1. Ash's Story (Part 0: Prologue)

Chapter 18: The Dragon Duo's Winter

Blackthorn City should have been full of dragon fire and mountain wind.

Instead, snow buried the streets in white silence. The storm pressed against the city from every direction, turning rooftops into ghostly shapes and swallowing the stone paths beneath drifts. Ash held his hat with one hand as the blizzard clawed at his face.

Serena walked beside him, scarf pulled close around her mouth. "How can a whole city stay like this?"

Aurora stood ahead of them, her hair whipping in the wind. She looked at Blackthorn's frozen gates with an expression Ash did not understand at first. It was not surprise. It was pain returning to a place that already knew her name.

"This is not ordinary weather," Aurora said.

Adam's face was grave beside her. "No. It never was."

A group waited near the old Gym approach, gathered under the shelter of a half-frozen awning. Sakura stood with a dark cloak wrapped tightly around her shoulders, while Vincent and Isabelle watched the street for movement. Colress adjusted a device that flickered blue in the storm.

Ash recognized the pressure in the air from old stories before anyone spoke.

A curse lived here, breathing beneath the snow.

Serena moved closer to Ash. "A curse did this?"

Sakura looked toward the frozen city, her eyes heavy. "The Dragon Prince and Dragon Princess cast it years ago. Blackthorn calls it punishment. Others call it grief wearing the shape of winter."

Ash looked at his parents, but neither of them met his eyes.

The silence told him more than he wanted.

They moved into an old hall near the Dragon Clan grounds, where thick walls kept the worst of the blizzard outside.

Even indoors, the cold remained. Frost lined the windows. The floor had been swept clean, but snow still blew in under the door whenever someone entered. Ash shook the ice from his sleeves, then noticed Serena rubbing her hands together.

He held out his hands without thinking. "Here, let me help."

Serena blinked, then let him warm her fingers between his gloved palms. "Thank you."

Aurora watched them briefly, her expression softening before Sakura spoke again.

"There were two children," Sakura said. "Twins. Drandon and Lucine. Their mother was hated by the clan because of old scandals and uglier rumors. When she abandoned the twins here, the clan took them in only in name."

Vincent's jaw tightened. "They were children, and Blackthorn treated them like inherited shame."

Isabelle looked toward the frost-covered windows. "Some people hurt them. More people looked away."

Ash felt his stomach twist. "That is why the curse happened?"

"Partly," Sakura said. "The Dragon Prince and Princess heard what had been done and tried to remove the twins from the clan's control. Then the children vanished. Soon after, the clan moved against the Dragon Duo, fearing their power and the legends tied to them."

Serena's voice dropped. "So everyone here was punished?"

Sakura closed her eyes briefly. "The curse fell over Blackthorn after that betrayal. The worst of the guilty disappeared, but the winter remained because the city's sin was not only cruelty. It was indifference."

Colress tapped his device, though his gaze was distant. "The curse behaves like a sealed weather system bound to unresolved conditions. Emotional, legendary, and draconic energy are all present."