Legendary Guardians: Mad Emperor

Kael felt nervous, his face lowered while his palms clasped together in prayer. He remained silent throughout the elevator ride down to the underground chambers of the demi-beast containment zone.

"So what demi-beasts do we have to choose from?" Eric asked, his voice laced with absolute confidence.

Kael had been a coward all his life, this led to him living on the sidelines all his life.

Many are quick to assume there are no benefits to this kind of life, but they are wrong.

As someone who stood at that side all his life, Kael had lived as an observer, making him familiar with the human body language.

He could deduce a person's emotional state through tone, body language, gaze, and many more.

Kael could tell Professor Lysandra was bothered about them. Eric, on the other hand, was excited, his entire being bubbling with impatience.

'He's confident the Mystic Resonance will end well. God, I wish I was this brave.' Kael sighed, a bitter smile playing on his lips.

"Quite a lot, actually; we even got our hands on some of Ra's remnants. We were surprised the Empire would be generous enough to give kingdoms a chance to create Pantheon level demi-humans." Professor Lysandra's eyes gleamed with excitement as he passed the tablet over to Eric.

On the screen were numerous security camera footage, fixated in dark rooms. Each of these rooms carried artifacts tied to a demi-beast.

"To improve your chances of survival, it's important to find out your compatibility before going ahead with Mystic Resonance." Professor Lysandra explained, her gaze fixated on Kael who flinched when she mentioned the name; Ra.

Eric nodded to her words absent-mindedly while going through each security camera footage, his eyes squinting and dilating occasionally.

"Have you decided on a demi-beast?" Professor Lysandra directed her question to Kael, in hopes of bringing him out of his shell.

Kael froze, his eyes tightening at the question. While most of his life was spent in the orphanage, stories of the past involving Ra were common, including among caregivers.

The great Pantheon was the only dragon ever recorded in history, this made Kael believe there was more to his dream.

On numerous occasions, Kael heard it refer to him as a vessel. His curiosity superseded his fear of death, leaving him with no reason to remain not to give it a try.

"Ra..." Kael mumbled under his breath, his voice barely a whisper.

The word he spoke was barely audible but the familiar sound was enough to gain Eric and Professor Lysandra's undivided attention.

While Professor Lysandra was plagued with shock and confusion, Eric's eyes sparkled, his smile revealing his support for Kael's decision.

"I was going to go for the best, but since you have the guts to reach for it, I'll let you take the first go at it." Eric patted Kael's shoulders.

The academy forbade Professors from directly influencing the decisions of students. Even though she was a hundred percent certain Kael couldn't handle the resonance with a Pantheon level beast, she couldn't stop him either.

Many considered this an academy but Professor Lysandra saw it for what it was---a research facility. Fifty physically fit youths with no remarkable backgrounds were enticed with dreams of greatness when the reality was that more than half this number was bound to die today.

In Professor Lysandra's opinion, Kael was the most likely student to die in that class, regardless of the Demi-beast bloodline of his choice.

He lacked the mental fortitude needed to withstand Mystic Resonance.

"Are you aware the higher the Demi-beast bloodline, the higher the chances of failure?" Professor Lysandra adjusted her glasses, her voice calm.

While it sounded like a normal question, Kael could feel the anxiety hidden behind her voice and her body language.

"Mhmm!" Kael nodded.

Ding!

The elevator doors slid open revealing a narrow white corridor. Mounted at both corners of the door were soldiers dressed in biohazard suits, armed to the teeth.

Kael clung close to Professor Lysandra as they were led down the corridor. He noticed each door had a number labeled on it.

Professor Lysandra stopped at the door with the number '13'. She flung her wrist over the door knob and a clicking sound could be heard as the door eerily swung open.

Swish!

Kael felt it, the heavy and stiff atmosphere within the room. A small wooden stool and on it was a black scale shard, the source of all that negative energy.

"Pick up the artifact and recite these words." Professor Lysandra slid a card into Kael's hand.

He blinked, confused by the words written on the card--- 'Ka'torr Vey'lah'.

"It's native tongue, the only language which the world recognizes. It means come forth, kindred spirit." Professor Lysandra explained further, "The response of the artifact determines compatibility."

Kael nodded in understanding, he shot Eric a nervous smile before speaking.

"Here goes nothing." He chuckled bitterly and Eric gave him a thumbs up for encouragement.

Huff!

Kael exhaled heavily before walking into the room, the heavy doors slamming shut behind him. He flinched, instinctively looking over his shoulders.

"Finally, You have come, human..." a deep guttural voice boomed, but just in Kael's mind.

His gaze quickly returned to the black shard on the stool, his eyes narrowing as he noticed the blue light within the scale shard.

"We don't have all day, Master Kael. Please follow the instructions you were given." Professor Lysandra's voice resonated with the speakers hung at the corners of the room.

"O... Okay," Kael stuttered, reluctantly approaching the stool.

Standing over the dragon scale shard, he swallowed hard as he grabbed it.

Huff!

Kael exhaled hard as he felt warmth coming from the dragon scale. It wasn't harsh, just perfect.

Strangely, Kael's fear vanished, his gaze looking past the stool. Within the dark corner of the room was a pair of sky-blue reptilian eyes staring deep into his soul.

Buzz!

Kael's eyes revealed an azure hue, his lips parting as he spoke with a sophisticated accent.

"Ka'torr Vey'lah" he muttered, his voice breathing life into the scale.