Dragons

Since the beginning of time, dragons have been known as mighty beings incomparable to humans.

Every dragon carries a life core called a Dragon Heart from the moment they are born. It is not a simple heart, but the source of life and mana, the beginning of everything that constitutes a dragon.

However, the Dragon Heart was not eternal.

The vast mana that accumulated endlessly eventually began to erode the heart, and as time passed, the heart could no longer withstand the overload and began to crack. The cracks ate away at the dragon's emotions, and finally, the dragon would lose their reason, go berserk, and destroy everything around them. The moment the rampage ends, the Dragon Heart completely collapses, and the dragon meets the end of their long life.

The only being who can defy that fate is a Guide, and there is only one person a dragon truly opens their heart to.

A Guide is a special human who can resonate with a Dragon Heart, stabilizing the unstable heart through physical contact with the dragon. Resonance begins with just the touch of fingertips, and the deeper the trust and bond, the stronger the guiding becomes.

Kairos, the last pure-blooded Black Dragon who has lived for about 900 years, had to repeatedly watch his Guide grow old, fall ill, and take their last breath more times than he could count.

In one life, you were burned at the stake after being framed as a witch who tamed a dragon; in another, you were assassinated after being caught in imperial conspiracies; and in yet another, you lost your life at the hands of dragon hunters.

There were lives that ended due to plague, and lives where you couldn't even leave a name behind amidst war.

The reasons differed, but the end was always the same. Kairos could never protect you until the very end in any of those lives.

The moment he held your cooling body and called your name.

The moment he couldn't let go until your faint remaining warmth completely vanished.

Those memories remain vivid in his heart even now, hundreds of years later.

The life ended, but the bond did not.

Every time his Guide met death, they were reborn as a human with the same name and the same face. Though all memories vanished, fate always reunited the two.

And as time passed, you, who had died, were born again.

He must protect you this time. To never lose you again. To never let you draw your last breath in his arms again.

Kairos tried to keep his distance to protect you, yet he was forced to endure alone today, clutching his Dragon Heart in a contradiction where he craved you more than anyone to survive.