Chapter 4 The Dragon

Ashmoor Academy wasn't a school. It was a crucible. Seren was starting to learn that. It was past midnight when she was yanked from her dorm and dragged through the North Courtyard by two masked instructors. No explanation, no warning. Just a single word whispered: "Trial." She was barefoot, in her nightshirt, when they threw her into the Pyren Wing, the oldest, most cursed part of the Academy - sealed off after a fire supposedly killed an entire class fifty years ago. The walls still bore scorch marks. The air still reeked of ash. And the door locked behind her with a metallic clang.

She wasn't alone. He stood in the shadows at the far end of the ruined chamber - broad-shouldered, shirtless, with glowing gold scales trailing along his neck and chest like ancient armor. Firelight danced across his copper-toned skin. Smoke curled from his mouth when he exhaled. And his eyes - molten gold - pinned her in place. "You're the girl who keeps breaking things," he said, voice rough like gravel. Seren straightened. "And you're the guy who keeps setting things on fire?" He didn't laugh. "This place tests what you are. Who you are. You want answers? Survive this." "Survive what?" The floor beneath her cracked. The ground split open in a perfect ring, fire shooting up like a summoned circle. She barely jumped back in time. Kael didn't move. "This isn't just fire. It's soulflame," he said. "Drawn to bloodlines. Drawn to power." "So you brought me here to burn?" "No," he said darkly. "To see if you burn me." He stepped into the circle. Instantly, the flames swelled - roaring, twisting, rising with him at the center. His eyes turned brighter, his breath steaming. Wings - made of embers and heat - flared behind him. Seren backed away instinctively. "You're not human," she whispered. "Neither are you." "I don't know what I am." "Then let me help you find out." Kael raised his hand - and the fire surged toward her like a wave. Seren screamed and threw up her arms... but the flames didn't burn. They wrapped around her. Warm. Alive. Like something ancient was recognizing her. She looked down - the glowing mark on her forearm was pulsing again, but this time... the edges looked different. Sharper. Like scales. Kael stared at her, stunned. "No one else has ever survived that. Not even other shifters." "So what does it mean?" she asked. "It means," he said, voice low, "you're part of the prophecy. The dragon's heart. The flame that binds." He stepped closer. "And it means you're mine to protect." Before she could process that, the ground quaked again - this time not from magic, but explosions. The ceiling shattered as shadowy figures dropped down - robed, faceless, armed with iron blades glowing black. "Ashmoor Enforcers," Kael hissed. "They weren't supposed to be here-" One lunged for Seren. Kael threw himself between them, his entire body catching fire in defense. Seren didn't think - she reacted. Magic erupted from her hands. Pure, white-hot light, exploding outward in a ring that knocked every attacker unconscious. When the smoke cleared, Kael was on one knee, panting. "What the hell are you?" She didn't know. But for the first time... she felt like something inside her had stopped sleeping. Kael stood slowly, bleeding from a wound at his side, one that sizzled against his flame-coated skin. "Why do you keep putting yourself in danger for me?" she asked. He didn't answer right away. He just looked at her. "Because you're the only one who's ever touched me without flinching." "You're not a monster," she said quietly. "That's where you're wrong," Kael muttered. "But maybe you're cursed enough to love one anyway." The soulflame circled again - but this time, it moved of its own accord. It touched both of them... and merged. Golden sparks leapt between their marks. Kael flinched like it hurt. Seren gasped like it healed. Their powers didn't cancel each other out - they connected. "There's a bond forming," Kael said softly. "Ancient. Dangerous." "So break it." "I can't. It's not up to me anymore." She stepped back. "What if I don't want to belong to anyone?" His eyes burned. "Then don't. But if you fall, I'll still catch you. Even if it costs me everything." The battle left the chamber in rubble. Seren's chest heaved with leftover magic, skin glowing faintly. Kael stumbled to a half-collapsed bench, his shirt long burned away, a gash still bleeding on his ribs. She knelt beside him, ripping the hem of her nightshirt to press against the wound. "You don't have to help me," he rasped. "I don't feel pain like you do." "You still bleed like anyone else." Kael turned his face slightly - not to her, but from her. "If you knew what I've done... what I'm supposed to become..." "What?" she asked, soft. "Some kind of monster?" He didn't answer. But his silence said everything. She noticed something then - burned into his collarbone, half-hidden by soot and blood: A sigil. Not just any symbol. A dragon's eye encircled in runes. Royal. Ancient. Forbidden. "That mark," she whispered. "It's in one of the Academy's locked tomes." Kael stiffened. His golden eyes flicked toward her, then away. "It's a blood-curse. Only those born to the First Flame carry it." "You're... a direct descendant of the First Dragons?" "A cursed one. My mother bound my true form before she died. If it awakens again... this entire Academy burns." His voice cracked like the walls had earlier. "I've lost control before. That's why they isolate me. Why no one touches me." He didn't say it. But she heard the truth behind the silence. He was afraid - of himself. Just beyond the shattered archway, unseen by either of them, a figure watched. Headmistress Virelle. Robed in shadows. A familiar perched on her shoulder. Her eyes glowed faint silver. "So it begins again," she murmured to no one. "The fire chooses the marked." Behind her, a messenger raven took flight - bound for the Elders' Circle. Seren collapsed after returning to her room. But sleep did not come peacefully. She dreamed of dragons spiraling through ancient skies, of a woman who looked like her standing in a circle of fire, holding a sword forged from a scale, shouting a vow: "The Flame shall not fall. Not while I breathe." She saw Kael - younger, alone, locked in a stone prison, sobbing smoke. And she saw herself burning beside him, refusing to let go even when her skin turned to ash. She woke up glowing. Her hands sparked faint embers when she moved. "What's happening to me?" Later that morning, a classmate she didn't recognize cornered her outside the Alchemy Hall. Sharp cheekbones. Red eyes. A scent like blood and roses. "You think Kael's the one you should be afraid for?" she said. "He's the one you should be afraid of." "You don't know him." "No," the girl said, smiling without warmth. "But I know the prophecy. One dragon heart. One curse. One girl who burns." "You're marked, girl. And not just by him. You're bound to all four. And that means one of them will die." Before Seren could speak, the girl vanished in a gust of black petals. Seren sat on her bed that night, staring at the mark on her arm - now darker, edged in flame. She felt Kael in her blood. Lucien in her shadow. And others she hadn't even fully met yet. This Academy was hiding secrets. But so was she. And something inside her was waking up.