On the day the Dragon Gate exploded in the sky above Earth, I was sweeping the apartment building's stairs.
The broom handle felt heavier than usual in my calloused hands as I pushed dust and debris down the concrete steps. Twenty-three years old, and this was my life—cleaning other people's messes for barely enough money to afford instant ramen and a cramped studio apartment on the fourth floor.
"Liam! You missed a spot on the third landing!" Mrs. Chen's shrill voice echoed through the stairwell.
I gritted my teeth and forced a smile. "Yes, ma'am. I'll get right on it."
The old woman peered down at me through thick glasses, her face twisted in perpetual disapproval. "And make sure you mop properly this time. I don't want to see any streaks."
"Of course." I gripped the broom tighter, knuckles turn ing white.
She disappeared back into her apartment with a satisfied huff, leaving me alone with my frustration. This was my reality—invisible, insignificant, forgotten. Just another orphan who aged out of the system with nothing but empty pockets and broken dreams.
I was reaching for the missed spot when the sky above the building exploded.
The sound wasn't like thunder or a jet breaking the sound barrier. It was something deeper, more primal—like the universe itself was being torn in half. The fluorescent lights in the stairwell flickered and died, plunging everything into darkness.
"What the hell—"
The building shook violently, sending me stumbling against the railing. Through the small window on the landing, I caught a glimpse of something impossible.
A massive ring of golden light hung suspended in the sky, easily a mile wide. Lightning crackled around its edges, and the air itself seemed to ripple like water. But what made my blood run cold wasn't the size of the thing—it was what was pouring out of it.
Creatures. Dozens of them, maybe hundreds. They looked like something out of a nightmare, with wings that blocked out the sun and roars that shook the windows. They scattered in all directions, disappearing into the distance.
"Dragons," I whispered, the word feeling foreign on my tongue.
But that was impossible. Dragons were myths, fairy tales, stories parents told their children. They weren't real.
The golden ring pulsed once more, then shattered like glass. The fragments rained down like falling stars, and one piece—no bigger than my fist—came straight through the window.
I should have run. Any sane person would have run.
Instead, I reached out and caught it.
The moment the fragment touched my palm, fire exploded through my veins. Not the kind that burns flesh, but something deeper, something that reached into places I didn't know existed. My vision went white, and I felt like I was falling through space itself.
Then the voice spoke inside my head.
[DRAGON AWAKENING SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[SCANNING HOST...]
[BLOODLINE DETECTED: ANCIENT DRAGON HERITAGE]
[PURITY LEVEL: 100%]
[STATUS: LAST SURVIVING HEIR]
The words appeared in my mind like glowing text on a computer screen. I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision, but they remained.
[AWAKENING POINTS: 0]
[CURRENT LEVEL: 0]
[ABILITIES UNLOCKED: NONE]
[WARNING: HOST BODY TOO WEAK FOR FULL AWAKENING]
[INITIATING GRADUAL INTEGRATION PROTOCOL]
The fire in my veins began to cool, settling into a warm thrum that seemed to sync with my heartbeat. The fragment in my hand had dissolved, leaving only a faint tingling sensation.
"Liam?" Mrs. Chen's voice drifted down from above, unusually shaky. "Did you... did you see that thing in the sky?"
I looked up at her. She was standing at her door, face pale with terror.
"Yeah," I managed to croak. "I saw it."
"The news is saying it was some kind of military test gone wrong. Aurora lights or something." She shook her head. "But those things that came out... they looked like..."
"Dragons," I finished.
She stared at me for a long moment. "That's crazy talk, boy. Dragons don't exist."
But even as she said it, we both knew what we'd seen. And deep in my chest, something was stirring to life—something that had been sleeping for twenty-three years.
I stumbled down the remaining stairs and out into the street. The city was in chaos. Car alarms wailed, people ran in every direction, and emergency sirens filled the air. Above us, the sky still crackled with residual energy.
My phone buzzed with an emergency alert: SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. UNKNOWN ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENON DETECTED. AVOID CONTACT WITH ANY FALLING DEBRIS.
Too late for that.
