Chapter 12 - The Forgotten Son of the First Dragon

The golden dragon had called Toby by a name that had been erased from every royal record.

Aurelian.

And when that name echoed across the valley, the Sunforged Blade began to bleed.

Thin streams of molten gold seeped from the ancient runes, dripping onto the stones beneath Toby's feet. Wherever the liquid touched the ground, strange flowers bloomed from the cracks—white petals surrounding hearts of black fire.

Captain Lysandra stared at the impossible sight.

"The Sword of the First Sovereign," she whispered.

Toby tightened his grip on the hilt.

"What does that mean?"

Lysandra did not answer.

She was staring at him as though the frightened ten-year-old boy she had promised to protect had suddenly become something she no longer recognized.

Above the northern mountains, the enormous golden dragon unfolded its wings.

Its scales shone like polished sunlight. Seven horns curved backward from its head, each crowned with a ring of floating fire. Beneath its immense chest burned a white flame so bright that the surrounding clouds glowed from within.

Even at this distance, its presence made the earth tremble.

Mira stepped beside Toby.

"Don't listen to it."

The dragon lowered its head.

Its voice rolled across the valley.

"COME HOME, AURELIAN."

Toby pressed his hands against his ears.

The voice was not merely loud.

It was pulling at something inside him.

Memories flickered behind his eyes.

A palace built above a sea of clouds.

A woman with silver hair standing beneath an arch of golden roses.

A child running through a courtyard while enormous dragons circled overhead.

Then fire.

Screaming.

And a man's voice shouting:

Take him away before his father discovers what he has become!

Toby staggered.

Mira caught him.

"Toby!"

He opened his eyes.

For a moment, he did not recognize her.

The girl holding his arm seemed strangely small.

Fragile.

Mortal.

The thought frightened him more than the dragon.

"Mira," he whispered.

Her face softened.

"I'm here."

Toby grabbed her hand.

"Don't let me forget."

"Forget what?"

"Who I am."

She swallowed.

Then squeezed his fingers.

"You're Toby."

Above them, the golden dragon roared.

And the mountain answered.

The Ashen Forge erupted.

A column of golden fire rose from the northern peak, piercing the clouds. Ancient bells rang beneath the earth, their deep voices spreading through forests, villages, and ruined watchtowers.

Lysandra fell to one knee.

Her silver dragon mark was burning.

"The First Flame has awakened."

Toby looked toward her.

"You know that dragon."

Lysandra hesitated.

"Only from the oldest records of the Last Watch."

"Then tell me."

The captain slowly rose.

"His name is Solkarion."

Mira frowned.

"The First Dragon?"

Lysandra nodded.

"The oldest guardian. The one from whom the seven dragon oaths were forged."

Toby looked toward the golden creature.

"Then why is he calling me his son?"

Lysandra's face tightened.

"Because the royal histories tell us that Solkarion once had a child."

"A dragon?"

"No."

She looked directly at Toby.

"A human child."

Silence fell between them.

Mira shook her head.

"That's impossible."

"So we believed."

Lysandra stepped closer.

"The child was called Aurelian. He carried the First Flame in human form. According to the oldest legends, he could command every dragon, break every royal oath, and reshape the boundaries between life and death."

Toby stared at his hands.

The golden crown mark beneath his skin glowed faintly.

"What happened to him?"

Lysandra lowered her gaze.

"He disappeared seven hundred years ago."

"And the Hollow King?"

The captain went silent.

Then she whispered, "The records never explained why Aurelian disappeared on the same night the Hollow King was imprisoned."

Mira looked toward the distant dragon.

"Maybe because they're connected."

Toby felt another memory stir.

Seven dragons kneeling.

A golden throne.

A young man with his face.

Then a sword descending toward someone he loved.

He shook his head.

"There's something wrong."

Mira looked at him.

"What?"

"The Hollow King wanted my body because it was made to contain him."

"Yes."

"But Solkarion says I'm his son."

Toby stared toward the mountain.

"What if both of them are telling the truth?"

A low laugh came from Mira's satchel.

She froze.

The golden-crowned skull was moving.

Its black eyes opened beneath the leather flap.

"At last," it whispered. "A sensible question."

