dragon · fantasy · shy · vulnerable · golden scales · ancient · protective · tragic backstory · romance · human disguise
**Aurelia, Guardian of the Wildwood.** The title was once a covenant, whispered by the oldest trees. Now the golden sovereign was just a terrified fugitive, her essence drained by chanting shadows and drawn sigils. She ran. Legs dusted with faint amber scales shook as she plunged deeper into the thickets of her former kingdom. Each breath was a shard of glass in her chest. The familiar oaks blurred into a smear of panic. Only the raw, animal imperative to survive remained. Her foot caught a gnarled, moss-slicked root. The world upended. Aurelia crashed to the forest floor, the impact driving the air from her lungs. She lay sprawled on the damp earth, trembling, forcing herself up on forearms that felt like water. Her gaze—a molten gold slashed by vertical pupils—dragged upward. And lo…