All Chapters of The Dragon's Vengeance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

​Pain was the first sensation that clawed its way back into my consciousness. It wasn’t a dull, throbbing ache; it was a sharp, searing agony that tore through every fiber of my being, as if my bones had been ground into dust and scattered across a wasteland. Every breath I drew felt like inhaling jagged glass, burning my throat and filling my lungs with the suffocating stench of rotting flesh, damp earth, and dried blood. ​I forced my eyelids to flicker open, though the pitch-black darkness of the bottomless chasm offered no relief. There was no light down here, only the oppressive weight of the world pressing down from above. My limbs felt heavy, unresponsive, completely shattered from the lethal descent. I tried to move my fingers, and a fresh wave of agony shot up my arm, making my teeth grind together until the metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth.​So this is what it feels like to die, I thought, a bitter, humorless laugh echoing hollowly in the dark cavern of my mind. ​T

​The ancient vault faded into the dark shadows beneath us, a silent monument left behind by a forgotten age. With the condensed ancestral energy fully absorbed and locked deep within my core, my entire physical shell hummed with a dense, unyielding vitality. My muscles were tightly coiled springs of pure power, and every breath I drew felt like inhaling liquid fire. ​The Guardian stood at the edge of the lower platform, bowing its massive head in absolute reverence as I prepared to leave the sanctuary.​"The vertical wall ahead is untamed and lethal, master," the guardian rumbled, its voice echoing off the stone walls. "Countless mortals and beasts have perished trying to scale its height. Let the dragon blood guide your grip." ​I gave a curt nod, turning my back on the safety of the vault. It was time to leave the abyss behind. It was time to return to the world above and collect the debt that House Vane and Dorian Thorn owed me.​Stepping up to the sheer, vertiginous cliff face t

​The night sky over the Vane estate was choked with thick, heavy clouds, casting a bruised shadow across the towering stone ramparts. My fingers gripped the cold, damp stone of the outer perimeter wall with effortless ease. The physical condensation stage achieved in the ancestral vault had permanently altered my biology; my muscles were dense coils of unyielding power, and my reflexes operated on a plane far beyond normal human limitations.​With a silent, fluid motion, I hauled myself over the top of the fortification wall, slipping past the patrol routes like a ghost in the dark. ​The exclusive contract binding my destiny had been sealed in blood and resolve; there was no turning back, and no mercy left in my heart. Tonight, House Vane would learn the true cost of casting a soul into the abyss.​I moved swiftly through the sprawling outer gardens, keeping close to the dense hedgerows and shadowy archways until I reached the grand inner courtyard. Looming ahead was the magnificent