The royal plaza fell into absolute silence.<\/p>\n
Thousands stood frozen beneath the golden sunrise as glowing cracks spread across the giant stone dragon\u2019s body.<\/p>\n
Dust rained from the ancient creature.<\/p>\n
Its enormous eye burned like molten gold while the orphan boy struggled to hold the legendary sword against the violent magical energy surging through the pedestal.<\/p>\n
The Guard Captain stepped backward in horror.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s impossible\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The dragon moved.<\/p>\n
Not much.<\/p>\n
Just enough for the entire kingdom to feel the marble plaza tremble beneath their feet.<\/p>\n
Nobles screamed and stumbled away from the platform while armored guards raised shields in panic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dragon is waking!\u201d<\/p>\n
The orphan boy stared upward, terrified.<\/p>\n
The sword in his hands glowed brighter and brighter as ancient symbols ignited across the blade.<\/p>\n
Then suddenly\u2014<\/p>\n
The dragon lowered its gigantic head toward him.<\/p>\n
The entire crowd stopped breathing again.<\/p>\n
Because everyone knew the ancient prophecy.<\/p>\n
The Dragon of Aetherion only bowed to one person.<\/p>\n
The kingdom\u2019s true protector.<\/p>\n
King Valen slowly rose from his throne near the palace stairs, his face pale beneath the sunlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u2026\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat bloodline ended centuries ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The orphan boy looked around in confusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But the dragon\u2019s glowing eyes never left him.<\/p>\n
Slowly\u2026<\/p>\n
the enormous creature knelt before the child.<\/p>\n
The plaza erupted into chaos.<\/p>\n
\u201cImpossible!\u201d
\n\u201cThe prophecy is real!\u201d
\n\u201cHe touched the Guardian Sword!\u201d<\/p>\n
Several royal knights immediately drew weapons.<\/p>\n
One noble pointed toward the boy in fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s dangerous!\u201d<\/p>\n
But before anyone could move\u2014<\/p>\n
The sword suddenly unleashed another blast of golden energy.<\/p>\n
BOOM.<\/p>\n
A shockwave ripped across the plaza so violently that banners snapped apart above the crowd.<\/p>\n
The dragon roared.<\/p>\n
Not with rage.<\/p>\n
With recognition.<\/p>\n
The sound echoed across the entire kingdom.<\/p>\n
Far beyond the castle walls.<\/p>\n
Far into the mountains surrounding Aetherion.<\/p>\n
And deep beneath the city itself\u2026<\/p>\n
something answered.<\/p>\n
A second roar.<\/p>\n
Older.<\/p>\n
Larger.<\/p>\n
Far more terrifying.<\/p>\n
The dragon instantly lifted its head toward the distant mountains.<\/p>\n
Fear spread across its glowing eyes.<\/p>\n
The royal crowd fell silent again.<\/p>\n
Because dragons were never supposed to fear anything.<\/p>\n
Then the orphan boy heard a voice inside his mind.<\/p>\n
Ancient.
\nPowerful.
\nDesperate.<\/p>\n
\u201cRun.\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy\u2019s breathing stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n
The dragon looked directly at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHE HAS RETURNED.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suddenly\u2014<\/p>\n
The mountain far beyond the kingdom exploded.<\/p>\n
Stone shattered into the sky as something massive began rising from beneath the earth.<\/p>\n
Dark wings unfolded through clouds of dust and fire.<\/p>\n
The sunlight vanished beneath its shadow.<\/p>\n
Panic consumed the royal plaza instantly.<\/p>\n
Because the creature emerging from the mountain was not stone.<\/p>\n
Not sleeping.<\/p>\n
Not ancient history.<\/p>\n
It was alive.<\/p>\n
And it was flying directly toward the Kingdom of Aetherion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The royal plaza fell into absolute silence. Thousands stood frozen beneath the golden sunrise as glowing cracks spread across the giant stone dragon\u2019s body. Dust rained from the ancient creature. Its enormous eye burned like molten gold while the orphan boy struggled to hold the legendary sword against the violent magical energy surging through the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}