Master Aiden looked toward the faded photograph of his daughter.“He stayed because leaving meant losing her.”Carl remained standing beside the window.“That didn’t stop him from disappearing.”“He tried to protect her from the truth.”“And look how well that ended.”Aiden accepted the bitterness in his voice.Jackson had spent years believing he could live between two worlds.He continued answering some Council orders while secretly destroying others. He maintained the appearance of a loyal conqueror, hoping no one would notice he had abandoned the mission.But the Council noticed everything.A representative came to Jackson’s office one evening.The man appeared young, though his eyes carried centuries.“You have delayed the final phase,” he said.Jackson didn’t look up from his desk.“Human systems are more complicated than expected.”“You control their banks.”“Not all of them.”“You control their leaders.”“Leaders are replaceable.”The representative placed a sealed order on the

Three satellites passed over Sparrow Mountain before sunrise.The first captured a clear image of the village.The second recorded only static.The third went dark for eleven seconds.Inside a secure facility thousands of miles away, technicians stared at blank monitors.“What happened?”“No system failure.”“Cloud interference?”“The sky is clear.”A supervisor entered the room.“Show me the last usable frame.”The image appeared.Carl stood outside Master Aiden’s house, looking toward the mountains.The photograph blurred around his body.Everything else remained sharp.The supervisor leaned closer.“Enhance it.”The technician tried.The screen turned black.Across the world, similar failures occurred.Security cameras lost power whenever Carl walked past.Facial-recognition systems identified him as six different people.Military databases deleted his records seconds after opening them.Someone was protecting him.Or something inside him refused to be observed.Two agents arrived a

The envelope appeared on Carl’s bed.No one saw who delivered it.The doors remained locked.Anna had been in the kitchen all morning. Sophia sat outside speaking with Master Aiden. Carl had left the room for less than five minutes.When he returned, the black envelope rested on his pillow.Carl stopped at the doorway.He listened.No unfamiliar heartbeat.No movement above the ceiling.No scent remained except smoke and something metallic.He approached carefully.The paper was thick and cold.No name had been written on the front.A dragon emblem sealed the back.Carl recognized the shape from Master Aiden’s documents.He carried the envelope outside.“Did either of you enter my room?”Anna shook her head.Sophia looked at the envelope.“What is that?”Master Aiden’s face turned grave.“Don’t open it.”Carl glanced at him.“That guarantees I will.”“It may be dangerous.”“So was the truth.”He broke the seal.The paper inside contained only one sentence.Return what belongs to the Dr

The black envelope remained inside Master Aiden’s wooden box.Carl had already read the message.Return what belongs to the Dragon Clan.But the words had changed.When he opened the box the following morning, the sentence was gone. Only the dragon emblem remained on the paper.Carl carried it to the dining table.Master Aiden stopped eating the moment he saw it.“I told you to destroy that.”“You told me not to open it.”“And you ignored me.”“I usually do when someone hides the truth.”Sophia sat beside Carl while Anna closed the curtains.The house had felt exposed since the watcher appeared on the rooftop. Every movement outside made them look toward the windows.Carl placed the envelope on the table.“The message disappeared.”Aiden didn’t touch it.“What did it say before?”“Return what belongs to the Dragon Clan.”The old man’s gaze moved toward Carl’s necklace.Sophia noticed.“You think they mean the seal.”“Or Carl,” Aiden said.Carl unfolded the paper.The black dragon seeme

Smoke lingered inside the safe house.The watcher’s ash covered the floor beneath the chair.Sophia opened the windows, but the smell remained.Carl crouched beside the burned ropes.Nothing useful had survived.No fingerprints.No blood.Not even bone.Master Aiden used a metal rod to move the ash.“What are you looking for?” Carl asked.“The seal.”“It burned with him.”“Blood seals don’t burn.”Aiden found a small piece of red stone.It pulsed once inside the ash.Then the color disappeared.Carl picked it up with a cloth.“What is a blood seal?”“A command written into the body.”Aiden had learned about them from Jackson’s notes.The Dragon Clan used seals on agents who carried dangerous knowledge. As long as the agent remained loyal, the mark stayed dormant.Capture activated it.So did any attempt to speak forbidden names, locations, or orders.“The seal kills them automatically,” Aiden said.Sophia looked at the ash.“They volunteer for that?”“Some do.”“And the others?”Aiden