C1 Smoke on the Wind
The forge was hottest just before sunset.
Kael Ardan wiped sweat from his brow and lifted the glowing horseshoe from the coals. Heat shimmered in the air around him, turning the distant mountains into wavering shadows beyond the open forge door.
“Careful,” his father warned. “If you burn that one, you’ll be making another.”
Kael grinned despite the ache in his arms.
“I know.”
The metal rang beneath his hammer.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
The familiar rhythm echoed through the village square. It was a sound he had heard every day of his life. The sound of work. The sound of staying.
A sound Kael desperately wanted to escape.
Beyond the rooftops, the Spine Peaks stretched across the horizon like the backs of sleeping giants. Snow crowned their jagged summits even in summer.
Somewhere beyond those mountains lay the great kingdoms.
Cities.
Castles.
Adventure.
At least, that’s what travelers claimed.
Kael had never been farther than the neighboring valley.
“You’re staring again.”
His father didn’t even look up from the sword he was sharpening.
Kael sighed.
“Can you blame me?”
“For wanting more?”
His father finally glanced at him.
“No.”
The answer surprised him.
For a moment, neither spoke.
The forge crackled.
Outside, villagers crossed the square carrying baskets and tools as the day wound down. Children chased each other between market stalls.
Everything looked peaceful.
Normal.
Safe.
The way it had always been.
Then the church bell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Kael froze.
Every person in the square stopped moving.
The bell wasn’t supposed to ring like that.
Not unless—
A fourth toll thundered across the village.
Then a fifth.
Dragon warning.
The basket slipped from an old woman’s hands.
Apples scattered across the cobblestones.
Fear swept through the crowd like wildfire.
“Inside!” someone shouted.
“Dragons!”
Panic erupted.
Villagers ran for their homes. Market vendors abandoned their stalls. Parents grabbed their children and disappeared into doorways.
Kael rushed to the forge entrance.
“What is it?”
His father stepped beside him.
The blacksmith’s weathered face had gone pale.
He was staring at the sky.
Kael followed his gaze.
At first he saw nothing.
Then a distant shape emerged from the clouds above the mountains.
Massive.
Dark.
Moving impossibly fast.
Another followed.
Then another.
Three dragons.
His stomach tightened.
Every story he had ever heard flooded into his mind.
Dragons that burned cities.
Dragons that devoured livestock.
Dragons that slaughtered entire armies.
Monsters.
The shapes grew larger.
Closer.
A roar rolled across the valley.
The sound seemed too enormous to belong to any living creature.
Windows rattled.
Dogs whimpered.
The air itself trembled.
“Get to the shelter,” his father ordered.
“What about you?”
“I’ll follow.”
“Father—”
“Now, Kael.”
The sharpness in his voice left no room for argument.
Kael turned and ran.
The village shelter had been carved into the hillside generations ago during the Dragon Wars.
People crowded toward its heavy iron doors.
Fear flashed in every face.
Mothers clutched crying children.
Elders leaned on canes and hurried as fast as they could.
Above them came another roar.
Closer this time.
Kael looked up.
One of the dragons swept over the village.
Its wings blotted out the sun.
The creature was enormous—far larger than any tale had prepared him for. Black scales gleamed like polished stone. Golden eyes scanned the village below.
For a heartbeat, Kael forgot to breathe.
The dragon was terrifying.
But it was also beautiful.
Ancient.
Majestic.
Alive.
The creature banked sharply.
Then something struck it.
A bolt of light erupted from the church tower.
The dragon screamed.
Villagers gasped.
A second bolt followed.
Then a third.
Dragon-hunter weapons.
The black dragon twisted through the air, wounded but still flying.
And then its golden eye locked onto Kael.
Everything else vanished.
The screaming villagers.
The ringing bells.
The rushing wind.
Only that eye remained.
Ancient.
Intelligent.
Watching him.
Suddenly a voice echoed inside his mind.
Not through his ears.
Not spoken aloud.
Inside his thoughts.
Can you hear me?
Kael stumbled backward.
His heart nearly stopped.
The voice came again.
Clear.
Impossible.
Human child… can you hear me?
The dragon roared overhead.
Yet the voice inside his mind was calm.
Almost desperate.
Kael stared upward in horror.
“No…”
The dragon’s eye widened.
As if surprised.
As if hopeful.
At last.
Then the sky exploded into fire.
