Sleep came like drowning.
One moment he sat beside the smothered fire, eyelids heavy, mind still circling the kill.
The next, he was falling.
Not through air, but through something deeper a spiral of cracking glass, lightning arcs, and the sound of a million heartbeats pounding out of sync.
He hit ground but it wasn't ground.
It pulsed beneath his feet. Black stone veins that shimmered with red like molten rivers beneath obsidian. Above him: nothing. A skyless dome. Shifting, roiling, devouring itself in slow spirals of smoke.
He knew he wasn't dreaming.
This was a memory .
Not his own.
A roar cracked across the horizon low, ancient, and so vast it shattered the stone underfoot.
In the distance, chained to a wall of light, he saw her .
Mia.
But not as she had died.
Her form was glowing, hair fanned out behind her like silk underwater, lips moving soundlessly. Chains of gold and white pierced her wrists, ankles, and chest. They pulsed with divine energy.
And around her floated symbols.
Holy runes.
Alex stepped forward
but the ground bit him.
Veins of heat burst upward, snapping like serpents around his legs. A voice deep as gravity and old as time rose from the cracks.
"You are not ready to touch her."
Alex strained against the force, growling.
"Let me see her."
"You killed. You tasted power. But you are still a fledgling."
"Let me go to her."
The sky began to twist splintering open.
From the wound, it emerged.
Wings that blotted out nothingness. Scales that bled stars. Eyes like twin collapsing suns.
The Primordial Chaos Dragon.
It didn't fly. It simply existed and the realm bent around it.
Alex fell to one knee.
The dragon regarded him. Not with hate. Not with care. But with recognition .
"You carry my blood."
Alex looked up.
"Then give me your strength."
"To take it, you must survive it."
"To awaken, you must burn."
The dragon opened its mouth
and fire came.
It wasn't flame as men knew it. It was memory , pain , truth . It tore through him, peeling back his soul layer by layer. Every regret. Every scream. Every moment he failed to protect her.
He screamed.
The world exploded into ash.
And he saw one last vision:
The man in the black coat , bowing before a golden altar, whispering a name into the hands of something wrapped in chains.
Mia's name.
"Awaken, my heir."
---
Alex's eyes flew open.
The fire had gone out. His body was soaked in sweat. The mist outside had begun to turn violet with dawn.
And his eyes burned.
He stumbled to his feet and caught his reflection in a shard of shattered glass leaning against the wall.
His pupils were slitted.
His irises no longer blue but deep molten crimson, flecked with obsidian veins.
[New Ability Gained: Chaos Dragon Eyes – Stage 1 Unsealed]
Discern Illusion
Reveal Identity (Tier E and below)
Precognition Glimpse (Rare Trigger)
Status: Active – 3 seconds per hour
[Bloodline Awareness: 7%]
[Warning: Host Morality Drift Detected – Monitor Emotional Threshold]
Alex looked at his reflection.
He didn't flinch.
This wasn't madness.
This was clarity.