Rain fell in silver threads over the sleeping city, slicing through the neon glow like veins of light.
Lightine Zero stood beneath a rusted streetlamp, his umbrella forgotten at his side.
The downpour drenched his uniform, but he barely noticed. He was staring at his reflection in the puddle — a face pale from exhaustion, eyes faintly glowing amber.
For the third night in a row, he had heard that same voice.
A whisper, soft but impossible to ignore.
> "Brother… can you hear me now?"
Zero's heart skipped a beat. The voice was not external; it resonated inside his skull, echoing like a pulse that wasn't his own. He gritted his teeth, forcing a shaky breath.
"Not again…" he muttered.
A passing car whooshed through the rain, scattering water across the sidewalk.
The city seemed ordinary — commuters with umbrellas, holographic ads flickering in the drizzle — yet every drop of rain felt heavier, vibrating faintly with something unseen.
The world trembled at the edge of sound.
Then, the scream came.
It wasn't human. It was deeper — a shriek layered with thousands of resonant tones, as if metal was tearing inside his chest.
Zero staggered backward, clutching his shirt where his heart should be. His veins burned crimson through his skin.
> "Bloodline Protocol… initializing…"
The words weren't spoken by anyone. They bloomed directly into his mind, mechanical yet ancient.
A sigil flashed across his vision — a circle of intertwining symbols, glowing scarlet and gold — before dissolving into the rain.
And then everything stopped.
The raindrops froze mid-air. The wind halted. The noise of the city went silent as if the world itself had forgotten to breathe.
Zero blinked, trembling. The entire street was suspended in time — cars hanging in mid-motion, water frozen like glass shards. Only his heartbeat moved.
> "Brother… you finally heard me."
He turned sharply. There, standing at the end of the street, was a boy — no older than ten, barefoot, wearing a white coat too large for his small frame.
His eyes glowed golden, and when he smiled, it wasn't the smile of a child. It was ancient, melancholic, almost divine.
"Who… are you?" Zero asked, his voice barely a whisper.
The boy tilted his head, as if listening to something distant.
> "You already know. You just don't remember yet."
Zero took a step forward. The puddles beneath him rippled even though the rain had stopped.
"What is this place? Am I dreaming?"
The boy's gaze softened.
> "This isn't a dream, Brother. This is Resonance. You've begun to awaken."
Suddenly, light erupted behind the boy. The skyline of the city warped into fragments — shards of glass, each reflecting a different world.
He saw flashes of enormous wings unfurling above mountains, a sea boiling beneath lightning, temples swallowed by fire.
And at the center of it all, a colossal dragon eye opened, the pupil narrowing directly on him.
Zero gasped. His knees buckled as the vision stabbed through his mind. Blood trickled from his nose.
> "Make it stop!" he shouted.
The boy — Zephyr — reached out a hand.
> "Then don't resist it. The blood remembers what you try to forget."
Zero's consciousness cracked. For a moment, he saw himself — not in his reflection, but within that dragon's eye — a human shape wrapped in scales of shadow, wings stretching against a burning sky.
And then, the world moved again.
---
He woke up on the ground, gasping for air. The rain had returned.
Commuters passed by as if nothing had happened.
The neon lights flickered normally.
No frozen moment, no glowing child.
Just him, drenched and shaking.
Zero stared at his trembling hands. The veins that had glowed seconds ago were normal again.
But deep under his skin, something throbbed — slow, deliberate, alive.
His phone buzzed.
A new message appeared from an unknown number:
> [Saint Argus Academy Admission Notice]
Lightine Zero — We've been expecting you.
Zero blinked. "What the hell…?"
He'd never heard of Saint Argus Academy, yet the message had his name, his current GPS location, and even a photo — him, standing under that same streetlamp, taken from above.
Someone was watching him.
The hairs on his neck stood up. He looked around, scanning the rooftops. Through the rain, a faint red dot danced across his chest — a laser scope. Instinct screamed at him to move.
He dove sideways an instant before a bullet pierced the lamp post beside him, exploding sparks into the night.
The gunshot echoed across the narrow street. Civilians screamed and scattered.
Zero rolled behind a vending machine, breath ragged.
"Who the hell are they?!" he cursed under his breath.
Another shot rang. The machine shattered, drinks spilling everywhere. He could almost feel the trajectory — his mind flickering with impossible clarity, like time slowed with each heartbeat.
Without thinking, he pushed his palm forward. A faint shimmer pulsed from his skin — an invisible wave that deflected the next bullet mid-air, sending it ricocheting into the wall.
He froze. "What… did I just do?"
The air itself seemed to hum in response, vibrating with low resonance.
His pulse quickened; his pupils thinned to slits for a fraction of a second.
The same whisper returned.
> "Don't fear it, Brother. It's you."
From the mist of rain, a figure emerged — a man in a long black coat, his face hidden beneath a visor.
The stranger carried a weapon shaped like a rifle fused with dragonbone. He aimed it directly at Zero's chest.
"Target confirmed," the man said through his commlink. "Bloodline signature matches the unknown specimen. Proceeding to retrieval."
Retrieval.
Zero's mind raced. He grabbed the nearest object — a broken signboard — and hurled it forward.
The man sidestepped effortlessly, moving too smoothly to be human. In a blur, he appeared behind Zero and struck with the rifle's butt.
Pain exploded across Zero's ribs. He stumbled, coughing blood. The agent raised his weapon again.
And then the world screamed.
It wasn't Zero this time. It was something inside him.
The air warped as crimson light burst from his chest. His eyes flared gold.
The rain boiled on his skin, evaporating into steam. His heartbeat became thunder.
The sigil from before — that circular pattern — expanded beneath his feet like a burning halo.
> "Bloodline Protocol — Stage I: Awakening."
The agent staggered back, visor cracking from the sheer pressure.
"What the—? Resonance Level unstable!"
Zero's voice layered with another tone, inhuman and echoing:
> "Stay away from me!"
He slammed his palm downward. The ground cracked, sending a pulse of energy outward like a shockwave.
Windows shattered, and the attacker was thrown across the street, hitting a wall hard enough to crumble the brick.
Zero stood panting in the rain, his reflection shimmering with flickers of golden scales crawling across his neck. His breath came in rasps, half-human, half-beast.
He looked at his hands — glowing faintly with energy — and the terror set in.
"What's happening to me…?"
The boy's voice returned one last time, faint but clear.
> "You've awakened, Brother. But the world isn't ready for you yet."
The sound faded, and with it, his strength.
Zero collapsed to his knees, the glow receding.
Sirens blared in the distance — security drones approaching. The man he'd fought was gone, leaving only the shattered street and the metallic taste of blood in the air.
Somewhere above, thunder rolled across the clouds — not from weather, but something deeper, resonant, alive.
And as he looked up, Zero saw it for just a heartbeat — a vast shadow, wings unfurling beyond the storm clouds, watching him from beyond the rain.