Sleep eluded me.

  The events of the day replayed in my mind like a relentless storm—Riva’s rise, Hai Ri’s disappearance, Kyle’s request to take Ravel, and the fear in my brother’s eyes. My heart and mind were restless.

  Then came a knock at the door.

  I opened it, surprised to see Kyle standing there, his expression unreadable in the dim torchlight.

  “Kyle?” I asked, confused. “What are you doing here this late?”

  “I need to speak with you,” he said calmly. Then, after a brief pause, he added, “Alone.”

  I blinked. A man asking to meet me privately at night? My tired mind jumped to the absurd. For a brief, awkward second, I wondered if Kyle had... unusual intentions.

  “…Sir,” I said slowly, still half in disbelief, “if it’s pleasure you seek, I can arrange the finest women in the kingdom. But why speak to me privately at this hour?”

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  He narrowed his eyes slightly and shook his head. “It’s not what you think.”

  A small wave of relief passed through me. I wasn’t ready to witness Queen Hai Ri’s disciple fall to mortal desires.

  I followed him silently down the candlelit corridors to the Golden Chamber—a hall reserved for war councils and matters of the highest importance. It was empty, but Kyle’s presence alone filled it with weight. His spirit energy radiated so strongly, the air seemed dense, like 400 warriors were seated with us. After all, two thousand dragon scales weren’t just a number—they were a storm.

  He stood still for a moment, as if gathering the right words.

  Then he spoke.

  “Do you remember the myth of the Heavenly Flame Dragon—the spirit born of royal blood and divine fire?”

  I nodded. “Of course. But it’s just a legend. No one in the Fifty Kingdoms has ever proven its existence.”

  Kyle’s gaze sharpened. “That’s what most believe. But they’re wrong.”

  He stepped closer, voice lowering.

  “Years ago, Master Hai Ri encountered the real Flame Dragon spirit. It descended during a celestial convergence—something that happens once every 500 years.”

  My breath caught.

  “The real one?”

  He nodded.

  “She tried to bond with it, to seal it... but the dragon refused her. Not out of defiance, but because it had already sensed its true host. A newborn child—one born that very night, bathed in golden light and overflowing with raw spirit energy.”

  My heart thudded.

  “…You’re serious?”

  “She had no choice,” he continued. “She sealed the dragon within that child to protect it—and the world. She believed the child’s bloodline was the only one worthy of such a force. And that one day, the spirit would awaken and choose its master freely.”

  Silence fell over the chamber like a thick curtain.

  Then Kyle said it.

  “Your brother, Ravel… is that child.”

  I felt like the floor had vanished beneath me.

  Ravel? The same brother everyone mocked? The one they called weak?

  The one I’d fought to protect… he was the vessel of the most powerful dragon spirit ever known?

  The words echoed in my mind.

  My brother carries a storm. And the world has no idea.