Next morning.
The 5th Commander's fortress roared with movement—armor clanking, horses neighing and soldiers forming perfect lines. The war banners of the 5th Army Division fluttered wildly in the wind each marked with a silver tiger and their emblem of dominance.
Vice-Commander Aran Vale mounted his black warhorse, face stern, heart heavy.
He looked back once at the fortress tower.
He could almost feel his wife and blind son watching him leave.
I will return.
I must return.
Commander Draven rode to the front of the formation.
His presence alone silenced thousands.
"Soldiers!" Draven roared. "Today, we're all head toward the Nightfall Mountains. Our mission is clear to retrieve the forbidden treasure for the Empire!"
The soldiers banged their weapons on their shields in unison and they start shooting.
"FOR THE EMPIRE!"
"FOR THE EMPIRE!"
"FOR THE EMPIRE!"
The sound shook the ground where they're standing.
Draven raised his sword.
"Move!"
The massive legion thundered forward like a sea of steel.
The Empire of Asterion. Imperial City(Vice-commander house).
In a quiet chamber overlooking the mountains, the infant lay in a crib carved from moonwood.
He was already one month old.
Lyria Vale was open window, sunlight was coming through the open window, light falling on him, he was lying on bed, she came and held him gently in her arms.
"It has been 30 days since your father has left for a mission…." she whispered in his ears.
The boy tilted his head and listened to her heartbeat. Though blind but he reacted to her voice every time she spoke.
She smiled softly seeing him.
"You always turn toward my voice, little one.
You may not see, but… you know my voice."
The boy's tiny hand reached out brushing against her cheek.
She kissed his forehead.
"You're so special for me. The healers may not heal you but I also always there for you my son."
The boy responded with a soft "hum" something between a breath and an echo of her warmth.
Sometimes the room's mashal flickered when Lyria began to sing nursery rhymes, as if something invisible moved with her.
Other times, the baby would suddenly turn his head toward distant sounds no one else noticed.
Like wind shifting.
Or shadows crawling.
Or whispers that didn't belong to any human.
Lyria didn't understand any of it.
But she held him tighter each day, praying his father would return alive.
Six months of marching left dust on armor, tension in hearts, and unspoken fears between friends.
On the 70th day of journey.
Draven and Aran rode side-by-side on spirit horses through a forest path.
Draven broke the silence between them.
"How is Lyria handling the child?"
Aran exhaled breath with worry expression he staring into the trees.
"She's pretending to be strong. But I… I know her fear."
"And what about you?" Draven asked.
Aran hesitated but he reply.
"Every day I stay here it's feel like I'm letting him down."
Draven snorted lightly.
"If that boy has personality like his father then he'll be stubborn enough to survive anything."
He warned him about mission.
"Aran… this mission is going to be dangerous" he looked at Aran then his voice become softened sudden, "I wouldn't have asked you to come if the Emperor hadn't order it."
"You know I would have followed you anyway," Aran replied.
Draven looked up at the sky.
"You and I… we have fought a hundred battles. But this one—this feels different. The air is strange, the monsters restless and the Emperor… too eager."
Aran nodded slowly.
"As much as I know about Emperor, he can never give such order where 0.1% chance of complete mission."
Draven's gaze hardened.
"And I fear that whatever awaits us in Nightfall Mountain... I guess it's going to turn our last mission."
Next day they were standing in front of Nightfall mountain.
The first day was calm.
But the deeper they entered the Nightfall region the more unnatural the surroundings felt.
The trees grew twisted.
The wind carried no sound of birds.
The sky dimmer than earlier.
By the fourth day, the sun barely can see through the thick fog.
Aran rode beside Draven.
"This land it feels wrong," Aran muttered.
Draven nodded.
"It has felt wrong for centuries. Nightfall Mountains were once holy ground—until something corrupted them."
Aran frowned. "A beast?"
"No," Draven replied. "Legends claim a dragon died here long ago. Its corpse poisoned the land. But that's only myth."
Aran felt a cold shiver.
A dragon…
Why did he feel like that word was following him everywhere since his son's birth?
A scout suddenly galloped toward them, face pale.
"Commander! We found a body!"
Draven and Aran exchanged dark looks.
They followed the scout into the forest.
There, on the snow-like ash ground, lay a soldier.
His body had no wounds.
His armor was intact.
His whole chest was hollow, as if all the strength and spiritual energy had taken away.
Aran crouched.
"No blood… no struggle…"
Draven's eyes narrowed.
"This is spiritual extraction his all spiritual energy was sucked out from his body this was not a work of normal beast. We're going to difficult to fight now."
Aran's face hardened.
"That means a high-level beast is near."
Draven looked up at the sky.
"And it's watching us."
Draven He looked at the soldiers; they were all scared, dreaming of death and worrying about the families they had left behind.
The he shoot and say with loud voice to motivate them.
"Soldiers! Ready we're elite warriors who have fight countless battles back then now it's time for us to begin hunt down every enemy who stop us to complete this mission."
They reached a valley by sunset, surrounded by sharp black mountains. In the middle was a glowing cave entrance with a soft golden light.
The treasure site.
Draven ordered the soldiers to form a defensive circle.
"Aran, take ten elites and scout the cave interior. I will secure the perimeter."
Aran nodded and led his team forward.
Inside the cave, the air felt…a strange.
The deeper they went more darkness grew and it was so quiet there that they could clearly hear thier heartbeats.
Aran only thought going on in his mind was that since he came inside, "we neither saw a monster nor faced any problem as if everything was going smoothly, maybe someone wants us to reach there comfortably, are we falling into some trap?"
Until—
They reached a vast chamber.
At its center hovered a floating golden orb, covered in dragon-scale patterns.
Energy streamed from it like smoke.
Aran's eyes widened.
"A relic…"
"But this is no ordinary artifact."
His men stepped forward.
And the orb shuddered.
The ground trembled.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
One soldier whispered fearfully,
"Vice-Commander… something is worng with this place!"
A horrifying sound exploded through the cavern—
RRAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!
Not a beast's roar.
Something far older and louder.
The shockwave blew soldiers into walls, cracked stone and extinguished mashal.
Aran staggered backward, eyes wide.
"That… was a dragon's roar."
The ceiling shattered.
Golden scales flashed.
A massive shadow dropped from above, shaking the entire chamber.
A long serpentine neck.
Eyes like burning suns.
Wings larger than houses.
A dragon stepped into the light.
An ancient, majestic, wounded creature—scars running across its enormous body.
The men collapsed to their knees in terror.
Aran's heart hammered.
"A-Ancient… Dragon…"
The dragon's gaze swept across the humans, filled with pain and rage.
Then it locked onto Aran.
Something inside Aran's chest tightened.
He felt like the dragon was reading his soul.
"Human…"
The dragon's voice cracked the air like thunder.
"You… smell of the newborn."
Aran froze.
"What newborn?"
The dragon's pupils shrank.
"The child who carries the mark of the Silent Gaze."
Aran staggered backward, breath trembling.
"How do you know about my son?!"
The dragon's answer shook the cavern.
"Because your son… is the one I have been searching for."
Aran's blood turned cold.
And behind him…
The soldiers began screaming.
Because Commander Draven had just arrived and the dragon turned toward him with killing intent.