I woke up under a sky that didn't look real anymore. Just gray. No blue, no light, nothing. Ash was falling real slow, like burnt snow. The air tasted like smoke and death. Breathing hurt. And it was quiet—too damn quiet. Like the world had finally given up talking.
The thing in my chest—the Mark—was thumping hard. It wasn't my heart. It felt different, alive in its own way. Like it was thinking. Waiting. Wanting. I didn't understand it, but I knew one thing: whatever it wanted, it wasn't here.
Out near what was left of the village, I saw shapes moving. Could've been people. Could've been ghosts. Didn't matter. My legs just started walking. Every step crunched through the ash. My lungs burned, my eyes stung.
Then I saw them. Three guys. Rough-looking. Armor busted, swords rusted. They looked half-dead themselves. One of them grinned. His teeth were brown as dirt.
"Boy," he said, "got anything worth taking?"
I didn't answer. Didn't think.
Next thing, I was hitting him. Hard. Didn't even feel it at first. Just heard the bones snap, the yell cut short. The other two came for me—I swung, kicked, grabbed—then they were down too. Still. My hands were shaking and red by the end of it.
After that, I didn't feel a damn thing. Everything around me was ash anyway—houses, trees, people. All gone. Just bones. I started gathering them. I don't know why. Maybe I thought I was helping. Maybe I just couldn't stand being the only thing left standing. Even bones were company.
Then I saw her.
Half-buried in the ash. Barely breathing. Skin gray, hair burned, but alive. Looked my age—sixteen, maybe.
I dropped down beside her. "You're alive," I said. It came out more like a question.
She blinked slow, eyes cracked and dry. "It… hurts."
The Mark burned again when she spoke. Like it cared. Like it was paying attention.
"I'll help you," I said, though I had no idea how.
She looked past me, toward the pile of bones. "Everyone's gone, aren't they?"
"Yeah," I said.
She stared at the bones for a while. Then, "Then why us?"
I didn't know.
So I told her I'd get water.
I ran until the fire smell faded and the dirt started to smell like earth again. Found the river still running—black on top, clear underneath. Scooped some up in a cracked bowl and ran back.
She was still there, barely holding on. I held the bowl to her lips. Some spilled, but she drank what she could. Her left eye caught the light—gold, almost glowing, with a long scar cutting through it. The other was clouded over. Her arm looked half burnt off, twitching like the nerves were still fighting to live.
Then I heard it—hooves. Far off. But closing in.
She turned her head. "You hear that?"
"Yeah," I said. "Horses."
"Knights?"
"Probably."
We started running. She could barely move, but we didn't stop.
When I looked back, I saw them breaking through the smoke. Imperial knights. Armor shining like they hadn't just ridden through hell.
"Imperial knights…" she whispered.
We hit the forest just in time.
Through the trees came the yelling: "Track the survivors! None are to escape!"
She grabbed my sleeve. "Why are they after us?"
"I don't know," I said. Whatever was in me—the Mark—it started burning hotter, like it wanted to fight.
A spear flew past, hit a tree right beside me. I pulled her down, told her to keep moving. She tripped and told me to leave her.
"Not happening," I said. "I've buried enough people already."
We hid in the brush. I saw their torches moving between the trees, heard their voices close.
"No survivors," one of them said. "If any remain, purify them."
We didn't move. Barely breathed.
When they were gone, she whispered, "They killed them all… even the ones who made it."
"Yeah," I said. "Surviving's a sin to them."
She swallowed hard. "Then we're cursed."
I looked down at the Mark, still glowing faint red through the dirt on my chest. "Maybe. But it's a curse they didn't finish."
We sat there, listening to the forest breathe again. Then I said, "We'll go north tomorrow. Away from here. Away from them."
She looked at me, tired but still hanging on. "Why north?"
"Because somewhere up there," I said, "there's a dragon. And I'm going to kill it."
The Mark pulsed once. Hot. Like it agreed.