The hunt began at dusk.
Hunters lined the courtyard, armored in steel and shadows, each one bound to their beast. The air crackled with tension, the smell of oil and iron mingling with the restless growls of companions. Chains clinked against the stone as the Master of Chains descended the steps, his masked visage gleaming in torchlight.
Ethan stood among them, Shadowfang's fire glowing faintly at his side. Whispers rippled through the ranks—his name, his defiance, his survival where others had perished. He ignored them, eyes fixed on the figure who commanded them all.
The Master raised a hand, and silence swept the courtyard like a blade.
"Tonight, the Guild tests its worth," the voice thundered, distorted behind the mask. "Beyond the northern cliffs, a rift has torn open—a wound between realms. From it crawls that which should never walk this world. You will seal it. You will cull what has escaped. Or you will die, and the chains will claim your bones."
A murmur of unease followed, quickly swallowed. Hunters were not strangers to danger, but rift-beasts were rare, unpredictable, and vicious.
The Master's gaze swept the crowd, settling on Ethan. Though the mask revealed nothing, Ethan felt its weight pierce through flesh and bone.
"And you, Vale," the Master said, voice curling like smoke. "You will lead the vanguard."
The courtyard stiffened. Ethan's gut twisted, not from fear but from the knowledge that this was no honor—it was bait.
"Yes, Master," Ethan forced out, his voice steady.
The Master inclined his head. "Then let the chains decide your fate."
---
The march north was long and grim. The cliffs loomed jagged against a storm-streaked sky, wind howling through canyons like a chorus of the damned. Hunters moved in formation, torches guttering in the gale, beasts growling low.
Lyra walked at Ethan's side, her serpent weaving through the air with nervous hisses. She leaned closer, voice low enough that only he could hear.
"This isn't a hunt. It's an execution."
"I know." Ethan's jaw tightened. "But if they want me broken, they'll have to try harder than shadows and wind."
Her eyes searched his face, lips parting as if to say more—but then the ground trembled.
A fissure tore open ahead, light bleeding from its jagged edges. The air stank of sulfur and ash. From the rift poured shapes that did not belong: twisted beasts of bone and smoke, eyes burning like coals, their screams like rusted metal dragged across stone.
Hunters moved as one, weapons raised, beasts snarling. Steel met claw, flame met shadow. The battle began in a storm of blood and fire.
---
Ethan's blade cleaved through the first rift-beast, ichor spraying like black tar. Shadowfang lunged beside him, fangs sinking into another, golden fire consuming its twisted flesh. Yet for every creature they felled, two more emerged from the rift, endless and ravenous.
The chains inside Ethan stirred, glowing faint beneath his skin. His senses sharpened; the world slowed to a heartbeat's rhythm. He moved faster, struck harder. The beasts that overpowered other hunters fell before him in showers of sparks and flame.
But he felt it—the pull. The chains whispering, urging him to surrender more of himself. Use us. Unleash us. Become what you were made to be.
Ethan gritted his teeth, forcing his mind back to the battle. He would not bend—not yet.
Across the field, the scarred hunter who had mocked him before faltered, dragged down by three beasts. Ethan's body moved before his mind could stop it. He cut through the creatures in a whirlwind of steel, pulling the man free.
The scarred hunter stared at him, stunned, lips parting. For once, no insult came. Only a hoarse, "Why?"
"Because if one of us falls, we all fall," Ethan said, before plunging back into the chaos.
---
As the battle raged, the rift pulsed, widening. A shape stirred within, vast and monstrous. Chains erupted from its depths, lashing against the earth, dragging something colossal through.
Hunters faltered, cries rising in horror as a beast the size of a fortress emerged—its body a writhing mass of bones bound in chains, its face a skull split with rows of burning eyes.
Lyra gasped, her serpent coiling tight around her arm. "By the gods… that's not just a rift-beast. That's a Shackleborn."
Ethan froze. He had heard whispers of them—creatures born from the same power that bound the hunters, but corrupted, monstrous, unchained.
The Master's voice rang over the battlefield, cold and merciless. "Slay it. Or be slain."
---
The Shackleborn roared, chains snapping through the air, crushing hunters like insects. Beasts shrieked as their companions fell. Blood slicked the earth.
Ethan felt Shadowfang press against his side, flames blazing higher. The bond between them pulsed like a heartbeat.
"We can't fight that," Lyra shouted over the din, eyes wild.
Ethan's grip tightened on his blade. "Then we die trying."
The Shackleborn's gaze fixed on him, as though it knew, as though the chains within Ethan called to it. A thousand voices shrieked in his mind, the same hunger that haunted his dreams.
Join us. Break them all. Become more.
The pull was suffocating. His knees buckled, vision blurring. Shadowfang snarled, flames bursting brighter, anchoring him.
"No," Ethan whispered. "Not yours. Never yours."
With a cry, he surged forward, Shadowfang at his side. Chains flared beneath his skin, light searing through armor. His blade struck, not steel but spirit, burning with defiance.
The Shackleborn reeled, its chains writhing in agony.
For a heartbeat, silence fell. Hunters stared, awe-struck, as the impossible happened: the beast bled.
---
But victory was not yet theirs. The Master of Chains watched from the cliffs, masked and silent. His hand lifted slightly, as if guiding the very rift itself.
Ethan caught the motion, realization crashing through him. The Shackleborn was no accident. This was his trial. His leash.
And he had just pulled against it.
The beast shrieked, chains lashing again, crushing stone and flesh. Hunters scattered, screams filling the night.
Ethan staggered, chest heaving, blood running down his arms where the marks burned. Lyra grabbed his shoulder, eyes wide with terror.
"They're not testing if you can win," she gasped. "They're testing if you'll break!"
Ethan looked at the raging titan, then at the Master's shadow above. His jaw set.
"Then let them watch me break their chains instead."
He lifted his blade, fire and chain-light merging, Shadowfang's roar splitting the sky. Together, they charged.
And the battlefield burned.
---
Chapter End.
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