The training grounds of the Silver Sanctum were quiet — too quiet. Kael stood at the center of a stone circle, the air thick with mist and the faint hum of old magic. Around him, sigils pulsed faintly, carved into the ground like veins of light.
Nerai circled him slowly, her silver eyes glowing with calm authority.
"You've felt it, haven't you? That pull beneath your skin. The fire that whispers when you lose control."
Kael nodded, fists clenched. His pulse throbbed like a drumbeat, and deep within, something ancient stirred — something that wasn't entirely his.
"It's stronger every day," he muttered. "Sometimes it feels like it's not me thinking anymore."
Nerai stopped before him, her hand resting on his chest. "That's because it isn't. The dragon within you — the True Flame — has begun to wake. If you can't master it, it will devour you."
She stepped back, drawing a circle of light in the air.
"Now, we see which of you controls the other."
The circle blazed, and Kael's knees buckled as the heat slammed into him like a storm. His vision fractured — images flashed in his mind: wings tearing from his back, scales gleaming under moonlight, a roar that shook the heavens.
Lira watched from the edge of the circle, worry in her eyes.
"Nerai, he's not ready!"
"He doesn't have time to be ready," Nerai snapped. "The darkness moves already."
Kael gasped as his heartbeat turned into a rhythm of thunder. His skin shimmered with silver light, cracks of molten gold streaking his arms. His eyes flashed — not gold this time, but pure, blinding white.
Something deep in his chest roared.
"Let me out…"
The voice wasn't his own.
Nerai's eyes widened. "No — not yet—!"
The ground exploded in flame.
When the smoke cleared, Kael knelt in the center of a molten crater, breathing hard. His hair floated around him like liquid silver, and faint outlines of wings flickered behind him.
But his expression wasn't Kael's. It was something colder. Older.
"So… this is the vessel she chose," the voice inside him whispered. "How fitting."
Nerai raised her staff, light flaring to contain him.
"Kael, listen to me — you must fight it!"
For a heartbeat, the two forces battled within him — Kael's will and the ancient flame. Then, slowly, he looked up, his golden eyes returning.
The dragon's voice faded, but its presence lingered, watching.
He fell to his knees, trembling. Lira ran to his side, holding him as the last of the light dimmed.
"I… almost lost myself," he whispered.
"Then learn from it," Nerai said. "Because next time, you might not come back."
Above them, the moon shone through the mist — and somewhere in the darkness beyond, a pair of crimson eyes opened in response.