Balerion

The world of Zenora is dying.Humanity’s kingdoms have fallen one by one beneath endless tides of monsters, predators, and ancient horrors. Cities lie in ruins. Roads have vanished beneath claw and fang. The age of man is nearing its end. Only Astonia remains. Hidden high within the mountains, the last kingdom of humanity clings to survival. Twenty-five thousand souls stand against a world determined to destroy them. Their greatest strength is an alliance forged in blood and necessity—an unbreakable bond between dragon and rider. Yet not every dragon welcomes that bond. Balerion once did. Sixty years ago, he believed every bondmate was chosen by fate. He believed courage could overcome fear and that determination could conquer any hardship. Five times he opened his heart to a human rider. Five times he watched them die. Some fell in battle. Others were consumed by the strain of the bond itself. None lived long enough. Each death left a wound deeper than any blade. The first brought grief. The second brought despair. By the fifth, there was nothing left to break. Now Balerion endures. He serves because Astonia needs dragons. He bonds because humanity cannot survive without them. But hope is something he buried long ago. When young candidates approach with dreams of heroism in their eyes, he sees only another name carved into stone. Too naïve. Too inexperienced. Too weak. No rider survives forever, but Balerion has learned that many never should have been chosen at all. So he has hardened himself. Yet despite every wall he has built around his heart, the call returns. The pull. The ancient force that binds dragon and human together is stirring once again. Somewhere within Astonia, a new bondmate waits. Balerion feels their presence growing stronger with every passing day. And for the first time in years, he is afraid. Not of losing another rider. But of hoping this one might finally live