With a flick of her hand, Selene's beast lowered its head obediently, proving its absolute loyalty.

  "Strength is respect," Selene tinued. "A weak and means nothing. A tamer who hesitates is a tamer who dies."

  Aria ched her fists. She couldn’t afford hesitation.

  She turned back to her serpent, meeting its gaze head-on. Her mind sharpened. No fear. No uainty.

  "Obey," she anded firmly.

  A moment of silence.

  Then, slowly, the serpent lowered its head.

  It accepted her.

  Seleched with an unreadable expression. Then, with a slight nod, she spoke.

  "Good. Now prove you're worthy of keeping it."

  The floor beh them shifted.

  Panels slid open, revealing a set of training drones—hostile.

  Ari

  a's eyes widened. It was a test.

  And there was only one rule.

  Survive.