The Bonding [1]

The city of Allon gleamed under the morning sun, its spires stretching high into the sky, casting long shadows across cobblestone streets bustling with life.

Nestled on a hillside and surrounded by lush forests, Allon was a city of tamers, a place where the art of bonding with magical beasts was as vital as breath itself. Today was particularly significant, as the city's Bonding Hall—an impressive stone edifice with intricately carved arches and runic engravings that pulsed faintly with light—was holding the First Bonding Ceremony for many young tamers.

This was no ordinary event.

Every year, a select group of young men and women who had turned eighteen gathered at the Bonding Hall, ready to form their first lifelong bond with a magical beast, marking the beginning of their journey as tamers.

For privacy and reverence, each was admitted individually, the grand doors closing solemnly behind them. And though the process was meant to be personal, it wasn't long before the new tamers emerged, proudly displaying their bonded partners for all to see.

Excited murmurs rippled through the onlookers as each fresh tamer exited the hall, their beasts by their side. One young man strode forward confidently on the back of a winged stallion with feathers that glinted silver in the light.

He smiled proudly, guiding the majestic creature with practiced ease. A girl soon followed, her companion a bird with feathers alight in shades of blue flame, perched calmly on her shoulder. Another emerged alongside a fire wolf, its amber eyes intense, its fur smoldering with faint wisps of smoke.

Among the waiting crowd, one young man watched the proceedings quietly, his demeanor calm but his gaze intent.

His name was Kalem.

Unlike some of his peers who boasted of their plans, Kalem had chosen not to say much about his aspirations, preferring instead to focus on the ceremony itself. He had been a last-minute addition to this year's candidates—only admitted just after the entrance exams concluded.

Kalem stood out not because of any dramatic display but due to his quiet composure and natural charm. While many were flashy, eager to impress, he had an air of innocence and honesty that made him approachable.

He watched as his fellow candidates came out with their magical beasts, each displaying unique power and elegance. But just as he was admiring a newly bonded tamer and her sapphire-winged hawk, a sudden ache pierced his mind.

The pain was sharp and unexpected, filling his vision with blinding white as images flooded into his consciousness. Fragments of memories—strange and foreign, yet undeniably vivid—swirled through his mind.

He saw the streets of a foreign yet familiar world, felt the cobblestone under his feet, and remembered laughter from people he didn't know. These memories seemed impossibly real, and yet they felt as if they belonged to someone else entirely. The images continued, filling his mind, weaving a past he had not lived yet somehow understood with startling clarity.

When the pain faded, Kalem blinked, feeling strangely disoriented. Everything around him was vibrant and alive, each detail crisp and vivid.

"Did the game start?"

Kalem muttered out loud.

No, it was Khalil. 

'Do we receive character's memories of this world?'

The feeling was so intense that Khalil briefly wondered if he'd already entered the game—a level of immersion far beyond what he'd expected. 

After all, it felt like he lived another life. 

'Could this all be some advanced new feature?' he wondered. The memories, so real and yet foreign, stirred an unease within him that he couldn't shake. 'Weird...'

"Kalem! Next!"

The voice echoed from the hall entrance, snapping him back to the present. He looked up, momentarily startled.

'Kalem?' It took him a moment to remember that he'd set his name to Khalil in the game start. He glanced around, still disoriented but compelled by the strange familiarity of this place as if he belonged here.

Assuming it was some minor glitch, he took a breath, steeling himself, and stepped forward toward the Bonding Hall's great stone doors.

"Swoosh."

The heavy stone doors thudded shut behind him, leaving Kalem—no, Khalil—in the hushed, luminous grandeur of the Bonding Hall.

Towering arches loomed above, inscribed with intricate symbols that glowed faintly in a dance of shifting colors, casting a strange, otherworldly light across the hall's walls. It felt almost as if the entire place were alive, resonating with energies he couldn't quite understand.

He stepped forward slowly, taking in every detail with a growing sense of awe. 

As he approached the center of the hall, a figure robed in pure white, embroidered with silvery threads, stepped forward, their face shadowed under a hood.

With a calm and practiced gesture, the figure lifted a hand, beckoning Khalil to stop in front of a grand portal that shimmered like liquid silver.

The portal pulsed softly, like the ripples on a lake's surface, and its mirror-like finish held Khalil's own reflection in a surreal, almost dreamlike quality.

"Stand here," the figure said, their voice calm and authoritative. "This is the Portal of Selection."

Khalil took his place, glancing between the figure and the portal with a mixture of curiosity and growing excitement. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but the figure continued.

"You must step through the portal with your eyes closed," they instructed. "Only once you pass through may you open them. Upon doing so, the beasts most attuned to your spirit will appear before you. Each one offers you a different path—a different bond."

Khalil's brow furrowed with a question, but he listened, nodding intently.

This was so different from anything he had expected. In the game, wasn't the bond supposed to be more random, similar to the talent crystal situation? Yet here, he had a choice, an entire array of beasts that he could bond with based on… compatibility?

The robed figure continued, "Once you choose, you must either defeat the beast or persuade it to willingly accept your bond. Only through these acts may you form a true connection."