Son of a DragonChapter Four – Fire in the Veins
The night after the stranger’s visit, Kaelen could not sleep. The words “a threat to the realm” echoed in his mind. His blood thrummed, hot and restless, as if the fire inside him understood what the man meant.
At dawn, he went into the forest with his father, who carried his woodcutter’s axe. They worked in silence, the steady thud of metal against bark filling the air. Finally, his father spoke:
“You’ve grown strong, Kaelen. Too strong for this place. The people fear what they don’t understand, and men like that Shadowbinder… they’ll use fear as a weapon.”
Kaelen frowned. “So what am I supposed to do? Keep hiding? Pretend I’m normal while this—” He raised his hand, and without meaning to, flames licked across his palm. He clenched his fist to snuff them out, his heart racing. “…while this keeps growing?”
His father’s weathered face softened. “You are my son, Kaelen. Not a monster. But you’ll need to choose what kind of man you’ll be before the fire chooses for you.”
Before Kaelen could answer, a roar split the skies above. Not thunder. Not wind. A sound older, deeper, like mountains tearing apart. Both father and son looked up—
—and saw wings blotting out the sun.
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Chapter Five – The Black Flight A dragon.
It descended from the clouds, vast and terrible, its scales like burning obsidian, its eyes glowing like molten glass. Villagers screamed and scattered as the beast circled above, casting the fields into shadow.
Kaelen felt his chest seize. He had never seen a dragon before, not truly. They were legends, half-believed stories whispered by firesides. Yet as the creature roared, something in his blood answered. His skin burned. His vision sharpened until he could see every scale, every ripple of flame along its throat.
The Shadowbinder appeared at the edge of the square, calm amid the panic. He lifted a hand—and black chains of energy whipped from the ground, lashing toward the dragon. The beast shrieked as the bindings struck its wings, forcing it down into the fields beyond the village.
Kaelen’s heart thundered. His veins burned hotter than they ever had before. He didn’t know whether to flee with the others… or run toward the fire.
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Chapter Six – A Choice of Blood
Kaelen found himself sprinting before he even knew why. His father shouted after him, but the roar of battle drowned everything else. The dragon thrashed against the Shadowbinder’s chains, scorching the earth with its fire.
And then—it looked at Kaelen.
Not at the Shadowbinder, not at the fleeing villagers. Its massive golden eye locked with his. The fire in Kaelen’s chest surged so violently that he stumbled. He felt… recognized.
The Shadowbinder saw it too. His obsidian gaze snapped toward Kaelen. “So. The blood awakens.” His voice carried both satisfaction and warning. “Boy, step back—or be consumed.”
But Kaelen didn’t step back. Every part of him screamed to move forward. The dragon roared again, straining against the chains, and Kaelen roared back—his voice deeper, stronger, not entirely human.
The black chains cracked.
The Shadowbinder’s eyes widened. “Impossible…”
Kaelen didn’t understand what he had done, only that the fire inside him had answered the dragon’s call. And in that moment, with the village burning and the world watching, Kaelen knew his life would never again be ordinary.
He was not just a boy. He was the son of a dragon.
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