Chapter 1 — Rebirth in Ash and Fire
The stench of sulfur burned his lungs. The ground trembled beneath him like a living beast. His eyes snapped open.
He was not in a hospital. Not in his apartment. Not even on Earth.
Instead, he lay naked upon cracked obsidian, glowing faintly from within. Above him stretched a blood-red sky, torn with smoke trails and the distant screeches of beasts that could only be dragons.
Then the message appeared.
[Welcome, Neron. You have been Chosen.][System: EMBERLORD has successfully integrated.][Initializing starter pack...]• Trait Unlocked: Reincarnator (Passive EXP gain in all skills)• Weapon Mastery: 100% Unlock – All medieval weapons (Tier 1–5)• Magic Affinity: Unknown – [Locked]• Faction Reputation: None• Dragon Affinity: +1 (Unhatched egg nearby detected)
He blinked, sat upright slowly. He had no wounds, no pain. Only memories—of death on a war-torn Earth. A collapsing building. Then nothing.
But now… a system.
He tested his hand. Strength surged as he clenched a fist. Reflexively, he reached out, and a bronze-glinted spear flickered into his palm, summoned from the Emberlord's inventory.
He stood—muscles honed, posture perfect—and turned toward the jagged ruins in the distance. Tall spires rose in eerie silhouette. Firelight danced within them.
A name came to him. Tyria. One of the lesser cities of Valyria, ruined in a volcanic battle decades ago. And if his instincts were right, he was standing in the heart of the Valyrian Freehold… 20 years before the Doom.
He felt it, not just in the wind, but in the pulse of the world. Magic lived here. Not the petty rituals of Earth's fiction. This was the real thing—fire-blooded, ancient, and powerful.
Another notification blinked.
[Quest: Survive the Wyrmlands]Duration: 7 days_Objective: Secure shelter, weaponry, and influence before wyrm migration cycleReward: 1 Dragon Egg Fragment, Ember Skill Tree UnlockFailure: Death (Permanent)
"Of course it's permadeath," he muttered.
He looked up. In the distance, atop a ruined tower, something glittered. A nest. A faint rumble confirmed it—a dragon was nearby, maybe sleeping.
He exhaled slowly, letting instinct take over.
"Alright, let's play this like Bannerlord," he said with a grin.
He had no troops. No kingdom. No allies.
But he had a system. A body forged by magic. And a world full of dragons, steel, and sorcery waiting to be bent to his will.
He took his first step toward the ruins, spear in hand, cloak of ash behind him.
Valyria had no idea what had just been born in its heart.
[End of Chapter 1]