The air around the Dragon Dojo shifted again—subtle at first, like a warm breeze brushing past Danny's cheek. He felt it before Swift or Jake did. Not a threat. Not a predator. But a presence older than their world, older even than the flames inside him.
Danny lifted his head toward the sky.
Swift paused mid-form, silver light dimming around his staff.
Jake stopped punching boulders and wiped sweat from his forehead.
"You feel it too, right?" Swift said.
"Yes," Danny whispered.
"Is it the Wolf King?" Jake asked, already half-panicked.
"No," Danny said. "This feels… right."
And that unnerved him most of all.
Because lately, the only things that felt "right" were the voices of ancient Golden Dragons echoing through his blood.
But this was different.
This was like someone was calling to him.
Not commanding.
Not summoning.
Calling.
A figure materialized at the far end of the courtyard, cloaked and hooded, footsteps as light as drifting embers. Colors shimmered beneath the cloak, changing with each movement—gold, ruby, violet, sapphire—like feathers shifting in sunlight.
Master Oro appeared beside the trio in an instant.
"I know this aura," Oro murmured. "A flame that predates human memory."
The cloaked stranger stopped walking.
"My search ends," the figure said, voice melodic and timeless, "with the heir of the Golden Dawn."
Danny stiffened.
Jake whispered, "Heir?"
Swift gripped his staff.
The stranger lowered the hood.
Golden-red eyes glowed first.
Then the cloak dissolved into shimmering motes.
Wings unfurled behind the stranger—vast, iridescent wings of fire and light, each feather reflecting a different color depending on the angle.
A Phoenix.
A living, breathing Phoenix.
Jake's mouth dropped open. "Bird… person."
Swift elbowed him.
Oro knelt respectfully.
"The Phoenix Clan."
Danny stepped forward, heat rising under his skin.
"I… know your fire. Somehow."
The Phoenix bowed.
"I am Kael'ar of the Ascendant Phoenix Clan. Our kind once walked beside the Ancient Golden Dragons. We served the Order."
Danny blinked. "The Order?"
Swift nodded slowly, reverently.
"Danny… dragons have always followed the Order."
Oro placed a hand over his heart.
"The Golden Dragons lead creation.
The Silver Dragons guide balance.
The Bronze Dragons guard the foundations."
Jake's eyes widened. "Wait… we're part of something official? Like, cosmic official?"
Danny inhaled sharply. Of course. It explained the instinct, the resonance, the way their powers synchronized without trying.
He hadn't broken rules.
He was following them.
He looked at Kael'ar.
"So why are you here?"
Kael'ar spread their wings, and the courtyard filled with warm light.
"To deliver a message from the flames that birthed your kind."
Danny's breath stopped.
"From the Golden Dragons?"
"Not only them," Kael'ar said softly. "From the First Fire itself. And to show you something you must witness before you become who the Order needs you to be."
Jake raised a hand. "Uh… is this safe?"
Kael'ar smiled sadly.
"Nothing worth becoming is safe."
Oro approached Danny.
"This choice is yours. But know this: a Phoenix never travels without purpose."
Danny felt his heartbeat align with something ancient, something familiar.
"What do you want me to do?"
Kael'ar extended a hand.
"Come. Your fire must remember its origin."
Danny stepped forward.
Swift grabbed his arm. "Danny—don't go alone."
Jake nodded vigorously. "We're supposed to be a team. Bronze, Silver, Gold—Order, remember?"
Kael'ar shook their head gently.
"This part is for him only. The Flames of Creation will not accept three voices. Only the one who carries the First Light."
Danny swallowed hard and stepped closer to Kael'ar.
The Phoenix touched Danny's shoulder.
Flames flared—
—but they did not burn.
The world twisted, folded, and vanished.
Swift and Jake were swept backward by a warm shockwave, thrown onto their heels, blinking in awe as Danny and Kael'ar disappeared into a spiral of multicolored fire.
Oro steadied the younger dragons.
"Let him go. He walks in the footsteps of the First Order now."
