They rode into Vaskor beneath a gray and empty sky.
What remained of the ancient city was little more than frozen bones — jagged towers collapsed into glaciers, streets cracked with centuries of frost, and colossal stone bridges snapped like twigs by dragonfire long ago.
But it hadn't always been like this.
> "This city once flew," Kael whispered as they passed beneath a shattered gate.
> "It flew?" Seren asked.
> "The dragons made it so. Wings of magic. Engines of living flame. Vaskor was a palace among the clouds… until the sky turned against them."
> "And they fell."
Nyara said nothing, but her hand hovered near her blade.
The cold here wasn't natural. It sank beneath skin, into bone. It whispered in dreams. It remembered.
The moment they crossed into the city's heart, the wind howled — low, long, and mournful.
Then came the roar.
Distant. Ancient. Furious.
> "That wasn't wind," Seren said, turning sharply.
Kael was already drawing his blade, violet runes flaring. "No. That was a dragon."
Nyara narrowed her eyes. "Impossible. The dragons are all—"
> "Dead?" Seren cut in. "No. Not all."
From the frost-covered ruins ahead came a faint red glow.
They followed it.
The Frozen Cathedral
The trail led to a broken cathedral carved entirely from sapphire ice. Its spires reached like claws into the sky. At the center stood a dais of stone, and atop it — a frozen dragon.
Its wings were half-unfurled, its eyes closed, its body encased in layers of frost so thick they shimmered like diamonds.
Beneath its claws rested a metal sphere: glowing faintly, pulsing like a heartbeat.
> "The second key," Seren whispered.
> "But guarded," Kael said grimly. "Of course."
Nyara stepped forward, examining the ice.
> "This isn't just cold. It's enchanted. Cursed."
> "Then how do we get through it?" Seren asked.
Kael turned to her.
> "You're the flameborn. Melt it."
Fire Against Ice
Seren stepped up to the frozen beast, heart racing.
She could feel it — the power in her veins. The fire within her screamed at the presence of this ancient dragon, like a child recognizing its parent… or a prisoner seeing its jailer.
She placed her hands on the ice.
And burned.
Flame erupted from her palms, golden and wild. It danced across the ice, melted cracks into the shield, boiled frost into steam.
The dragon stirred.
Its eye twitched beneath the frost.
> "It's waking up!" Kael shouted.
> "Then hurry!" Seren cried.
She pushed harder. The flame surged — uncontrolled, untamed.
Suddenly, the ice shattered — and the dragon's eye opened.
Thalrakar, the Sleeping Flame
The dragon was smaller than stories said, but no less terrifying — black-scaled, horned, and ancient beyond imagining. Its wings unfurled with a groan of stone and storm.
> "Who dares wake Thalrakar, Warden of the Skyfall?" it boomed.
Seren staggered back.
> "We seek the key," she said. "Nothing more."
The dragon's gaze pinned her. "You carry the cursed flame. Her flame."
Kael stepped beside her. "She's not the Thorned Queen."
> "Yet."
Nyara unsheathed her sword. "Try us."
Thalrakar reared up.
> "To claim the key, one must answer the riddle of ruin. Fail, and die."
The Riddle of Ruin
The dragon's eyes blazed.
> "Three sisters stood before the fire. One was flesh, one was ash, one was liar. The first loved the world and died in pain. The second burned it to feel again. The third watched it fall with a smile. Tell me, which one are you?"
Silence.
Seren stepped forward.
> "I'm none of them," she said.
> "You must choose," the dragon rumbled.
> "No. That's the lie. You want me to become one of them. But I won't. I am Seren. I am new. I choose my own story."
Thalrakar stared at her for a long, long time.
Then, slowly, he lowered his head.
> "Then take the key. And beware the third sister… for she still walks this world."
The Second Key
The sphere beneath the dragon's claw glowed brighter.
Seren reached out — and it opened like a blooming flower, revealing a shard of crystal shaped like a wing.
She took it.
And as she did, the frost began to melt from the cathedral, revealing carvings on the walls — prophecies.
One showed Seren holding the Thorned Crown, her eyes glowing, her wings of flame spread wide.
Another showed her standing alone in a field of bones.
Kael touched her shoulder.
> "We'll change it," he said softly. "Whatever this says… it's not set in stone."
But Seren wasn't sure.
As they left the city, the skies darkened.
Behind them, Thalrakar took flight for the first time in centuries, wings slicing through the sky like thunder.
And above the clouds, watching through a scrying mirror of blood and glass…
The Thorned Queen smiled.
> "Let her take the keys," she whispered. "It only makes her fall sweeter."