In the reliquary hall of the Rupescissa shrine, Arzhel, a novice wizard, cannot believe his eyes. Inert, in front of him, lies a Dragon. "A superior being, belonging to the ancient race of the Great Sentient Dragons who, in the dawn of the world, had given their names to all things." Arzhel's eyes fill with tears. It's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Meanwhile, many leagues away, atop a snowy mountain, a great black dragon struggles to free itself from the grip of the ice that holds it captive. An ancient prophecy is being fulfilled: the awakening of the Dragons. And the first to come out of hibernation are a Powerful, capable, once he reaches adulthood, of leading his fellows back to the lands of the Erondàr and a renegade dragon, one of the few who had refused to abandon those territories to reach the Hidden Continent , as established by a pact, made in time immemorial, between the Dragons and the human race. Now, therefore, the inhabitants of Erondàr risk being swept away by the return of the Lords of Heaven. The only possibility of salvation is to transport Potente's puppy beyond the Storm Belt, the barrier that separates the known world from the current home of the Dragons, before he becomes an adult. Only one man can accompany the young novice on this suicide mission: Ian the Dragon-blooded warrior, known as Dragonero.
