Darkness wrapped around Khael like a velvet shroud.
Weightless.
Soundless.
Empty except for the echo of his own heartbeat, faint and slowing.
Then…
A glow appeared in the void.
Soft at first.
A pale ember.
Then brighter.
Brighter still.
Until molten gold poured across the darkness, like sunlight bleeding through cracks in the night.
Khael's eyes fluttered open.
He was standing barefoot on a vast expanse of shimmering obsidian. Above him, a black sky pulsed with veins of gold, like a living constellation.
And in front of him…
A massive silhouette unfurled.
Scales of liquid light.
Eyes like twin suns.
Wings that stretched wider than mountains.
A dragon, ancient as the first dawn, stepped forward.
Each movement sent ripples of golden fire across the void.
Khael's breath caught.
"...Azael?"
The dragon lowered his enormous head, the molten glow of his eyes flickering with something almost… tender.
