Kael Draven’s earliest memory was not of being born.
It was of waiting.
Waiting for disappointment.
Waiting for abandonment.
Waiting for the moment his new parents would realize that there was something wrong with their child.
Even as an infant, he remembered Ethan Cole.
He remembered Saint Marrow’s.
He remembered hospital corridors.
Most of all, he remembered Milo.
There were nights when he would wake in tears, his tiny body trembling as memories from his previous life resurfaced.
Every time it happened, his mother would arrive within minutes.
Elara Draven never once asked why her infant son cried like someone mourning a lifetime he shouldn’t remember.
She simply held him.
“It’s okay,” she would whisper while rocking him in her arms.
“Mom’s here.” At first, Kael hated hearing those words.
Because she wasn’t his mother.
She couldn’t be.
His mother had died on Earth before he had ever met her.
And yet…
Night after night.
Year after year.
Whenever he cried, she was there.
Eventually, Kael stopped correcting her in his mind.
Perhaps that was the first crack in the walls Ethan Cole had built around his heart.
— Eryndor was a beautiful world.
That was the first thing Kael learned after he grew old enough to understand it.
It was also a terrifying one.
The planet was so vast that scholars often described it as a world born from the dreams of giants.
Twelve supercontinents stretched across endless oceans.
Floating islands drifted among the clouds like forgotten kingdoms, while ancient cities rested beneath the sea.
There were places where gravity flowed backward.
Places where time moved differently.
Places where even the strongest Beast Kings refused to tread.
And above it all, two suns watched over the world.
One golden.
One silver.
The Golden Sun rose first and remained in the sky for twenty-four hours.
The Silver Sun followed for twelve more.
Together, they marked the passage of a single day.
Thirty-six hours.
Seven hundred and seventy-seven days made a year.
By Earth’s standards, Kael was nearly thirty-two years old.
By Eryndor’s standards, he had only just reached sixteen.
The world itself moved to a rhythm unlike any other.
Spring Tide.
Ember Summer.
Golden Harvest.
Crystal Fall.
Frostveil.
Stormwake.
And finally…
Eternal Night.
No matter how many times his teachers explained the phenomenon, Kael found it difficult to believe.
For seventy-seven days every year, both suns disappeared.
Darkness consumed the sky.
The twin moons turned crimson.
And monsters emerged from places they should not exist.
No one knew why.
Some believed Eternal Night was a punishment from the gods.
Others claimed it was the world itself breathing.
The oldest legends spoke of a sleeping beast wrapped around the planet, opening its eyes once every year.
Kael had learned long ago that legends often contained more truth than people realized.
— His first Eternal Night arrived when he was six years old.
He still remembered it clearly.
The entire city had fallen silent.
Massive barriers of blue light surrounded New Haven, stretching hundreds of meters into the sky.
Military airships patrolled overhead while emergency broadcasts echoed through every street.
«”WARNING.
ETERNAL NIGHT HAS COMMENCED.” “ALL CITIZENS ARE TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES IMMEDIATELY.” “DO NOT OPEN YOUR DOORS AFTER SUNSET.”» Kael remembered standing beside the living room window as crimson moonlight washed over the city.
Everything looked wrong.
The shadows were too long.
The silence was too heavy.
Then someone knocked on the front door.
Three soft knocks.
His father immediately stood.
Marcus Draven had been laughing moments earlier while teaching Kael how to play cards.
Now, every trace of warmth had disappeared from his face.
“Stay here.” “Dad?” Marcus walked to the weapon cabinet and removed a massive battle axe.
“Elara.” His mother immediately understood.
She picked Kael up and carried him toward the hallway.
The knocking continued.
“Please…” a woman’s voice called from outside.
“It hurts…” Kael froze.
He recognized that voice.
It belonged to Mrs.
Carter, their elderly neighbor.
“Marcus…” she whispered weakly.
“Please let me in.” Kael looked toward his father.
Marcus’s expression never changed.
He simply tightened his grip on the axe.
“Dad?” Kael asked quietly.
Marcus knelt before him.
“Listen carefully.” His father’s voice was calm, but Kael noticed the tension in his eyes.
“No matter what you hear tonight, do not open the door.” “But—” “Even if it sounds like me.” Kael’s blood turned cold.
“What?” “Even if it sounds like your mother.” The knocking grew louder.
«”Please…” “It hurts…” “I don’t want to die alone…”» For three hours, the voice never changed.
For three hours, Marcus stood beside the door without moving.
When morning finally arrived, Kael ran outside.
There was no one there.
Only claw marks.
Thousands of them.
They covered the walls of every house on the street.
That was the day Kael realized something important.
Eryndor was not a paradise.
It was merely a beautiful cage.
— At the age of eight, Kael accidentally called Marcus “Dad” for the first time.
The word slipped out naturally.
Neither of them spoke for several seconds afterward.
Marcus eventually smiled.
