Chapter 2:Blood Beneath the Crown
The halls of Sapphire's royal palace were alive with the scent of flowers and steel. Sunlight streamed through high windows carved with stained glass, casting colors over polished stone floors. But beneath the warmth of day, an unease was rising—subtle, but real. A ripple in still waters.
King Levi Daemon sat upon his obsidian throne, fingers laced under his chin, eyes staring beyond the gilded doors of his court. Though his crown rested easily on his brow, the weight of years tugged at his shoulders. He had ruled justly for over two decades, bringing prosperity and peace. But peace had a cost—it dulled the senses, lulled the kingdom into forgetting.
He remembered dragons. He was only a boy when the last sightings were recorded in the old war books. Even then, the elders called them rumors. But Levi had always believed the legends were built on truth. Something about them stirred his soul.
"Father," came a voice beside him, sharp but controlled.
Princess Alina stood tall, her armor glinting even in the soft light. She had the bearing of a soldier, not a lady of the court. Her sword hung at her hip—not for show, but for practice. She had bested nearly every knight in the royal guard and was beloved by the people for her strength and fairness.
"There's talk again of strange tremors in the southern woods," she said, handing him a scroll. "The scouts are uneasy. Animals fleeing. Old trees split from the inside."
Levi's brow furrowed. He took the scroll but didn't unroll it. "The southern woods..." he muttered. "That's near the old borderlands. Forgotten land."
"And abandoned for good reason," came another voice, soft and thoughtful.
Prince Cael entered the chamber, a tome cradled under his arm. Where Alina was steel, Cael was ink and wind. A scholar through and through, he spoke with care, every word measured. "Those woods are spoken of in the older records—the ones locked in the Sanctum Library. Runes... caves... remnants of the First Age."
Levi finally spoke. "Send a rider. Quietly. I want eyes on that region."
Alina bowed slightly. "I'll go myself."
"Absolutely not," Levi said firmly. "Not yet. If something stirs, we don't alert it."
As the siblings left to prepare, Levi's gaze lingered on a single painting hung high in the hall—one of the women he had once loved in secret. Alira. Her face was painted into the background, hidden among the court attendants in a long-forgotten coronation scene.
He had not spoken her name in years.
But deep in the forest, her son was beginning to change.
—
Marcus had not slept.
The dragon egg now lay in a hidden hollow near his cottage, swaddled in blankets and straw, burning faintly beneath the surface. It didn't crack or move, but it breathed. He could feel it, like a second heartbeat in the earth beneath his feet.
And in the night, he had dreams.
Flames consuming the sky. A dark-winged beast, its eyes mirrors of his own. And a voice—one he didn't recognize—whispering in a language that tugged at something old in his soul.
He had tried to return to his routine. Feeding the goats. Drawing water. But everything was different now. He was different. And the egg wasn't just a relic.
It was a call.
Something ancient had chosen him.
Something the world had forgotten was now remembering.