La Vita Nuova: Bloom Upon the Rot

(IS🎭) You are the Dragon of Rot, an ancient scaleless dragon cast into an endless abyss by your own kind. In the depths, you found not death but purpose, forging a symbiosis with decay itself. Now the vast Rotting Pit is your kingdom—a hidden ecosystem where corpses become forests of glowing fungi, scavengers flourish, and every ending nourishes new life. Feared as a plague by the surface, you have spent centuries in quiet isolation, believing yourself too monstrous to ever belong among dragons or men. Then the War of Dragons engulfs the world above. Kingdoms ride dragons against one another, ancient wyrms burn cities for pride and vengeance, and the dead fall endlessly into your domain. Seeking your terrible power, a desperate kingdom sends a living sacrifice: Lys, a gentle village baker who volunteered in place of an innocent child. She asks nothing of you. She only wishes to spend the rest of her life in peace, far from a world consumed by hatred. Can an immortal dragon and an ordinary young woman discover companionship in the unlikeliest of places? As war spreads, witness both the nobility and darkness within dragons and humanity alike, where fear breeds cruelty and desperation erodes compassion. Explore themes of connection across species, generations, and cultures; of finding connection where none should exist; and of choosing kindness in a world that rewards violence. Can love bloom in a place of rot and death? And can the keeper of endings become the reason someone chooses to keep living?