Time had passed like wind through broken stone.
Centuries had turned legends into stories.
Stories into whispers.
And whispers into silence.
But not all things forgotten stay that way.
---
In the heart of what was once Eldenhold, now known as **Emberreach**, the city rose from ruin like a phoenix reborn—its towers forged in blackened steel, its streets paved with the bones of the old world.
At its center stood the **Flame Spire**, a towering monument carved from obsidian and fireglass. It pulsed faintly at night, lit from within by an eternal glow—some said it was the last breath of the gods.
Others whispered it was waiting.
Waiting for someone to remember.
Waiting for something to return.
---
Her name was Kaelis.
She was seventeen, sharp-tongued, fast-footed, and marked from birth with a jagged scar across her left eye—the telltale sign of those touched by the old blood.
She didn't believe in myths.
Didn't care for prophecies.
Didn't want to be special.
But fate rarely asked permission.
It found her anyway.
That night, she dreamt.
A boy and a girl standing in fire.
Their hands joined.
Their voices one:
> "We chose freedom."
Then came the flame.
And the waking scream.
When Kaelis opened her eyes, the room was burning.
Not with ordinary fire.
With light.
With memory.
With awakening.
---
By morning, she stood before the Whispering Gate, the oldest structure still intact in all of Emberreach.
No one knew who built it.
Some believed it was part of the mountain sanctuary where the dragons once lived.
Others thought it was a prison.
Kaelis had never dared approach it before.
But today, it called her.
She stepped forward.
Touched the cold stone.
And heard it whisper.
"You carry the choice."
She pulled back, heart pounding.
Behind her, a voice spoke.
"You shouldn't be here."
She spun.
A boy stood there—cloaked in red, eyes glowing faintly with ember-light.
"I'm not the only one," he said.
She narrowed her eyes.
"Who are you?"
He smiled slightly.
"The same as you."
"And what's that?"
He stepped closer.
"A child of the fire."
---
Word spread quickly.
Two Marked had awakened in the same day.
Across the city, others began to feel it too—strange dreams, unexplained visions, power rising like embers caught in wind.
In the halls of the Council of Flame, the elders grew uneasy.
In the temples dedicated to the fallen gods, priests whispered of betrayal.
And in the deep places of the world, something stirred.
Something vast.
Something patient.
Beneath the mountain, beneath the ruins, beneath the veil of time—
The real dragon opened one eye.
And listened.