The dragon first came to the prince not with fire and fury, but with a whisper:

“I am pleasure,” it said. “Have you never dreamed of flying?”

The prince's first flight was exhilarating—soaring above the forest, detached from the burdens of battle. But what began as innocent escape became a secret he could no longer control. Slowly, the prince changed. Hardened hands. Hidden scales.

Until one night, he was seen.

Shamed and exposed before his father and the kingdom, he expected rejection. But instead, the king—his father—embraced him. Weeping.

“Do you wish to be free?” the king asked.

“I’ve wished it many times,” the prince whispered. “But there is no hope for me.”

“Not alone,” the king replied.

And when the king asked, “Who else among you has ridden the dragon?”—

The prince watched in stunned silence as his older brother, the noble warrior, stepped forward. Then others came. One by one, they emerged from the shadows, confessing what they, too, had hidden.

Truth became their turning point.

The dragon’s power began to break not through force, but through light.