Chapter 1: The Beast Egg and the Rebirth
The scent of burning incense mixed with cold marble. Velvet curtains rustled. A high ceiling loomed overhead, painted with ancient symbols of winged beasts and crowned kings.
Evan's eyes snapped open.
He wasn't supposed to be here. Not in this world. Not in this body.
He sat up too fast—his small, unfamiliar hands trembling, chest rising and falling beneath silken robes embroidered with gold serpents. Everything felt alien. The weight of a jeweled ring on his finger. The ache behind his eyes. The murmur of nobles outside the grand chamber doors.
"…He's awake. Inform Lord Rochel at once," a voice whispered beyond the curtains.
Evan barely heard it. His head swam. Pieces of his past life clung to him like wet chains—shards of a dull office, rain on a city sidewalk, and the warmth of betrayal.
So I really died.
His fingers clenched. And I've been reborn into… this.
A noble child.
A child with a beast egg beside him.
It rested in a marble pedestal like a relic from myth—an obsidian-black egg etched with faint runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. The air around it shimmered with heat despite the chill of the chamber. It called to him. Whispered to him.
Before he could reach out, the doors burst open.
A man in dark armor entered, his long coat trailing behind him like shadows in motion. Silver hair. Eyes like steel. A presence so heavy it stilled Evan's breath.
"Evan," the man said, his voice low and unreadable. "You've returned."
The man crossed the chamber and placed a hand on Evan's head—not unkindly. "I am your father, Duke Leonis Rochel. Heir of the Serpent Bloodline. And you are my son."
Evan stared, speechless.
Duke Rochel turned to the egg. "It started reacting to you the moment you opened your eyes. We feared it would never hatch."
Reacting? Evan looked again. The egg's glow intensified, black veins creeping across its shell like thunderclouds. The air buzzed.
Suddenly, the chamber shook.
Glass shattered. Magical runes flared to life on the walls, reacting violently.
Guards outside cried out, swords unsheathed.
The egg cracked.
A piercing screech filled the chamber—not from the outside, but from within his mind.
Master. You have returned.
Evan staggered back. His heart thundered, yet some buried instinct screamed yes in return.
The egg exploded in a flash of darkness and water. A surge of black mist coiled through the chamber, swallowing the light, slamming guards into the walls. Only Evan remained untouched.
The mist receded, and from it emerged—
A serpent.
Ten feet long, scaled in deep azure with a crown of curved horns and golden eyes burning with intellect. Its presence crushed the air. The servants and guards outside the room dropped to their knees, trembling.
A Basilisk.
Not just any. This one pulsed with an aura that made grown knights scream.
Duke Rochel's eyes widened slightly. Just slightly.
"A Divine Beast… no… something more."
The serpent slithered forward, lowering its head before Evan.
I am Nex. Born of the Abyss. Bound to your blood. You are my Tamer. My Sovereign. My Return.
Evan met the creature's gaze—and for the first time since awakening in this world, his body felt like it belonged to him.
Because something ancient had chosen him.
A crackling blue sigil burned into existence on the back of his hand—spiraling, coiling, alive.
The Divine Beast bond had been formed.
The doors slammed open again, and dozens of armored men flooded in—followed by robed elders, nobles, and mages. All froze at the sight.
"Impossible…"
"It's him—the prophesied Rochel heir…"
"Look at that aura… He's awakened a creature sealed for centuries…"
A voice rang out over the gasps, cold and full of awe. "Call the High Council. Aflety Academy must be informed immediately. The heir of the Serpent House has awakened a Divine."
Evan looked down at his hand, where the mark still glowed, and then at Nex, whose voice echoed in his mind like thunder across time.
You are not ready, Sovereign. But they will come. The false gods. The masked ones. The betrayers.
A flicker of his old life returned—office lights, a hand reaching out, a whisper: You were never meant to live free.
Evan exhaled slowly.
"Let them come," he said aloud.
The serpent raised its head.
The beast world had just changed forever.
[End of Chapter 1]