In an empire where dragons are hunted and the church teaches that sunlight is salvation, Lucian Thorne lives a quiet life in the border village of Eldhollow where he mends fences, keeps the peace, and pretends not to notice the rot beneath the empire’s golden laws. He has no wish to be a hero. He wants only small things: the warmth of Emory Baker in his bed, the smell of bread at dawn, a life that belongs to him.

When a one-man patrol never returns, Lucian follows the trail into the forest and discovers the impossible—an injured dragon, bleeding and half-buried beneath the pines. Her name is Vaeryth, one of the last of her kind. Instead of striking the killing blow the Solar Dominion expects, Lucian chooses mercy. That single act binds their fates together, awakening a bond older than any empire and reigniting a fire the world thought extinct.

In the days that follow, an old rival begins to act on quieter, crueler motives. The mayor’s steward, Orwin Thatch, has long envied the attention Lucian gave to others. His jealousy festers into conviction, and though he can find no proof of wrongdoing, he sends a letter to the provincial regent hoping to see Lucian shamed. Instead, his letter summons something far worse.

When the Dominion’s agent arrives to investigate, Eldhollow becomes the spark of a war no one meant to begin. Lucian’s defiance forces him from the ashes of his village into the heart of a rising rebellion, where the bond he shares with Vaeryth may be the key to ending an empire built on light and lies. Together, they will fulfill the prophecy: the eclipse has awoken.

A story of love, quiet defiance, and the return of myths and legends, The Eclipse Awakens is a slow-burn fantasy about the courage it takes to choose kindness in a world built on fear.