The throne room remained frozen beneath the blinding golden light pouring from the ancient vault. Nobles shielded their eyes. Guards slowly stepped backward in fear. Even the king himself could not move as the massive iron doors finished opening with a deafening echo that rolled across the marble hall like thunder from another age.

The boy stood alone before the treasure chamber.

Dust drifted through the air around him while the floating crown illuminated his face with soft golden fire. Ancient coins, forgotten weapons, and crystal relics filled the endless vault behind him, but none of it seemed to matter.

Because the crown was moving.

Slowly.

Toward him.

“No…” the king whispered weakly.

The royal priests immediately dropped to their knees in terror. One old priest began trembling so violently he could barely speak.

“The vault recognizes blood…”

The court exploded into chaos.

“That’s impossible!”

“The royal line ended years ago!”

“He’s just a street child!”

But the boy heard none of them.

His eyes remained fixed on the floating crown as strange memories flashed through his mind like fragments of a forgotten dream. Fire. Smoke. A woman crying while holding him tightly against her chest. The sound of dragons roaring above a burning city.

Then—

Pain.

The boy suddenly collapsed onto one knee, gasping as a burning symbol appeared across his arm beneath the dirt and scars covering his skin. Golden light spread through the veins beneath his hand like liquid fire.

The throne room shook violently.

Cracks split across the marble floor while the two giant stone dragons guarding the vault began to move for the first time in centuries.

Stone dust exploded into the air.

The court screamed.

The dragons slowly lifted their massive heads, ancient glowing eyes awakening beneath layers of dead stone. Every guard in the throne room immediately raised their weapons while nobles fled toward the exits in panic.

“The dragons are waking!” someone shouted.

“Protect the king!”

But the creatures ignored everyone.

Both stone dragons turned only toward the boy.

Then lowered their heads.

Like servants before a king.

Silence swallowed the throne room.

The king staggered backward in horror, his crown nearly falling from his head as realization finally struck him.

Years ago, during the Great Purge, the royal family had ordered every surviving heir of the Dragon Bloodline executed to prevent a prophecy from coming true. Entire villages burned. Children disappeared. Names were erased from history itself.

But one child had never been found.

One infant vanished the night the palace fell into flames.

The Forgotten Heir.

“No…” the king breathed again, his voice shaking now. “You died…”

The boy slowly looked up.

And for the first time, his eyes were glowing gold.

The floating crown drifted closer until it hovered directly before him, spinning slowly in the air while ancient runes ignited across its surface. The entire vault pulsed with power, responding to his presence like a living thing awakening after centuries of silence.

Then the voice came.

Deep.

Ancient.

Not from the throne room—

But from inside the vault itself.

“The blood of dragons has returned.”

Every torch in the hall exploded outward.

Darkness swallowed the palace for one terrifying second before golden fire erupted across the walls, illuminating thousands of hidden dragon carvings that had remained buried beneath stone for generations.

The carvings were all facing the same direction.

Toward the boy.

The king dropped to one knee instinctively, unable to resist the crushing pressure filling the room. Around him, guards trembled in fear as their swords shook violently in their hands.

The boy slowly stood.

Confused.

Afraid.

But alive with power.

“I don’t understand…” he whispered.

And suddenly—

A roar shook the entire kingdom.

Not from the throne room.

Not from the city.

From beneath the mountain itself.

The court froze.

Because every person in the kingdom knew that sound.

The last dragon had been dead for over three hundred years.

Another roar thundered through the earth.

Closer this time.

Dust rained from the ceiling while the ancient vault behind the boy began glowing brighter and brighter. The floating crown snapped suddenly into his hands, and the moment his fingers touched the metal—

The mountain exploded.