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 two masked instructors yanked her from her bed, dragging her through the North Courtyard. No explanation, no warning-just a single word whispered:

"Trial."

She was barefoot, still in her nightshirt, when they threw her into the Pyren Wing-the oldest, most cursed part of the Academy. It had been sealed for fifty years, ever since a fire supposedly wiped out an entire class. The walls still bore black scorch marks. The air still reeked of ash.

The heavy door slammed shut behind her with a metallic clang. Locked.

And she wasn't alone.

A figure stood in the shadows at the far end of the ruined chamber-broad-shouldered, shirtless, with molten-gold scales trailing from his neck to his chest like ancient armor. Firelight caught the copper tones in his skin. Smoke curled from his mouth as he exhaled.

His eyes-blazing 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 them on fire?"

He didn't smile. "This place tests what you are. Who you are. You want answers? Survive this."

"Survive what-?"

The floor cracked beneath her. A perfect ring split open, fire erupting from the ground like a summoning circle. Seren stumbled back, heart hammering.

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, alive with him at the center. His eyes flared brighter. Heat rippled from his skin. Wings-made of pure embers-flared behind him.

Seren's voice was barely a whisper. "You're not human."

"Neither are you."

"I don't know what I am."

"Then let me help you find out."

Kael raised his hand. 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 instead. Warm. Alive. Like something ancient was recognizing her.

The mark on her forearm pulsed violently. The edges sharpened. Scales.

Kael froze. "No one else has ever survived that. Not even other shifters."

"So what does it mean?"

"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 reply, the ground shook-this time from explosions.

The ceiling shattered.

Shadowy figures dropped down-robed, faceless, carrying black-glowing iron blades.

"Ashmoor Enforcers," Kael hissed. "They weren't supposed to be here-"

One lunged at Seren.

Kael moved faster than she could follow, fire roaring over his skin as he shielded her.

Seren didn't think. She reacted.

Magic erupted from her hands-pure, white-hot light that blasted outward in a shockwave, knocking every attacker unconscious.

When the smoke cleared, Kael was on one knee, panting.

"What the hell are you?" he demanded.

She didn't know. But something deep inside her was no longer sleeping.

Kael staggered to his feet, a gash bleeding along his ribs.

"Why do you keep putting yourself in danger for me?" she asked.

He didn't answer at first. Just looked at her.

"Because you're the only one who's ever touched me without flinching."

"You're not a monster."

"That's where you're wrong," he muttered. "But maybe you're cursed enough to love one anyway."

The soulflame swirled again-only this time, it moved on its own. It wrapped around them both.

Golden sparks leapt between their marks.

Kael flinched like it hurt. Seren gasped like it healed.

"There's a bond forming," Kael said softly. "Ancient. Dangerous."

"So break it."

"I can't. It's not up to me anymore."

Seren stepped back. "What if I don't want to belong to anyone?"

His eyes burned hotter. "Then don't. But if you fall, I'll still catch you. Even if it costs me everything."

The battle left the chamber in ruins.

Seren's chest heaved with leftover magic, her skin faintly glowing.

She knelt beside Kael, pressing the torn hem of her nightshirt to his wound.

"You don't have to help me," he rasped. "I don't feel pain like you do."

"You still bleed like anyone else."

Something flickered in his gaze-hesitation, fear.

"If you knew what I've done... what I'm supposed to become-"

"What? Some kind of monster?"

He didn't answer. But she saw the truth in his silence.

And then she noticed it-burned into his collarbone, half-hidden by soot: a sigil.

Not just any symbol.

A dragon's eye, encircled in ancient runes. Royal. Forbidden.

"That mark," she whispered. "I've seen it in the Academy's locked tomes."

Kael's jaw tightened. "It's a blood-curse. Only those born to the First Flame carry it."

"You're... a descendant of the First Dragons?"

"A cursed one. My mother bound my true form before she died. If it ever wakes again... this entire Academy burns."

Just beyond the shattered archway, unseen by either of them, Headmistress Virelle stood in the shadows, a raven on her shoulder.

"So it begins again," she murmured. "The fire chooses the Marked."

The raven took flight toward the Elders' Circle.

That night, Seren dreamed of dragons spiraling through ancient skies, of a woman who looked like her standing in a ring of fire, sword forged from a scale, shouting a vow:

"The Flame shall not fall. Not while I breathe."

She saw Kael-young, locked in a stone prison, sobbing smoke.

She saw herself burning beside him, refusing to let go.

She woke glowing, faint embers sparking in her hands.

Later that morning, a girl cornered her outside Alchemy Hall.

Sharp cheekbones. Crimson eyes. A scent like blood and roses.

"You think Kael's the one you should be afraid for?" the girl said. "He's the one you should be afraid of."

"You don't know him."

"No," the girl smiled thinly. "But I know the prophecy. One dragon heart. One curse. One girl who burns."

She leaned closer.

"You're bound to all four, Marked girl. And one of them will die."

Before Seren could reply, the girl vanished in a gust of black petals.

Seren sat on her bed that night, staring at the mark on her arm-darker now, edged in flame.

She could feel Kael in her blood. Lucien in her shadow. Others she hadn't even met yet.

The Academy was hiding secrets.

But so was she.

And something inside her was waking up.