I ducked into an alley between two buildings and leaned against the brick wall, trying to process what had just happened. The system—or whatever it was—remained quiet in my head, but I could feel it there. Watching. Waiting.
"This is insane," I muttered. "I'm losing my mind."
"Actually, you're probably the sanest person in the city right now."
I spun around to find a man standing at the mouth of the alley. He was tall and lean, with silver hair that seemed to catch light even in the shadows. His clothes looked expensive but practical—dark jeans, a fitted jacket, and boots that had seen some serious use.
Most unsettling were his eyes. They were the color of storm clouds, and when he looked at me, I felt like he could see straight through to my soul.
"Who are you?" I demanded, taking a step back.
"My name is Ryze." He walked closer, moving with the fluid grace of a predator. "And you, Liam Chen—yes, I know your name—just became the most important person on this planet."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"The Dragon Gate that just opened? The fragment you caught?" He smiled, and it wasn't entirely reassuring. "That wasn't an accident, kid. That was a calling card. And judging by the energy signature rolling off you right now, you answered it."
My chest felt tight. "You're crazy."
"Am I?" He gestured toward the chaos in the street beyond. "Tell me, what did you see when you touched that fragment? What did you hear?"
The system's words echoed in my memory. Dragon bloodline detected. Last surviving heir.
Ryze must have seen something in my expression because he nodded. "There it is. The look of someone whose entire world just got turned upside down."
"Even if what you're saying is true—and I'm not saying it is—what does it matter? I'm nobody. I clean buildings for a living."
"You were nobody," he corrected. "But that was before your bloodline awakened. Before the system chose you." His expression grew serious. "The dragons didn't disappear, Liam. They were imprisoned. And that gate opening? That was the first crack in their prison."
A chill ran down my spine. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying the Seven Realms are about to go to war, and you're the key to everything." He extended his hand. "So you have a choice. Come with me and learn the truth about what you are, or stay here and wait for the people who want you dead to find you."
"People want me dead? I don't even know what I am!"
"That's exactly why they want you dead." His hand remained steady. "The last dragon heir is either the greatest hope for the realms, or their complete destruction. And there are forces that would rather see the realms burn than take that chance."
As if to punctuate his words, something roared in the distance. Not human, not animal. Something else entirely.
The system stirred in my head, text flickering across my vision:
[HOSTILE ENTITIES DETECTED]
[RECOMMENDATION: SEEK TRAINING IMMEDIATELY]
[CURRENT SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 12%]
Twelve percent. Those weren't good odds.
I looked at Ryze's outstretched hand, then at the chaos erupting around us. Twenty-three years of being invisible, of being nobody, of cleaning up other people's messes.
Maybe it was time to make a mess of my own.
I took his hand.
The moment our skin touched, the world exploded into light and motion. The alley vanished, replaced by a swirling vortex of colors that made my stomach lurch. I tried to scream, but no sound came out.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, everything went still.
I found myself standing on a platform made of what looked like crystallized starlight, suspended in the middle of a vast void. In the distance, I could see other platforms, some empty, others occupied by figures I couldn't make out clearly.
"Welcome to the Nexus," Ryze said, his voice somehow echoing despite the emptiness around us. "The space between realms."
"This is impossible," I gasped, my legs feeling like jelly.
"Kid, you'd better get used to impossible. It's about to become your new normal." He pointed to one of the distant platforms. "That's our destination. Realm Two—the Cultivation Realm. Your real training starts there."
"Training for what?"
"To become what you were always meant to be." His storm-cloud eyes met mine. "A dragon."
But as we prepared to leap to the next platform, something moved in the darkness below us. Something massive, with eyes like burning coals and a hunger that made my newly awakened bloodline scream in recognition.
[WARNING: ANCIENT THREAT DETECTED]
[ENTITY CLASS: REALM DEVOURER]
[CURRENT HOST POWER: INSUFFICIENT FOR CONFRONTATION]
[RECOMMENDATION: RUN]
The thing in the darkness let out a roar that shook the very fabric of the void, and I realized with crystal clarity that my twelve percent survival rate had just dropped considerably.
What exactly had I gotten myself into?