Grafted Identity

Vincent Gallows didn’t volunteer to be carved open, implanted with experimental tech, and bonded to a monster — but the army didn’t ask. Ten days ago, he was celebrating his seventeenth birthday. Yesterday, soldiers dragged him from his home. Today, he’s trapped in the Goldarian military’s grafter program, where conscripted teens are surgically implanted with devices to control bioengineered creatures and forced to fight a war they never chose. If Vincent fails, his nine‑year‑old sister will be next. The system sees kids like him as disposable tools. Rival cadets see him as competition. And the creature he’s bonded to — a massive reptilian grafter with a mind of its own — wants control. Vincent’s only goal is to survive long enough to remain someone his sister will still recognize.