Night came quietly.
The two of them sat around a small fire, deep inside a crumbling subway tunnel. Vines hung from the ceiling like faded curtains. The flickering light bounced across cracked tiles and a dusty mural of a city skyline long gone.
Jackie wrapped her arms around her knees. Her tail curled protectively behind her. Kael sat across from her, sharpening his sword with slow, steady strokes. The sound echoed softly.
She watched him in silence.
Finally, she spoke.
"You said you used to stop the awakenings. What does that even mean?"
Kael didn't answer right away.
He tested the blade against his thumb, then placed it gently at his side.
"I was a Warden," he said, eyes on the fire. "A guardian of balance between this world and the Rift. When the dragon flame first began to bleed through, we were the ones sent to contain it."
Jackie furrowed her brow. "Bleed through from where?"
He met her gaze. "From the place dragons were sealed. Long ago, their essence was locked away—not in another dimension, but in the space between all things. Thought. Flame. Memory. Emotion. That's the Rift."
She blinked. "Wait—so dragons are real… but not like physical creatures?"
"They were physical once," Kael said. "But their destruction was so complete, so violent, that they broke the rules of death. Their souls didn't pass on. They scattered—into art, into stories, into us."
Jackie swallowed. "And now they're waking up?"
Kael nodded. "The world grew loud. Angry. Desperate. And that woke the Rift."
He took a long breath, like he was sifting through memories soaked in blood.
"There were seven of us. The first Wardens. We were trained from birth to sense dragon essence. When someone began to change—to burn—we'd intervene. Some were helped. Others..." He looked away. "Others didn't make it."
Jackie whispered, "You had to kill them."
"I tried to save them first," Kael said. "But sometimes mercy is sharper than the sword."
The fire crackled. Jackie looked down at her claws, flexing them slowly.
"How did it all fall apart?"
Kael's jaw clenched. "We lost control. A rift opened in the city center—bigger than anything we'd seen. A dragon tried to push through, not just as memory… but as flesh. We fought it for three days."
Jackie's eyes widened. "You fought a real dragon?"
"I fought my brother," Kael said quietly.
She froze.
He didn't look at her. "He was a Warden too. But he let the flame take him. Thought he could use its power to stop the world from tearing itself apart. He gave in. Became a beast."
Jackie's throat tightened.
"I tried to bring him back," Kael continued. "He tried to kill me."
A long silence fell between them. Then:
"I won. But barely. The Rift didn't close. The others fell. And I... kept surviving."
Jackie stared into the fire. "That's why you don't trust me."
"I trust you," Kael said. "But I also know what happens when someone thinks they're stronger than the flame inside them."
He leaned forward slightly.
"If you ever hear a voice in your dreams again—don't listen."
Jackie's stomach sank.
"I already did."
Kael's eyes sharpened. "What did it say?"
She hesitated. "That I'm not chosen. That I'm just… convenient."
Kael stood slowly and placed a hand on her shoulder. His clawed fingers were surprisingly gentle.
"Doesn't matter how or why you woke," he said. "You're awake. That's what matters now."
Jackie nodded slowly, the firelight dancing in her golden eyes.
Far above them, something moved through the sky with a rumble like thunder. But this time, neither of them flinched.