C6 The Veilbreaker’s Secret
Kael’s grip tightened around his sword.
The valley had become a cage.
Veilbreakers surrounded him from every direction.
Crossbows aimed at his chest.
Blades glinted beneath torchlight.
There would be no fighting their way out.
Not against these numbers.
The hooded leader stepped forward.
His silver-embroidered cloak swept across the dirt.
Unlike the others, he carried no visible weapon.
Yet he somehow appeared the most dangerous person present.
His eyes never left Kael.
“A Dragon Speaker.”
The words sounded almost reverent.
“Do you have any idea how long we’ve waited?”
Kael said nothing.
Fear churned inside him.
Beside him, Seraphine slowly reached for the knife hidden beneath her cloak.
The leader noticed immediately.
“I wouldn’t.”
His voice remained calm.
Half a dozen crossbows shifted toward her.
Seraphine froze.
A faint smile touched the man’s lips.
“Wise choice.”
The wounded dragon growled.
The sound rumbled through the valley.
The leader’s expression hardened instantly.
“You remain silent, beast.”
The dragon’s golden eye narrowed.
He fears us.
Kael blinked.
“What?”
The words escaped before he could stop them.
Several Veilbreakers exchanged glances.
The leader stared.
Then something unexpected happened.
He laughed.
Not mockingly.
Genuinely.
“You can hear it.”
His smile widened.
“Wonderful.”
A chill ran down Kael’s spine.
This man wasn’t surprised.
He expected it.
⸻
The leader ordered them bound.
Their weapons were confiscated.
Their packs searched.
Every page of Seraphine’s journals was carefully examined.
She looked ready to strangle someone.
Eventually they were escorted into the ruined tower.
The structure was far older than it first appeared.
Ancient carvings covered the stone walls.
Dragons.
Hundreds of them.
Some flying.
Some standing beside humans.
Others gathered around strange circles of light.
Kael stopped walking.
“What is this place?”
No one answered.
The leader paused beside a weathered mural.
A dragon and a human stood together.
Their hands touched a glowing symbol carved into stone.
The image felt familiar.
As though Kael had seen it before.
In a dream.
“Incredible, isn’t it?”
The leader brushed dust from the mural.
“History hidden in plain sight.”
Seraphine stepped forward.
Her eyes widened.
“This can’t be real.”
“Oh, it’s very real.”
His smile faded.
“The kingdoms simply prefer people not know it exists.”
Kael exchanged a glance with Seraphine.
Everything she had been researching.
Every ancient text.
Every forbidden story.
They might have been true.
⸻
Hours later, Kael found himself locked inside a stone chamber.
A single lantern illuminated the room.
The door was iron.
The windows barred.
Escape seemed impossible.
He sat against the wall.
Exhaustion weighed heavily upon him.
For the first time since leaving Ashvale, doubt began to creep into his mind.
Maybe this had been a mistake.
Maybe he should have stayed home.
Maybe—
Do not lose hope.
The dragon’s voice echoed inside his thoughts.
Kael sat upright.
“You’re alive.”
Barely.
Pain filled the connection.
But so did determination.
Listen carefully.
Kael leaned forward.
The dragon continued.
The Veilbreakers are not what they claim to be.
“What are they?”
A long silence followed.
Then:
Guardians.
Kael frowned.
“Guardians don’t chain dragons.”
Not anymore.
The sorrow in the dragon’s voice felt ancient.
Older than kingdoms.
Older than wars.
Long ago, humans and dragons built something together.
The image from the mural flashed through Kael’s mind.
“A partnership?”
An alliance.
The dragon paused.
The Veilbreakers were created to protect it.
Kael’s pulse quickened.
“Protect what?”
The answer came softly.
The Veil.
The lantern flickered.
The room suddenly felt colder.
“The Veil?”
The barrier between worlds.
Every hair on Kael’s neck stood on end.
Before he could ask another question, the connection shattered.
The dragon cried out.
A terrible cry.
Filled with agony.
Kael jumped to his feet.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
The dragon screamed again.
Outside his chamber, alarms began ringing.
Voices shouted throughout the tower.
Footsteps thundered down corridors.
Chaos erupted.
Then came a sound unlike anything Kael had ever heard.
Not a roar.
Not an explosion.
A crack.
As though the sky itself had broken.
The entire tower shook violently.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The lantern crashed to the floor.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Somewhere outside, men screamed.
Others prayed.
And from beyond the walls came a new voice.
A voice Kael had never heard before.
Deep.
Ancient.
Terrifying.
Not human.
Not dragon.
Something else.
Something that should not have existed.
One sentence echoed through his mind.
The Veil is weakening.
Kael’s blood turned to ice.
Whatever secret lay beneath Skyrend was waking up.
And the world was no longer safe.
