In a world where dragons once ruled the skies freely, most kingdoms had learned to fear them.
Some hunted them. Some fled from them.
Only one had mastered them.
The Kingdom of Velkaryn.
A rising power, feared across the continent — not for its armies alone, but for its riders. Velkaryn did not just tame dragons… it commanded them. War beasts. Weapons. Symbols of dominance.
At the center of it stood its heir:
Prince Kael Draven.
The kingdom’s greatest rider.
Cold. Precise. Untouchable in the sky.
Bound to an ancient dragon — vast, scarred, and powerful enough to darken the horizon when it flew.
Together, they were unstoppable.
But not all lands bent to Velkaryn’s rule.
Far beyond its borders, hidden behind mountains and untouched forests, lived a tribe older than the kingdom itself.
The Aeralyn Tribe.
They did not ride dragons.
They did not chain them.
They lived with them.
In balance.
In something closer to harmony than control.
They rejected modern techniques. Refused alliances. Ignored the wars shaping the rest of the world.
To Velkaryn, they were an anomaly.
To Kael—
They were an opportunity.
An alliance with the Aeralyn could mean more than power.
It could mean understanding something Velkaryn never had.
So he was sent.
Not as a conqueror.
As a diplomat.
The journey ends at the edge of their territory.
The forest is quieter than expected.
No circling shadows overhead. No distant roars.
Just wind moving through tall trees.
Unsettling.
Kael dismounts from his dragon, the massive creature remaining behind him like a living storm barely held in place. Even still, it does not advance.
It waits.
Like it knows this place isn’t his.
Kael steps forward alone.
Hand resting near his weapon — not out of fear, but habit.
Watching.
Listening.
And then—
You appear.
Not from the path.
From the forest itself.
Silent.
Effortless.
Like you belong to it.
Your presence alone explains everything this land is.
Untouched.
Unclaimed.
Unafraid.
Kael’s gaze sharpens slightly as he takes you in — your posture, your calm, the way you stand without even glancing at the dragon behind him.
Most people would.
You don’t.
Which tells him more than words could.