Prologue: Her Story

Dragons are creatures that share similarities with tyrannosaurus rex due to their immense size and predatory nature. The flames they breathe could liquefy stone. Their scales, deep emerald greens, fiery reds, snowy whites, obsidian blacks, shimmer under the sun like a jewels. And their wings, leathery and wide enough to blot out the sky that make them look like gods of the air.

But dragons never existed, not in the flesh. They only lived in the dreams of fantasy readers. Reader like me.

And yet, here I was, standing at the shore... and staring at something impossible.

I came here for a different reason. A final, clear purpose. One that involved the sea pulling me under the heaviness of all the expectations, the pressure, the failure. But now, the world had given me something else. Something that made me forget why I was here in the first place.

Now, my chest was tight for a completely different reason. The world had just shifted. I didn’t know what that smoky shape, speeding down from the sky was, but I was certain of one thing. It would save me.

Somehow.

+

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to come to this.

Just an hours before the sky split open, I was staring at my phone. My thumb refreshing again and again, as if the grade would change if I just waited long enough. I couldn’t believe it. A five-point-zero.

Failed.

I stared at the grade, my vision blurring with each look, hoping maybe I had misread it. But no—it was real. It was there, mocking me in bold numbers. I belonged to that ten percent who couldn’t make it.

All I felt was emptiness. No tears. No anger. Just... hollow.

Around me, people were talking, laughing, moving on with their lives.

"I passed! Thank God."

“Man, I only got a 2.75. I survived.”

“Hahaha, I don’t even know how I didn’t fail that subject."

They spoke like it was any other day, but I couldn’t relate. I couldn’t lift my head to join them. All I could do was stare on the screen.

It wasn’t just the failure. It was what it meant. The scholarship I had fought for was at risk. My future, my parents’ expectations, everything... all slipping away because I wasn’t good enough.

How would I explain this to them? The disappointment in their eyes would be the worst part. I could already hear them comparing me to others—again.

“Why aren’t you like her?”

“She got a scholarship, why can’t you?”

They never asked how I was doing. They never asked if I was okay. It was always, "Did you pass?" "How’s your grade?" As if that’s all that mattered.

And even when I went home, the pressure wouldn’t stop. It never did. They also wanted me to be perfect at home.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"What is this? Can you not even cook a simple meal without making a mistake?"

"Why are those dishes still on the sink? Those aren't going to wash themselves! Goodness, those plates have been waiting long enough! Get to work and wash them already!"

But when I wasn’t studying, when I just need a moment to breathe, they’d question me again, "Why aren’t you studying? You need to maintain your grades, remember?"

It made me so angry, so frustrated deep inside, but I couldn't say anything. I couldn't talk back. I couldn't scream at them how tired I was, how broken I felt.

They wouldn’t understand. I wasn’t like the others they compared me to. And that failure, that five-point-zero, proved it. I hated it.

I hated myself for failing. I hated them for never seeing how hard I tried. I hated how suffocated I felt in a cycle I couldn’t escape. And I couldn’t go home, not like this. Not to face my parents, their questions, their disappointment. I couldn’t face another day of pretending everything was okay. The pressure was too much. I had tried so hard, done everything I could, and still… I failed.

So, I came here. I wanted the sea to take me.

Then... I saw it.

Without even thinking, I slipped off my shoes, peeled off my socks, and left them on the shore. My phone followed, tossed carelessly into the sand. And my attention wasn’t on the waves anymore. I wiped the tears from my eyes and squinted at the sky. Something... something was falling from above.

At first, I thought it was an eagle, maybe a large bird, but then it grew larger.

"..."

I stood still on the water's edge as I watched focusely. The speck now a dark, tumbling through the sky, but the form… it was strange, twisting in the wind, long and sinewy.

"..."

As it fell lower, I could see every detail- of what seemed like wings, huge and black, flapping helplessly against the force of gravity.

"What the..."

My lips slightly parted as I held my breath. I wondered, perhaps, it was the effect after crying a lot towards my grade. Or maybe the effect of sleep deficiency that now I could see an illusion right here at the beach.

Still, my hearing confirmed it anyway. It wasn't an illusion. It was unbelievable real.

A terrible but powerful screech heard across the shore, as if the waves and the salt air responded to its monstrous cry.

I flinched, my hair standing no end. The sun was high but it seemed like I felt a wave of cold in my entire body all of a sudden.

Whatever this thing was, it was alive—and it was enormous. Not an eagle!

I blinked and looked again in disbelief.

With a crash like thunder, it hit the sea. And a cloud of sand and water in a tremendous spray reached me, my school uniform soaked in so badly.

I shielded my eyes from the blast as my heart suddenly beat so fast that I could hear it enough.

After a short time, I removed my arm slowly in my sight, and when the mist cleared, I saw nothing but the water began to settle and the waves started to ripple outwards. Eventually, returning to the normal current.

Was it real? Of course it was - it had to be. Even though how scramble my mind was because of my damn situation today, I was sure I saw a scales, wings, and huge horns.

I squinted to the part where it fell. Its body...or at least a significant portion of it would likely be above the water line and visible from here. But there was nothing. Nothing like what I expected.

Where was it?

I checked my smartwatch, and almost three minutes had passed, but there was no sign of emergence. This human average time for holding breath underwater was unmistakable needed to gasp for air now.

So, I waited for another moment. I looked out over the surface of the sea, patiently.

The part of the foreshore where it fell was shallow, five feet deep at high tide. I kept telling myself there’s no way—no way something that massive, that real, could have been swallowed by such shallow water. It made no sense.

4:20 minutes. I checked again, but still, nothing. The sun beat down on my skin, its heat relentless, like it was trying to snap me out of this daze, but I couldn’t look away.

5:58 minutes. My phone started ringing, its vibration muffled by the sand next to my black shoes with socks on it. I didn’t even glance at it. I knew what that ring meant—bad news of course.

7:01 minutes. The wet fabric of my uniform was drying under the scorching sun. Time was moving on, but I was stuck in this strange limbo, waiting.

9:00 minutes. I took a step forward, my left foot sinking into the wet sand.

Enough.

Just the island on the horizon, the water reflecting the sky. Not a trace of anything black or monstrous breaking the surface. Nothing.

"Perhaps…"

A part of me whispered that it was still down there, somewhere beneath the waves, but I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Except for one thing: I came here to one purpose. But now? Now I wasn’t so sure.

Because something else was out there. Something impossible. And it felt like it had been sent to save me.