After a few sharp cracking sounds echoed through the truck, the surface of the blackish-red egg began to fracture. Jagged lines spread outward like spiderwebs, glowing faintly. Then, with one final snap, the shell split apart.
Aleron held his breath.
From within the smoldering fragments, a creature slowly emerged. It looked fiery red and glistened with a thin sheen of ethereal fluid. It pushed aside a shard of eggshell with a trembling claw, lifting its head as light flickered across its armored body.
Aleron stared, momentarily stunned. Is this… truly a dragon?
He squinted his eyes, unable to look away from the little creature.
The creature stepped forward on four solid legs, each ending in obsidian-black claws that tapped against the metal beneath it. Despite being no larger than his palm, the hatchling moved with balance.
Two backward-curving horns crowned its skull. They looked sturdy, slightly ridged, and not yet fully hardened. The dragon's snout was short and blunted, giving it a powerful jaw structure even as a newborn.
The creature growled softly, then spread its wings.
They unfolded slowly; they looked like two broad, leathery appendages stretching from its shoulders, layered with tiny ridges and veins. Even at this size, they were wide enough to shadow half the truck's interior.
Its size is increasing? Aleron noticed. Before his eyes, the hatchling's body began to expand, its bones stretching. In a matter of seconds, the dragon grew to the length of Aleron's knee.
Then, its eyes opened.
Crimson-gold slits locked onto Aleron with startling intensity; it could sense its connection to this human before it.
Aleron's heart pounded.
This was the first time he was seeing a dragon in both his lifetimes, a true dragon!
Just then a voice resounded in his mind: dad?
It sounded masculine, like a confused young boy waking from a long sleep. He quickly realized that it was the voice of ashkar.
Son, he responded calmly in his mind.
At that, the dragon's gaze softened, just slightly. A flicker of warmth stirred behind the fire in its eyes. Just as the two were about to get familiar with each other, a loud voice cut through the air.
"What the hell are you doing?! What… what is that creature?!"
…
Far away, in a forgotten temple deep within a mountain range, a stone altar cracked for the first time in over ten thousand years.
Inside the temple, seven elders—each clad in robes etched with ancient runes—were meditating beneath the eternal flame when the sound echoed across the chamber. All eyes snapped open. Their gazes turned to the altar at the center, where a hairline fracture now marred its flawless surface.
"This… this isn't possible," one of the elders muttered, rising to his feet. "One of the Forbidden creatures has awakened."
"But which abomination?" another elder asked, his voice low and heavy with dread. "An Abomination? An Apparition? or…"
No one spoke the name they feared most.
Until one of them voiced out their thoughts…
"…Could it be… a dragon?"
The chamber fell into silence.
"That's impossible. Dragons vanished during the Calamity War and none of them survived," another elder voiced their thoughts.
The seven quickly shook their heads simultaneously. They knew that dragons had stopped existing a long time ago so there was no way a dragon could come to life.
"We should inform our forces and check out for any abnormalities. I don't want what happened back then in that calamity war to repeat itself again," one of the elders said solemnly.
The memories of the calamity war involving humans, apparitions, and abominations resurfaced in their minds, and they shivered slightly despite being at the peak of human strength.
After coming to the decision, they all set off to their respective forces to warn them of the undercurrents, which were surging.
…
Aleron was unaware of this; instead, he was currently in a predicament. He stared at the two young men standing before him, momentarily dazed. He had been too focused on the dragon to notice how much time had passed.
A flash of lightning lit up the sky, illuminating the truck. In that instant, the men saw the creature beside him.
"A dragon?" one of them exclaimed. He had once seen a drawing of a similar creature in an ancient book which had been passed down for generations over ten thousand years.
But dragons aren't supposed to exist anymore… Just as the thought formed, his companion cut him off.
"What do you mean, dragons? Are they some kind of unique beast?" he asked urgently.
"Dragons are…" the first man began, but another crack of thunder drowned out his words. Lightning streaked across the sky again, revealing a figure approaching through the rain.
"1317?" they gasped in shock. They had been certain 1317 was dead before throwing him into the waste arena.
"How are you still alive?" the younger of the two asked. Could it be… because of the dragon? A theory began to form in his mind. He had access to some ancient information, after all.
Aleron paused his steps and didn't respond. His mind raced with thoughts. He ignored the system's prompts and frantically calculated his chances. He didn't know the exact strength of the men before him, and there were two of them. The odds were already against him.
"Summon Frost Wolf!" the younger man shouted, not letting his guard down in the least bit. Although he was just a Rank 1 Summoner, he was still more than ten times stronger than a normal human.
The ground beneath him glowed pale blue as a chilling wind swept the air. A silhouette emerged and soon, a wolf, slightly larger than average, appeared faintly, its form solidifying in an instant.
Sensing his master's will, the wolf growled and turned toward Aleron.
Feeling that his coworker could handle everything, the slightly older man didn't bother to summon his beast and just watched Aleron look at everything in a daze.
But the little dragon beside Aleron frowned, sensing the trashy bloodline of the wolf. It was angered immediately, and a ferocious wrath filled its heart. It felt as though they were challenging its pride… the pride of a dragon!
Without warning, a strange sensation surged through its body. With a roar that shook the heavens, it unleashed a blast of incinerating flame from deep within its throat…