An hour had passed since Kael and Seraphina had returned, their hands quietly intertwined, hearts still echoing the confession that had changed everything. The others noticed their softened glances, the silence that no longer felt strained but intimate, like a secret shared in moonlight.
They walked through the hush of dawn.
Kael led the way, following the ancient pull of power that thrummed beneath the forest floor. Every step forward was heavier. The fog thinned, revealing dark stone jutting from the earth like broken teeth, and at the center — a cave carved into the side of a cliff, half-swallowed by roots and silence.
None of them had seen it before.
It wasn't marked on any map. No trails led to it.
Only a presence — deep, old, and watching — lingered in the air.
"This is it," Kael said quietly, though he didn't know how he knew. "Whatever cursed this land… it begins here."
The entrance loomed, wide enough to swallow a carriage, its edges carved with worn symbols half-lost to time. Cold air drifted from within, thick with something more than darkness — memory, perhaps. Pain. Waiting.
Zephan paused at the threshold. "I don't like this."
"Neither do I," Liora muttered, tightening her grip on her staff.
Kael turned to Seraphina. "Are you sure you can go in?"
She nodded, though sweat beaded at her brow. "I have to."
He didn't question her.
Together, they stepped into the dark.
The cave swallowed sound. Their footsteps echoed like whispers in a cathedral. Faint red light pulsed along the walls — veins of crystal embedded in the rock, glowing in slow rhythm, like a heartbeat.
As they descended deeper, the air grew warmer.
Then—
A sound. A low rumble. Like breathing.
They froze.
The path opened into a vast chamber, its ceiling lost in shadows. And at the very center, curled within a circle of ancient stone, lay something enormous.
Not a statue.
Not a legend.
A dragon.
Its body was scaled in silver and black, the edges of its wings dusted with starlight. Coiled tightly in sleep, it looked carved from night itself.
Liora gasped. "It's real…"
"No one said anything about a dragon," Zephan whispered.
"Because no one knew," Kael said, voice low.
The dragon didn't stir.
And beneath its curled form, something glimmered — a pedestal. Carved from pure white stone. Floating slightly above it was a sphere of glass or crystal, and inside it… a figure. Human in form, but glowing faintly. Bound in magical threads. Sleeping.
A sealed god.
But something was wrong.
Darkness pulsed around the sphere — not part of the seal, but like mold creeping through its edges. A separate force. A curse.
Seraphina took a step forward and collapsed.
"Seraphina!" Kael caught her before she hit the ground. Her breathing was ragged. Her skin was burning hot.
"It's the same… power," she whispered. "From the village… from the letter… It's all connected."
Zephan knelt beside her, his face pale. "That thing in the seal… it's cursed. It's not just a prison. It's a trap. The god inside — he's supposed to break free and destroy everything."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Then we break the curse. Not the god."
"But the moment we touch the seal," Liora said, "that dragon might wake up."
Kael stood, facing the glowing sphere.
"Then we hope he wakes up on our side."
He raised his hand, shadows coiling around his palm. The moment his fingers brushed the edge of the cursed seal—
A wave of heat shot through the cavern.
The dragon stirred.
It raised its head.
Golden eyes opened — piercing, ancient, filled with something far more than rage.
It looked directly at Kael… and did not move.
The curse hissed like steam, trying to seep into Kael's skin — but his magic held. His power rose, pushing against it, until the sphere cracked with a sound like breaking ice.
The god inside fell forward — eyes still closed, unconscious.
And at the same moment—
Seraphina screamed.
Light burst from her skin — gold, radiant, searing. It didn't burn the cavern. It cleansed it. The darkness shrieked as if alive, curling in on itself.
Every crystal in the cavern lit up.
The curse shattered.
And when the light faded, Seraphina stood tall, her body glowing with a warmth not entirely mortal.
The dragon… bowed its head.
Not to Kael.
To her.
The golden light still lingered in the air, like the aftermath of a miracle.
Seraphina stood at the center of it all — her hair lifted slightly by the energy that pulsed around her, her eyes wide, her body visibly trembling from the release. She didn't glow anymore… not exactly. But something in her had changed, as though the seal that had muffled her all her life had finally lifted.
She looked up at Kael. "It's over…"
But he was already there, wrapping his arms around her before her knees gave out again.
"Don't move," he whispered, voice unsteady. "You're still weak."
"I'm fine," she lied, even as her head dropped against his shoulder.
Zephan, meanwhile, approached the now-broken pedestal. The sphere had dissolved, and the sealed god — now freed — lay unconscious but breathing. The black threads of the curse had entirely disintegrated.
"The god is stable," he said. "Whatever you both just did — it worked."
Liora was silent, watching Seraphina — the light fading from her skin, her hands still faintly aglow. Something in her expression shifted. Not awe, not fear… something more quiet.
Understanding.
No wonder he fell for her.
Not because she glowed. Not because she broke seals or summoned firebirds.
Because even now — exhausted, pale, barely able to stand — Seraphina stood between life and ruin like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Liora finally spoke. "We should get out of here. The cave is safe now… but it's still a dragon's den."
As if hearing her, the dragon — still coiled in its slumbering place — blinked once, and then lowered its head slowly in a gesture of deep reverence. Not a threat.
A guardian acknowledging its chosen ones.
They exited the cave into soft light. The sky was no longer gray — a pale blue had returned to the heavens, and the forest felt… alive.
As they walked, a shout reached them from deeper in the woods.
"—Over here! They're here!"
Kael's hand went to his sword on instinct, but then he saw the faces emerging from the trees — soldiers in Solvenyan armor, dirty, bruised, but very much alive. Some collapsed in relief at the sight of the group.
Among them, carried on a stretcher but conscious, was Prince Elian of Solvenya, the missing heir. His silver cloak was torn, his brow wounded, but his voice was steady.
"You found it, didn't you?" he asked as Kael approached. "The source. The curse."
"We broke it," Kael answered. "But you were lucky. Another day, and you'd have been lost like the others."
"I don't believe in luck," Elian murmured, eyes shifting to Seraphina — pale, leaning slightly into Kael's support, yet strangely radiant. "But I believe in miracles."
He bowed his head — a prince bowing to a foreign lady.
"Thank you, Lady Seraphina. You saved my people."
Seraphina tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat. All she could do was nod.
And after Seraphina he bowed to Kael.
"And thank you too Your Highness,the Imperial Prince of Eldoria,for being bothered and called to save our citizens and myself. We are very grateful for your kindness. We hope that you will accept our offer and stay in the palace until the lady gets better."
Kael turned his head to Seraphina and nodded.
Elian gestured to one of his commanders. "Escort them to the royal palace. They are our honored guests now. Let them rest, recover… and be properly thanked."
As they began the slow journey back through the recovering forest, Liora walked beside Kael in silence.
She didn't tease him. Didn't smirk or ask questions.
Instead, she simply said, "You really do love her, don't you?"
Kael's eyes didn't leave the figure beside him — Seraphina's hair caught by the breeze, the faint golden shimmer still flickering beneath her skin.
"I don't think I ever had a choice."
Liora nodded, a faint smile playing at her lips.
"Good," she said. "Then maybe the gods know what they're doing after all."