Morning in Avelline broke with a golden cascade of sunlight that poured over slate rooftops and chimed against the cobbled streets like music. The city stirred from its slumber, and with it, so did Ethan Lockwood and Celestia Draconyx.They stood at the threshold of the grand Adventurers' Guild hall—a towering stone structure with steel-framed windows and the emblem of a phoenix engraved on its twin wooden doors. As Ethan pushed the doors open, a wave of noise, warmth, and clashing personalities washed over him.Sword tips glinted under chandeliers. Quest boards stretched from wall to wall, covered in yellowed parchments. Burly mercenaries laughed over mugs of ale, while cloaked rogues studied maps with whispered urgency. Hawkers offered magically-infused trinkets, trying to tempt every newcomer with "limited-time enchantments."No one paid Ethan and Celestia much attention at first. They were just another pair of would-be adventurers, eyes wide with ambition. But Ethan knew this momen

The city of Avelline had never known such silence.When Ethan Lockwood and Celestia Draconyx stepped through the towering doors of the Adventurers' Guild, they were met not with the usual bustle, but with a hush so deep it seemed the walls themselves held their breath.The pair stood side by side, battle-worn and exhausted. Ethan's armor was scorched and dented, a makeshift bandage wrapped around his shoulder. Celestia's obsidian-scaled armor was dull with soot and streaked with dried ichor. And yet, their eyes gleamed with an unmistakable fire.The silence shattered."They did it!" roared Garret, the grizzled senior officer whose voice rarely rose above a bark. "They actually cleared the hellhound den!"The guild erupted.Adventurers surged forward, voices overlapping in disbelief and admiration. Questions flew like arrows. Tessa, the once-dismissive receptionist, pushed through the crowd holding a steaming mug of tea."Here, for your burns. And... congratulations," she added, almost

The sun had barely kissed the rooftops of Avelline when Ethan Lockwood and Celestia Draconyx strode through the guild's towering bronze doors. Inside, the main chamber buzzed with the low murmur of steel, ink, and ambition. Tessa was already waiting, scrolls and commissions stacked high at her side."Early as always," she greeted with a yawn, offering Ethan a wink. "You've got fans waiting outside, you know. Again."Ethan ran a hand through his hair, exhaling. "Maybe they'll follow someone else for once."Tessa chuckled and slid a bundle of missions across the desk. Each one bore a red sigil—the symbol of S-Class danger."Take your pick, Dragon Knight."Celestia leaned over the table, her tail flicking with mild annoyance. "Read them aloud."Ethan listed them with a calm, measured breath."One: The Cursed Catacombs beneath Castle Avelline. Two: A vampire enclave hidden in the Eastern Marshes. Three: Wyvern hunting on Stormforge Peak. Four: The fallen ruins of the Seraphim Citadel."He

The shadows deepened as Ethan Lockwood and Celestia Draconyx descended the winding staircase beneath the ruined basalt tower. The spiral path was slick with algae and time-worn carvings—rituals of death etched into the very stone. The air reeked of mildew, ichor, and unspent magic. With every step, the low thrumming of the cultists' chant grew louder, more fevered.At the bottom lay a cavernous chamber, its ceiling lost in gloom. Bioluminescent fungi clung to jagged walls, casting a sickly green glow. At its center loomed a massive black altar, pulsing with crimson veins of necrotic energy. Around it, cloaked cultists circled like moths to a flame, their voices weaving a ritual that felt older than the swamp itself.And rising from the altar, wreathed in thick mist, was the skull of a dragon—enormous, hollow-eyed, and grotesquely adorned with bone sigils and blood-ink runes. As the last of the shadowy fluid was poured into the basin, the dragon's skeletal neck began to form, vertebra b

The gates of Avelline City loomed ahead, their iron-bound wood flecked with morning dew. Ethan Lockwood and Celestia Draconyx stumbled through them, cloaks torn and stained from the marshes, the stench of cursed magic clinging to their skin like an invisible shroud.Inside the Adventurers' Guild, the mood shifted the moment they entered.Tessa stood behind the counter, her usual playful smile vanished, replaced by a grim tightness around her lips. She immediately dropped the bundle of quest parchments she had been sorting."You're back," she breathed, hurrying forward. Her gaze flicked to Ethan—and paled. "But you're... cursed."Ethan gave a ragged nod before his knees buckled. Only Celestia's quick reflexes kept him upright. Tessa cried for help, and soon Garret and Lysa rushed down from the upper floors, the thunder of their boots echoing off the stone.Garret's scarred face twisted with alarm."Get him to the rest hall. Now!"Within minutes, Ethan was laid out on a padded cot behind