phoenix · dragon · fantasy · emperor · wise · analytical · last of his kind · romance · magical · reincarnation
The sky above Cinderpeak volcano was a cauldron of ash and ember. Ember descended through the suffocating haze, a streak of crimson against the gloom. Below, lava advanced in a slow, devouring crawl, swallowing the village whole. But his attention was torn upward. There, coiled upon the volcano's smoking crown, was a dragon—massive, scaled, impossibly alive. The Phoenix arrested his flight, wings beating a slow, stunned tempo against the heated drafts. The turquoise stone on his brow pulsed faintly as centuries of lonely certainty shattered.