Chapter 152: 152. One Year Later

“Rarrr!!!~”

The Hatchery boomed with loud noises and crashes.

Owen stood at its entrance with his arms crossed and watching the chaos unfold. Five baby dragons tumbled across the polished stone floor, their scales catching the golden light that pulsed from the chamber’s walls.

They were hatchlings, barely three months old but already they filled the space with noise, motion, and the unmistakable presence of new life.

The first had emerged with scales the color of emeralds, her eyes shining with curiosity. She had flown within hours, circling the Hatchery’s ceiling, testing her wings against the wind currents. Her affinity revealed itself as Nature: plants bloomed where she landed.

The second came next, a male with scales like polished black. He was quiet and watchful, content to observe before acting. When he finally moved, his speed was startling. Shadow affinity. He could slip between patches of darkness, appearing where least expected, just like Yuki’s phantom step.

The third burst from her egg with a crack of static power. Her Scales shone of brilliant gold. She demanded attention, demanded food, demanded flight. Lightning affinity. Her siblings learned quickly not to startle her as it caused electricity to spread.

The fourth was the smallest, pale blue, almost silver. He barely made a sound for weeks, content to curl against the warmth of the Hatchery’s core. Then the first snow fell in Drak’thar’s gardens as he flew. Ice affinity. He could freeze the moisture in the air and probably sleep in temperatures that would kill his siblings.

The fifth, which was the the last to hatch, was black too, with veins of gold that pulsed like a heartbeat. He was Owen’s shadow in miniature, his scales a mirror of the Dragon King’s own. With an affinity that was still undefined at the moment. Then he spoke his first words.

“Father.”

—

Owen shook off the memory. The hatchlings were wrestling now, a tangle of scales and claws and half-formed breath attacks that fizzled before they could do damage. Yuki stood at the chamber’s edge, Uru in her arms, the slime-child had grown too, now appearing closer to six than four, her green hair longer with her eyes sharper.

“They’re getting big” Yuki said.

“They’re getting rowdy.” Owen replied.

“That too.” She smiled. “Leah’s been training them. She says the shadow one has potential. The lightning one is too reckless. The ice one needs to socialize more.*

“And the nature one?”

“Already helping Odessa with the gardens. They’re cut from the same cloth.”

Owen looked at the fifth hatchling, the one who had called him father. He was just watching, not wrestling like they other. his golden eyes tracking Owen’s every movement. A few months ago, he had been an egg. A few months before that, Owen had been a juvenile dragon, fighting for his life in a dungeon that held his brother’s memories.

Time moved differently now. Faster. Slower. Both at once.

—

The doorways had been his idea.

Permanent portals, anchored to Drak’thar’s dimensional fabric, linking the dragon kingdom to every continent. One in Nexus Prime, at the Hunter Association’s headquarters. One in Vashari, near the rebuilt council hall. One in the elven capital, beside Sylnara’s throne. One in Khazad-Vorn’s great hall, where Borin Ironfoot had nearly wept at the efficiency. One in the Deepwood, where Caelen had planted a sapling that now grew through the portal’s arch.

The doorways strengthened cooperation. Traders moved between continents in hours instead of weeks.

And Drak’thar grew.

The notification had appeared at dawn, as he stood on the palace balcony watching the sun rise over his kingdom.

[Drak’thar – Personal Pocket Dimension]

[Authority: Tier 3]

[Structures: 4]

· Tower of Royals

· Hatchery

· Dragons Forge

· Grand Archives

[Dragon Population: 6]

[Dragonkin Population: 42]

[Allied Access Doorway: 5]

Tier 3. He had barely understood what Tier 1 meant when Dominus first granted him ownership. Now he felt the difference as the dimension responded to his thoughts, his emotions, his will. He could shape the weather, shift the islands, accelerate the growth of the gardens with a thought.

He was not just a king here. He was the land itself.

—

“Father.”

The voice pulled him back. The fifth hatchling had left the wrestling pile and now sat before him, head tilted, golden eyes unblinking.

“What are you thinking of?” the hatchling said.

Owen crouched, bringing himself to eye level with the small baby dragon. “About the future, young one.”

The hatchling considered this. Then he said, “What is there, in the future?”

Owen almost laughed. What else? A cosmic lore he still hadn’t explored. The will who still slept. And probably much more worlds waiting for him to comprehend

But the hatchling didn’t need to know that. Not yet.

“Rest…” Owen said. “Go train with the others and Grow strong. When the time comes, you’ll understand.”

The hatchling seemed unsatisfied but returned to his siblings, who had already forgotten the interruption and resumed their wrestling.

Yuki appeared at Owen’s side. “You didn’t answer him.”

“He doesn’t need to know”

“Because you don’t actually know what comes next?”

“Yes.” He looked at her. “The will has been quiet for months. Too quiet.”

“like it’s waiting for something”

“Yes.”

“…”

“The doorways…” yuki said. “…you made them for a reason.”

“To unite our world.”

“No.” She shook her head slowly. “To prepare it. For when you leave.”

The words hung in the air.

Owen looked at the Hatchery, at the hatchlings, at the kingdom he had built from nothing. He looked at Yuki, at Uru, at the life he had found in a dungeon that should have been his grave.

“I’m… not leaving” he said.

“You will…” yuki said. “I can feel it, there’s more waiting for you out there, that the rest of us probably can’t comprehend.”

Owen turned back to the baby dragons and watched them play around with their puffing baby dragon breaths.

One year. So much had changed. So much was still to come.

Then he watched the sun set over Drak’thar and wondered what the next year would bring.

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