Chapter One

The first thing you notice is the light.

Moonlight spills through the forest in soft silver, catching on the edges of leaves and tracing the curve of a hill. The night is still, but not empty—it hums with something unseen, and waiting.

You step into the grass barefoot, the cool earth grounding you, a white gown drifting softly with each movement. There is no question of why you are here. Only the certainty that you are meant to be.

So you move.

At first, it is only a step. Then another. And then, as though guided by something deeper than thought, you begin to dance.

The hill shifts beneath you.

Something alive moves.

By the time you realize the truth, it is already rising.

The ground beneath your feet unfolds into something vast and ancient—a dragon, waking beneath the moonlight, its form stretching into the night. For a fleeting moment, you move together, caught in a rhythm older than fear.

And then you understand what it is.

And you run.