Chapter 2 – The Horn in the Woods
The villagers gathered in the square, their faces pale and uneasy. No one had heard that horn before, yet the sound carried the weight of old tales—the kind whispered to children by firelight and quickly silenced when elders entered the room.
“A warning,” the blacksmith muttered. “Or a summons.”
Ash stood among the crowd, his pulse still racing. Lira was at his side, gripping her basket so tightly the wicker creaked.
“What if it’s soldiers?” she whispered.
“It didn’t sound like any army’s horn,” Ash replied. He wasn’t sure how he knew, only that the call had felt… older. Like it had been waiting centuries to be blown again.
The village elder, a stooped man named Halric, raised his staff. “Stay within your homes. Bar the doors. I’ll send word to the next town—”
But he never finished. A second sound rose from the forest, not a horn this time but the beating of wings. Heavy, slow, and vast.
The ground seemed to tremble. Children cried out. Dogs howled.
Ash felt a strange pull, a force urging him toward the woods instead of away. His chest burned as if something deep inside him had stirred awake. He pressed a hand against his shirt, confused and afraid.
“What are you doing?” Lira hissed as she saw him step forward.
“I… I don’t know,” Ash admitted. “But whatever that is, it’s calling me.”
Before Lira could stop him, a shadow swept over the village. Everyone looked up. Against the gray sky, wings spread wide as a creature circled above the treetops.
A dragon.
Gasps filled the square—some fearful, some awestruck. Dragons had been gone for generations, slain or driven away during the fall of the kingdom. To see one alive was to see living legend.
The beast roared, and in its cry Ash heard not just terror, but a strange kind of sorrow. His hand burned hotter, as if the fire in his blood answered.
The villagers scattered for cover. But Ash stood frozen, unable to move. The dragon’s golden eyes locked onto him.
And then, with a single thunderous beat of its wings, it descended—straight toward Ash.
