Scene One — Rain & Resolve
(continued and expanded)
The rain was relentless — not the kind that came in violent bursts and passed, but a constant, steady downpour that flattened the city into shades of grey. Serentis' skyline blurred into the horizon, as if the world itself was trying to disappear.
Alex stood unmoving at the far end of West Pier, the boards beneath his boots creaking with each roll of the tide. His hood was drawn low, but droplets still slipped down his jaw, dripping from his chin. The saltwater tang from the sea mixed with the sharper, metallic bite of Resonance residue — a smell he'd come to recognize since the Trial.
The title still felt strange, even in his own mind.
> You are the Last Apex.
The end of a bloodline. The only living key.
He had felt the dragon's verdict resonate in his bones that day in the Core's heart — a deep, timeless echo that wasn't just a name but a command. Since then, his senses had sharpened, his strength deepened, and something else… something more primal had taken root. He could feel things he'd never felt before: the shifting of the tide, the thrum of the air before a storm, the faint "presence" of others even when he couldn't see them.
But all of that meant nothing while Lira was still gone.
Inside his chest, the dragon system stirred.
Patience, hatchling. The Hunt is not a sprint.
Alex's hands curled into fists. Patience had never been his strength. And after the visions he'd seen in the Trial — flashes of dragons slaughtered, gates collapsing, skies burning — he couldn't just stand still. Not when he knew factions would use Lira as leverage to pull him into their games.
The sound of boots on wet wood reached him.
He didn't need to turn. "You're late."
Kael emerged from the mist, tall, broad-shouldered, his long black coat glistening with rain. His pale grey eyes held the same unnerving calm as always. He stopped two steps away.
"You're glowing," Kael said. "That's either confidence… or you're about to do something very stupid."
Alex didn't move. "Where is she?"
Kael didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked to the pier's edge beside Alex, gaze fixed on the endless black water. "You've got more power than anyone your age has a right to. The kind that gets people killed if they think you can't control it."
"I can control it."
Kael snorted. "You think you can. But the Apex Hunt isn't about power. It's about outlasting everyone else long enough to take the prize."
"What prize?"
Kael reached into his coat and pulled out a shard of black metal, no larger than Alex's palm. Strange, glowing lines crawled across its surface, shifting like living veins. The moment Alex looked at it, his Apex senses flared — a heat rising in his core, the dragon system leaning forward in his mind.
This is old… older than the factions… the dragon murmured.
Kael held the shard out. "Touch it."