ASHES BENEATH THE DUNES

PROLOGUE

Prologue

The Day the Sky Turned to Ash

Long before kingdoms raised their banners...

Before castles pierced the horizon...

Before mankind learned to write its own history...

The world belonged to dragons.

Across the endless golden dunes of Asterra, the Sand Dragons ruled without equal. Their wings blotted out the sun, their roars shook mountains, and every grain of desert sand answered their command. Kingdoms paid tribute, villages prayed for mercy, and travelers crossed the wasteland whispering only one plea.

"May the dragons never notice us."

To the dragons, humans were fleeting creatures.

Weak.

Fragile.

Forgettable.

Entire villages vanished beneath dragonfire because they built too close to sacred dunes. Merchant caravans became sport for young hatchlings eager to prove their strength. Every century, the Dragon Court celebrated **The Great Hunt**, where the heirs of noble bloodlines earned their place among the elders by hunting humans across the desert.

It was tradition.

No dragon questioned it.

Least of all their king.

King Vaelor Ambergue, Sovereign of the Endless Sands, believed compassion was the first step toward weakness. Under his reign, fear became law.

Until one human dared to stand before him.

She arrived alone.

Barefoot.

Wrapped in weathered black robes that danced with the desert wind.

No guards stopped her.

No dragon attacked.

The sand itself parted beneath her feet.

The Dragon Court laughed.

"What entertainment has wandered into our palace?" one elder mocked.

"A sacrifice?" another sneered.

King Vaelor looked down from his throne of amber stone and smiled.

"You kneel before dragons."

The woman did not kneel.

She simply raised her eyes.

Eyes that reflected centuries of grief.

"I once believed dragons were guardians."

Silence spread through the court.

"I was wrong."

One of the younger dragons burst into laughter.

"You crossed an entire desert to insult us?"

The woman's voice never changed.

"You slaughtered my village."

The laughter faded.

"You burned my husband alive."

The hall grew still.

"You crushed my parents beneath your wings."

Her hands trembled.

"And the child growing inside me..."

She swallowed the words.

"...never took its first breath."

For the first time in decades...

No dragon spoke.

King Vaelor sighed as though listening to an inconvenience.

"Humans die every day."

The woman's eyes filled with tears.

"So do dragons."

The king laughed.

"You threaten us?"

"I warned you."

She reached into the folds of her robe and withdrew a single hourglass.

Its glass was cracked.

Inside flowed not sand...

But glowing ash.

The eldest dragons rose from their seats.

Recognition spread across their faces.

"No..."

One whispered.

"She found it..."

Another stepped backward.

"The Ash Hourglass..."

King Vaelor's smile vanished.

"You..."

The woman spoke softly.

"My name is Elyra."

"The last witch of the Ash Covenant."

Lightning split the cloudless sky.

The desert trembled.

Mountains groaned.

The hourglass shattered against the palace floor.

Ash scattered across every grain of sand.

A wind unlike any before screamed across the desert.

Dragons stumbled.

Some collapsed.

Others clutched at their chests.

Golden scales cracked like drying earth.

Their immense bodies shrank.

Wings crumbled into dust.

Claws became trembling hands.

Roars dissolved into terrified screams.

For the first time in recorded history...

Dragons felt fear.

King Vaelor fell from his throne.

His towering body twisted, bones breaking and reforming until a human man lay gasping upon the palace floor.

"What have you done?" he cried.

Elyra looked upon the once-mighty Dragon King.

Not with triumph.

Not with hatred.

Only sorrow.

"I have taken nothing from you."

"You have taken everything!"

"No."

She stepped closer.

"I have given you what you denied every soul you destroyed."

She looked upon the thousands of dragons writhing in agony.

"You will live."

"You will hunger."

"You will grieve."

"You will fear."

"You will bury those you love."

"You will learn what it means to be powerless."

The dragons screamed.

The desert echoed with their despair.

King Vaelor crawled toward her.

"You cursed us..."

Elyra closed her eyes.

"I spared you."

She could have ended them that day.

Every dragon.

Every bloodline.

Every name carved into history.

Instead...

She chose mercy.

"I curse the blood of every Sand Dragon."

"So long as hatred remains in your hearts..."

"So long as you believe yourselves above mankind..."

"Every child born from your blood shall enter this world as a human."

"They shall know hunger before abundance."

"They shall know tears before power."

"They shall know loss before pride."

"And only those who learn compassion..."

"...shall remember the sky."

The desert fell silent.

The dragons stared at their human hands.

At their fragile bodies.

At the mortality they had mocked for centuries.

King Vaelor's voice cracked.

"You have doomed us."

A single tear escaped Elyra's eye.

"No..."

"I have given your children a chance to become better than their fathers."

She turned away.

Her robes disappeared into the storm of ash.

The dragons searched for her.

For days.

For months.

For generations.

But the witch vanished without a trace.

Time buried the truth.

The Dragon Kingdoms crumbled.

Their names became myths.

Their castles disappeared beneath endless dunes.

And history remembered only one story.

That an ancient witch, consumed by hatred...

had erased dragons from the world.

No one remembered the villages.

No one remembered the children.

No one remembered why she raised her hand against the sky.

Only the curse remained.

Waiting.

Patiently.

For the day a child of dragon blood would uncover the truth buried beneath the dunes...

...and decide whether history deserved to repeat itself.

Or finally come to an end.