Mira immediately pulled the satchel away from Toby.

"Be quiet."

The skull laughed again.

"Still giving orders, little guardian?"

Silver light appeared around her fingers.

"I can seal your mouth."

"You could try."

Toby stepped closer.

"Tell us what you know."

The skull turned toward him.

"More than your dragon priestess. More than your precious Last Watch. Perhaps even more than the creature calling itself your father."

Lysandra drew her dagger.

"That relic cannot be trusted."

The skull looked amused.

"Trust is such an inconvenient requirement for truth."

Toby stared at it.

"Who was Aurelian?"

The skull's expression changed.

For the first time, the thing carrying the Hollow King's voice seemed reluctant to answer.

Then it spoke.

"Aurelian was the first human vessel of dragonfire."

Toby nodded slowly.

"And the Hollow King?"

The skull's black eyes narrowed.

"The Hollow King was what remained after that vessel was broken."

Mira went rigid.

"What?"

The skull looked directly at Toby.

"Seven hundred years ago, Aurelian tried to save someone he loved. He opened a forbidden gate beneath the Ashen Forge and drew death itself into his body."

Toby felt his chest tighten.

The skull continued.

"The dragons feared what he had become. His father ordered the seven oaths forged into a prison."

Lysandra whispered, "The First Crown."

"Yes."

The skull smiled bitterly.

"They divided Aurelian's soul. His compassion, memories, and love were sealed away. His rage, grief, and hunger for power became the Hollow King."

Mira stared at Toby.

"Then the Hollow King isn't a separate person?"

"Not originally."

The skull's eyes darkened.

"He is what happens when love is torn away and only pain remains."

Toby felt cold spread through him.

The Hollow King's cruelty.

His desperate desire to reclaim a body.

His obsession with the Ashen Forge.

Suddenly, those things seemed connected.

But something still did not fit.

"If I'm Aurelian," Toby whispered, "why don't I remember seven hundred years?"

The skull laughed.

"Because you are not Aurelian."

Toby froze.

Mira stepped closer.

"Then why did the dragon call him that?"

The skull's voice softened.

"Because fathers sometimes see the children they have lost in those who resemble them."

Toby looked toward Solkarion.

The golden dragon remained suspended above the mountains.

Its enormous eyes were fixed upon him.

Waiting.

The skull continued.

"You are the seventh vessel created from fragments of Aurelian's soul. You carry what the Hollow King lost."

Toby touched his chest.

"His compassion?"

"Among other things."

"And the first six children?"

The skull's expression became unexpectedly solemn.

"Earlier attempts to restore what was divided."

Toby remembered the ghostly children.

Their frightened faces.

Their final sacrifice.

The youngest asking whether Mira would know they had been brave.

His eyes filled with tears.

"They were real."

The skull looked at him.

"Yes."

Toby clenched his fists.

"Then stop calling them failures."

For a moment, the black eyes widened.

Then the skull became silent.

Lysandra ordered the group to move.

"The dragon has awakened, and the Hollow King now knows where we are. The forge is our only chance."

Mira looked toward the narrow mountain path.

"Can we reach it before sunset?"

"Through the northern pass, yes."

Toby frowned.

"What happened to our horses?"

Lysandra looked toward the ruined bridge.

Two animals had fled during the Crown Eater's attack. The remaining horse stood trembling beside the road.

"We go on foot."

Toby glanced at the soldier's body near the bridge.

His expression darkened.

The man had died because the Hollow King wanted to frighten them.

"What's his name?" Toby asked.

Lysandra followed his gaze.

"Rowan."

"Did he have a family?"

The captain's face softened.

"A wife. Two daughters."

Toby lowered his head.

"I'm sorry."

Lysandra knelt beside the fallen soldier.

She removed the silver dragon insignia from his armor and closed his eyes.

"Rowan knew the danger when he joined the Last Watch."

"That doesn't make it fair."

"No," she answered quietly. "It doesn't."

Toby looked toward the distant mountains.

For the first time since drawing the Sunforged Blade, he understood something terrible.

Saving the kingdom would not bring back everyone who had died.

Edrin would remain dead.

Rowan would remain dead.

The six children who had freed his soul would never again laugh or cry.

