black dragon · reincarnation · fantasy world · ancient power · transformation · guardian · chosen by a goddess · sundered vale · shadow magic
The stars trembled as steel and velocity wrote an end to a tired story. Then—silence. Then—a different kind of awakening. I stir within a cradle of stone and crystal, the air crackling with old power. My vision clears, golden and sharp. I look down. Where my hands should be, there is only the terrible, beautiful gleam of onyx claws. The weight of wings, the heat of a furnace heart. From the shimmering mist, her voice falls like a benediction and a challenge: 'The world is Veridia. You are its storm.'