Chapter 241: Frozen Time, Shattered Realities

Meeting a black dragon?

Ideally, it should not have happened anytime soon. In fact, if Thyrran considered the degree to which the seal had been formed and activated, then this entire scene of everyone screaming and shocking each other into unconsciousness should not have happened at all.

The ancient being sighed. Then he decided it would be better to deal with this sooner rather than later.

He hissed, eyes glinting, and slowly the room drained of color. Everything and everyone turned grey, frozen mid-panic, mid-fall, or mid-scream. Only he and the subject remained unfrozen.

He had been preparing to explain everything to his new and very confused master, if not for the sudden interruption.

“They are all alive. Just passed out and—”

“Wait a minute.”

Thyrran rose a little, though it made no real difference in that tiny form, and looked over to see the fumbling dragonling, whose eyes were now alert instead of disoriented.

Riley stopped mid-panic, tiny chest puffed up, claws trembling, and pointed with one small claw at the creature perched on Liam’s frozen head.

“You, who are you? And what did you do to them?!”

Admittedly, Riley’s overwhelmed mind was overflowing with questions, but the instant the world froze around him—no, even before that, the moment he felt something being tugged away from his body—every nerve in him went on high alert.

And now he was left to face off with that thing that could take his younger brother hostage.

So instead of lunging at it, Riley had been forced to ask. Only, he was shocked by the absolute indignation that radiated from the worm.

But how could there be any other reaction when they had been conversing for so long? Moreover, how could the ex-guardian not react like that when he wasn’t sure if everyone around him was blind or dumb?

For how could they not know something so obvious?!

Thyrran, an ancient who had lived through more lifetimes than most could imagine, drew himself up with regal fury. He coiled, straightened, and released the same suffocating aura of danger he had once wielded effortlessly in his vast, legendary form.

“I am Thyrran,” he hissed proudly.

Only to receive a frozen stare and silence from the offending master.

“…”

“…”

In fairness to Riley’s brain, it truly did attempt to make sense of both the bizarre sight before him and the alarming statement just spoken.

The problem was that it was hard—really

hard—to take it seriously.

Because terrifying proclamations tend to lose their edge when delivered by a fat worm that looked like it was squaring up for a fight.

But ever slowly but surely—Riley, who had also begun to puff up with his tiny tail sticking out at a very unthreatening angle, finally managed to process what those words actually meant.

“!!!”

“What?! You’re Thyrran?! What happened to you? And what happened to me?!”

He pointed both tiny claws at himself in outright mortification.

Thyrran stared at him for a long second.

“Well, you might want to take a seat for this.”

But maybe he needed more than just a seat, because how could everything he knew about himself be uprooted just like that?

__

Riley couldn’t help but gasp at everything he was hearing. His hands—no, claws—flew over his unfamiliar face as if he could physically hold his sanity together before it slipped straight through his fingers.

An actual black freaking dragon.

Dragon.

A black one.

That alone was hard enough to cope with, because those few words actually came with a mountain of questions. Like what, where, since fucking when, but more importantly, HOW?!

Just how could it be possible for a human like him to be a dragon?!

Thyrran’s short answer: “Impossible.”

“Ideally, none of this should have happened. If everything had gone the way it was originally intended, then the current you would never have opened your eyes as a dragon.”

Apparently, that was ominous enough to stop Riley’s mind from whirring.

“Then—?”

“How? Because for some reason, even I’m not certain about, an impossible string of conditions has been fulfilled to allow for this to happen.”

“???”

“If you want, I could tell you what the guardians know, but don’t expect much. We were simply left with countless restrictions and only the most bizarre instructions regarding the seal and the inheritance.”

__

But before they could even get to the matter of the seal, the disbelieving dragon had to cope with something far more shocking: the revelation that it was his parents—scratch that, his entire clan—who had intentionally sealed him away.

Thyrran did not understand why the young master ended up looking so distraught that tears actually gathered in those bright green eyes.

But maybe that was understandable. After all, Thyrran was not privy to the emotional chaos that had detonated inside Riley the moment the mortal asked his most outrageous yet hopeful questions imaginable.

“Are you saying we’re actually a family of dragons?”