“I’ve been waiting eight years to hear that.” Kael spent the rest of the day avoiding eye contact.
At nine, he discovered that his mother was one of the leading Beastification researchers in New Haven.
At ten, he learned that his father had once served in the kingdom’s frontier army.
At eleven, he learned that Lyra could somehow win arguments she had no business winning.
At twelve, he accepted a truth he had spent years avoiding.
The Dravens were his family.
Not because they shared blood.
Not because fate had decreed it.
But because they chose him every single day.
And he chose them in return.
— “BIG BROTHER!” Kael barely had time to react before Noah collided with him.
Five years old.
Missing one sock.
Covered in flour.
The boy looked as though he had personally declared war against the kitchen.
“What happened to you?” “I helped Mom cook!” “That wasn’t my question.” Noah proudly held up something that vaguely resembled a cookie.
“I made this!” Kael stared at it.
It appeared to have suffered greatly during its creation.
“I see.” “Try it!” “I suddenly remembered that I have important business elsewhere.” Noah’s expression immediately fell.
Kael sighed.
“…Give me the cookie.” Three bites later, he discovered that it somehow contained both salt and sugar in quantities that should have violated several laws of nature.
“Well?” Noah asked excitedly.
Kael looked at his little brother’s hopeful expression.
“It’s…” “Yes?” “Food.” Noah beamed.
From the kitchen, Lyra snorted.
“Translation: It tastes terrible.” “It does not!” “It looks like a monster core.” “It does not!” Marcus walked into the room carrying another tray.
“I think it has potential.” Elara looked over his shoulder.
“No, it doesn’t.” “You’re supposed to support his dreams.” “I’m trying to protect the rest of us.” The room erupted into laughter.
Kael watched them quietly.
Moments like these still caught him off guard.
Sixteen years later, a part of Ethan Cole still expected to wake up inside his small apartment back on Earth.
A part of him still expected to lose everything.
Trust no one.
The voice came suddenly.
Cold.
Familiar.
Kael’s smile faded.
It had been growing louder over the years.
Protect them.
The voice belonged to her.
The Queen.
He had begun hearing her whispers shortly after Noah was born.
At first, she had remained silent within his dreams.
Now, she spoke.
Not often.
But enough.
They are ours.
Kael closed his eyes briefly.
“Big Brother?” He looked down.
Noah was tugging on his sleeve.
“You okay?” “…I’m fine.” The Queen laughed softly within the darkness of his mind.
Liar.
— That night, Kael dreamed.
He stood upon a shore beneath a sky that did not belong to Eryndor.
Volcanoes erupted in the distance.
Lightning split the heavens.
And before him stood three impossible beings.
The first was a mountain of muscle and scales.
Its massive body dwarfed entire forests, while molten cracks spread across black armor-like skin.
Golden eyes regarded him silently.
D-Rex.
Sovereign of Land.
The second emerged from an endless ocean.
Blue eyes, older than civilization itself, watched him from beneath the waves.
Mosasaurus.
Sovereign of Sea.
The third descended from the heavens.
Wings larger than cities spread across the sky as lightning danced between feathers that should not exist.
Quetzalcoatlus.
Sovereign of Sky.
For sixteen years, they had remained silent.
Tonight was different.
“You awaken tomorrow,” D-Rex said.
Its voice shook the world.
“The time has come.” Kael looked toward the fourth throne.
It remained wrapped in chains.
Darkness covered everything beyond the silhouette of a crown.
Then he heard her.
“Do not trust them.” The Queen of Extinction.
“Hide.” “Lie.” “Survive.” The chains trembled.
“Humans always betray what they fear.” The three Sovereigns immediately turned toward the darkness.
ENOUGH.
For the first time, Kael heard all three speak together.
Earth.
Ocean.
Sky.
Their voices became one.
PROTECT.
The Queen fell silent.
D-Rex lowered its massive head.
“You have lived as Ethan Cole.” Mosasaurus continued.
“You have lived as Kael Draven.” Finally, Quetzalcoatlus spoke.
“Tomorrow, both lives become one.” Kael’s heart began to race.
“What am I?” For a moment, none of them answered.
Then, slowly, the chains around the fourth throne began to move.
The Queen laughed.
The sound carried all of Ethan’s grief, rage, and loneliness.
“You are ours.” Kael woke with a start.
Sunlight streamed through his bedroom window.
For several seconds, he remained perfectly still.
Then came the sound of Noah running down the hallway.
“BIG BROTHER!” The door exploded open.
Noah pointed dramatically.
“IT’S TIME!” Kael blinked.
“For what?” Noah looked horrified.
“Your awakening!” Silence filled the room.
Then, slowly, Kael remembered.
Sixteen.
Beast Soul Awakening.
Today.
After sixteen years.
After two lifetimes.
After countless dreams.
Today, the world would finally learn what lived inside Kael Draven.
And somewhere deep within his soul…
Four ancient beings waited.
«End of Chapter 2»