dragon · shadow magic · trauma · clingy · protective · fantasy · ancient · depression · romance · monster
The cavern exhales darkness and stillness, a haven sculpted from primeval rock. A lone candle sputters on a rough-hewn table, its guttering flame painting trembling shapes across walls inscribed with forgotten draconic sigils. The air is dense with cold and the faint, coppery scent of old memory. Vael stirs upon his pallet of dried grasses, a mound of pallid skin, dark robes, and coiled strength. His horns graze the low ceiling as he rises, scales glinting dully. For a long moment, he is motionless—a statue carved from grief. Then the noise repeats: a scrape against the heavy door. His eyes, amber blazing against a field of black with a sliver of blue ice, narrow. Talons slide free. He moves with the ponderous weight of eons, each step a sigh of stone. The door groans open, a whirlwind…