The raw, metallic tang of an antiseptic salve pricked Jai's nostrils as he woke. He lay still, his eyes fixed on the stucco ceiling, listening to the soft, rhythmic scrape of his maid's cloth against his skin.
The maid, a nervous, young woman named Aanya, was carefully tending to his back. His skin, pale and unblemished but for the damage, was a roadmap of his father's relentless instruction—a tapestry of fading blues, sickly greens, and deep purple bruises.
Since childhood, Jai's father had trained him in combat with a brutal, single-minded strictness. His body, barely seventeen years old, looked as if it had endured a dozen minor wars.
"That's enough, Aanya," Jai commanded, his voice flat. "Leave the room. I want time alone. And send a message to my mother, Mable. Tell her not to enter."
Aanya scrambled to pack her supplies, murmuring an apology before slipping out.
Jai rose and crossed the opulent room to the balcony. He leaned against the stone railing, his eyes drawn to the estate's garden. The sun was dipping below the horizon, painting the sky in tranquil hues of orange and soft violet. A profound sense of peace settled over him.
I feel peaceful here, he thought, his gaze sweeping over the vibrant blooms. Perhaps because every single flower in that garden, I planted myself.
A sudden presence shattered the quiet.
"Jai," his mother's voice pleaded from the doorway.
He spun around, the calm instantly gone, replaced by a cutting frustration. "Mother! I told the maid no one was to enter. Why are you in my room?"
Mable's face was a portrait of conflicting emotions—fear and a profound, stubborn sadness. "I am your mother," she replied, her chin trembling slightly. "I have the right to enter my son's room."
Jai's anger receded, replaced by a weary resignation. He calmed himself. "Fine. What is the reason? Why are you here?"
"I was worried," she admitted, stepping closer. "You collapsed suddenly in the worship place this morning."
Jai waved a dismissive hand. "It's nothing. I told you, I'm simply a bit more anxious than usual about the Awakening Ceremony. I am fine. Don't worry."
She ignored his denial, placing a silver platter on a nearby low table. On it sat a bowl of rich, amber Suna-Seed and a steaming, fragrant plate of Glimmerhoof meat curry. The scent was astonishingly delicious—a rich, savory aroma with a hint of toasted sweetness. It was his favorite meal.
But Jai felt no hunger. He looked at the feast, then turned his head back toward the balcony, collapsing onto a chair at the small table and closing his eyes.
A faint, scraping sound pierced his exhaustion. Jai's eyes snapped open. He was instantly, fully awake.
He scanned the perimeter. There!
A figure, cloaked in a midnight-black garment from head to toe, was running atop the colossal Black Stone Wall that encircled the castle. The wall itself was a feat of forgotten engineering; its obsidian surface constantly radiated a unique energy field.
It was so potent that any mage below Tier 4 (Ascendant) felt their very core magic weaken upon contact.
That person... they must be more powerful than a Tier 4, Jai realized, his blood running cold. But who?
He didn't hesitate. His hand shot out to a small, crimson button embedded in his railing. A high-pitched alarm shrieked briefly, followed by Jai's strained voice over the emergency comms: "Intruder! North side of the wall! A person running on the black stone!"
The family members who heard his broadcast were instantly shocked, not by the intrusion, but by the fact that anyone could touch that wall, much less run upon it. They scrambled from their rooms and rushed to the north towers.
The night's full moon was an incredible disc of white light, illuminating the area with an unearthly glow. The light struck the runner's black cloak, giving the figure an eerie, almost spectral quality.
Jai's father, a man whose sternness was only matched by his immense power, immediately cast a spell. The air shimmered, and a tight, crystalline barrier snapped into existence around the family members. Inside the perimeter, time shuddered to a stop.
Only those within the barrier—the family—could move. Even the air and the dust motes were frozen in place.
Everyone stared at the intruder, relieved that the figure was now suspended mid-stride.
Then, Jai's eyes widened. He saw a flicker of movement. The black-cloaked person's hand was still inching forward.
Before Jai could shout a warning, the intruder's moving hand produced a spherical object—a bomb—and hurled it directly into the center of the stopped family group.
The explosion tore through the time-stop field as if it were tissue paper. The north side of the wall shuddered and partially collapsed. The family scattered, propelled away from the blast zone by the sheer force of the shockwave.
A collective, terrified realization hit them: Jai's father's spell was Tier 3 (Time-Stop). Nothing less than a magic user of the subsequent rank could move within its influence.
"Tier Two," someone whispered, the word hanging heavy with dread. "Eclipse-Borne."
While the family recoiled in shock, the black-cloaked figure smoothly removed the cloth covering their face. The shock intensified. The intruder was a woman.
"I, Meilin Yue, Commander of the secret Dragon Organization called The Ninth Whisper," her voice rang out over the ruin, "have come to give you a small gift from my leader."
She scattered a hundred small, anti-magic explosives at their feet. Before anyone could react, the commander disappeared.
It was Beatrice, Jai's grandmother, who saved them. Using her spatial spell, Hearing Way, she instantly located their positions and teleported the entire group to the south side of the castle, right beside Rena's room.
Rena, Jai's aunt, bolted upright in bed, roused by the distant explosion and the cacophony of panicked family voices.
As the shaken elders began to process the sheer audacity and power of the attack, Jai began to think.
Meilin Yue must be ancient, at least seven hundred years old to reach Tier 2, he thought, recalling the harsh laws of their magic system. Advancing from Tier 10 to Tier 3 took most practitioners three centuries.
His own father had only achieved Tier 3 in ninety years because their family lineage—his grandfather was the Head of the Family's brother—granted them access to powerful artifacts and resources.
Both his father and mother, a Tier 4 (Ascendant) from a royal line, looked perpetually young because of these same boons.
But Tier 2 was different. It wasn't about artifacts; it was about a complete rebirth. It was the true beginning of godhood. It required not just willpower and bodily refinement, but mastery of all elemental powers.
His grandmother, Beatrice, was one of the rare few who had done this, though she rarely displayed the full spectrum of her abilities.
Then, a cold sweat broke out on Jai's forehead.
Meilin Yue had attacked the North Wall. But she had come from the South—where they had just been deposited, near Rena's rooms. The only legitimate entrance to the palace was on the East side.
Did that black-cloaked commander truly come all this way just to deliver a message? Or did she come to meet Aunt Rena?
He felt a terrible chill, the chilling realization of a persistent, forbidden rumor: Did the rumors lie?
Jai stared at his Aunt Rena. She was an eternal fixture of warmth and calm, now suddenly the epicenter of a world-shattering threat.
His heart hammered against his ribs. The training, the strict rules, the ancient lineage—it all meant nothing if the threat was already inside the castle walls. He hadn't been worried about an outsider breaking in; he should have been worried about the monster his family had been keeping hidden.
Did Rena truly have a son... with a Dragon?