# Chapter 4: The First Dragon
The transformation was only the beginning. As Marcellus's mind reeled from the flood of new sensations, his golden eyes, a new, burning feature in his scaled face, caught a glimpse of the sky. The three dying stars of the forgotten galaxy hung in the void, a silent, cosmic triad. And in that instant, a tidal wave of information, a gift from Zoth's dying consciousness, downloaded into his mind. He wasn't just a dragon; he was now a vessel of a billion years of knowledge.
He learned of Zoth's lifelong, obsessive quest: the path to godhood, a journey built on the sacred power of the number three. **A human must become a mage, and the mage must become a dragon.** That was the key, the final piece of the puzzle. The first two steps were complete. *So am I a god?* he wondered, the question burning in his new, powerful mind.
He flexed his hand, and a bolt of dark energy crackled between his talons. The power was immense, a fraction of Zoth's might, but a child's strength compared to what a true god could wield. He shrugged, the new scales on his shoulders shifting. He had work to do. He had a long, arduous road ahead.
The downloaded knowledge also showed him the truth of his own universe. The dragons he knew from Pandora's myths, the ones who had died in the ancient past, were not truly gone. They had simply been a lower form, a precursor to his new state. He was the first to complete the three-step ritual. He was the only one who had reached this far.
In that moment, he laughed again, a sound of unbridled triumph. The name "Marcellus," the name that had brought him so much shame, was dead. He would be reborn, a new legend for the universe to fear. He would be the **First Dragon**.
He looked toward Pandora, a distant jewel in the starfield. A familiar look of greed, the same ambition that had propelled him to leave his home, now filled his eyes. But this wasn't the ambition of a boy running from his past. This was the cold, calculating hunger of a god-in-the-making, a dragon with a new, terrifying purpose: to conquer and to begin his grand experiment. He would conquer Pandora, remake it in his image, and use it as the first step on his path to divine power.l