And she was staring at me—the egg.
Or rather, the black-and-gold shell now pulsing with a faint inner glow. Cracks shimmered across the surface like molten veins, warm and alive. The fire that had incinerated the soldiers moments ago had come from me—from the spell I hadn't cast, from the will I didn't control.
I wasn't sure how.
But something deep within had responded to her blood.
> [System Triggered]
Blood Tribute Received. Soul Sync at 12%.
Hatch Acceleration Activated. Incubation Progress: 31%
Flame Vein (Dormant) → Flame Vein I (Awakened)
Warning: Consciousness Expanding. Physical Mobility Unavailable.
I couldn't move. I couldn't even speak.
But I could feel her.
Kaela.
The girl who should've run.
The girl who should've left me and lived.
Instead, she knelt beside me again. Her hands, calloused from years of survival, gently touched the smoldering surface of my shell. A flicker of pain crossed her face at the heat, but she didn't pull away.
Her lips parted. "You're not… just an egg, are you?"
No. I wasn't. Not anymore.
Inside this egg, my soul boiled with rage, memories, and power long buried. Once, I was Darian Vael, the Flamecaller of Blackreach, last heir of the Draconic Court before the Purge.
Once, I had ruled the skies.
But in this life? I was still trapped. And helpless.
Kaela looked around the cave, warily listening to the echo of distant footsteps. Soldiers would return. Reinforcements. The Emperor's men never left loose ends.
She looked at me again. "I should leave you. They'll come back for you. Whatever you are…"
I waited.
One breath. Two. Three…
She stood up. My heart—if I had one—sank.
But then, with a frustrated groan, she turned and yanked the fraying satchel off her shoulder. "Godsdamn it. I don't know why I'm doing this."
She shoved old rations, cracked flasks, and a torn spell-scroll aside to make space.
Then, gripping the base of my egg-shell with both arms, she lifted.
> [System Notification]
Carrier Detected: [Kaela Morwyn]
Mana Bond Level: Stable
Trait Revealed: [Mage-Blood – Fire Affinity (Suppressed)]
Hidden Status: [Cursed Womb – Emberblood Lineage]
➤ Bond Potential: 3 Stars
➤ Hatch Speed +8%
So she was more than a ragged thief.
She was fire-touched.
And cursed.
She grunted, adjusted her grip, and cradled the egg—me—in both arms like something fragile.
"You'd better not explode again," she muttered.
Then she ran.
---
The mountain paths were cruel.
Ice slicked every stone. Pines leaned like sentinels, whispering secrets in the wind. The sun had dipped behind the clouds, and shadows crawled fast over snow.
Kaela didn't stop. Not even when arrows hissed past her shoulder. Not even when a soldier's shout echoed behind her.
She ducked behind a craggy slope, her breath coming in white gasps. Her boots slipped. Her cut bled freely.
But she held me tight.
The satchel dragged her down, but she didn't let go.
She scrambled down a ridge and into a ravine shrouded in fog. The moment she reached the river's edge, her mind raced.
They were gaining on her.
She looked down at the rushing current—icy, black, deadly.
She didn't hesitate.
"Hope you can swim, egg."
She jumped.
---
The river devoured us.
I felt the cold bite through Kaela's arms as she fought to stay afloat. She coughed, choked, sputtered. A jagged rock sliced her leg, but she kept me above the surface.
I had no breath. But my awareness surged.
> [System Alert]
Proximity Danger Level: RED
Host Status: Semi-Conscious
Mana Signature: Flickering
Soul Sync Increased: 27%
Evolution Path Unlocking...
By the time we hit the bank half a mile downstream, she was pale and shaking. Her lips were blue. She dragged me onto the mossy edge, then collapsed beside me, coughing water and blood.
I heard her murmur, "What am I doing…? I should've just sold you…"
But she didn't mean it.
Her hands still cradled my shell, even as she passed out beside me.
---
That night, something stirred.
The forest around us watched silently. Kaela slept beside me, curled around my warmth.
And I dreamed.
Or remembered.
I saw a great city of obsidian spires, dragons soaring under twin moons, and a crimson banner torn by war. I remembered my final battle—my wings shredded, my heart pierced by a golden spear as the Empire chanted prayers to their Sun God.
I remembered my last words, cast with my final breath:
> "Let me be reborn. Let fire rise again."
And here I was.
---
> [System Update]
Evolution Path Locked: Flameborn Sovereign (Tier 1)
Passive Skills Acquired:
– Heat Sense I
– Mana Absorption I
Soul Bond Level with Kaela Morwyn: 30%
Hatch Progress: 58%
Soon… I would break free.
I could feel it—the cracking of destiny. The heat building inside me. The power returning.
But first… I had to protect her.
Because whether I liked it or not, Kaela was now my first link to this world.
And I would not let them take her.
---
Somewhere deeper in the woods…
A figure stepped into the clearing Kaela had fled hours ago.
Robes of gold. Sigils burning along pale skin. Eyes that shimmered like molten coin.
A Sun Priest.
He stepped over the charred corpses of soldiers. One hand traced the soot-scrawled runes left on the ground.
Then he smiled.
"A dragon egg…" he whispered. "After all this time… the last one survived."
He raised his staff, and golden fire curled from the tip.
"Send word to the Citadel. The hunt begins."
The night was colder than the last.
Colder than any she'd known.
Kaela wrapped her arms tighter around the large, scaled egg she had dragged into the ruins of a burnt-out chapel. The firewood was gone. The dried meat she'd stolen had already been shared with a few wild rats earlier in the day.
She hadn't eaten in two days. But the egg pulsed with warmth.
Alive.
She could feel it now—this wasn't just a lizard egg, as she'd once thought. No. The heartbeat she felt through the shell… it was far too steady, too strong. Like a second heart thudding against her own chest.
She pressed her forehead against it.
"I don't know what you are… but if you're really alive, please," she whispered. "Don't leave me too."
And within that egg—I heard her.
Not with ears.
With soul.