MOUNTAIN BOND, A Novella
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Ryn Stormwatcher has found their place in the world—soaring through mountain peaks with Kivith, their dragon bond-partner, creating ephemeral art from mist and wind that exists for the pure joy of being beautiful. Their neural pathways have rewired themselves over three years of shared consciousness, two minds learning to think as one while remaining distinctly themselves.
But when Guild crystal extraction operations threaten the sacred storm formations, a catastrophic confrontation shatters everything Ryn believed permanent.
The neural bond that defined their existence lies severed, their dragon partner lost, their future reduced to the few agonizing days that bond-severed riders typically survive.
Then, an ancient silver dragon emerges from centuries of solitude, offering an unprecedented choice: accept peaceful death to follow their lost partner beyond the physical world, or risk an experimental bond that has never been attempted and might destroy what remains of their humanity.
What does it mean to honor the past while embracing transformation? And when the Crystal Echo Prophecy speaks of patterns that must be preserved through unexpected means, can love transcend the boundaries of individual existence?
In the Dragon's Spine mountains, some connections run deeper than specie, some losses require rebirth rather than acceptance, and some choices echo across domains to reshape the very nature of magic itself.
Part 1: The Severance begins the journey into grief, transformation, and the discovery that the strongest bonds are not the ones that remain unchanged, but the ones that grow through breaking.