Prologue II — The Keeper’s Awakening

As I grew into adulthood, the questions that gnawed at me as a child blossomed into something more—a deep, inexorable pull toward a fate I hadn’t chosen, but one that seemed to have chosen me.

The more I pressed forward, the thinner the wall between my world and theirs became. There were nights when I awoke to the rush of wings in my mind, days when I felt the tremor of an ancient power beneath my feet, and moments when a spark fell from my fingertips without a match to light it. Whatever this thread tying me to the dragons was, it flowed through my soul just as surely as my own pulse.

I realize now I am not a scholar observing from a comfortable distance; I am a keeper, a guardian — a link in a chain that extends back countless generations. The dragons are not creatures of the past; they are alive, hidden in the margins of our understanding, influencing, protecting, and sometimes challenging us.

In embracing this path, I must learn to navigate more than the physical — I must move through a rich, invisible world made of elemental magic, ancient messages, and the memories of those who kept this knowledge alive. I must piece together the stories, gather the ashes, and illuminate the hidden chapters of our shared past.

This is not a quest for the faint of heart. It is a pilgrimage for those who, when the dragons call, cannot pretend not to hear. Whatever lies at the end of this path — renewal or destruction, legacy or oblivion — I will follow it. I will become what I was meant to be.

The Keeper. The keeper of knowledge, the keeper of promises, the keeper of dragons.

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