Chapter 1 – Night of Questions
The moon hung high, pale light spilling across the grassy field where three figures lay under a massive ancient tree.
The air was calm, crickets sang, and the only sound besides them was the faint crackle of the campfire nearby.
Strom lay with his hands behind his head, staring at the stars. His spear rested against the tree trunk, close enough to grab if needed, but tonight he wasn't thinking about battles.
Wraith, sitting cross-legged, lazily tossed a small pebble into the fire, watching sparks fly.
Sam leaned back against the roots, reading one of his glowing mana scrolls.
Strom: "You ever think about how peaceful nights like this feel… fake? Like something big is waiting to crash down on us?"
Wraith: " only you can ruin chill moments like this." (laughs)
Sam: "That's because he's paranoid, and I—" (taps his scroll) "—am literally reading advanced mana collapse theory. I'm the only sane one here."
Wraith: (grins) "Sane? You? You talk to your scrolls like they're your girlfriends."
Sam: "Hey! They listen better than you."
The group laughed, letting the breeze carry away the stress of the past months. After a long pause, Strom shifted, his expression growing serious.
Chapter 2 – The Question
Strom: "Actually… I've got a question. And I know exactly who can answer it."
Sam (suspicious): "If this is about why I'm the best mage alive—"
Wraith (snorting): "Best mage? The best at exploding your own hands, maybe."
Sam: "HEY, those were experimental spells."
Strom sat up, holding his Dragon Aura pendant tightly in his palm, the faint glow reflecting in his eyes. His voice was low but carried a weight neither Wraith nor Sam had heard before:
Strom: "Mom."
From behind, a familiar warmth rose as blue flames swirled into existence. Dravyss descended, her massive form shrinking until she stood before them in her humanoid guardian form—elegant, commanding, and a little intimidating under the moonlight.
Dravyss: "Son? What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Strom (hesitant): "I… I need to know something."
Dravyss tilted her head, sensing his unease.
Strom: "You killed everyone who chose the Dragon Aura stone in the past. That's… what people whisper, anyway. So why… why didn't you kill me when I chose it?"
A heavy silence fell. Even Wraith and Sam, usually quick to joke, stayed quiet.
Dravyss's expression hardened—not in anger, but in pain. She turned away slightly, her hand tightening on her arm.
Dravyss: "I don't want to answer that." (her voice low, almost breaking)
Strom (stepping forward): "Mom, please. You're the only one who knows the truth."
Sam: "Yeah… If we're going to follow you into crazy battles, I think we should understand why."
Wraith: "We trust you… but Strom has a point."
For a long moment, Dravyss stood silent, her glowing eyes dimming slightly. Then she sighed and sat down on the grass, for once looking… small.
Dravyss: "Fine. I'll tell you. But you won't like the answer…" (her voice trembling just slightly)
Dravyss: "It all began… long before any of you were born. Before this planet even mattered to me."
---
Chapter 3 – The Guardian & The Mage
The campfire flickered, reflecting in Dravyss's eyes as her voice carried a weight of centuries.
Dravyss (present): "I was not always… your 'mom' or even a protector of this planet. I was a Guardian—one of the strongest—of my homeworld…"
The world around Strom, Wraith, and Sam blurred as Dravyss's voice drew them into a vivid flashback.
---
Scene 1 – The Dragon Council
The skies of Aeltharion blazed with two suns and floating mountains where colossal dragons soared freely. Below, an ancient palace of obsidian and glowing crystal housed the Dragon Council—elders stronger than Dravyss herself.
Young Dravyss stood tall, her scales reflecting deep sapphire light, eyes burning with fierce determination. Her voice echoed in the hall:
Dravyss (past): "Darkius seeks conquest! He will not stop with one planet—he will burn countless worlds."
Council Elder: "Darkius is dangerous… but you are forbidden to interfere beyond your assigned territory, Guardian Dravyss."
Dravyss (snarling): "Forbidden? He is one of us. If we do nothing, his shadow will consume everything."
The council remained silent, their will final.
Her claws trembled, but she bowed—bound by honor yet burning with anger.
---
Scene 2 – The Mage
On a distant planet, Darkius—then still a mage of dragons, not yet corrupted—studied forbidden arcane arts.
His voice echoed across a black stone tower:
Darkius (past): "They treat us as gods but deny our right to rule? Then I will take what is ours."
The flashback focused on Darkius forging a stone infused with his essence—the Dark Stone—crafted to manipulate dragon aura itself.
