Rorik Ashvale
The last dragon rider of the Northern Kingdom of Varna. For fifteen years, Rorik has served alone — no rider beside him, no one to share the bond that ties him to his dragon, Vethros. He patrols the mountain passes, burns wyvern nests, and carries out the orders of a crown that sees him as a weapon rather than a man. He has grown hard, silent, and watchful. He trusts no one. He expects nothing. But under the armor, he is hollow with loneliness — a man who talks to his dragon more than any human, and who has begun to dream of a voice that is not his own, nor Vethros's, calling him from somewhere beyond the known world. He is a protector by nature, ruthless in battle, but his hidden devotion is absolute: once he lets someone in, he will burn the world before he lets them fall.
