Two Weeks Later – Nightfall.
The winds were unnatural tonight.
Jayden stood on the rooftop of a crumbling warehouse near the Neon Spire District. The sky above him churned in strange, fragmented motions — stars blinked erratically, and faint cracks of blue light spidered across the atmosphere like veins.
"Something's coming," he muttered.
Beside him, Isla's eyes narrowed.
"It's already here."
The sky pulsed — once. A deep rumble echoed across the city like a heartbeat.
Jayden instinctively pressed his palm to the twin fragments in his inner pouch. They throbbed in sync with the pulse. He had begun to bond with them on a level beyond physical, like they were speaking through his blood.
Below, the streets emptied without warning. Cars stopped. Lights flickered. A silence unlike anything he'd heard before descended.
Then…
CRACK.
The first rupture split the sky.
The First Shatter
A jagged line of blinding light ripped through the heavens like a divine sword tearing open the veil between worlds.
From that rift, a burning figure emerged — falling slowly at first, then crashing into the city's eastern quarter in a blast of flame and sound.
The shockwave flattened buildings within a three-block radius.
Jayden's ears rang. He could see the smoke rising.
"That's a cultivator," Isla said, voice grim. "An ancient one."
Lian joined them on the rooftop, breathing heavily. "Reports from the Northern Hills. A man cloaked in blue fire… he landed in the ruins of the old martial temple."
Jayden's eyes narrowed.
"Then we go now."
The Blue Flame Sect
They arrived on foot, moving faster than eyes could track. The old martial temple lay half-destroyed, most of its walls blackened from the impact. At the center of the crater, a single man stood.
He wore tattered blue robes embroidered with a silver dragon motif. His long black hair danced with embers, and his eyes glowed pale azure.
The moment he saw Jayden, he smiled.
"You carry it," the man said. His voice was a breeze over fire. "The twin fragments. I felt the awakening."
Jayden said nothing.
The man stepped forward.
"I am Kael of the Blue Flame Sect. Long exiled. You have something I need."
Jayden clenched his fists. "You'll have to take it."
Kael didn't blink. "That was the plan."
Kael vs. Jayden
The battle began with no warning.
Kael raised his hand, summoning spears of compressed fire. They flew toward Jayden like meteors.
Jayden activated the Blazing Spiral of Heaven, his aura flaring in rings of red and gold.
He weaved through the assault with practiced grace, his acupuncture training allowing him to dodge with nerve-precise steps.
Jayden struck with an open palm — flames rippled outward like a shockwave, catching Kael mid-air.
But the man absorbed the blast.
"Good," Kael hissed. "You've inherited the Dragon Form… but you're still incomplete."
Jayden's right hand flicked. He threw three chi needles laced with a temporary paralysis technique.
One landed in Kael's shoulder.
The older warrior stumbled.
Jayden surged forward, fists glowing.
But Kael let out a roar — and the sky above them shattered a second time.
The Second Shatter
This time, it wasn't a rupture.
It was a collapse.
A piece of the heavens fell — a solid mass of skystone crashing down onto the outskirts of the city. The tremor that followed knocked everyone to the ground, including Kael.
Jayden's vision blurred.
He saw a tower rising from the crater.
A black structure covered in runes.
"It's begun," Kael whispered, staggering to his feet. "The Dragon Trials have returned…"
Jayden stood slowly, blood dripping from his mouth.
"Trials?"
Kael's eyes glowed brighter.
"They were sealed away. Seven trials across the world, each one holding a path toward the true Dragon Form. When two fragments unite, the seal breaks."
Isla and Lian reached Jayden's side.
Kael looked at them.
"You're not ready. You'll die if you enter."
Jayden wiped his mouth, gaze firm.
"I'm going."
Kael paused… then bowed.
"Then may you survive. Because if you do… I'll be waiting at the sixth."
He vanished in a burst of blue fire.
The Tower Beckons
Later that night, Jayden stood before the tower that had fallen from the sky.
Massive, foreboding, and humming with celestial energy. Each level radiated power so dense it bent the air.
There were seven levels.
Isla read the inscriptions aloud.
"Trial One: Endure Flame."
"Trial Two: Break the Illusion."
"Trial Three: Speak With Bone."
"Trial Four: Tame the Storm."
"Trial Five: Kill the Self."
"Trial Six: Ascend Without Sky."
"Trial Seven: The Dragon's Name."
Jayden exhaled.
"Then we start at the bottom."
He walked toward the tower.
The doors opened on their own.
And closed behind him.
Inside the Tower
Flames roared.
Trial One had begun.
Jayden stood in a circular chamber of fire — walls dripping molten chi, and a ceiling that burned without fuel.
He heard the voice of the tower:
"Endure flame not of heat… but of memory."
Suddenly, fire wrapped around his body.
He didn't burn—physically. But his memories did.
He saw his father vanishing into the mist.
He saw his mother crying silently at night.
He saw the first time he punched a gang member and liked it.
He saw the moment Isla risked her life for him.
Every regret. Every guilt. Every loss.
They scorched his soul.
Jayden fell to his knees, screaming—not from pain, but from unbearable clarity.
"Endure."
He forced himself up.
Through grit teeth, he whispered:
"I won't break."
The fire dimmed.
Trial One was complete.
Outside
Isla and Lian waited.
From the tower's peak, a single flame burst upward — signaling victory.
Lian smiled.
"He did it."
Isla nodded. "Six more to go."
The sky above them still trembled.
The fragments within Jayden's chest pulsed again.
And far across the world, ancient forces awakened — the other heirs, the hidden sects, the lost enemies…
All sensing the rise of the Dragon.