I am Just an Average Tamer

Kai took one last glance at the shimmering fragments.

Vael ruffled its feathers lightly atop his shoulder, sensing the strange static building in the air.

"...Something feels off," Kai muttered.

As he stepped through the ruined archway and exited the chamber, a low rumble trembled beneath his boots. His head jerked upward, and—

Crack!

The already unstable ceiling above gave a groan of death.

Then another.

And then—

BOOM!

Massive slabs of stone collapsed behind him, dust and fragments exploding outward.

The columns splintered, arches snapped, and the ruin itself began to fracture like a dying beast.

"Shit!"

Kai broke into a sprint, racing down the uneven hallway as tremors rocked the foundation.

Debris fell around him like hailstones from hell, and the mana-rich stone pulsed erratically as residual wards began to implode one by one.

"Move, move, move!"

Vael screeched as a jagged piece of the ceiling crashed down just inches behind them.

A cloud of dust swallowed the corridor, visibility plummeting.

But just as Kai reached what looked like the final corridor, the ground beneath him gave a horrible crack.

His eyes widened.

"No no no!"

CRACK!

The floor caved in beneath him.

"Fuck!"

He plummeted downward into complete darkness, the world above swallowed by falling rubble.

Silence.

Dust floated like mist in the blackness below.

Kai's body hit the slope of a collapsed chamber, tumbling down in a blur of limbs and muffled grunts.

He rolled to a stop on a bed of dust and rubble, coughing violently as the air thickened with stone powder.

A dim pulse of mana flickered from his storage bracelet, lighting up the jagged cavern he'd fallen into.

It was a hollow basin, buried deep beneath the ruins, clearly untouched for years.

Strange vines curled up the walls, their tips glowing faintly with bioluminescent blues and purples.

Kai groaned, dragging himself to a sitting position.

"Ugh... that's the last time I touch some goddamn shiny rock in a cursed ruin..." he mumbled, spitting out dust.

Vael fluttered down a moment later, shaking off fine debris from his wings, then perched next to him with a disapproving screech.

Kai winced, rubbing his back.

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

He looked around at the unfamiliar underground space, half ruin, half buried temple.

The real question now was…

Where the hell was he?

[<Find a way to head back brat. You got what you wanted.>]

But the curiosity tugged at him like a thread stitched into his chest.

He took his first cautious steps into the chamber, brushing aside hanging vines that glowed faintly like ghostly tendrils.

The space ahead slowly unfurled.

A wide, ancient temple buried beneath the surface, its walls etched in worn, indecipherable runes, half-swallowed by roots and time.

Towering statues flanked the sides, humanoid but faceless, their limbs elongated, bent toward the center in reverence—or warning.

The floor beneath him was cracked marble, now coated in layers of dirt, moss, and the residue of stale mana.

High above, a collapsed dome revealed faint shafts of light piercing through the ruin, but even they struggled to illuminate the thick, heavy air.

At the far end of the chamber stood a raised altar, partially shattered, but still humming with a dormant energy.

Kai took another step, heart drumming with caution and intrigue.

That was when he heard it.

Grrrr!

A low, ragged, growl

It echoed behind him.

His body froze. And slowly, he turned.

But the sight made his stomach dropped.

One. Two. Three.

Pairs of glowing red eyes pierced the dark beyond the crumbled archway.

Then five.

Then ten.

Fifteen.

Twenty.

And still more...

All unblinking, all locked directly onto him.

"...The fuck," Kai breathed.

Beads of sweat formed on his brow.

The very air felt heavier.

His hand went to his daggers in a flash.

"Vael," he whispered.

The Windsight Falcon didn't need more. He shot off his shoulder, circling above him, wings spread wide, eyes glowing with pale blue aura, wind currents already forming in tight coils around him.

Crrrr! Crrr!

From the darkness, claws scraped against stone. A sound too synchronized, too deliberate.

They were waiting.

Watching.

Surrounding.

Kai shifted his stance, body low, daggers reversed in his grip. His breath calmed.

"Come on then," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "Let's see how many of you are still standing by the time I'm done."

The red eyes blinked in unison—

And then they charged.

[<I ain't saving your sorry ass. Deal with them yourself.>]

"Huh?"

******

"Haaah…"

A soft sigh escaped Lira's lips as she dropped onto her bed, limbs sprawled out like a puppet with its strings cut.

Thud!

She groaned, "Those noisy old geezers…"

Then.

Hiss!

A soft weight slithered beside her.

A sleek white serpent, coiled gently over her side and nuzzled her cheek like a concerned mother.

The coolness of her scales brushed against Lira's skin, grounding her.

"I'm fine, Snow," she murmured, running a hand along the serpent's smooth body.

"You don't have to worry about me every time I deal with those council fossils."

She took a slow breath.

And then, her eyes drifted to the ticking clock above her study table.

"…Crap. It's almost time for class."

Groaning again, she sat up with the reluctant grace.

She snatched her books from the nightstand and slipped them one by one into her storage ring with practiced ease.

Then she stepped toward the full-length mirror standing beside her wardrobe.

With the soft clink of polished heels on marble, Lira stood tall and stared at her reflection.

Her sharp emerald-green eyes, gleaming like a forest kissed by sunlight after rain.

Her platinum-silver hair, tied in intricate crown braids, framed her face like a halo of moonlight.

She tilted her head.

Smirked.

"Still the same beautiful menace," she muttered, with just a hint of smugness.

A silver-chained pendant rested at her chest, its charm shaped like a small blue bird, wings outstretched mid-flight.

Lira gripped it gently, her fingers brushing over the cool metal, then tucked it beneath her shirt with care.

"Let's go, Snow," she said at last.

With a contented hiss, the serpent slithered up her arm and coiled around her shoulders like a living scarf, her pearlescent scales gleaming faintly in the morning light.

And with one last glance at the mirror, Lira turned and moved.