Pride! Ral's journey has taken him and his friends to an enormous walled city. Inside, the inhabitants are jittery, as the womenfolk have been mysteriously disappearing. While the residents prepare weapons to prevent the Shadows from invading, the newest member of Ral's party, Kafka, is sent to investigate. He's stunned to see Mio, Ral's tutor, walking towards an unknown destination in a daze. When he tries to intervene the city's soldiers attack! Have the Shadows already found a way into the city?
During a bloody war, a child is born at the cost of his mother's life. From this baby comes forth a huge and powerful dragon born of shadow that lays waste to the landscape. A quick-thinking knight locks the baby in a cage of darkness, where he grows to be a young man, knowing only the kindness of his young female tutor. Until the day the Shadows attack and he is set free.