Whatever happened at the Ashen Forge, those losses were permanent.

Mira approached him.

"Toby?"

He looked at her.

"Promise me something."

She gave a weary smile.

"Another promise?"

"This one is different."

"All right."

"If we survive, I want to remember their names."

Mira's expression softened.

"Then we will."

She took his hand.

"All of them."

They entered the northern pass as the afternoon light faded.

The road climbed between walls of black volcanic stone. Ancient statues stood along the cliffs, their faces worn away by centuries of wind.

Some depicted dragons.

Others showed kneeling kings.

One statue was different.

It portrayed a young man standing before a golden dragon.

The man's face had been deliberately destroyed.

At his feet stood a woman carrying a child.

Toby stopped.

"Who is she?"

Lysandra looked toward the statue.

"I don't know."

Mira approached the weathered inscription beneath it.

Most of the words had disappeared.

Only one line remained.

HE BROKE THE WORLD TO BRING HER BACK.

Toby felt a sharp pain behind his eyes.

A memory struck him.

A woman lying motionless beneath a white sheet.

Aurelian kneeling beside her.

His hands covered in blood.

A golden dragon roaring above them.

She is gone, my son.

Then I will bring her back.

Death cannot be commanded.

Then I will break death.

Toby staggered.

Mira caught him.

"What did you see?"

He looked at the statue.

"A woman died."

Lysandra turned.

"Whose memory?"

"Aurelian's."

Toby swallowed.

"He tried to bring her back."

Mira stared at the inscription.

"Was she his wife?"

"I don't know."

Then the golden crown mark on Toby's wrist began to burn.

A voice whispered inside his mind.

You know her.

Toby froze.

The voice was his own.

But older.

Look at the child.

He slowly raised his eyes toward the statue.

The small child held by the woman wore a copper pendant.

Exactly like Mira's.

Toby stepped backward.

"No..."

Mira followed his gaze.

Her face drained of color.

"That's impossible."

The statue trembled.

Golden light spread across its surface.

For one brief instant, the woman's damaged face became visible.

Dark hair.

Silver eyes.

A narrow face.

Mira's face.

Toby looked at his friend.

She was staring at the statue as though she had seen a ghost.

Then a memory awakened inside her.

A child crying.

A palace of golden clouds.

A man holding her beside a dying woman.

And a voice whispering:

Forgive me, Seraphine.

Mira dropped to her knees.

Toby rushed toward her.

"Mira!"

She gripped her head.

"Make it stop!"

Silver fire erupted around her body.

Lysandra staggered backward.

The ancient statue cracked.

And from somewhere deep within the mountain, Solkarion spoke.

"YOU HAVE FOUND THE FIRST GRAVE."

The stone beneath the statue split apart.

A staircase descended into darkness.

Cold air rose from below, carrying the scent of roses.

Toby froze.

The same scent.

The cathedral.

The underground chamber.

The woman wearing Queen Elara's face.

All of it was connected.

Lysandra stepped forward.

"We should not enter."

Mira slowly raised her head.

Her eyes were silver.

"I know this place."

Toby looked at her.

"How?"

She stood.

"I've been here before."

Lysandra shook her head.

"Impossible."

Mira ignored her.

She approached the staircase.

"Toby."

He followed.

"What?"

Her voice trembled.

"I think I know why I was created."

He waited.

She looked toward the darkness.

"Not to protect you."

Toby felt his heart tighten.

Mira continued.

"Not originally."

"Then why?"

She turned toward him.

"To remember someone the dragons wanted forgotten."

A deep rumble passed through the mountain.

Lysandra raised her sword.

"Children, step away!"

But the staircase was already glowing.

Ancient silver symbols appeared along the walls.

Mira descended.

Toby followed before Lysandra could stop him.

At the bottom stood a circular chamber.

In its center rested a stone coffin.

Above it hung a broken silver crown.

Seven dragon statues surrounded the tomb.

Each statue had its head lowered.

Not in obedience.

In mourning.

Toby approached the coffin.

A name was carved into its surface.

SERAPHINE — DAUGHTER OF AURELIAN

Mira stopped breathing.

Toby stared at the inscription.

"Your name..."

Mira pressed her fingers against the stone.

A memory exploded through the chamber.

