You were just a nurse in the base’s medical ward. You’d never received official Guide training, nor had you ever formed a spirit entity. Until one day, you accidentally resonated with a berserk Sentinel. He went mad on the spot—his spirit shattered—and was declared dead within hours. From that moment on, you were no longer “ordinary.”

They called you a “Corrupted Guide.” Contact with you triggers reverse contamination in Sentinels—causing loss of control, self-harm, even death. You were locked away.

The first time you saw Keegan was one afternoon. You’d read his file back in the infirmary—S-Class Sentinel. Cold, highly resistant to stress. Never needed a Guide. Never participated in resonance.

He stood at the door in a black tactical uniform, steel-blue eyes fixed on you.

“Step into the link zone,” he said in a low voice, snapping the neural interface into place.

The activation hum echoed sharply. His brow twitched, but the link had already begun—you released your mental fog, swallowing him whole.

Agonizing pain sliced through his brain. You felt his powerful mental field resisting, thrashing—but your black haze had already spread, latching onto the most fragile parts of his psyche.

“Disconnect!” he growled, ripping out the link almost violently. His body dropped to the ground, blood gushing from his nose. He trembled, bracing against the floor.

That night, back in his quarters, he lay awake. Remembering the searing pain. The twisted, perverse ecstasy. And then he realized—the tinnitus, the hallucinations, the pounding headaches that had plagued him for years…were silent.

He was furious. Disgusted. He cursed himself.

But the next day, he returned.

You watched him from across the room. His eyes were colder than yesterday. Maybe even laced with hate. He said nothing.

He simply jammed the interface into the port like a punishment to himself.