The cliffs above Eldara were sharp and hazardous, windswept and laced with most, but Ysara had never fallen
She stood barefoot on the edge of the cliff now, arms outstretched, the sea roared far below. Her silver hair was damp with fog, her eyes closed. Beside her hidden in the shadow, Kael lurked low — his golden scales dimmed by time but still filled with magic.
Two years had passed since she enfolded his eggs in her shaking hands. He had grown in the blink of the eye — no longer the size of a child but od a five foot adult, now bigger than Ysara herself and winged, with eyes like the sky, smoked breath, he did not speak for people to hear, but through her mind, she felt everything he felt.
And sometimes, when her skin grew too warm or the wind came around her strangely, She wondered where Kael ended and she began trying to feel him
"Again," Selene's voice called from behind them
Ysara opened her eyes. She turned from the cliff and her godmother, who stood wrapped in a cloak of fine thread, her stuff like a blade carved from moonstone
"I'm trying." Ysara Said
"Don't try, feel."
Kael growled low, as if echoing Selene's command. The girl raised her hands and focused not on the wind which blew but on the heat wrapped deep inside. The ember.
There. A flicker
She exhaled — and her breath, shimmered good. A spark leapt from her palm, dancing across her fingertips before vanishing.
Selene nodded once, but her face not agreeable. "Better. Again." Ysara's breathe exhaustingly and tries again. But this time she tries hard the thinking of the first time the dragon spoke to her. The blood. The fear. The fire that lived beneath her skin.
A thin stream of flame curled from her hand, swirling gently like a ribbon caught in wind.
Kael hissed softly not in anger but in warning .
Ysara's vision blurred . The air thickened. Her heart pounded with a rhythm not entirely her own.
Then suddenly darkness.
But not the absence of light. No , this was a vision — Kael's sight shared through between them. She saw through his eyes.
A figure standing on blackened stone, surrounded by chains made of smoke. The figure was robbed in crimson and shadow. Eyes glowing like dying stars. A whisper came through the void.
"Soon"
Ysara gasped, collapsing to her knees, she was trembling. The flame sputtered and died within her hand.
Selene rushed forward, catching her "What did you see?"
Ysara tremble. "A man. Wrapped in shadow. Watching. He… he knows Kael."
Selene's face went pale.
"The Bone King," she whispered
"Let's go to the castle, the training is over" she said.
That night, Selene lit every protective rune around the castle's perimeter. She said little, but her sword did not leave her side.
Kael refused to sleep. He curled tightly around Ysara's bed, blue eyes fixed on the window, waiting for the dark to speak again.
And far across the sea of dust and broken kingdoms, in a court carved from obsidian, a king stirred.
The flame had met flesh.
And fire was no longer longer sleeping
In the dim light of Selene's chamber, she sat at her desk, the letter trembling in her hands. Her breath was shallow, and the silence of the room felt suffocating as she slowly unfolded the parchment. The words—written with cold intent—seemed to claw at her soul, each one a heavy strike against her will.
She read aloud, her voice barely a whisper, but each word felt like a declaration of war:
"You think you could hide her from me,
But I am darker than you think.
I spent sleepless days and nights finding her,
All because of you.
It will not end well.
Mark my words, battles shall begin."
The letter slipped from her hands, falling onto the desk, as her mind raced. A chill ran down her spine, and for a moment, the world seemed to stand still. Her heart hammered in her chest as she fought to steady her breath. The words were a threat, a warning—but they were also the truth.
She could no longer deny what was coming.
Selene's fingers gripped the edges of the desk, her knuckles white. Her eyes flickered to the chest in the corner of the room, where the scroll—the one her dear friends had entrusted to her—was hidden. The very scroll that had been kept safe, locked away, for this moment.
The time had come.
Ysara needed to know the truth. The prophecy, the legacy, the fire. It was time to give her the scroll her parents had entrusted to Selene all those years ago. The same scroll that would now mark the beginning of a war neither of them could escape.
Selene stood, her legs unsteady as she crossed the room. She hesitated for a moment, standing before the chest, knowing that what she was about to do would change everything. But there was no turning back.
As her hand reached for the chest's lock, a soft creak from behind her caught her attention. She froze, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Slowly, she turned her head toward the door.
Ysara's small figure stood just beyond the threshold, her silver eyes wide with curiosity. She was barely visible, hiding in the shadows of the hallway, her head tilted in that familiar way when she was trying to make sense of something.
"What letter is that?" Ysara asked softly, her voice full of innocent curiosity.
Selene's heart skipped a beat. She quickly closed the chest, but her gaze lingered on the door where Ysara stood, her presence so familiar and yet so unknowingly tied to the fate Selene had been trying to shield her from.