As they walked through the jungle trail, silence stretched between them—tense, cautious, but not unfriendly.

  Alex glanced sideways at Kael. “So… you can see the future? That’s actually kind of amazing.”

  Kael let out a sharp breath, somewhere between a scoff and a sigh. “I don’t see the future,” she said, irritation creeping into her voice. “If I did, that would be far too convenient.”

  Alex blinked. “But… the dream? You said it led you here.”

  She gave him a look. “What I see are riddles—fragments. Random things. In that dream, I didn’t see you. I saw a dead wolf… with a sword in its neck.”

  Alex’s hand instinctively moved to the weapon at his side. “You were looking for this sword?”

  “I was hoping to collect it from the wreckage,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “But instead, I found you… and the blade.”

  Alex narrowed his gaze. “So you do know something about it. That sword—it was in my father’s chest when I found him.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Kael hesitated, then crouched beside a moss-covered stone. “I don’t know how you—or your father—came to possess it. But that isn’t just any weapon. It’s a Dragon Blade.”

  Alex stared at her. “A what?”

  “A sword forged from the bones of a dragon,” Kael said, her tone matter-of-fact. “One of the descendants of the Great Nine. There are only six of them known to exist—or, at least, that’s what everyone thought. Yours… it makes seven.”

  His eyes widened. “Why are they called Dragon Blades? Just because of the bone?”

  “Not just that.” Kael glanced at the blade. “Each Dragon Blade holds a unique ability—tied to the power of the dragon it came from. The bone remembers. It breathes… just enough.”

  Alex’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Where are the other six?”

  “They’re held by the six highest noble houses of the Empire,” she said. “I was born into one of them.”

  Alex’s mind spun. “So… dragons were real?”

  Kael raised an eyebrow. “Of course they were. Everyone knows that.”

  “But… how did they die?” he asked, excitement rising in his voice.

  “They didn’t,” Kael replied, eyes fixed on the road ahead. “They just vanished. Lost. Forgotten. No one’s seen one in generations.”

  Before Alex could ask more, the cart lurched to a sudden stop. The guards exchanged wary glances.

  Outside, through the thick vines and mist, a shadowed shape loomed into view.

  A mansion.

  Its gates were open.

  And it was waiting.