The river pressed like a coffin lid—dark, heavy, suffocating.
The koi floated near the bed, crimson scales glimmering faintly in the gloom. The silence weighed on him, and the Legendary Task burned in his mind:
Bond. Climb. Kill.
Impossible. That word would have broken anyone else. But for him, it was the only path left. If he lingered as Dominator of the River, he would stagnate, his bloody scales nothing more than a crown of mud. If he failed, the System would erase his progress.
The way forward lay through a Tamer. To find one, he had to master the single tool that reached beyond the water: Sense.
For weeks he stretched his awareness, brushing against travelers, merchants, hunters, priests. None carried conviction strong enough to climb where dragons nested.
Until he found Brandon.
The man's aura had been iron—sharp, unyielding. But he was far from the river, unreachable.
That was when the System whispered:
[Telepathy Sub-Skill Unlocked: Dream]
Project thoughts into a sleeping Tamer's dreams.
Range limited by Sense.
Clarity unstable.
—
He tested it, night after night.
Static garbled his words. Projections stretched too far and tore his mind apart. Sometimes the dream simply rejected him, spitting him back into the river empty and bleeding with exhaustion.
Each failure gnawed at him. But he did not stop. Because this was no longer about revenge or memory. It was about strength—about proving he could stand beside a Tamer without being a burden.
So he forced himself to try again.
—
That night, Brandon slept.
The koi steadied himself in the current, eyes closing, will tightening like wire. He found the man's aura, steady as stone, and poured his will into it.
The river dissolved. His scales vanished. He became nothing but a presence pressing against the boundary of another's dream.
This time, the barrier opened.
—
Mist. Endless, white, and heavy.
Shadows flickered in the haze—fragments of memory, half-formed echoes of reality. It was the shifting ground of dreams.
And in the mist stood Brandon. Tall, broad-shouldered, his stance firm even here. His aura pulsed steady, not warped like most minds in sleep.
The koi did not reveal himself. To appear as a fish would shatter the illusion. Instead, he let the mist carry his voice, deep and otherworldly.
"Brandon."
The man's head turned sharply. Eyes scanning. Nothing there.
"You have been chosen."
The words sank into the dream like iron weights, echoing in silence.
Brandon narrowed his eyes. He did not speak. He waited.
The koi pressed on, weaving the prophecy he had honed through endless solitude.
"There exists a Mystical Koi. Tomorrow, when the sun stands at its peak, you will walk to the river. It will rise. You must take it. That moment will bind you."
The dream rippled. Mist curled tighter.
"From then, the bond will form. Together you will climb Emerald Peak. You will face the Emerald Dragon. And you will conquer."
Silence stretched. The koi's presence quivered, fragile as cracked glass. Would Brandon dismiss it as nonsense?
Then the man spoke. His voice calm, gaze unwavering.
"…Understood."
The koi jolted. That's it?
Brandon nodded once, as if the words confirmed something he already knew. "If the dream came, then it is truth. I'll be there."
No laughter. No doubt. No suspicion. Only belief.
—
The koi reeled. He had prepared to cajole, to spin webs of myth, to claw for conviction. Instead, Brandon accepted instantly.
Any other Tamer would have scoffed. Would have doubted. But not Brandon.
And suddenly, the koi understood.
This was why the System had chosen him. Not for muscle. Not for a blade. But for conviction. For belief that did not crack beneath the impossible.
Compared to that, others were fragile. Their doubts would kill them long before any dragon's fire.
Belief was strength. And Brandon's belief was absolute.
—
The mist dissolved.
The koi snapped back into his body, gills flaring as water filled him again. His crimson scales glowed faintly in the murk.
It had worked.
Tomorrow Brandon would come. Tomorrow he would leap. Tomorrow the bond would be tested.
The koi floated in silence, heart pounding. For the first time in years, he felt something other than emptiness or despair.
Not hope. Hope was fragile.
Conviction.
The kind that split mountains. The kind even dragons feared.