The first enforcer kicked down the flimsy door with a resounding crash, wood splintering inwards. His crossbow already aimed directly at my face.
Behind him were a dozen more armed figures, their armor stamped with the Temple's cruel crest—a stark, an ominous chain strangling a sun.
Kaelen's shadow flared and roared. A sound so deafening that it vibrated through the floorboards. His monstrous form grew, his eyes burning with pure, undiluted rage.
My scars ignited, a desperate, fiery blaze.
And the system, ever helpful and ever intrusive, chimed in directly into my mind. Its voice was very clear, overriding the chaos.
____
[Pro Tip: Holding Hands Boosts Attack Power!]
____
"NO," Kaelen and I shouted in perfect unison. Our voices, echoing in the small, crumbling farmhouse, a resistant roar against the approaching enemy.
My mind screamed, 'Never! Not in a million years!'
The crossbows were fired.
The crossbow bolts stopped mid-air, shining ominously like deadly floating icicles.
It was not because of any miraculous, heroic timing on my part, or any sudden, dramatic divine intervention from an angry god.
No, they froze because Kaelen's shadow decided to grow tentacles like a pissed-off octopus and lashed out.
It snatched the projectiles mid-air, just inches from my precious face, dissolving them into ashes before they could even scratch my favorite eyebrow.
"Thanks," I muttered, genuinely surprised and a little impressed. Not that I'd ever admit it out loud.
"Don't mention it," he growled back, his voice low and tight. "Ever. And try not to get yourself killed. I barely got that poultice on before the grand ambush."
____
[Quest Accepted: "Defeat 5 Enemies Together."]
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The golden text flickered in my vision, making me roll my eyes. Great. Team-building exercises with my involuntary prince bodyguard.
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[Reward: "Void Spark" (It's Like Fireworks, But Deadlier!).]
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Lyra, who had already managed to somehow get into the well-hole, yelled up, her voice muffled but clear, "Now can you two just hold hands?! The System knows best, you know!"
"NO," Kaelen and I shouted in unison, our voices echoing through the crumbling farmhouse. We were perfectly synchronized in our shared resistance.
We were standing back-to-back, a human-and-shadow shield as the Temple enforcers swarmed through the broken doorway. Their numbers increasing by the second.
Kaelen's shadow claws, now fully extended and menacing, shredded through their flimsy armor like wet parchment. He was a whirlwind of dark, controlled chaos, each strike efficient and brutal.
Meanwhile, I focused on my own brand of mayhem. My scars flared with every surge of magic, and I aimed my curse-links at the Contracts etched into their weapons.
Swords snapped in half with a deafening CRACK! Crossbows melted into useless puddles of molten metal with a pathetic hiss.
One poor enforcer's fancy halberd turned into a pool of bubbling sludge right in his hands. It was oddly satisfying.
"Two down!" Lyra called from below, having apparently decided she was our cheer squad.
She tossed vials that exploded into puffs of bright, shimmering glitter. "Aesthetic support, you guys! It's all about the visual impact!"
"Why is there glitter?!" I yelled, ducking under a clumsily thrown dagger that would have otherwise embedded itself in my forehead. Seriously, what was her obsession with glitter?
"Distraction tactics!" Lyra shouted back, her voice tinged with exasperation. "Also, I ran out of acid! Don't judge my methods, Chainbreaker!"
Suddenly, Kaelen grabbed my wrist mid-swing, his touch firm and surprisingly steady. His shadow claws, still extended, seemed to merge with the glowing energy of my curse-breaking aura.
A strange and deep hum vibrated between us, a raw surge of combined power unlike anything I'd felt before.
"The system wants a combined spell," he barked, his voice tight. "Do it. Now."
"I don't take orders from edgy shadow boys!" I retorted, trying to pull my hand away, but his grip was iron. This was too much. Too fast. Too… collaborative.
An enforcer, surprisingly agile for a man in full plate, tackled me from the side. I staggered, nearly falling, but Kaelen, with our hands still locked, yanked the enforcer off me with a single, powerful pull of his shadow.
The magic between us surged again—his raw, volatile shadows, my bright, destructive scars, colliding and intertwining into a crackling, swirling orb of unstable, chaotic energy.
It pulsed with an ominous light, black and electric blue all at once.
"Throw it!" he commanded, his voice now a low urgent growl.