Thyrran, who was fully prepared for far more complex questions, answered in the flattest tone.

“Obviously.”

But Riley went stiff, and panic rippled through him.

“Then are you saying my little brother would have to go through all that pain too?”

Thyrran paused.

Then his beady little eyes turned downward so he could better stare at Riley.

“Little brother?” he repeated.

“Yes! Right there where you’re perched. That’s my little brother!” Riley insisted, pointing with a shaky, tiny claw. “That kind of pain—you’re telling me he’s going to have to go through that?”

Thyrran stared back without blinking.

Riley’s heart pounded so fast that he felt like every drop of blood had surged into his ears, drowning out all logic just as the ex-guardian finally answered.

“No. Because, as the last remaining black dragon of the clan, there is really no one else but you. There really would be no need for him to experience such a thing.”

Riley froze.

The words hit him with the force of a falling star.

He did not need Thyrran to spell out the implication because it was impossible to miss. His gaze drifted to Liam, who remained frozen in place. Then he turned to where his mother and father stood, both with faces frozen in worry.

How could they not be his family?

Even now, even with this impossible truth staring at him, Riley saw nothing but concern and love on their faces. Dragons or not, how could that not be real?

His throat tightened. His chest hurt. His tiny claws curled over his heart as he tried to blink away the tears that gathered again.

He tried to get angry. Tried to summon resentment. Tried to find something sharp to hold on to.

But as someone who had grown up surrounded by warmth and affection, it wasn’t so easy to simply rewrite his entire understanding of his life.

The absurdity of it all bubbled up in him, and he let out a tiny, broken chuckle.

It was ridiculous. It was insane. For someone who lived such a painfully uneventful life for a good while, discovering that everything he knew was wrong felt almost comical.

From the side, Thyrran simply watched.

The ancient guardian observed the human-turned-dragon who was very visibly distressed by the news. As someone who had been surrounded by dragons since creation, Thyrran could not fully grasp the emotional turmoil involved. Still, he supposed he should simply wait and let the young master process all this new information.

But just as Thyrran settled into patient observation, Riley suddenly slapped his own cheek.

“???”

Then Riley took a giant gulp of air and exhaled it just as dramatically.

“Ah, sorry about that,” he said quickly. “I was just shocked. But if I really want to understand what’s going on, I can’t stop here.”

He squared his tiny shoulders.

“And I can’t just stop speaking to my parents without hearing their side. But since you’re the one here right now, I think it would be best if we continue with what you were planning on telling me.”

Thyrran was taken aback by the sudden change in demeanor. In a sense, he had expected some form of backlash. Maybe a bit of damage. Maybe a spark of fire from instability. Riley was barely a dragonling right now, yes, but even in this tiny form, he should have been able to scorch something.

But nothing happened.

The dragonling before him simply stood there. His eyes were puffy, his cheeks damp, and yet there was a strange, unwavering determination behind the sniffling. A soft but stubborn resolve that felt entirely human and entirely dragon at the same time.

Thyrran finally broke the silence.

“It was a reactive ancient seal, a specialty of the Black Dragon clan,” he said. “And as you have probably already guessed, the restrictions placed upon us were severe. There was no way for us to answer anything related to the seal, nor could we even discuss it with anyone not bound by the same restrictions. At least not directly.”

Riley sniffed again but managed to stay focused.

“Why would they do something like that? In fact, why would they even seal me like that?” he asked.

“If it was that restrictive, then how was it supposed to be unsealed? How could it even happen when it would have been impossible to get instructions?”

Thyrran stared at him for a moment, as if weighing how much the young master could handle. Then he lowered himself, his tiny worm-like body settling into the blanket of hair with surprising solemnity.

“Because it was not meant to be unsealed the way we just did it,” Thyrran said. “In truth, you were never meant to awaken this way. The only time the seal was intended to break was through your death. Only then would you have been able to restart as a dragonborn.”

Riley froze.

The air around him felt too still. Too quiet. Too small for the weight of those words.

And yet, he kept standing there, small and shaken but refusing to fall apart again.

Because what the actual fuck?

What kind of crime did he commit before?!

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