The rain fell like blades.
Cold, heavy, relentless—soaking through Kael Valerion's cloak until it clung to him like a shroud. The alley stank of rot and wet stone. Somewhere behind him, boots hammered against the cobblestones in perfect rhythm.
Imperial soldiers.
Not the common guards either. Kael could hear the difference. The way their armor didn't clatter. The way they moved like predators instead of men.
Blacksteel Wardens.
Kael's jaw tightened. His breath came out in white bursts as he forced his legs to keep moving.
His right side burned. Every step sent a fresh wave of pain through his ribs. He'd been stabbed earlier—by a man he'd once shared wine with. That betrayal still sat in his gut like poison.
Trust is for fools.
He rounded the corner and nearly collapsed against the wall. The rain blurred the lantern light into pale halos. His vision swam. His hands trembled.
But he didn't drop what mattered.
Clutched beneath his cloak, wrapped in thick cloth and bound with iron wire, was a relic so forbidden the Empire would rather burn a city than let it vanish.
Kael looked down at it, breathing hard.
Even through the wrappings, he could feel it.
A pulse.
A heartbeat.
Slow. Heavy. Ancient.
Like something vast sleeping beneath the world.
The artifact had no name in the mercenary underworld. The old men who sold secrets called it the Heart of the Dragon Emperor. The scholars called it a myth. The Church called it heresy.
The Empire?
The Empire called it property.
And for it, they had hunted Kael across half the continent.
A bitter laugh escaped his lips. It sounded ugly in the rain.
"What a joke…"
A month ago, he'd been nobody.
Just another blade-for-hire drifting from contract to contract, living on cheap ale and stolen warmth. A man who slept with one eye open and woke up with blood on his hands more often than not.
He'd had no family. No home. No future.
That was what he told himself.
But the truth was worse.
Kael Valerion had once been a noble.
A Valerion.
One of the Five Great Houses that held up the Aurelius Empire like pillars of steel.
And he had been the disgrace.
The "failure heir."
The boy who couldn't manifest Lionheart Aura. The one who lost every duel. The one who was quietly pushed out of the family as if he were a stain that wouldn't wash away.
Kael's fingers clenched.
He'd run away at sixteen.
He'd told himself he'd never look back.
Yet here he was—dying in a gutter, hunted by the same Empire that had cheered when House Valerion cast him aside.
Boots slammed closer.
Kael forced himself forward, staggering deeper into the alley's darkness. His lungs burned. His blood mixed with rainwater and ran down his side in thin streams.
A voice rang out behind him.
"Kael Valerion!"
Kael froze.
The Wardens knew his name.
Not just his face. Not just his scent.
His name.
A chill went through him that had nothing to do with the rain.
So it wasn't only about the relic.
It was about him too.
Kael swallowed hard and turned his head slightly.
At the mouth of the alley stood three figures in black armor, their helmets shaped like snarling beasts. Their eyes glowed faintly blue through the slits.
Arcane sight.
One of them stepped forward. His voice was calm, almost polite.
"You've caused quite a mess for a man who should've died quietly."
Kael's lips curled.
"Sorry. I've never been good at dying on schedule."
The Warden raised a hand.
Behind him, the air shimmered. A rune circle bloomed into existence—complex, layered, and imperial.
Kael recognized it.
A sealing array.
They weren't here to arrest him.
They were here to erase him.
Kael's mind raced. He could fight one. Maybe two if he was uninjured.
But three Wardens?
In this state?
He was dead.
Kael's gaze dropped to the bundle beneath his cloak.
The Dragon's Heart pulsed again.
A deep, thunderous beat that seemed to echo in his bones.
He didn't know why it had responded to him. He didn't know why it had chosen him when it had slept for centuries.
But he knew one thing.
The Empire feared it.
And the Empire didn't fear easily.
Kael exhaled slowly, forcing his shaking hands to steady.
If he was going to die…
Then he would die with his teeth in the Empire's throat.
Kael tore the wrappings away.
The cloth fell into the rain like discarded skin.
For a moment, even the Wardens stopped.
In Kael's palm lay a heart.
Not a metaphor.
Not a gem carved into the shape of one.
A real heart—crimson-black, covered in faint golden veins, beating with a slow, dreadful rhythm.
