CRACK.


    A single, violent rupture, as if the very world itself had split in defiance.


    The air turned heavy. Thick. Suffocating. A tension unseen, yet felt in every breath.


    Deep within the grand halls of the Pendrol estate, where golden chandeliers illuminated generations of nobility, a storm of heat and cold waged an invisible war.


    The midwives—trained in the births of those touched by Titan Cores—found their hands shaking, their prayers faltering. Beads of sweat slid down their brows as they worked frantically, but nothing, nothing could prepare them for this.


    The mother''s final scream tore through the chamber—


    —And then.


    A wail.


    Not a weak, feeble cry. But something sharp. Powerful. A sound that pierced the air like the first clash of war.


    FWOOM!


    Flames erupted to life. Not mere candle flames, but living tongues of fire that roared in defiance of their confinement. The tapestries ignited, the marble walls cracked under the sudden surge of heat, and the very oxygen itself seemed to tremble in reverence.


    A child was born.


    And when his eyes opened—


    Amber. Not just the hue of fire, but the deep, molten glow of an inferno left to smolder.


    A single gasp.


    One of the midwives took an unsteady step back, her trembling hand pressing against her chest. "The heir... The child bears a Titan Core of Fire."


    Lord William Pendrol barely had time to react before—


    SHHHHHK!


    A second wail.


    And with it—the fire died.


    Not extinguished. Devoured.


    A wave of unnatural cold surged forth, devouring the heat like a starving beast. The melted wax from the ruined candles froze mid-drip, forming grotesque sculptures of ice. The flames that had raged moments before were snuffed out as if they had never existed. The warmth was gone. The air turned razor-sharp.


    The second child opened his eyes.


    Icy blue. Not the gentle frost of winter—but the empty, merciless depths of an eternal glacier.


    Another shudder.


    This was unnatural.


    Two children.


    Two opposing Titan Cores.


    Two impossibilities.


    William took an unsteady breath, his heart pounding against his ribs.


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    Behind him, his father, Oliver Pendrol, stood silent. A man who had seen decades of battle, a warrior who had long since abandoned fear. And yet, in this moment, his expression was grim.


    "The gods play dice," Oliver murmured, his voice as cold as the air itself. "And tonight, they have rolled calamity."


    William clenched his fists. "No. They have given us a gift."


    Oliver''s dark gaze met his. "A gift, you say? Then tell me, William—what will happen when fire and ice no longer wish to share the same body?"


    ---


    Several years passed.


    And in those years, the Vael estate ceased to be a home.


    It became a battlefield.


    The servants feared the twins. Not out of malice, nor hatred, but a bone-deep understanding that in their presence, even the laws of nature bowed.


    One morning, Aiden yawned too hard.


    Half the east wing caught fire.


    That same evening, Ivar frowned at a wilting flower.


    The entire garden froze into a graveyard of ice.


    Their bedrooms—once grand halls of nobility—were now fortresses. Reinforced walls of obsidian and froststeel. Hallways lined with enchantments to contain their mere presence.


    The twins were opposites in every way.


    Aiden was fire. Loud, impatient, reckless. His laughter burned just as fiercely as his anger. He was a storm in motion—never still, never quiet, always burning.


    Ivar was ice. Silent, calculated, unreadable. He did not waste words. He did not raise his voice. He did not break things—he simply froze them into lifeless silence.


    Where Aiden raged, Ivar restrained.


    Where Ivar withdrew, Aiden shattered forward.


    And William, their father, watched in despair.


    One evening, he stood on the high balcony with Oliver, watching his sons from afar—Aiden perched atop a stone wall, fire flickering between his fingers, and Ivar below, tracing frozen patterns into the grass with a single touch.


    "I fear we have given birth to a calamity," William murmured.


    Oliver exhaled. "No, Kael. You''ve given birth to a reckoning."


    William''s jaw tightened. "They are not a curse."


    Oliver did not look at him. Only at the sky, where the stars remained indifferent to mortal struggles.


    "Perhaps not. But tell me, son—when two unstoppable forces collide, what remains?"


    William had no answer.


    ---


    The Titan Council convened in shadows.


    Seven figures. Seven unyielding gazes.


    Grandmaster Viola was the first to speak.


    "The Bound Cores cannot coexist. The twins must be separated."


    Silence.


    Then—


    A soft sound. A trembling breath.


    Lady Sarah Pendrol fell to her knees, her hands trembling against the cold stone floor.


    "You are sentencing them to death."


    A councilman scoffed. "No, Lady Pendrol. We are ensuring their survival."


    A councilwoman leaned forward. "They are fated to destroy each other. The longer they remain together, the greater the catastrophe."


    Sarah''s voice wavered, but her fury did not. "They are children! Not weapons!"


    Oliver Pendrol''s voice cut through the tension like a blade.


    "They are both."


    William slammed his fist against the table. "You would turn my sons against each other before they''ve even had a chance to choose?"


    Viola''s gaze was heavy. "It is not our choice, Lord Pendrol. It is theirs."


    ---l


    Night fell over the Pendrol estate.


    Kael stood before his sons, his hands trembling.


    "You are to be separated," he said.


    The words hung like a death sentence.


    Aiden stiffened. "What?"


    Ivar''s expression was unreadable. "Separated?"


    William''s fists clenched. "If you stay together, one of you will eventually—"


    "Enough."


    Their voices merged into one. Fire and ice.


    For the first time, they looked at each other.


    Not as rivals.


    Not as opposites.


    But as brothers.


    And they knew.


    That night, they ran.


    Through the halls, past the guards, through the gates.


    Aiden ignited the air— A wall of fire roared to life.


    Ivar froze the ground— The earth turned to ice.


    Guards slipped. Tumbled. Fell—too slow.


    BOOM! The estate''s entrance collapsed as Elias blasted it apart.


    CRACK! The courtyard gates froze solid as Ivar reinforced them.


    They fled into the night.


    But something was calling them.


    ---


    For weeks, they wandered.


    Then—the dreams began.


    Visions of an ancient city, buried beneath the earth.


    Whispers of a place where Titan Cores could be reshaped.


    One night, they stood before a cavern''s entrance, and suddenly


    And they heard it.


    A voice.


    Not theirs.


    Not human.


    Something ancient.


    And now they are in Veyrith city.


    The doors to the dungeon of illusion  rumbled open.


    Aiden and ivar  exchanged a glance.


    Then, for the first time, they stepped forward—


    Not as enemies.


    Not as opposites.


    But as The Bound Ones.