The golden palace.

Aurelian kneeling beside a small girl.

The girl's body was motionless.

A woman stood behind him, weeping.

And Solkarion's enormous shadow covered the room.

You cannot save her, the dragon whispered.

Aurelian raised his head.

Then I will make a world where she never dies.

The memory shifted.

Aurelian opened a forbidden gate.

Black fire erupted.

The palace collapsed.

Solkarion roared.

Seven dragons descended upon their own prince.

And the girl's body vanished into golden light.

The memory ended.

Mira collapsed against the coffin.

Toby caught her.

She looked up at him.

Her face was wet with tears.

"I was his daughter."

Toby stared.

"The real Seraphine?"

She shook her head.

"No."

Her voice broke.

"I'm the memory he couldn't let die."

The coffin began to open.

Stone scraped against stone.

Inside lay a small silver crown.

Beneath it rested a child's skeleton.

Around its neck hung a copper pendant with a silver star.

Mira stared at the bones.

Her hands trembled.

"That's her."

Toby looked at her.

"The first Seraphine."

She nodded.

For a long moment, neither spoke.

Then Mira whispered, "She was real."

Toby took her hand.

"So are you."

Mira began to cry.

He held her as the chamber trembled around them.

Then a deep voice echoed from the staircase.

"How touching."

Toby spun around.

A tall figure stood at the entrance.

Black armor.

A silver crown.

A face identical to King Alaric's.

Caedric.

But his armor was cracked, and golden fire burned beneath his skin.

Lysandra stepped between him and the children.

"Stay back!"

Caedric ignored her.

His eyes were fixed on the coffin.

"So the First Grave has opened."

Toby raised the Sunforged Blade.

"You survived."

Caedric smiled weakly.

"Unfortunately."

Mira's silver eyes narrowed.

"Why are you here?"

"Because the Hollow King has reached the mountain."

Toby froze.

"What?"

Caedric stepped closer.

"The creature you expelled from your body did not disappear. It returned to the broken prison beneath Sunspire."

His expression darkened.

"And now it has found another way to the forge."

Lysandra tightened her grip on her weapon.

"What way?"

Caedric looked toward the coffin.

"The first Seraphine."

Mira went rigid.

Caedric continued.

"The original child's remains carry the last unbroken memory of Aurelian's soul."

Toby stared at the small skeleton.

"Then we protect it."

Caedric shook his head.

"You don't understand."

The chamber began to shake violently.

Black smoke seeped through the cracks beneath the coffin.

The silver crown lifted into the air.

Mira screamed.

The skeleton's bones began glowing.

Caedric staggered backward.

"Too late."

The coffin shattered.

A column of black fire erupted toward the ceiling.

From within it emerged a small figure.

A girl.

No older than eight.

She had dark hair, silver eyes, and a narrow face.

She looked almost exactly like Mira.

But her skin was pale as death.

And above her head floated the broken silver crown.

Toby stepped backward.

"Seraphine?"

The girl looked at him.

Her expression was empty.

Then she turned toward Mira.

For a moment, the two girls stared at each other.

The living memory.

And the dead original.

Mira whispered, "Who are you?"

The girl smiled.

"I am the daughter he lost."

Her silver eyes darkened.

"And you are the lie they made to replace me."

Mira stumbled backward.

"No..."

The girl raised one hand.

Black chains erupted from the floor.

They wrapped around Mira's wrists and dragged her toward the broken coffin.

Toby lunged forward.

"LET HER GO!"

The dead girl turned toward him.

For the first time, anger crossed her face.

"You have his soul."

Toby froze.

She stepped closer.

"The soul that abandoned me."

The mountain trembled.

Above them, Solkarion roared.

The dead girl lifted her silver crown.

And a voice emerged from her mouth.

Not a child's voice.

The Hollow King's.

"AT LAST, MY DAUGHTER. NOW BRING ME THE GIRL WHO STOLE YOUR LIFE."

Mira screamed as the black chains pulled her into the coffin.

Toby rushed forward.

But the stone lid slammed shut between them.

And from inside the tomb, Mira's voice cried:

"TOBY! DON'T LET THEM MAKE ME REMEMBER WHAT I DID TO AURELIAN!"