Each pulse released a thin mist of heat into the cold air.
The alley's stones trembled.
The rain hissed as it struck Kael's hand, evaporating instantly.
One of the Wardens took a step back.
"Impossible…"
The leader's voice hardened.
"Kill him. Now."
The rune circle flared.
Kael felt the air compress. Felt his blood try to freeze in his veins.
A sealing spell.
A death sentence.
Kael laughed.
It was hoarse. Broken.
But it was real.
"You're too late."
He pressed the Dragon's Heart against his chest.
The moment it touched him—
Pain exploded.
Not sharp pain. Not the kind that made you scream.
This was the kind that made the world go silent.
Kael's vision turned white.
He felt his ribs crack outward. Felt his heart—his human heart—shatter like glass.
Something inside him roared.
Not with sound.
With presence.
A vast, ancient will opened its eyes.
Kael fell to his knees, gasping, clawing at the stone.
His skin heated. Veins darkened. His breath came out in smoke.
The Wardens moved.
Too late.
Kael's body convulsed as the Dragon's Heart sank into him like molten iron.
He felt it fuse.
Felt it claim him.
The alley vanished.
The rain vanished.
The Wardens vanished.
For a moment, Kael was floating in darkness.
Endless.
Heavy.
A place between life and death.
He couldn't feel his hands. Couldn't feel his legs.
Only the heartbeat.
That slow, ancient pulse.
Then—
A voice.
Not human.
Not divine.
Something colder.
Something absolute.
[CONDITION MET: SOUL AT DEATH'S EDGE]
[DRAGON'S HEART SYNCHRONIZATION: 1%]
[SYSTEM AWAKENING…]
Kael's eyes widened.
"What…?"
The darkness trembled.
A second message appeared, brighter than the first.
[WELCOME, HOST.]
[DRAGON SOVEREIGN SYSTEM ONLINE.]
Kael's mind shook.
A system?
He'd heard rumors in taverns. Whispers from madmen. Tales from relic hunters who swore some ancient artifacts could bind to a person and grant them power beyond bloodlines.
He'd never believed it.
He believed in steel.
In pain.
In survival.
But the words were there, carved into his mind like fire.
[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: ASCEND THE THRONE.]
[SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: EVOLVE INTO DRAGON EMPEROR.]
Kael's breath hitched.
Ascend… the throne?
He didn't know if he was hallucinating.
He didn't care.
The Empire had hunted him.
His family had discarded him.
His life had been nothing but running, bleeding, killing, and crawling forward.
And now—
Now the world itself was offering him a path.
Kael's lips trembled into a smile.
A slow, dangerous thing.
"If I live…"
His voice was barely a whisper.
"If I get another chance…"
The darkness shifted, as if listening.
Kael clenched his fists.
"I won't just survive."
The Dragon's Heart beat.
Once.
Twice.
And the world shattered.
[EMERGENCY FUNCTION ACTIVATED: REGRESSION]
[RETURNING HOST TO POINT OF FAILURE…]
Kael's scream never left his throat.
Light consumed him.
Then—
He woke up.
Warm sheets.
The smell of incense.
A chandelier above him.
His body—young. Uninjured. Whole.
Kael's eyes snapped open, and he sat up so fast the room spun.
He stared at his hands.
Smooth.
No scars.
No calluses from mercenary work.
His chest rose and fell without pain.
Kael's gaze darted around the room.
A noble bedroom.
Not an inn. Not a barracks. Not a gutter.
His room.
From years ago.
Kael's heart hammered.
Then a familiar voice rang from outside the door, sharp with disgust.
"Kael! Get up, you worthless disgrace! The family duel begins in an hour!"
Kael's breath stopped.
He knew that voice.
He remembered that day.
The day he was humiliated.
The day House Valerion decided he was a failure.
Kael lowered his gaze to his chest.
He could feel it.
A second heartbeat.
Slow.
Ancient.
Hungry.
Kael smiled.
This time, it wasn't bitter.
It was terrifying.
"An hour…" he murmured.
He swung his legs out of bed.
Rain or no rain, Empire or no Empire—
This world was about to learn something.
House Valerion had thrown away a dog.
And brought back a dragon.