FLIGHT TO BRAN FORTRESS

The sky was streaked with the soft hues of dawn as we descended toward the borders of Bran Fortress. The air was thick with anticipation, the silence almost too loud, broken only by the rhythmic beating of dragon wings. Lord Niko, Silas, and Talon landed with a precision that belied the tension hanging in the air. Their dragon forms rippled with barely contained power, but my focus was fixed on the fortress ahead.

Its towering walls loomed over us, dark and foreboding, a fortress built for war. The quiet of the morning shattered when the gates began to creak open, their heavy iron groaning under the strain. I could feel my heart pound harder, every sense heightened, as the darkness within the fortress shifted—and then they emerged.

"They sensed our presence?" I wondered out loud.