---
Scene 3 – The Fall
The Council of Dragons, tired of his rebellion, acted. With power greater than even Dravyss could imagine, they shattered Darkius's stone and cast him through a rift, exiling him to an unknown world—Earth.
Dravyss (present) (softly, voice cracking): "When I returned from my own war… he was gone. They said it was justice… but it felt like betrayal. Because… I loved him."
The campfire hissed; even the night wind seemed to pause.
Strom's eyes widened.
Strom: "You… loved him?"
Dravyss (nods slowly): "Love can blind even the strongest."
---
Scene 4 – The Search
The flashback shifted: Dravyss soaring through galaxies, chasing the faint echo of Darkius's essence.
After decades, she reached Earth—young, unknowing of its frailty. There, she found him—not as a mage of dragons but as a human wizard, broken yet alive, standing with a kind-hearted witch.
He smiled when he saw her… and for a moment, she thought she could rebuild something lost.
Dravyss (past): "You survived…" (relieved)
Darkius (past, smiling weakly): "I survived… because I waited for you."
---
Scene 5 – The Lie
But that warmth was a lie. As months passed, she discovered him experimenting on humans—twisting magic into weapons, turning innocent lives into fuel.
The witch—his partner—died because of a ritual, burned by humans who feared them both.
Darkius's eyes turned hollow, and hatred replaced love.
Darkius (past, cold): "Humans are weak. Dragons betrayed me. But you… you can help me take back what's ours."
Dravyss (past, horrified): "No… you've changed."
---
Scene 6 – The Fight
The sky over Earth ripped apart as Dravyss, in full dragon form, clashed with Darkius wielding twisted spells.
He was powerful but still mortal; she struck him down easily. Yet, in the middle of battle, a child's cry cut through the chaos—Jack, his son, watching.
Darkius was broken, but alive. Her claws trembled above him… but she froze, looking at the terrified boy.
Dravyss (past, whisper): "I… can't."
She released him and stepped back.
Dravyss (present) (voice trembling): "I couldn't kill him… not while that boy was watching. I sealed myself away instead, inside the Blue Stone… hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would change."
---
Present – The Campfire
The flashback faded; the campfire returned.
Dravyss's head hung low, hands gripping the grass.
Dravyss: "That is why I killed those who sought Dragon Aura… because they carried the same darkness I once saw in him. I couldn't let it spread. But you, Strom… when you touched the stone, I felt only pain and loss. Not ambition. That's why I spared you."
Silence hung heavy. Even Wraith, usually quick with a joke, said nothing.
Strom finally stepped forward and hugged her tightly.
Strom: "You did what you thought was right… Mom."
Dravyss didn't speak, but for the first time in centuries, her eyes softened—not as a guardian or warrior, but as someone finally forgiven.
---
Chapter 4 – Darkius: The Final Betrayal
The silence around the campfire was thick. Strom's eyes narrowed, processing every word, but one thought echoed loud in his head:
"Darkius… the same man who ruined my family."
---
Scene 1 – Darkius After the Fight
After Dravyss sealed herself, the flashback shows Darkius standing in an abandoned field, broken and furious. His human form trembled, hand clutching the scar left by Dravyss's strike.
Darkius (past): "You… left me? For them? You chose them over me."
He looked at Jack—his son—small, trembling, confused.
Jack (young): "Father… are you hurt?"
Darkius (whispering): "No, son… I'm only beginning."
His eyes burned with obsession. Without the dragon aura stone, his power was halved. But instead of regret, hatred became his fuel.
---
Scene 2 – Obsession With the Dragon Aura
Over the years, Darkius studied every text, every stone, every forbidden spell. He learned one truth:
"The Dragon Aura can reshape destiny itself."
But one stone was sealed inside Dravyss's spirit. Without her, he couldn't regain his lost might.
Darkius (alone, muttering): "If I can't claim her, I'll claim her essence through others…"
And so began the massacres.
Any who touched or sought the Dragon Aura were hunted by him. Some were tricked into absorbing other elemental stones—only to be executed moments later.
But one man escaped… James, Strom's father.
---
Scene 3 – The Night of Fire
The scene shifted—the night Strom's life changed forever.
Darkius stood in the shadows, watching James flee with his family. His tone was calm, almost too calm:
Darkius: "You think you can reject me… and live?"
Flames consumed the home. Screams echoed. Only James's desperate resistance and sheer luck allowed Strom to survive that night. But Strom's mother… was gone.
The flashback ended with Strom as a crying child, clutching his broken pendant, as Darkius faded into darkness.
