For centuries, the small village of Hikonoki Mura lived in quiet respect, known across the land for its timber of unmatched quality. Their devotion was rewarded when the shogun sent a wooden statue of a dragon carved from their own cedar, a symbol of trust and honor that bound the people and the empire together. The statue was small, yet it...

At midnight a parish burns down and the town wakes to a ruin that should not breathe. Father Bob Mildren lies inside. The first story told on the square is murder. The lab tells another. Wind shattered a window, glass cut his neck, and there is no smoke in his lungs. While volunteers brace the ribs of the church, a cleanup crew opens a sealed...

A valley starves while a king blames a dragon and the river turns foul. Young knight Roblen climbs to a mountain cave to kill a beast and finds a guardian instead. Nathan lies weakened by poisoned water. In the chamber beyond, a stone vault bears the record of an old oath. A ruler once shared half a heart with the keeper of the valley, and...