I snapped awake to the thick, choking stench of smoke. Heat pressed against my skin like a living thing. When I sat up, the sight nearly stole the breath from my lungs.

  The house was burning.

  “Alya!” I shook her frantically. She groaned, rubbing her eyes.

  “Why did you wake me u—”

  She turned.

  The flames reflected in her widening eyes. The entire wall behind her was consumed, crackling as it crept toward us with greedy, hungry fingers. She screamed and threw herself against me, clutching my clothes as if the fire might swallow her whole at any second.

  I scanned the collapsing room for any escape route. Nothing but fire and falling beams.

  Then the white particles appeared again.

  Soft, glowing flecks drifting through the air—so calm, so silent they looked out of place in the chaos. Wherever they passed, the flames hissed and vanished, leaving scorched wood but no fire.

  Master Luan burst through the flaming doorway, kicking it so hard the burning wood shattered.

  “GRAB WHAT YOU CAN AND GET OUT! NOW!”

  He didn’t wait for a response. He sprinted toward the screams outside.

  Alya and I gathered whatever we could grab and rushed out of the dying house.

  The village was in ruins.

  Every home was in flames. Villagers ran through the chaos in terror. Steel clashed with steel. Bodies lay in the dirt. Screams carried through the night like a storm.

  Bandits were everywhere.

  Master Luan confronted them head-on. From our hiding spot behind a toppled cart, we watched white magic explode from his body in radiant bursts. The light washed over the bandits like holy fire. They shrieked, their skin blistering as if the air itself turned against them.

  Luan moved like he was fighting children. Each swing of his arm sent bandits flying backward. Each pulse of white mana left another group writhing in agony.

  But then… something else arrived.

  Something wrong.

  A dark presence entered into the battlefield, cold and suffocating. The air itself felt heavier.

  It stepped out of the smoke.

  A human shape draped in a tattered black cloak that swallowed all light. Its face was darkness—shifting, crawling darkness.

  Master Luan didn’t turn around when he spoke to me.

  “Dliva. You wanted to witness true White Magic… watch closely.”

  White aura swelled around his hands.

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  The cloaked figure laughed—if it could even be called a laugh. It was distorted, broken, like two voices overlapping.

  “You humans cannot stop me. I will take the dragon hidden in this village.”

  “A dragon?” Master Luan tilted his head. “Then you are in the wrong place.”

  “I am not,” it hissed. “It sleeps beneath this ground.”

  It raised its hand. In an instant, **twenty** magic swords materialized behind it, all trembling as if eager to taste blood.

  They launched.

  The swords tore through the air at deadly speed—but Master Luan moved even faster. He slid, twisted, and stepped between them, the blades slicing past him by inches. Sparks rained across the dirt from the force of their impact.

  More magic circles appeared around him—dozens—surrounding him in a deadly halo.

  All charging at once.

  He didn’t even bother to stand.

  Master Luan sat down.

  A cocoon of white mana enveloped him like a serene waterfall. Then—

  **BOOM—!!**

  All the attacks descended in a blinding explosion. The ground split open, shockwaves rippling outward, dust flying like a storm.

  For a moment I thought he was buried.

  But when the smoke cleared, Master Luan stood unharmed—robes untouched, expression calm.

  The creature shrieked. “HOW!?”

  Two obsidian daggers formed in its hands. It hurled itself at him.

  Master Luan lifted a single palm.

  A translucent barrier appeared between them. The daggers landed against it with rapid-fire slashes—but all they created were ripples in the air, like he was striking the surface of a lake.

  The creature screamed and struck harder, movements blurring from speed alone.

  But the barrier didn’t move.

  Luan stepped forward and punched it in the stomach. The impact sent a shockwave through the ground. The creature flew back, rolling across the dirt in a smear of black smoke.

  It snarled, and its body vanished.

  Before Master Luan could fully raise another barrier, the creature reappeared behind him, moving so fast it distorted the air. Its blade slashed across his chest.

  Blood sprayed across the dirt.

  He staggered backward, clutching the wound.

  Green light enveloped his hand, flesh beginning to knit back together—until a sword shot past and narrowly grazed his face, breaking his concentration.

  The creature unleashed a storm of conjured weapons—swords, spears, jagged maces—raining them down nonstop. Master Luan dodged, rolled, spun, each breath a near miss, each second a narrow escape.

  Then—an opening.

  He dissolved.

  His body burst into white particles and surged forward like a blinding wave. He reformed directly in front of the creature and struck. His attack tore through half its body like ripping through wet cloth.

  The torn half evaporated into smoke.

  Black vapor poured out of the creature’s remaining torso, writhing like living shadows.

  “You… win… for now…” it growled before dissolving entirely into darkness.

  The moment it vanished, the remaining bandits panicked, dropping their weapons and fleeing the village.

  The villagers crawled out from hiding. Limping, burned, crying—but alive.

  The chief approached, voice shaking. “Thank you… thank you, young man. You saved us. How can we ever repay you?”

  Master Luan didn’t waste time.

  “Where is the dragon?”

  The chief stiffened. “I—I don’t understand.”

  “Where is the dragon sealed?” Luan repeated, voice colder than before.

  The chief stepped back, trembling. “I… I’ll show you. Please… this way.”

  We followed him to his home. He lifted a hidden trapdoor behind the house, revealing a staircase descending underground.

  At the bottom was a dim room with a single cage at the center. A glowing seal glimmered on the bars.

  Inside… a tiny dragon curled up, its scales shimmering in a gradient of midnight blue and deep black.

  Master Luan’s voice dropped. “Release it.”

  “But if we—”

  “I said release it.”

  Shaking, the chief peeled the seal away. The cage creaked open.

  The baby dragon stepped out, blinking with wide, luminous eyes.

  “Where did you find it?” Master Luan asked.

  “A few children… near the forest,” the chief whispered. “It was asleep. I feared it would be dangerous, so I sealed it here.”

  “In the forest… that shouldn’t be possible,” Luan muttered.

  “What do you mea—”

  “I will take the dragon.”

  “You can’t! It could—”

  One sharp look from Luan silenced him.

  And just like that, we left with the dragon.