The summons came at dawn.
Kael and Rynn, along with a handful of other students, were called to the Hall of Blades — the Academy's heart, a cavernous chamber lined with ancient banners and the names of fallen heroes etched into the walls.
Master Varick, the academy's stern commander, waited for them beneath the largest banner — a crimson dragon swallowing the sun.
He was a grizzled man with silver hair and a jagged scar that split his brow. His voice, when he spoke, carried the weight of iron and expectation.
"You've trained. You've bled. Now it's time to test your mettle beyond these walls," he said, pacing slowly before them. "The village of Stonewatch, near the borderlands, has gone silent."
Murmurs rippled through the gathered students.
"Your mission is to investigate. Aid the villagers if you can. Defend them if necessary. And above all — return alive."
Kael felt his heart lurch. A real mission. Real danger.
At his side, Rynn's hand brushed his briefly. A silent message: We'll be fine. We have each other.
Varick's gaze swept over them. "Failure is not an option."
He tossed a satchel at Kael's feet. Inside, Kael glimpsed maps, potions, and a slender crystal that pulsed faintly — a communication shard.
"Move out. You ride in an hour."
The Road to Stonewatch
They rode hard, a dozen strong.
The group was a strange mixture: hardened second-years like Serah Valen, whose twin daggers never left her belt; brooding mages like Loric, who muttered to himself in three languages; and fresh talents like Kael and Rynn, too new to know better than to be afraid.
Kael found himself leading alongside Rynn, their horses moving in near-perfect rhythm.
The journey took two days. As they neared Stonewatch, the forests grew twisted, the air heavy with a wrongness Kael could taste at the back of his throat.
Rynn pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders.
"Feels like the world's holding its breath," she muttered.
Kael nodded grimly.
They crested a ridge — and saw the village below.
Or what was left of it.
Stonewatch was a smoking ruin. Houses lay half-collapsed, their roofs clawed apart. Fields were churned into muddy wreckage. No bodies, but no signs of life either.
Kael drew Veyrion. The blade hummed, sensing danger.
"We move in pairs," Serah ordered. "Stay sharp. Anything moves, call it out."
Kael and Rynn moved together down the main road, eyes scanning every shattered doorway, every broken fence.
The silence was a living thing, crawling over their skin.
Then — a sound. Soft. A scrape of something against stone.
Kael whirled — just in time to see a figure dart behind the blackened remains of a barn.
They chased without hesitation.
The Survivor
Inside the barn, huddled among the ruins, they found her.
A girl — no older than ten, filthy and trembling. Her eyes were wide with terror.
When Kael knelt, she flinched away, whimpering.
Rynn dropped her sword and held out her hands, palms open.
"It's okay," she said softly. "We're here to help."
Slowly, the girl edged forward, clutching a scrap of cloth like a shield.
"They came from the sky," she whispered. "Monsters... with wings and teeth... they took everyone."
Kael's stomach twisted.
"How many?" he asked.
"All of them. The monsters, they—they screamed. Like... like dying animals."
The girl sobbed, burying her face against Rynn's chest.
Rynn wrapped her arms around her gently.
Kael rose, muscles coiled tight.
"Wyverns," he said grimly. "Or something worse."
And if they were attacking villages this close to the Capital, it meant trouble deeper than anyone at the Academy had feared.
The Trap
They regrouped at the village square.
Serah's expression darkened when they reported.
"This wasn't random," she said. "Someone sent them."
Before they could plan their next move, a low rumble split the air.
The ground trembled.
From the shattered hills beyond the village, shadows rose — massive, winged shapes blotting out the sun.
Wyverns. At least five, maybe more, their scales shimmering black as oil.
And riding atop the lead beast — a figure cloaked in crimson, a long spear gleaming in their hand.
"A rider?" Rynn gasped.
"Get ready!" Serah barked.
The wyverns descended with terrifying speed, shrieking.
Kael barely raised his shield in time to deflect a gout of fire. Rynn rolled aside, flinging a dagger that sank deep into the joint of a creature's wing.
The battle exploded into chaos.
Students scattered, fighting desperately. Spells lit the sky; steel flashed. The wyverns slashed with claws the size of scythes, their riders hurling dark magic like spears.
Kael and Rynn fought back-to-back.
A wyvern lunged — Kael met it with Veyrion, driving the blade through its chest. It fell thrashing.
But more came.
Rynn darted beneath a snapping maw, slashing tendons with surgical precision.
"Too many!" she shouted.
Kael gritted his teeth.
They had to reach the rider.
The Rider Revealed
Pushing forward through the battle, Kael locked eyes with the rider.
For a moment, the world narrowed.
He saw a glimpse — not a stranger, but someone hauntingly familiar.
The rider yanked back their hood.
Kael's blood froze.
It was Dain Thorne.
Or what had once been Dain — his eyes now glowing with inhuman light, veins black against his pale skin.
"You should have stayed in your hole, farm boy," Dain sneered. "Now you die."
He spurred his wyvern into a dive, spear aimed straight for Kael's heart.
Kael braced — and Rynn slammed into him, knocking him aside at the last second.
The spear grazed her arm, drawing blood.
Kael roared, surging to his feet, magic igniting in his veins.
Flames erupted from his hands, engulfing the wyvern's wing. It shrieked, bucking.
Dain leapt from the saddle, landing with inhuman grace.
He faced Kael, dark magic coiling around him.
"I was chosen," Dain hissed. "Not you! I am the true heir of the Dragon Lords!"
Kael lifted Veyrion, feeling the blade pulse in his grip.
"You chose darkness," he said. "And now you'll fall."
They clashed.
Sword against spear. Light against shadow.
Every blow shook the earth. Every spell tore the air.
Around them, the battle raged — students screaming, wyverns falling from the sky.
Kael fought with everything he had. For Rynn. For Stonewatch. For himself.
For hope.
And in the end — it was hope that won.
With a final, desperate strike, Kael drove Veyrion through Dain's chest.
The corrupted rider screamed, magic bursting from him in a shockwave that threw Kael back.
When Kael rose, gasping, Dain was gone — only ashes drifting on the wind.
The remaining wyverns fled, screeching into the clouds.
The battle was over.
But the war was only beginning.