(Kael, Age 10 — Mountain Training Grounds)
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I. The Mock Battle
The sun dipped low over the jagged mountain peaks, spilling long, blade-like shadows across the narrow ridge where Kael and Master Eiran faced each other. The air was thin up here—sharp, biting, restless.
Eiran tapped his wooden practice blade against his palm.
"No drills today."His eyes hardened."Today we test instinct."
Kael tightened his grip. Sweat gathered at his brow. A breeze curled around his ankles—faint, warning, alive.
Eiran lunged.
Wood cracked against wood. Kael parried, ducked, pivoted—moving with a speed no nine-year-old should possess. Eiran's strikes came harsher, faster, heavier.
Kael blocked.Barely.
Wind thickened around him, pressure swirling, gathering at his back as if ready to push him forward.
"Good," Eiran barked. "Stop thinking. React."
Kael shifted his footing—
And the wind moved with him.
Eiran slashed downward.
Kael's instincts screamed.
He twisted, and the air around him detonated in a violent burst.
WHOOM—
A shockwave exploded from Kael's body.
The ridge beneath them split open.
Eiran's eyes widened. "KAEL—MOVE!"
But the mountain moved faster.
The ledge cracked.Kael's foot slipped.The whole ridge collapsed in a deafening cascade.
Eiran lunged, grabbing Kael's wrist—
But the earth yawned wide.
Kael slipped from Eiran's grasp.
And fell.
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II. The Underground Canyon
The world blurred. Wind roared past his ears. Kael twisted midair—
BOOM.
He crashed onto a lower stone platform. Pain erupted through his shoulder. His vision swam.
Eiran fell a heartbeat later, rolling instinctively and springing upright.
"Kael! Speak to me—are you hurt?"
Kael groaned. "Just… bruised."
Then his voice faded.
Because the cavern around them was impossibly vast.
A colossal underground canyon stretched out beneath the mountains:A cathedral of stone and thunder.Air so thick with Source it felt alive.Blue-white veins of light pulsed through the rock walls like the heartbeat of a slumbering titan.
High above, the hole they'd fallen through sealed behind drifting dust.
The canyon below plunged into endless depth.
Wind moved through it with purpose—coiling, circling, murmuring.
The air tasted like storms.
Eiran's breath shuddered. "This can't be…"
A roar answered him.
Not the cry of a beast.Not the growl of anything mortal.
A sound older than mountains.
The cavern shook. Boulders rained down. Dust rose like smoke.
"That wasn't a creature," Eiran whispered. "That was—"
Another roar.
Louder.Older.Angrier.
The Source itself trembled.
Then Kael saw the shadow.
A massive shape rising from the canyon's depths.Stone cracked under its weight.Thunder rolled with its breath.Lightning danced across its wings.
Two golden eyes—vast as shields—opened in the darkness.
And Valdyros, the Storm Sovereign, stepped into the light.
⸻
III. The King's Presence
"Run—!" Eiran choked, shoving Kael behind him.
Valdyros blinked once.
The world shattered.
BOOM.
An avalanche of pure dominance slammed into them.
King's Presence.
The overwhelming aura reserved only for true rulers—beings chosen not by mortals, but by the Source itself.
Kael collapsed.His palms slapped stone.His lungs refused to expand.
Eiran fell to his knees, vomiting as his arms buckled.
"D-Don't… move…" he gasped.
BOOM.
A second pulse hit them.
Kael felt his bones groan.The ground quaked beneath him.Eiran's forehead cracked against stone.
Valdyros towered over them, lightning dripping from his jaws.
"Intruders."His voice cracked the cavern."Kneel."
Neither Kael nor Eiran had a choice.
The pressure was suffocating—crushing—absolute.
Kael's vision blurred.His ribs screamed.His spine bowed—
Then something deep within him stirred.
A pulse.Faint.But rising.
His Soul Source sparked.His Body Source surged.His Mind Source sharpened.
Light flickered beneath his skin like starlight trying to escape.
Kael grit his teeth—
And pushed.
His arms quaked.His shoulders shook.His knees trembled—
But inch by inch…
He rose.
He rose beneath the weight of a dragon's sovereign aura.
Valdyros went still.
Eiran stared, horrified and awestruck.
"Impossible!" Eiran gasped.
For the first time, Valdyros's eyes widened.
Then—
A slow, thunderous laugh rumbled through the cavern.
⸻
IV. The Storm Sovereign's Recognition
The moment Kael stood fully upright, Valdyros drew back his Presence.
The crushing weight evaporated.
Eiran collapsed sideways, gasping desperately for air.
Valdyros lowered his massive head until his golden eyes filled Kael's entire world.
"You stand beneath my aura."A long, disbelieving pause."Not even kings stand beneath me."
Kael swallowed. "I… I don't know how."
Valdyros inhaled deeply.His wings snapped open.Lightning crackled between his teeth.
"Three Sources…" he growled.His pupils thinned to slits."I smell all three within you."
Eiran staggered back, pale."Kael… has all three Source streams…?"
Valdyros stepped back, gaze never leaving the boy.
"There has not been one like you in a thousand years."
Kael trembled. "Wh-what does that mean?"
The dragon's voice dropped to a sacred rumble.
"It means, child… you are the Vessel the Prime Architect has foretold."
Kael's breath hitched.Eiran's eyes widened.
Valdyros continued:
"Your Body, Mind, and Soul burn together.""Your potential is vast, dangerous, divine.""And I will shape it."
Kael stared, stunned. "Train… me?"
"Yes." Lightning crawled across the cavern walls."I will awaken your remaining gates.""I will forge your soul into stormlight.""I will prepare you for the day the worlds shift."
Eiran swallowed hard. "But even the blessed can only open two—"
"Most," Valdyros snarled. "Not this one."
He turned his head to Eiran.
"Mortal swordsman."
Eiran dropped to one knee. "Yes, Storm Sovereign."
"You will train the boy here, under my watch. You will not leave this canyon until he is ready."
"Yes, my lord."
Valdyros lowered his massive head toward Kael.
"Stand, Kael Varos.""Your true training begins now."
Kael lifted his chin.
Wind twisted through the canyon—Warm.Wild.Welcoming.
Welcome, it whispered.
And Kael stepped forward into destiny.