Ember’s guard went up the moment she understood something was wrong.
The black void stretched endlessly around her. There was no sky, no ground, no scent of flowers, no sound of Kai breathing nearby.
Her claws flexed.
Where am I?
“Oh, there is no need to worry, little one.”
The voice was smooth and melodic, but Ember’s entire body went tense.
She turned sharply.
The small girl in the black and red dress still sat behind the strange wooden table, smiling as if this were all perfectly normal.
Ember bared her teeth.
“You can hear my thoughts?”
The girl tilted her head.
“In here, yes.”
“Then get out of my head.” Ember’s tail lashed behind her. “Kai is the only one allowed that close.”
The girl’s smile widened slightly.
“How possessive.”
“How dead do you want to be?”
For a moment, silence settled between them.
Then the girl laughed.
Not loudly. Not cruelly. Just enough to make Ember realize this strange being was not intimidated in the slightest.
“You really are spirited,” the girl said. “Good. Kai chose well for his first companion.”
Ember’s eyes narrowed.
“Kai did not choose anything. I chose him.”
“Did you?”
The question made Ember pause.
The girl folded her hands on the table.
“That is not important right now. What matters is why you are here.”
“Fine,” Ember growled. “Why am I here, and how soon can I go back to my Kai?”
“My Kai,” the girl repeated, amused. “Already?”
Ember’s wings spread slightly.
The girl raised both hands.
“Relax. I am not here to take him from you. Quite the opposite, actually.”
Ember did not relax.
The girl sighed.
“You are here to receive knowledge.”
Ember stared at her.
“That is it?”
“That is it.”
“You dragged me away from Kai to teach me something?”
“Yes.”
“I hate you already.”
The girl’s smile twitched.
“You may hate me after I am done. For now, listen.”
“I do not take orders from strange children in empty darkness.”
The girl’s expression cooled.
For the first time, the air in the void changed.
It grew heavier.
Older.
The smile vanished from the girl’s face, and when she spoke again, her voice rolled through the darkness like thunder.
“Quiet.”
Ember’s mouth snapped shut.
Not by choice.
Her eyes widened.
The girl’s gaze sharpened.
“You are young, little dragon. Powerful, yes. Proud, certainly. But young. You have no idea what Kai is, what you have become to him, or what this bond will mean.”
Ember tried to speak.
She could not.
“As his first true companion, you have been given an opportunity few beings in this world will ever receive. You are tied to the Heavenly Beast Tamer now. That bond will change you. Strengthen you. Test you.”
The girl stood on top of the chair, though she was still barely taller than the table.
“And if you are too foolish to understand it, that bond may destroy you.”
Ember stopped struggling.
The girl’s voice softened.
“That is why I am here.”
The pressure holding Ember’s mouth shut vanished.
She took a slow breath.
“What are you?”
The girl smiled again, but this time there was something sad behind it.
“Someone who watches.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No. It is not.”
Ember growled.
The girl ignored it.
“You have already accepted the transformation process. It cannot be undone now.”
Ember’s eyes widened.
“Transformation?”
“You did not finish reading the warning.”
“I did not need to.”
“That,” the girl said dryly, “is exactly why you needed to.”
Ember looked away.
The girl stepped down from the chair and waved one small hand. Purple light gathered around her fingers, swirling like smoke.
“This knowledge will help your mind adjust. Human language. Human customs. Human bodies. Human boundaries.”
Ember’s gaze snapped back.
“Boundaries?”
“Yes.” The girl’s expression became serious. “Kai is human. He is kind, but he is not yours simply because you want him. If you force your feelings onto him, you will lose the very thing you are trying to protect.”
Ember went still.
“He would leave?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But he would be hurt.”
That landed harder than any threat.
Ember’s claws dug into the invisible floor beneath her.
“I do not want to hurt him.”
“I know.”
The purple light brightened.
“That is why you are worth helping.”
Before Ember could respond, the girl thrust her hand forward.
The light shot into Ember’s chest.
Pain followed.
Not the sharp pain of a broken wing.
Not the burning pain of poison.
This was different.
It was as if someone had opened her mind and poured an ocean into it.
Images flashed through her thoughts.
Cities.
Languages.
Clothing.
Manners.
Families.
Names.
Humans laughing, crying, fighting, loving, grieving.
She saw how fragile they were.
How complicated.
How easily they broke.
Then she saw herself.
Not as a dragon.
As something else.
A humanoid form with scarlet hair, golden eyes, black-tipped horns, a tail, and wings folded behind her back.
Still Ember.
But changed.
A chant echoed in her mind. Ancient words older than the mountain where she was born. Words that would let her take that form.
The knowledge settled into her bones.
Then everything went black.
When Ember woke again, she was back in the flower field.
Kai lay unconscious nearby, breathing softly.
The sky was bright above them. The pond shimmered in the distance. Flowers moved in the breeze.
For a moment, Ember simply stared at him.
Kai.
Her Kai.
The one who saved her.
The one who named her.
The one who cried when he thought she was gone.
Her chest tightened.
Then she remembered the chant.
The words rose naturally to her lips. She spoke them softly, each syllable carrying a warmth that spread through her entire body.
Light surrounded her.
Her bones shifted.
Her wings folded inward.
Her claws changed.
The world tilted.
When the glow faded, Ember was standing on two legs.
She looked down.
Hands.
Human hands.
No, not human.
Not fully.
Her claws remained, smaller and sharper than human nails. Her tail still swayed behind her. Her wings were still there, though folded close. Her horns curved from her head, and a curtain of scarlet hair fell over her shoulders.
She touched her face.
Then her chest.
Then her arms.
The knowledge in her mind told her this form was normal.
Or at least normal enough.
But feeling it was strange.
Very strange.
She turned toward Kai.
He was still asleep.
Vulnerable.
Trusting.
A fierce warmth surged through her.
She wanted to run to him. To hold him. To wake him. To hear him say her name in this new form.
But the strange girl’s words returned.
Kai is human.
He is not yours simply because you want him.
If you force your feelings onto him, you will lose the very thing you are trying to protect.
Ember froze.
Her hands curled into fists.
Dragons took what they wanted.
That was what she had been taught.
Treasure. Territory. Mates. Victory.
If a dragon wanted something badly enough, they claimed it.
But Kai was not treasure.
Kai was not territory.
Kai was not a shiny thing to lock away in a mountain cave.
Kai was Kai.
The thought settled inside her with surprising force.
If she wanted him to stay, then he had to choose to stay.
Not because of a bond.
Not because of magic.
Not because she was stronger.
Because he wanted to.
Ember slowly crouched beside him.
His face looked peaceful in sleep, though tired. She could see the strain from the battle still lingering in his body.
He had pushed himself too hard for her.
Again.
“You foolish hyuman,” she whispered.
Her voice came out differently now.
Softer.
Clearer.
She reached toward him, then stopped just before touching his cheek.
For the first time, Ember held herself back.
Not because she was afraid.
Because she cared.
Instead, she sat beside him and watched over him.
The urge to stay close was almost overwhelming, but she forced herself to move after a few minutes. She climbed into the branches of a nearby tree, finding a place where she could see him clearly while giving him space.
Her new body felt strange, but the movements came easily enough. The knowledge she had been given helped with that.
From above, she watched Kai sleep.
Her chest felt full.
Too full.
“I love him,” she whispered.
The words felt right.
Terrifying, but right.
“I love him.”
She repeated it again, softer this time.
Not as a demand.
Not as a claim.
As a promise.
The wind moved through the flowers below.
Kai slept on.
And Ember, the dragon who had once believed love meant possession, began to understand that protecting Kai also meant protecting his choice.