Jake stared upward. "He's not… becoming something weird, right?"
Swift smirked faintly.
"Jake… he already is."
And the courtyard fell quiet.
Danny landed on soft ground—ashen but not dead, bright but not blinding. Kael'ar stepped beside him.
They stood on a vast plain of shimmering crystal that hummed gently beneath his feet. Mountains glowed with internal flame. Rivers of molten gold snaked across the horizon.
And above it all, the sky itself burned in pulsing auroras of red, gold, blue, and violet.
A world that lived, breathed, and remembered fire.
"Welcome," Kael'ar whispered, "to Pyra'nael—the Phoenix Planet."
Danny took a slow breath.
"It feels alive," he whispered.
"It is," Kael'ar said. "Every stone. Every flame. Every breath of air."
Danny knelt, touching the ground. The crystal hummed back in response.
"It's like… the world knows me."
"Of course it does," Kael'ar said gently. "Your ancestors walked this land long before humans existed. Golden Dragons and Phoenixes forged the first pacts here."
Danny looked up sharply.
"You knew them?"
Kael'ar nodded.
"I was but a hatchling when the last Golden Dragon visited. But I remember their warmth. Their laughter. Their hope."
Danny stood slowly.
"What happened to them?"
Kael'ar's wings dimmed.
"They vanished. Consumed not by death… but by duty. The Order required their sacrifice, and they answered. Their fire faded from the stars."
Danny swallowed.
"And now I'm the only one left."
"You are the next one," Kael'ar corrected firmly. "Not the last. Never the last."
Danny looked toward the horizon.
"So what am I here to see?"
Kael'ar motioned a wing forward.
"The Last Flames of Creation."
Danny followed.
The ground brightened as they walked. Each step warmed the earth. Each breath stirred the sky. Soon they stood before a canyon carved of pure fire crystal, its depths pulsing with a strange rhythmic glow.
Kael'ar's voice grew soft.
"Before your kind shaped stars… before your ancestors lit the first suns… Creation itself left this flame behind."
Danny felt heat radiating from the canyon.
Not ordinary heat.
This warmth carried weight. Memory. Purpose.
"This is the fire the Golden Dragons shaped their first forms from," Kael'ar said. "A piece of the beginning… burning still."
Danny's mouth went dry.
"It's… beautiful."
"And dangerous," Kael'ar said. "This flame does not bless. It reveals. It shows you what you are—what you were always meant to be."
Danny approached the canyon edge.
Golden fire responded immediately, rising like a tide.
Kael'ar stepped back.
"Are you ready?"
Danny swallowed. "No."
Kael'ar smiled.
"Good. Only fools are ready for becoming."
Danny extended his hand over the canyon.
The Last Flames of Creation surged upward—
curling around his fingers,
rushing past his palm,
igniting the markings on his skin.
Danny gasped.
A vision slammed into him—
—not like Shadeclaw's fight,
—not like memories,
—but like stepping into an older life.
He saw wings stretching across galaxies.
He saw a dragon of radiance curling around newborn suns.
He saw realms shaped from fire and song.
He saw Phoenixes dancing in the dawn of worlds.
He saw Golden Dragons roaring into the void, creating constellations with breath.
And then—
He saw the Wolf King.
Not the one he knew.
A shadow version.
A primal version.
The first Destroyer in an age when dragons were young.
Creation and Consumption.
Flame and Fang.
Opposites destined to clash until the universe ended.
Danny staggered backward, gasping.
Kael'ar steadied him.
"You saw the old truth."
Danny nodded shakily.
"I saw… everything."
"And now," Kael'ar said, "you understand why the Order watches you."
Danny inhaled heavily.
"The Wolf King and I aren't just enemies."
"No," Kael'ar whispered. "You are opposites. Bound. When one rises, so does the other. When one falls, so does the balance."
Danny stared at the flame.
"Then I have to ascend."
Kael'ar's wings glowed brighter.
"Then step forward. And let creation remember you."
Danny clenched his fists.
Golden fire erupted from his skin.
He stepped into the light.
And the universe trembled.