---
Scene 4 – Return to Present
The campfire flickered. Strom's fists clenched, jaw tight.
Strom (low, trembling): "It was him. It was always him…"
Dravyss (softly): "I know, son. That is why I feared you choosing the Dragon Aura. I thought it would consume you like it did him… but it didn't. It healed you."
Sam, unusually serious, spoke:
Sam: "So… Darkius isn't just some old villain. He's the reason you met Dravyss, the reason your life… turned out like this."
Wraith (crossing arms): "Guess we know why everything always leads back to him."
Dravyss raised her head, eyes fierce now:
Dravyss: "If Darkius still breathes… then my mercy was a mistake."
---
Scene 5 – Hook for Next coming Arc
The winds shifted, leaves scattering. A whisper—Darkius's voice, faint but real:
Darkius (distant, mocking): "You finally tell them, Dravyss? Good. Let them come find me."
---
Dragon Knight ARC VII – Chapter 5 (Revised)
(The Promise of the Guardian)
The campfire flickered beneath the star-filled sky, its soft warmth unable to match the heavy silence that filled the night after Dravyss's story. Strom, Wraith, and Sam sat still, each processing what they had just heard.
Dravyss lowered her head, her voice calm but heavy with a millennium of pain.
"When Darkius gave up war… when he chose to live peacefully… I thought maybe… maybe there was hope."
Her golden eyes dimmed.
"But evil doesn't rest… it simply changes shape. And while he lived a quiet life… others rose, monsters who craved power far beyond their own… who desired the Dragon Aura I carried."
Strom leaned forward, whispering, "Like… Gorgon?"
Dravyss gave a small nod, her scales glinting in the firelight.
"Yes… creatures like Gorgon, born from hatred and greed. Beasts, demons, warlords… I hunted them all. I destroyed every one of them before they could destroy this world. No second chance. No mercy."
Her claws dug into the ground, a sign of unshakable conviction.
"That was my vow: to erase anything pure evil before it could grow… before another Darkius could rise again."
The weight of her words made even Wraith stay quiet. For the first time, Sam looked at Dravyss not just as Strom's mother, but as a living legend. A protector who had silently kept their world alive for centuries.
Dravyss turned toward Strom, her eyes soft but unyielding.
"That is why, Strom, when you touched the Dragon Aura, I almost killed you that day… because I feared it would break you, like it broke him."
Her voice trembled for just a second.
"But I didn't… because when I felt your heart… I saw no greed. Only pain. Pain I had caused by choosing to stay silent."
Strom stood slowly, placing his hand on her giant claw.
"Mom… you saved me. You saved all of us."
For the first time, Dravyss gave a small smile – tired, but warm.
"I am a guardian… and I will always be your mother before I am anything else."
The campfire popped, silence fell again – but it wasn't heavy anymore. It was peaceful
---
Dragon Knight ARC VII – Chapter 6 (Home)
The wind was soft that night, carrying the scent of the nearby ocean. The fire had burned low, leaving just embers glowing faintly. Strom, Wraith, and Sam still sat quietly, their minds full of what Dravyss had revealed.
Strom finally broke the silence.
"Mom… you've been carrying this… alone… for thousands of years?"
Dravyss exhaled slowly, her massive chest rising like a mountain breathing.
"A guardian's burden is silence, Strom. You cannot tell people who you have saved, only who you have failed. That is the weight I chose."
Wraith frowned and looked down. "Then… why stay here? Why protect us? Why not leave again?"
Dravyss's eyes softened. She reached down, gently tapping Wraith's shoulder with a claw.
"Because of all the worlds I have seen… of all the people I've watched rise and fall… this one—" she looked at all three of them, "—this one gave me something no council, no war, no stone ever gave me… a home."
Her voice deepened, rumbling through the air like distant thunder.
"These people let me call this place home. And I will fight anyone… no matter how strong they are… even the Dragon Council itself… if they try to take it from me."
There was silence again, but this time it was different. Wraith wiped her eyes secretly, Sam cleared his throat, and Strom gave a small grin.
"Then I guess we better not piss off anyone's father again."
They all chuckled, breaking the tension.
Dravyss lowered her head close to Strom, her voice a whisper only he could hear.
"And you, Strom… never doubt why I spared you that day. You were never like them. You never will be."
Strom placed his hand on her scale, smiling.
"Then let's keep it that way… Mom."
The embers glowed brighter as if the world itself accepted her words.
Dravyss leaned back, looking at the stars above. For the first time in centuries, she whispered to herself, almost too soft to hear:
"This… is real home."