Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Selene arrived at the door of Lucas's chamber and, without knocking, pushed it open. The faint glow of lamplight spilled across the floor, casting long shadows that flickered against the walls. Inside, Lucas was still at the desk, completely absorbed in the contents before him, the crystalline Core of Dominion resting delicately in one hand, Sage Raph's handwritten notes spread out neatly on the table. His eyes moved rapidly over the pages, his brow slightly furrowed, his breathing calm yet deliberate. The faint hum of energy from the core seemed to merge with the quiet rustle of parchment as he turned another page.

She stepped closer, the familiar soft click of her boots barely breaking the silence. "Xavier," she called softly at first, her voice carrying a blend of warmth and expectation. There was no response. His head remained bowed over the notes, the golden glow from the core reflecting faintly in his eyes.

'Xavier," she tried again, a little louder this time, leaning forward slightly. Still, nothing. His focus did not waver for even a second. Selene's lips pressed together in irritation, though she tried to hide it.

In truth, it wasn't that he hadn't noticed her, far from it. A part of his mind, always aware of his surroundings, had immediately registered her arrival. He could smell her familiar perfume, the faint floral scent that she favored. He could recognize her tone even if she had spoken from across a crowded hall. But when Lucas was studying alchemy, or cultivating, it was different, his mind entered a state of deep immersion, a near-complete lock on the task at hand. At least ninety percent of his focus was locked away from the outside world, leaving only the smallest fraction to acknowledge anything else.

Right now, that fraction of awareness told him it was Selene, but the other ninety percent refused to be disturbed. The Core of Dominion was rare, dangerous, and impossibly intricate, even a moment's distraction could mean losing the thread of insight he was tracing through Sage Raph's annotations. And so, he simply chose not to answer her.

Selene, however, did not understand. She stood there for a few moments, her patience thinning with every passing heartbeat. She called his name again, then again, her voice now carrying a sharper edge. "Xavier… are you even listening to me?"

Still no answer.

Her irritation flared, heat rising in her chest. She moved closer until she was standing right beside him. Without a word, she reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder, a deliberate, almost challenging gesture meant to pull his attention to her.

The moment her fingers made contact, the thread of concentration he had been clinging to snapped like a frayed cord. The insight he had been carefully unraveling scattered from his mind. The hum of energy from the core seemed to falter, and his eyes, which had been steady and focused, flicked up with a sudden sharpness.

In an instant, Lucas's calm vanished. His expression shifted, a storm gathering behind his gaze. The irritation in his chest flared hot and fast. Being interrupted mid-study , especially at such a delicate moment, was something he could tolerate from very few people. And Selene had just crossed that line.

His jaw tightened, his voice unspoken but heavy in the air as he turned his eyes fully on her, the weight of his rising anger unmistakable.

The intricate flow of insights he had been weaving together—threads of Sage Raph's precise notes and the elusive resonance of the Core of Dominion concentration was ripped apart in an instant. His eyes, once locked in the steady stillness of deep focus, snapped open, sharp and blazing.

A low growl escaped his throat, unbidden, his chest rising and falling with the sudden spike of irritation boiling inside him. For hours, he had been balancing on the razor's edge between comprehension and breakthrough, every thought anchored in the delicate patterns of Qi flow, every breath synchronized to the ancient diagrams before him. And now… all of it was gone.

The faint scent of her perfume, once familiar and harmless, only seemed to mock him now. His patience—already thinned by the strain of pushing his mind to its limits—tore away in a heartbeat.

Without a single word, Lucas's fury erupted. Qi surged from his core, violent and unrestrained, spilling into the air like a raging tempest. The release was instantaneous—raw, instinctive, and far stronger than Selene could have anticipated.

The blast struck her before she could even comprehend what was happening. The air around her seemed to solidify, then explode outward with crushing force. Her eyes widened, her body lifting off the ground as though caught by an invisible giant's hand.

The impact was merciless. Selene flew across the chamber, the wind tearing past her ears, before her back slammed into the far wall with a resounding crack that made the room tremble. Dust and shards of plaster drifted down around her crumpled form.

