The bells of the Sky Citadel tolled for three nights after the Trial of Flame.
Their sound rolled through the air like a heartbeat — slow, deep, and heavy with meaning. Every ring was a reminder that something impossible had happened.
A mortal had survived dragonfire.
Eric woke in a chamber he didn't recognize. The ceiling arched high above him, carved with spirals of obsidian and veins of glowing gold. Soft light filtered through translucent crystal windows, painting the walls with hues of red and amber.
His body ached everywhere, but the pain was distant — replaced by a strange warmth that thrummed through his veins like a second heartbeat. When he lifted his hand, the mark on his forearm pulsed with steady light, and golden veins flickered faintly beneath his skin.
He wasn't entirely human anymore.
The door creaked open, and Seraphina entered quietly. She wore no crown, only a simple silken robe the color of dawn. Her hair was loose, falling over her shoulders like silver rain.
She smiled faintly when she saw him awake. "You've slept for two days."
"Feels like I've been burned alive for two weeks," Eric groaned.
Her expression softened as she sat beside him. "You nearly were. The flame you endured wasn't just heat, Eric. It was judgment — from the first dragons who gave birth to our kind."
He sat up slowly, wincing. "And I passed."
"You didn't just pass," she whispered. "You changed the course of history."
He gave a half-smile. "I've been told that before. Usually right before something goes horribly wrong."
Seraphina didn't laugh. Her golden eyes flicked toward the window. "The Elders are divided. Some say you are the Chosen Bonded, the one the prophecy spoke of. Others believe you are a curse — a shadow born of forbidden love that will destroy our world."
Eric frowned. "Prophecy?"
She hesitated, then began to recite softly:
> "When the flame takes form in mortal flesh,
And blood unites with breath of scales,
The heart of worlds shall burn anew —
To forge salvation… or to shatter all."
He was silent for a long time. "Sounds… vague."
"It's older than the Citadel itself," Seraphina said. "A myth we tell hatchlings to remind them that love can be both our gift and our undoing. No one ever believed it would come to pass."
"And now they think I'm the one it's talking about."
She met his gaze. "You are the first mortal to survive the Trial since the dawn of our race. The first to bear dragonfire in your soul. The prophecy doesn't feel like myth anymore."
Eric exhaled slowly, staring at his glowing arm. "So what now? Do I just… live here? Pretend I'm one of you?"
Seraphina shook her head. "The Council is meeting again at dusk. They plan to decide your fate — whether you are allowed to remain in the Citadel or cast back to the mortal world."
He raised a brow. "Cast back? That sounds like a polite way of saying 'thrown to my death.'"
She didn't deny it.
The silence between them was thick with fear and unspoken words. Finally, she said softly, "There may be a way to protect you — to prove your bond is meant to exist."
"I'm listening."
"There is an ancient rite, older even than the Trial," she said. "The Vow of Ember. It binds two souls beyond law or blood. If we perform it, not even the Council can separate us. But…"
Eric studied her expression. "But what?"
"The rite demands a price. One of us must surrender something eternal."
He frowned. "Like what?"
She hesitated. "Our immortality. Our flame. Or… our soul."
The weight of her words hung in the air like smoke.
Eric reached out, taking her hand. "You've already risked everything for me. I won't let you give up your life too."
She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "And if they kill you, what life would I have left to keep?"
Before he could respond, the door burst open.
Kael entered, his face grim. "Forgive me, my Lady. The Elders summon you both. The Council grows restless."
Seraphina rose, her expression sharpening into royal calm. "Then we'll face them together."
---
The Hall of Judgment was colder than before. The fires that lined its walls burned blue instead of gold, a sign of the Council's anger. The air trembled with restrained fury.
The four Elders sat upon thrones of obsidian and flame, their eyes like burning coals. Around them stood lesser nobles — dragonborns of silver, bronze, and crimson — murmuring, hissing, whispering.
When Eric and Seraphina entered, the whispers stopped.
The eldest Elder, the woman with scarlet horns, spoke first. "Seraphina of the Flameborn. You were warned. Yet you defied us again."
Seraphina bowed her head. "I follow my heart, not your fear."
"Your heart has always been your weakness." The Elder's eyes turned to Eric. "And you, mortal. You have survived the Trial, but do not mistake endurance for worthiness. You have awakened old forces that even dragons dare not touch."
Eric met her gaze, his voice steady. "Maybe it's time someone did."
A murmur rippled through the chamber — shock, outrage, admiration.
The Elder slammed her staff to the ground. "Silence!"
She rose slowly, flames flickering along her robes. "There are those among us who would see you crowned as a bridge between worlds. But I see danger. I see the spark that will ignite our doom."
Seraphina stepped forward. "He is no doom. He is proof that our kind can still change. That love can transcend blood and form."
The Elder turned on her. "You speak like a child who has forgotten what our ancestors bled for! Do you think love will protect us when the old gods return? When the fire that sleeps beneath this world wakes again?"
Her words sent a chill down Eric's spine. "What fire?"
The Elder's eyes glowed brighter. "The Heart of Drakonis. The first flame — the soul of our race. Long ago, we bound it beneath the Citadel to keep the realms apart. But now, because of you, it stirs."
Seraphina's face went pale. "That's impossible…"
The Elder's voice was cold. "Is it? Your bond has upset the balance. The flame beneath our world awakens. The prophecy has begun."
The hall erupted in chaos. Voices shouted over one another — some crying for Eric's death, others pleading for mercy.
Kael stepped forward, trying to restore order. "Enough! The mortal has earned his right to live. The Trial chose him — that cannot be undone."
The Elder glared at him. "Do you dare question the Council, Kael?"
"I question nothing but fear," he said evenly.
The Elder's eyes blazed, but before she could speak, the ground trembled. A deep rumble echoed through the Citadel.
The fires in the hall flickered — and for the first time in living memory, they turned black.
Gasps filled the air.
Seraphina's voice trembled. "The Heart… it's waking."
Cracks split the marble floor. From the fissures rose dark flame, unlike anything Eric had ever seen — cold yet searing, beautiful yet terrible. The Elders looked shaken for the first time.
Eric felt the mark on his arm blaze with golden light, answering the darkness with defiance.
The scarlet Elder turned to him, her eyes wide. "You — the flame reacts to you!"
"I don't know what's happening!" he shouted.
Seraphina grabbed his hand. "It's the bond. The Heart recognizes you as part of me — as part of our kind!"
The flames swirled around them, black and gold colliding in midair. The energy cracked like thunder, shaking the entire hall.
The Elder screamed over the roar, "If the Heart awakens fully, it will tear both realms apart!"
"Then tell me how to stop it!" Eric yelled.
But before she could answer, the ground gave way beneath them. The floor shattered, and a torrent of fire swallowed everything.
Eric felt himself falling — through light and shadow, through centuries of memory. He reached for Seraphina's hand, and she clutched his desperately.
The last thing he saw before the light consumed them both was her golden eyes filled with tears.
Then, silence.
And far below, beneath the ruined Citadel, the first flame of the world opened its ancient eyes.
> "The bond is made.
The prophecy breathes again."