Chapter 1: The Door Opens

By midnight, the plan has already failed in the most useful possible direction.

a stable boy surviving the awakening of a dragon believed extinct

An ally makes the wrong decision for the right reason, and repairing it costs more than the original mistake.

Kael Rowan keeps the larger goal in view: master each gate discipline before the ash dragon consumes his identity. The immediate problem is smaller, sharper, and impossible to postpone.

They disagree without leaving. For both of them, that becomes a more intimate choice than agreement.

Kael Rowan accepts that the impossible event is real and cannot be ignored.

The recurring signs of ash, runes, dragonfire return with a different meaning, linking this choice to what came before.

Before the first night ends, the danger speaks Kael Rowan's name.