Chapter 1: The Pen is Mightier Than the Dumbass

“Kai Arclight, this is the fifth time this week you've been caught skipping class,” Principal Himari said flatly, arms crossed as she glared over her cat-shaped glasses. “Do you want to mop floors for the rest of your academic life?”

“Technically, that’s career stability,” Kai offered, trying to look wise while balancing a pencil on his upper lip. “And if I get really good at it, I could be... Head Mop Officer?”

Beside him, his best friend Zeke snorted so hard his glasses fogged up. “He’s aiming for greatness, ma’am.”

Principal Himari didn’t blink. “Detention.”

“...Or greatness in small increments,” Kai mumbled.

Thirty minutes later, he was elbow-deep in a dust-filled closet, where Zeke was supposed to be helping but was instead livestreaming Kai’s suffering to their group chat.

“This is Kai’s natural habitat,” Zeke narrated dramatically into his phone. “Note the feral artist. Cranky. Covered in eraser shavings. Prone to sarcasm.”

“I will erase you from existence,” Kai grunted, tugging on something wedged behind a mop. “Holy crap, what is this?”

He yanked out a leather-bound sketchbook. The moment his fingers touched it, a chill rippled through the air.

The janitor’s ancient radio in the hallway crackled. A voice whispered something that sounded suspiciously like “Don’t draw the chicken.”

Kai blinked. “Weird.”

Naturally, he drew the chicken.

Two minutes later…

“WHAT DID YOU DOOOO?!” Zeke screamed, sprinting past Kai in the gym, arms flailing. Behind him, Flare Cluck—a giant, flaming chicken with tribal tattoos and gold chains—crashed through the bleachers like poultry Godzilla.

Coach Tanaka hurled a dodgeball. “I FOUGHT IN THE BIRD WARS OF ’98!”

“Did you seriously draw that thing?!” yelled Hana, a tough-as-nails martial arts prodigy who’d just backflipped over the bird’s tail feathers.

“I was bored and inspired!” Kai shouted. “Blame the sketchbook!”

“Bawk-BAWWWK!” Flare Cluck shrieked, then incinerated the basketball hoop.

Just then, the pen in Kai’s pocket vibrated and launched itself into the air.

A burst of ink spiraled midair and solidified into a glowing, floating fountain pen with a monocle and the rage of a thousand proofreaders.

“Oh no,” Kai muttered. “It talks.”

“Of course I talk, you cretinous meat stick!” the pen barked. “You bound me to your idiocy the moment you touched the sketchbook. I am Penric. Archeaon-class Guide and Suffering Enthusiast.”

“Wait, what’s an—” Kai ducked as Flare Cluck’s talons ripped through a rack of gym mats. “Okay! Less talk, more not dying!”

Another girl—Minako, the class president and closet anime fan—ran up holding what looked like a magical tablet.

“I just Googled ‘giant flaming chicken curse’ and apparently you’ve activated a Binder Artifact!”

“Oh good,” Kai wheezed, “the internet is magic.”

Suddenly, a new voice cut through the chaos.

“Step aside, amateurs.”

A tall boy in a long coat dropped into the gym from the second floor window, surrounded by swirling blue energy. His sketchpad hovered midair, and from it emerged a gleaming, sword-wielding dragon knight.

“I’m a third-year Binder,” the boy declared. “The name’s Ren. And that chicken’s toast.”

Kai blinked. “Wait, is everyone in this school secretly magical?!”

Zeke, crouching behind a water fountain, raised a hand. “I’m still just trying to pass algebra!”

As the flaming bird exploded into feathers, smoke, and the faint smell of KFC, Kai sat cross-legged on the gym floor, stunned.

“I have so many questions.”

Penric floated beside him, smug. “Then buckle up, Kai Arclight. You’ve just hatched your way into a world of imagination-fueled combat, rogue doodle assassins, and interdimensional sketch politics.”

Zeke walked over, eyes wide. “Bro… did your drawing just save us or almost kill us?”

Kai looked at the charred walls. “Little column A, little column B.”

Minako adjusted her glasses. “You're gonna need a club. Or a team. Or possibly... a fire extinguisher.”

Coach Tanaka coughed from a pile of feathers. “I told you kids not to trust chickens.”