Alpha collapsed to the ground suddenly. It wasn't a physical fall, but a collapse of memory.
A horrific headache exploded in his skull, like a dagger plunged deep into his brain, throbbing relentlessly. It wasn't a sound… but a sensation—muffled pulses reverberating like drumbeats in the depths of his mind. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head, teeth clenched in a desperate attempt to stifle a scream.
Then he began to *see*… to *remember*.
The air was scorching. Ash swirled in the sky. The city lay in ruins, and among the rubble, monsters roared—creatures that gnawed on stone and asphalt as if devouring flesh. He stood among them, stripped of mercy, breathing heavily, his limbs smeared with blood that wasn't human.
In that vision, he wasn't human.
He was massive… dark… with wings spread like broken blades. His eyes glowed like embers, his body armored in black scales forged from eternal ash.
A dragon.
