Sylric was asleep in the worst possible place.
Back against a stone bench. Cloak half-draped over his face. Boots kicked off beside a dying brazier. His head tilted just enough to catch the sun but not enough to be comfortable.
He'd been awake all night proctoring elemental duels.
He didn't care.
Sleep now.
Students later.
Maybe.
Something thundered.
The bench shook.
He didn't open his eyes.
The sound came again, this time way louder. A hard crunch. Stone. Soil. Weight.
He frowned without moving.
Then something growled.
Deep. Resonant.
Not a wolf.
A gust of hot air blasted across his boots, carrying smoke and something sharp, mana-scorched and too old to belong to any student.
He opened one eye.
Saw a claw the size of a cart wheel.
Paused.
Opened the other.
Above him, towering against the sky, wings folding tight and steam rising from its nostrils—
A dragon.
Sylric blinked once.
Twice.
Then sighed.
"Of course."
