Dragon Bond Awakening
Deep inside lands ruled by Emperor Vortigern, where fear runs thick and dragons are said to have been wiped out long ago, a boy named Kai flees his ruined home. He moves fast through the dark edges of the known world, drawn toward the hushed trees of the Whisperwoods. It is there - half-starved, trembling - that he stumbles upon something impossible: a small creature made of smoke and shifting shadows, blinking at him like it has waited forever. This one does not burn or crush; instead, it bends sight itself, folding reality around its fragile form. Their meeting sparks an old force buried deep beneath memory - an unseen bond clicking into place between them, neither asked for nor understood.
With every step forward, the connection tightens - Kai caught in its slow poison, shadows wrapping him like smoke, sharpening sight while dulling feeling. Though he pulls children from ruins, trains beside a sword-wielder who speaks in futures, builds shelter beneath broken trees, something inside wears thin, worn down by silence instead of screams. Once chased through mud and flame, now he stands still when others run, choices cracking under weight no one sees. The woods grow restless; whispers crawl on wind about scaled wings returning. Scouts mark trails near hidden walls, old words twist into new warnings, yet the hollow within hums louder each night. Power slips in quiet, promising control where guilt once tangled thoughts - mercy stumbles, promises turn stiff, right and wrong fold together like burnt paper. What wakes may wear his face, rule empty halls, leave only ash behind.
