I'm Kaelen Virel, and I’ve spent my life listening to creatures the world would rather fear or forget. I tell others I do it for balance, but the truth is heavier: I can’t walk away from a soul that’s been hurt, not when I know what silence after betrayal feels like. They call the Drakonid in Emberdeep a myth; I feel her like a wound I’ve carried for years. If she’s alone out there, scared and burning, then I have to reach her—before the world decides her fate for her.