The sky stretched endlessly above Kael'thir, a canvas of swirling clouds and distant stars faintly visible through the thinning veil of daylight.
His wings beat with measured precision, slicing through the wind, each motion controlled yet filled with an undeniable hunger—not for food, but for purpose.
Ever since he had devoured the warrior's mana, his mind had been plagued by fragments of memories and visions of realms beyond comprehension—worlds layered atop one another, stitched together by invisible threads of space and time.
And now, those threads were calling to him.
Kael'thir flew low, his sharp gaze scanning the landscape below—a vast expanse of craggy cliffs, ancient forests, and winding rivers that gleamed like veins of silver under the fading sun.
But his focus wasn't on the land itself.
It was on the pulse beneath it.
A faint vibration, like the heartbeat of something buried deep, older than the stone, older than the forest, older than memory.
His instincts sharpened.
There was something here.
Something waiting.
He descended swiftly, landing with a thunderous crack atop a jagged outcrop. The ground shuddered beneath his claws, the rocks splintering under his weight.
Kael'thir stood still for a moment, his wings folding against his back, his tail flicking in slow, deliberate movements.
The pulse grew stronger.
Not physical.
Spatial.
Like the fabric of reality itself was thinner here, stretched taut over something hidden just out of sight.
Kael'thir's crimson eyes narrowed.
He reached out—not with his claws, but with the new sense awakening inside him.
A sense that wasn't touch, sight, or sound.
It was something deeper.
A connection to the very essence of space.
The ground beneath him rippled.
Not an earthquake.
Not mana.
Reality itself shuddered for a brief moment, like a curtain fluttering in the wind.
And then—
A tear appeared.
A thin, jagged line of darkness carved through the air itself, pulsing faintly with a soft violet glow.
Kael'thir's heart raced, not with fear, but with something else—
Recognition.
This was the same energy he had felt when the warrior's mana merged with his own.
A connection to something greater.
To something beyond.
Without hesitation, Kael'thir stepped forward.
The moment his claw crossed the threshold, the world shifted.
Everything changed.
The sky was gone.
The cliffs, the forests, the rivers—all of it vanished, replaced by an endless void of swirling darkness and fractured light.
Kael'thir hovered in midair, though there was no wind, no ground, no sky.
Just… space.
A space that wasn't empty, but alive—pulsing with currents of energy that twisted and coiled like invisible serpents.
Kael'thir's wings flared instinctively, his senses sharpening.
This wasn't a place.
It was a path.
A thread woven between realities, a corridor carved into the very fabric of space and time.
And he was standing in the middle of it.
He moved forward cautiously, his instincts on high alert.
The further he flew, the more distorted the space became.
Fragments of other worlds flickered at the edges of his vision—glimpses of towering cities floating in the void, oceans that burned with blue fire, and mountains suspended upside down, defying gravity.
It was overwhelming.
But Kael'thir didn't falter.
Because beneath the chaos, he felt it—
A pull.
Like a distant voice whispering his name, guiding him deeper into the unknown.
Then he saw it.
At the center of the distortion—
A gate.
Not a door, not an archway, but a massive structure forged from twisting strands of light and shadow, its surface etched with runes that seemed to pulse with their own heartbeat.
Kael'thir's breath hitched.
This was the same gate he had seen in his visions.
A threshold between worlds.
A key to something greater.
Without hesitation, he flew toward it.
As he neared, the gate reacted.
The runes flared brighter, the space around it warping violently, sending shockwaves of distorted reality spiraling outward.
Kael'thir growled, pushing through the turbulence, his wings straining against the unnatural currents.
But he didn't stop.
He couldn't.
This was what he had been drawn to—
The next step in his evolution.
The moment he touched the gate, everything shattered.
Kael'thir's mind exploded with visions.
Not just flashes, but entire memories—
Battles fought across realms, gods falling from their thrones, dragons like him soaring through skies painted with stars.
And at the center of it all—
A figure.
Vague, faceless, but radiating an aura of power so overwhelming it made Kael'thir's heart race.
Not a god.
Not a beast.
Something else.
Something… familiar.
And then—
A voice.
Deep, ancient, echoing in his very soul.
"You are not the first."
Kael'thir's eyes snapped open, his breath ragged.
The gate was gone.
The void was gone.
He was back on the cliff, the sky above him, the wind howling in his ears.
But the words remained.
Burned into his mind.
You are not the first.
Kael'thir stood there, silent, his claws digging into the stone.
What did it mean?
Not the first what?
He didn't know.
But one thing was certain—
He wasn't just a dragon born in a ruined world.
He was part of something older.
Something that stretched across realms, through time itself.
And he would find the answers.
No matter what it took.
In the distance, the fox watched from the shadows, her golden eyes narrowing.
She had felt it too.
The shift.
The connection.
Kael'thir wasn't just evolving.
He was awakening.
And soon—
So would she.
Because their fates were tied together by threads neither of them could see yet.
But the truth was coming.
And when it did—
The entire world would feel it.