The Skyfold Tournament

Every decade, the kingdoms of the Skyfold gather for a spectacle the world calls glorious.
High above the mountains, on arenas carved from hardened cloud and living storm, dragonrider teams clash for honor, power, and rights to unclaimed dragons.

The truth is uglier.

For centuries, the Skyfold Tournament has hidden a secret purpose: it is a culling engine. The rules, the "accidents," the weather itself have all been guided by something far above the arenas-an ancient dragon Overlord bound to the sky, pruning away dragonriders who think too boldly, bond too deeply, or fly too far off-script.

Kael is never meant to matter.
He's a nobody stable-hand in Branthold's low-tier aerie, cleaning stalls for dragons he'll never ride and listening to nobles brag about a tournament he'll only ever watch from below. Until the day he's sent to check on a "problem" dragon-a storm-scaled rogue named Saruun who has mauled three nobles, shattered every ritual bond, and refuses every rider.

Saruun chooses Kael.

Their bond detonates Skyfold's careful order. Kael and Saruun are forced into the tournament as wildcards: underfunded, underestimated, and dropped into a game that's rigged to kill them early. As sabotage, mid-air assassinations, and impossible "weather anomalies" mount, they discover:

• A hidden bracket where "dead" riders are taken instead of falling.

• The Sunless Fold, a secret arena beneath the clouds, where champions are remade into instruments of the Overlord's will.

• A storm-mandala wrapped around the world, quietly deciding who is allowed to live long enough to matter.

To survive, Kael and Saruun must do more than win.
They have to break the pattern.

What begins as a desperate struggle for one wildcard pair becomes a rebellion against a sky that thinks it owns them. Dragons and riders must decide: remain pieces in someone else's game-or become players, and rewrite the board.

Perfect for readers who love brutal dragon tournaments, deep worldbuilding, and rebellions that reach all the way into the clouds.