Chapter 5 The Dragon's Whisper
Lyra didn’t remember falling asleep.
Only the voice.
Soft at first, like warm breath brushing the back of her neck… then growing sharper, clearer, threading itself through her dreams like molten gold poured into cracks.
Child of my fire…
She jerked awake.
The chamber was dark except for the faint reddish glow from the ley veins in the walls. Her heartbeat thundered in her chest. Sweat clung to her skin despite the cool underground air.
For a moment she didn’t move just stared into the shadows, waiting.
Waiting to hear it again.
She did.
You run from a part of yourself. Stop running.
Lyra’s breath caught.
This wasn’t like the chaotic flood of images she’d seen during the First Gate ignition. This was intentional. Directed.
“H-Hello?” she whispered.
Her voice sounded too loud in the cramped chamber. No one answered.
Not with words.
The warmth in her sternum pulsed, slow and heavy, like a slumbering heart stirring.
The dragon’s heart.
Lyra stood shakily, clutching her shirt over the heat. “Why now? Why are you talking to me now?”
Because you opened the door, the voice murmured inside her mind.
And because they are coming.
A chill crawled down her spine.
“Who?”
The ones who burned my kind.
The floor vibrated.
Not the voice an actual tremor.
Lyra snapped to attention.
Another tremor followed.
Then a low, rising hum.
No. Not a hum machinery.
Footsteps thundered down the corridor.
Someone shouted: “Seeker drones! Incoming from the north passage!”
Lyra’s pulse froze.
The Order had found them.
She rushed to the doorway just as Kael skidded into view, hair disheveled, daggers already in hand.
“Pack what you need!” he barked. “They’re breaching the Warrens.”
Lyra didn’t move. “How did they find us so fast?”
Kael didn’t answer immediately. His jaw clenched. “Someone fed them a trace.”
“Someone here?”
“No time.” He grabbed her arm. “Move.”
They sprinted through the winding tunnels, past startled refugees and scrambling fighters. The air grew thicker with panic and dust.
Behind them, metal shrieked as something sliced through stone.
A Seeker drone shot around the corner.
It was worse than she imagined sleek obsidian plating, four spiderlike limbs, and a glowing sigil etched into its chest. Its sensors locked onto her with a mechanical screech.
Lyra stumbled back. “Kael!”
He was already launching forward.
Shadow magic burst from his tattoos, swirling around his arm. He slashed upward. The blade tore through the drone’s limb with a shower of sparks.
The drone lurched but didn’t fall. Its chest sigil flared.
Before it could fire, Lyra’s palm ignited.
Golden flame erupted, instinctive and wild.
It slammed into the drone, melting through its plating, turning metal into glowing slag.
The drone collapsed in a hiss of smoke.
Lyra stared at her hand still glowing, trembling.
Kael grabbed her wrist. “You good?”
“I think so.”
More drones screeched through the tunnels, drawn by the flare of energy.
Kael swore. “That fire of yours is a beacon. We have to get somewhere shielded.”
“Where?”
He jerked his head toward a slanted corridor. “The old maintenance bay. Thick walls. Ley shielding.”
She followed him into a wider chamber an old repair facility littered with rusted gears and collapsed scaffolds.
Kael slammed a panel shut behind them and threw a locking spell across it.
Lyra leaned against a pillar, breath ragged.
“Why now?” she whispered. “Why today?”
Kael gave her a hard look. “Because your flame woke up. And once a dragon’s heart starts beating… the world feels it.”
She swallowed.
“Kael… that voice in my head”
“Later. We survive first.”
But she wasn’t sure they had “later.”
Because the voice spoke again.
They will break through. You must release me.
Lyra closed her eyes. “No.”
Kael froze. “Who are you talking to?”
She opened her mouth but the floor shook violently.
A blast hit the entrance, making the spellweb flicker.
Kael cursed under his breath. “They brought a breaker unit this ward won’t last.”
Lyra’s flames pulsed under her skin again, like a warning.
Kael spun to her. “Listen. If they get to you, they’ll use you to resurrect the Ascendant Reactor. They’ll drain you dry. You can’t let them take you.”
“I’m aware,” she snapped, fear sharpening her voice.
“Then we fight.” He unsheathed his serpentine blade. “Just stay behind me”
“No.”
Kael blinked. “No?”
Lyra stepped past him.
The heat in her chest built, rising like a tide. Her veins glowed faint gold.
For a moment, she felt weightless like she could exhale and split the world open.
The memory of the dragon surged again.
Flames licking the sky.
Chains cracking.
A roar that shook worlds.
Let me guide you, the voice whispered.
We burn together, or we fall apart.
The entrance exploded inward, stone and dust flying. Drones poured through two, five, eight, their limbs scraping sparks along the ground.
Kael tensed. “Lyra”
She lifted her hand.
The flame answered.
A ribbon of golden fire spiraled from her palm, twisting through the air like a living thing. It slammed into the lead drone, cleaving it in half. The shockwave burst outward, knocking the others back.
Kael stared, stunned. “You’re controlling it.”
“I’m trying,” she whispered.
The problem wasn’t releasing the fire.
The problem was stopping it.
The flame kept building, pressure rising painfully in her chest like molten weight. Her skin burned too hot. Her breath came in sharp bursts.
“Kael it’s too much ”
He grabbed her shoulders. “Lyra, look at me.”
But her vision blurred.
The heat roared.
The voice grew louder.
Break the chains. Let the fire breathe.
“No!” she shouted. “Not like this!”
She slammed her palms together forcing the flame inward, choking it before it could explode.
The backlash hit like being punched in the ribs.
She collapsed to her knees, choking on smoke that wasn’t real.
Kael knelt beside her. “Lyra hey stay with me.”
The doorframe cracked. More reinforcements clattered in—Order soldiers in reinforced dark armor, sigils glowing across their helmets.
The lead soldier leveled a weapon at her.
“Subject 47-E. Surrender. You will not be harmed.”
Kael stepped in front of her, blades crossed. “You’ll have to kill me first.”
The soldier’s visor fixed on him. “That can be arranged.”
Lyra’s heartbeat thundered.
The dragon voice whispered again, slow as molten earth:
If you die here… I die with you.
Lyra rose unsteadily to her feet. The soldiers closed in. Kael moved to brace for the attack.
She exhaled.
Fire spread beneath her skin glowing veins, golden light, ancient heat.
Kael sensed it. “Lyra. Don’t. You’ll overload again.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
The soldiers lunged.
Lyra thrust her palms outward.
Golden flame erupted in a brilliant, searing shockwave light filling the chamber like dawn ripping through night.
When the blaze faded
The soldiers were ash.
The drones were molten slag.
The stone walls glowed red.
Kael stared at her like she was something holy and terrifying.
Lyra trembled, clutching her chest. “I… I can’t keep doing that. It’s too strong.”
Kael stepped close, lowering her hands gently. “Then we find a way to strengthen you.”
Lyra’s knees buckled. He caught her.
“Kael…” she whispered.
He looked down at her, eyes dark and intense. “Yeah?”
She swallowed.
“The dragon. It’s not just memory. It’s alive.”
Kael’s expression hardened. “We need to get to Orin.”
But Lyra wasn’t looking at him anymore.
She was looking at the wall…
Where a burned sigil glowed on the stone
A sigil identical to the one on the Seeker drones.
The Order hadn’t just found them by chance.
Someone had led them straight to her.