And in the center of it all, Lucas stood rigid, his chest heaving, the faint traces of Qi still shimmering around him like a storm that had not quite passed.

Lucas stood where he was, chest heaving, hands still trembling from the release of Qi. His eyes blazed—not with the calm discipline of a cultivator, but with raw, unrestrained anger. The notes he had been studying lay forgotten on the table, edges fluttering slightly from the residual force of his outburst.

Selene pressed a hand to her side, wincing, her gaze fixed on him in shock. "Xavier…" she breathed, her voice small, uncertain, as if testing the ground between them.

But Lucas stepped forward sharply, his boots echoing against the stone floor. "Do you have any idea what you just did?" His tone was sharp enough to cut through the air. "Do you know how dangerous it is to interrupt someone in deep focus? Especially during study of alchemical theory and Qi refinement?"

Selene swallowed, her eyes wide. "I—I didn't think…"

"That's the problem," he snapped, pointing a finger at her. "You didn't think. You barged in here, calling my name over and over as if I was ignoring you for sport. I was holding delicate threads of Qi alignment—one wrong distraction, and hours of work are gone. Gone, Selene!" His voice rose with every word, the heat in his chest burning hotter than the burst of Qi he had unleashed moments earlier.

Selene shifted slightly against the wall, her brows furrowing. "I just wanted to—"

"To what?" Lucas cut her off. "To make sure I looked at you? To satisfy your impatience? You think everything has to stop because Selene Fairchild has arrived?"

Her eyes hardened a fraction, though the hurt in them was unmistakable. "That's not fair."

"No, what's not fair," Lucas shot back, taking another step toward her, "is having to rebuild my mental focus because someone couldn't wait. Do you have any idea what I was studying? The Core of Dominion isn't just reading, Selene. It's a complex web of theory and precise Qi mapping. It takes days—to reach a stable point. And you destroyed it in seconds!"

Selene's hands curled into fists at her sides, but her voice trembled. "I didn't know it was that important… I thought—"

"You thought wrong," Lucas said coldly. "And now I have to deal with the consequences. Because while you might think of this as some harmless distraction, in cultivation, a moment like that could mean backlash, deviation, even injury."

Her lips parted slightly, as if to argue, but she closed them again. The tension between them thickened, filling every inch of the room. Lucas's anger still burned hot, but underneath it, something else began to creep in—a faint, unwelcome sting of guilt.

Selene finally spoke, her voice quieter now. "I only came because… I haven't seen you all day. I wanted to talk to you. You've been shut in here since morning, and I…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "I didn't mean to ruin anything."

Lucas stopped pacing, his eyes narrowing. The raw edge of his fury dulled slightly, but his words still came out sharp. "Then maybe next time, you knock. You wait. You ask if I'm free. You don't… you don't just walk in and demand my attention."

Selene's gaze flickered to the floor. "You've never snapped at me like this before."

"That's because you've never done something like this before," Lucas said, though the fire in his tone was cooling, replaced by the weight of what he had just done. His eyes drifted briefly to the faint red mark on her cheek, the way she was still leaning slightly against the wall for support.

A pang shot through his chest, sudden and unwelcome. He had lashed out without control, and she had taken the full brunt of it. The memory of her hitting the wall replayed in his mind, and for a moment, the Core of Dominion and Sage Raph's notes seemed meaningless compared to the sight in front of him.

Lucas exhaled heavily, dragging a hand down his face. "Selene…"

She didn't look up.

He stepped closer, slower this time, his voice lower and rougher around the edges. "I shouldn't have done that. The Qi burst… I didn't mean to—"

Her eyes lifted to his, searching. "You were angry."

"I was," Lucas admitted, his jaw tight. "But that's no excuse for losing control like that. I've trained for years to keep my focus in check, to keep my power precise. And I broke that discipline just now. On you." He took in a slow breath. "You didn't deserve that."

For a moment, neither of them moved. The silence stretched between them, heavy with the lingering echo of his anger and the beginnings of something more fragile. Lucas's voice softened further.

"I'm sorry, Selene. I hurt you, and I shouldn't have. I let my frustration take over, and that's on me."