Chapter 1: The Awakening

The village of Ashford lay quiet under the pale morning light. Smoke drifted lazily from chimneys as farmers prepared for another day in the fields.

Kai stood at the edge of the forest, his breath misting in the cold air. At seventeen, he was tall for his age, with dark hair that fell across his forehead and eyes that seemed to shift between brown and gold depending on the light.

"You're up early again," said a voice behind him.

He turned to find his grandmother, Elder Mei, wrapped in her worn shawl. Despite her age, her eyes were sharp and knowing.

"I couldn't sleep," Kai admitted. "The dreams came again."

"The same one? With the dragon?"

He nodded. Every night for the past month, he had dreamed of standing atop a mountain of clouds, facing a creature of impossible size. A dragon with scales like polished obsidian and eyes that burned with ancient fire.

And every night, the dragon spoke the same words: "Awaken, young monarch. Your time has come."

"Perhaps it's just stress," his grandmother said, though her expression suggested she thought otherwise. "Come, let's have breakfast. Your mother is making congee."

As Kai followed her back to the village, he felt a strange warmth spreading through his chest. He pressed his hand against his heart, and for just a moment, he could have sworn he felt something stirring beneath his skin.

Something ancient.

Something powerful.

Something that had been sleeping for a very, very long time.