A Symphony of Frost and Flame

***ANY BEING ACROSS THIS WORLD WOULD FEAR, would believe, would sing the songs of the prophets … but The Oracle had been glorified on a far different scope since the beginning.As the only living being who had witnessed the Age of the Empyreal Gods, The Oracle could speak for the future … He could speak for the deities … He could speak for the inevitable truth …Everyone feared him … and only a fool would not.Emperor Sargan the Sunborne had claimed himself as no fool.At last, the future of his empire would unfold after all the years of searching for the ancient speaker, the guardian, the divine messenger.He had ordered his men to escort The Oracle into his palace … and there, he saw the revelation …“Behold, Great Emperor …” The Oracle raised his dark staff, a ruby gem gleaming brightly at its end. The darkness of the throne room flashed, painting the walls, floor

RAEHERYS ALAGOR TOOK A PAUSE FROM HIS ASCENT, standing at the stone-carved steps upon the flank of Volcron. The stairs led straight up towards the peak of the volcano where the vast crater grew all the greenery of shrubs and Lilium flowers and Persea trees, gleaming under the sunlight of noon.  A moment after and Raeherys turned his head to gaze worriedly at the islands in his view, spread out amidst the crystal ocean blue.The comet, he thought—was approaching day after day to bring destruction upon their realm … the Draconian Realm. All those tropical green forests where they harvest their food, those young dragons flying and playing around the isles, those of his brethren who survived the Red Century War, and most importantly, those dragon eggs, thousands of them, waiting to hatch in the volcano of Aggronar—everything, every dragon in his realm would fall if they would not act now.Raeherys needed it … th

THE RICH AND RADIATING HEAT INSIDE AGGRONAR VOLCANO had kept thousands of dragon eggs alive despite the absence of their mothers’ warmth. Raeherys Alagor stood at the wide vent of the volcano, gazing down at the small pool of boiling lava far below. Around it settled all the hard-scaled eggs over the rocks and stones and tiny caves, with the sustainable heat supplying them with enough energy and strength.Some eggs had hatched, some glowed like active embers in coal, and some remained stone-hard. Tiny screeches of newly born dragons made up the noise inside the volcano. With pink skin and bones of sticks, they crawled on the rock surface, careful of not touching the lava as they had yet grown any scales.These hatchlings were the future of the Draconian Realm—and Raeherys Alagor would no chance let the human empire destroy it.Seconds after, a mondra appeared from the thick smoke above, flying down for Raeherys.When the

THE HYBORN THRONE SOARED HIGH IN HIS SIGHT. The seat of volcanic glass, as dark as the burnt, reflected the sunlight under the morning skies. Raeherys Alagor walked on granite slabs that floored the wide, elevated temple at the center of Volcron’s peak. Wild trees and ferns and meadow-grasses all surrounded the Temple of Hylos, waving and rustling with the fresh sea breeze.Behind the black throne towered the Great Statue of Lord Hylos. Its magnificent structure, made of diorite stone and carved into his Primal Form, had stood as the highest above all peaks of the volcanoes and islands in Draconos. The eyes glinted pure gold, symbolizing the elitism of all his descendants who had continuously ruled the realm until now.As the first Hyborn ever existed during the Age of the Empyreal Gods, the dragons soon worshipped Lord Hylos, proclaiming him as the Volcanic Deity and God of Dragons. It had been known that Hylos had a thousand heads—a

THE CLOUDLESS SKIES BEAMED TOO BRIGHT FOR HIS EYES … that Raeherys almost forgot to focus on the gathering of the Lawdras, led by his father at the Temple of Hylos.“They did it all wrong …” said King Sevyrion, looking at the Lawdras. “My father … my grandfather … all of my ancestors made a mistake. War and bloodshed will never end our conflict. It can only be resolved by peace.”“We Lawdras are strongly against it, Your Grace,” replied Fetyr. “It will mean your death if you fly south over the lands of the human empire.”“No …” Sevyrion touched his chest. “I am the only one who can make a bargain with the human emperor. We have the gold, diamonds … anything they would want in exchange for the orb.”“The humans could never be trusted!” argued Mydrad. “We are uncertain if they plan to return the orb to us