The door burst.
Not cracked. Not opened. "Exploded".
The blast threw Serina backward. She hit the tunnel wall hard, air knocked from her lungs. Her lamp smashed against the stone, plunging everything into darkness.
Then light exploded from the doorway.
Blinding. White-gold. So bright it hurt to look at.
The ground shook beneath her. A sound like thunder—or like something huge taking its first breath in a thousand years—rolled through the undercity.
Serina climbed to her feet, gasping.
The door was gone. Just "gone". Where solid stone had been moments before, now gaped a huge opening. Golden light poured out, washing over the cave walls.
And from inside came a sound.
Breathing.
Slow. Deep. Powerful.
Every urge screamed at Serina to run. Get out. This was wrong.
But she'd come for a reason. Leo was dying.
She stepped through the gap.
The room beyond stole her breath.
It was massive. So huge her eyes couldn't find the ceiling in the darkness above. Stone pillars rose like old trees, carved with those strange symbols. The floor was smooth, inlaid with designs that seemed to shift in the light.
And in the center— A man.
Trapped.
Chains made of pure light wrapped around him. Around his wrists, pulled wide. Around his chest. Around his throat. They glowed with power, bright enough to hurt her eyes.
The man stood with his arms spread, head tilted back. Frozen mid-struggle. Like he'd been that way for a very long time.
Serina took a step closer, unable to look away.
He was tall. Powerfully built. He wore strange armor that looked like dragon scales—dark metal that caught the light. His hair was black with lines of silver running through it, falling past his shoulders in tangled waves.
Even motionless, even bound, power radiated from him like heat from a fire.
Another step.
The light-chains pulsed brighter, responding to her presence.
And the man's head slowly dropped.
His eyes opened.
Storm-grey. Sharp as broken glass. Ancient and angry.
They locked onto Serina.
Her feet froze. Her heart hammered so hard it hurt.
The man stared at her. His face was pure rage—cold, controlled, dangerous. A animal that had been caged too long.
When he spoke, his voice was rough, like he hadn't used it in ages. "A child."
Serina found her voice, though it came out as barely a whisper. "I'm not a child. I'm nineteen." "Nineteen." A bitter sound left him. Not quite a laugh. "A child, then."
"Who are you?"
The man's eyes narrowed, studying her with an intensity that made her skin crawl. "You opened the seal. Broke the shields. And you don't even know what you've freed?" "I was looking for—" Serina started, but the words died in her throat.
The light-chains around him cracked.
A sound like breaking glass, but louder. Louder. The fractures spread along the glowing links, light leaking through like water through a dam.
Serina stumbled back. "What's happening?" "Your blood on the door." His voice dropped lower. Dangerous. "It was the key. The only thing that could break these chains."
The cracks spread wider, racing along each chain. The golden light grew brighter, almost unbearable. "I didn't mean to—" "It doesn't matter what you meant."
The chains snapped.
Light exploded outward in a wave of pure force. Serina threw her arms up, blinded, the force of it driving her to her knees.
Heat washed over her. Magic so thick she could taste it, feel it pressing against her skin.
When she could see again, the man was free.
He stood in the center of the room, rolling his shoulders. Bones cracked. He flexed his hands slowly, watching the last traces of light fade from where the chains had been. The sound of his breathing filled the space—steady, purposeful, alive.
Then he took a step forward.
Serina scrambled backward, her hands scraping against the stone floor. "Stay back." "Scared?" He took another step, his boots echoing in the vast room. "Smart. You should be."
"I don't want trouble. I just—" "Just what?" He stopped a few feet away, looking down at her.
Up close, she could see his face clearly. Strong features, cut like the stone around them. A scar going through one eyebrow. Eyes that held a thousand years of anger burning just beneath the surface.
And something else. Something that looked almost like pain.
"I need help," Serina pushed out, hating how her voice shook. "My brother is dying. He has Mage-Rot. I came here looking for anything that could save him. Please."
The man stared at her. Something flashed across his face—surprise, maybe. Or praise.
"There is no treasure here," he said quietly, each word careful. "No magic items. No relics." He pointed to the empty chamber with one hand. "There was only me. And you just set me free."
Serina's hope collapsed like ash. "Then this was for nothing."
"Not nothing." His face hardened, the brief moment of something softer vanishing. "You accomplished something no one has managed in a thousand years."
He moved closer, and she saw heat shimmer in the air around him. Saw the way the shadows seemed to bend away from his presence.
"You released the World-End Dragon."
The words didn't register at first.
Then they hit like a physical blow.
"World-End Dragon."
The monster from stories. The beast that tried to destroy everything. The thing so terrible the Mage-Kings had to seal it away forever to save the world. "No." Serina shook her head, scrambling further back until her shoulders hit a pillar. "No, that's not—you're not—" "I am."
He crouched down, bringing himself to her eye level. This close, she could see the unnatural quality in his storm-grey eyes. The way they seemed to glow with their own light.
"My name is Kaelon," he said, his voice soft and absolutely frightening. "And I am exactly what they say I am."
Terror poured through Serina like ice water. Her hands were shaking. Her breath came in short gasps. "I didn't know," she whispered. "I swear, I didn't know." "Clearly." Kaelon's gaze dropped to her bleeding hand. "Or you wouldn't have been foolish enough to use your blood."
"What have I done?" The words came out broken. "Oh gods, what have I done?"
Kaelon stood, turning away from her. He walked to the middle of the chamber, tilting his head back to look at the darkness above. "A thousand years," he said, his voice echoing. "They kept me here a thousand years."
Serina pressed her back against the wall, her mind racing. This couldn't be happening. She'd come here to save Leo, not to free the most dangerous thing in history.
But he was free now.
And she was trapped in here with him.
The chamber fell silent except for her ragged breathing and the faraway drip of water somewhere in the darkness.
Kaelon stood completely still, his back to her, silhouetted against the fading golden light.
And Serina realized with terrible, total clarity that she had just made the worst mistake of her life.