The sky was a jagged scar, a constant reminder of the day the Great Rift split the heavens. From that gaping wound came the monsters: Rift Beasts, creatures twisted by otherworldly energy, each more terrifying than the last. Humanity, once the masters of the world, had been forced into fortified cities, clinging to survival behind towering walls.
Outside the walls, the land lay in ruins. Forests had turned into hunting grounds for monstrous predators. Rivers ran thick with corruption, their once-clear waters darkened by Rift energy. Every shadow held danger, and the night belonged to the beasts.
Inside the cities, humanity endured, protected by those who had learned to tame the chaos: tamers. These individuals possessed a rare ability to form bonds with monsters, turning the creatures into loyal partners. With their help, humanity pushed back against extinction, reclaiming small pockets of safety amidst the endless wilderness.
But tamers weren't saviors. They were rulers.
The strongest tamers controlled the fortified cities, using their power to establish dynasties of privilege. Nobles bred the most powerful monsters, consolidating wealth and influence, while the common folk were left to scrape by. Tamers were worshiped as heroes but lived like kings, their monsters patrolling the streets, enforcing their will. For most, survival meant submission.
In the slums of Seryn City, submission was a way of life. In the outermost district of the city, the slums were a maze of crumbling buildings and narrow alleyways where the poor lived in squalor. Food was scarce, and safety was scarcer. Tamers rarely ventured into the slums unless they were collecting taxes or looking for recruits.
Kael Varos sat on the edge of a broken rooftop, his gray eyes fixed on the scene below. A squad of tamers marched through the slums, their beasts towering over the ragged crowd. The lead tamer rode a hulking Razorback Lizard, its armored scales gleaming in the dim sunlight. Behind him, two more tamers followed their beasts, a Flame Hound and a Thunder Hawk, snarling and snapping at anyone who came too close.
The people scattered, their eyes lowered in submission. Kael didn't move. From his perch above, he watched with a cold, detached expression, his thin frame motionless as the tamers passed.
He wasn't afraid of them. Not anymore.
"This is what they call strength?" Kael muttered to himself, his voice barely above a whisper. "Leaning on beasts to do their dirty work. Without them, they're nothing."
The Razorback Lizard let out a deep growl, its eyes scanning the crowd for threats. Kael's lips twitched into a faint smirk. The beast wouldn't look up. They never did.
When the tamers disappeared around a corner, Kael stood and stretched, his thin frame silhouetted against the sky. His clothes were little more than rags, but his posture was straight, his movements deliberate. He climbed down from the rooftop and slipped into the alleyways, moving like a shadow through the familiar maze of the slums.
The world outside the walls was chaos, but the world inside was no better.