"What's it to do?!" I yelled back, my eyes wide, staring at the terrifying ball of magic we'd somehow conjured. It felt like holding a miniature sun that was about to explode.
"I don't know!" he yelled, his face stern with his red eyes blazing. "Just throw it!"
We hurled it. Together. The orb shot across the room, a screaming, crackling missile of pure, unadulterated chaos. It hit an unsuspecting enforcer dead center and exploded into a vortex of black fire and neon sparks.
It was not a quiet explosion. It was loud. Really, really loud. The blast vaporized three enemies instantly, leaving behind nothing but smoking boots.
It scorched the very grass outside the crumbling farmhouse into a perfectly circular crop circle, and when the dust settled, there was a crater in the ground shaped suspiciously like a giant duck.
____
[Ability Acquired: Void Spark!]
the system announced, its text pulsing with unusual enthusiasm.
Lyra whistled, a low, impressed sound from the well. "You two are just relationship goals. Truly inspiring."
Kaelen dropped my hand like it was radioactive, yanking his arm back as if I'd just given him a contagious disease.
"Never again," he stated, his voice firm and resolute, as if making a solemn vow to himself and all his ancestors. His shadow, still smoking faintly, receded slightly.
"Agreed," I said, rubbing my hand, which still tingled from the combined magic. "Also, your magic smells like burnt marshmallows."
He actually scoffed. "And yours smells like ozone and bad decisions." Oh, right. The telepathy was gone. But his glare conveyed the sentiment perfectly.
____
[Quest Complete! Bond Level 10 Achieved.]
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[New Ability: "Passive-Aggressive Telepathy" (Now With 50% More Sarcasm!).]
My jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?! We get more telepathy? And it's passive-aggressive?!"
This was literally the worst possible outcome. My head was going to be a battleground of muttered insults and sarcastic thoughts.
"And who knows how many more deadly secrets and family drama he has? What did I ever do wrong to get the Fated Bond System in the first place?"
Just then, a booming horn blared outside, a sound that echoed with power and authority, freezing everything.
A massive, shining hologram of Kaelen's father—King Zanda Vostra himself in all his glory. All icy glare and resting dictator face—materialized above the chaotic battlefield, hovering over the burning grass.
His voice, amplified by magic, boomed across the entire forest.
"Let it be known," he declared, his voice cold and unwavering, "that Zahara Veyra, the Chainbreaker, is hereby marked for extermination. 50,000 gold coins to whoever brings me her head."
The remaining enforcers, who had been scrambling to reorganize after the 'Void Spark' incident, actually paused.
Their movements slowed down. "50,000?!" one whispered to the others, his eyes wide with greed. He even nudged his comrade. "Do you think she'd turn herself in for that kind of money? We could split it!"
Kaelen's jaw tightened, his face a mask of furious indignation. My scars flared in response, a mix of anger at being targeted and a perverse appreciation for my suddenly inflated bounty.
50,000 gold coins? That was serious money. Maybe I could turn myself in and just… bribe my way out later.
The king, completely oblivious to the brief mutiny brewing amongst his troops, added, "And my son, if returned alive, shall be rewarded with… a stern talking-to. And perhaps a few extra hours of curse suppression rituals. Consider it a learning experience, Kaelen."
Lyra, ever the opportunist, snorted from the well-hole. "Parenting win, Your Majesty! Truly inspiring!"
Kaelen, his face a furious thundercloud, grabbed my arm. "We're leaving. Now."
"But the duck-shaped crater—" I started, genuinely curious about the mechanics of our combined magic.
"Now," he repeated, his voice brooking no argument. He was already pulling me towards the well-hole.
As we half-climbed, half-slid down into the murky darkness of the well, the system pinged again, flashing a new, completely ridiculous quest.
____
[New Quest: "Attend Family Dinner."]
[Reward: "Awkward Conversations."]
[Penalty: Death.]
____
"Hard pass," Kaelen and I said in unison, our voices echoing in the confined space, the shared disgust palpable.
The ground above us erupted with a horrifying, guttural roar. A new type of enforcer began crawling out of the earth, cracking through the soil.
Skeletal, glowing with dozens of pulsating Contracts embedded in their bones, and each one holding a tattered scroll that read: "50k or Die Trying."
These weren't regular Temple guards. These were the elite, the fanatical, powered by raw Contract magic.
Lyra sighed from her perch deeper in the well, her voice echoing up, surprisingly calm.
"Well, well...Time to test the well's actual depth."