Chapter 9: The Bones city test
The air inside Ral’Tir was heavy with molten ash and memory.
Every step across the bridge made the ancient bones creak—a haunting groan that echoed across the valley. This wasn’t just a ruin. It was a tomb... and a test.
The guardian’s eyes glowed brighter, enormous and golden, set deep into the stone-crusted skull of a long-dead dragon. Its voice rumbled like an earthquake:
"WHO DARES WALK THE SPINE OF THE FALLEN KING?"
Kaela stiffened beside me. I stepped forward.
"I am Darian... heir of the Ashborn. Reincarnated by the flame."
A silence followed.
Then the guardian moved.
A hulking form uncoiled from within the dragon’s ribcage—four-legged, plated in obsidian armor, wings folded like scorched curtains, fangs like carved onyx. Not a dragon, not truly. A construct—a sentinel of soulfire.
"Tested you shall be, if flame you claim," it thundered. "This city remembers only truth. Lies melt in its breath."
It lowered its head, nostrils flaring.