The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 3

By the time Aiden was halfway through his meal, the other two wyrmlings had already finished theirs.

But their shells weren't enough. Hunger, a primal fire, still burned in their bellies. As if guided by a single instinct, both pairs of eyes swiveled to the red wyrmling—and to the untouched black egg behind him.

They exchanged a look. A slight, almost imperceptible nod passed between them.

The soft scuffing of claws on stone made Aiden pause. He swung his heavy body around to face them. The two wyrmlings were crawling toward him, bellies low to the ground, their gazes locked on the black egg.

Are they trying to steal from me?

Aiden felt a flicker of amusement. I had no intention of taking your food, yet here you are, ganging up on me. He let his long jaws part just enough to reveal the tips of his needle-like teeth. His slitted pupils contracted.

These two needed to learn their place. It was time to uphold tradition.

Seeing Aiden bare his fangs, the challengers did the same. He’s bigger, but it’s two against one. The odds aren't so bad.

They stopped a few feet away.

“Red dragon,” the blue wyrmling, Azure, said, her voice a deceptively sweet, childlike lilt. “Give us the black egg.”

The white one, Bianca, remained silent, but her aggressive posture made her position clear.

Aiden’s jaw stretched into a full, predatory grin. “Are you challenging me?” he asked, his voice a low growl. He was momentarily taken aback by how high-pitched his own voice sounded, but he quickly recovered.

“Give us the black egg, and there won’t be any trouble,” Azure pressed. The size difference was obvious; she wanted no part of a real fight.

Us. Aiden noted her choice of words. A united front. Clever, but not clever enough. A truly clever dragon wouldn't have started this at all.

A flicker of ancient arrogance gleamed in his eyes. He lifted his head, looking down his snout at them. “Enough posturing,” he rumbled. “Come, then. Both of you!”

Raaawr!

Bianca let out a roar that was more squeak than menace and launched herself forward.

Aiden sidestepped the clumsy attack with contemptuous ease, then pinned her beneath his weight. Pinned, the white wyrmling thrashed wildly, snapping her jaws. He batted her head aside with a powerful, unrestrained swipe of his claw.

The blow snapped her head to the side with a sickening thwack. A trickle of crimson welled at the corner of her jaw. She went limp, dazed.

Watching her teammate charge, Azure felt a spike of frustration. White dragons. All muscle, no sense. She had hoped to negotiate. But her pig-headed teammate had already made the choice, and in the blink of an eye, she was beaten.

I can't let her be eliminated from the fight.

Lowering her head, Azure charged.

Aiden, reveling in the satisfying thud of his claws against Bianca’s scales, didn't see her coming. Azure’s ram caught him squarely in the flank, sending him skidding several feet across the cavern floor.

He scrambled to his feet. He wasn't injured, but a white-hot fury surged through him. He locked his burning gaze on the blue dragon.

Sensing the malevolent stare, Azure’s pupils narrowed, and she glared back. Among chromatic dragons, there was no fear, only dominance. The fight had begun. There was no backing down.

“Are you all right?” Azure asked Bianca.

“Fine,” came the defiant squeak. Bianca pushed herself up, her head spinning but seemingly unharmed. The two stood shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the red.

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“Together!” Bianca snapped and charged again. She would not be humiliated. She would be the one to pin this arrogant red dragon.

Seeing her rush off, Azure had no choice but to follow. Their only chance was to fight as one.

As the two shapes hurtled toward him, a fire ignited in Aiden's eyes.

Insolent worms!

The rage boiling in his heart erupted. Flames burst from the horn-nubs on his head, instantly weaving into a jagged, incandescent crown.

His body swelled, scales straining as his form doubled in size. Flames now leaked from the gaps between his crimson scales, and the fiery crown pulsed with blinding light.

The terrifying transformation stopped the two wyrmlings in their tracks. Their claws scrabbled for purchase as they slid to a halt.

Bianca stared at the monstrous figure, blinked her large eyes once, and then, without hesitation, prostrated herself, pressing her body flat against the ground. The red dragon was horrifying. If she fought, she would be killed. She was proud, not a witless Drake. When faced with an overwhelmingly superior foe, the correct response was to submit.

Watching Bianca fold, Azure felt a wave of exasperation. First to charge, first to surrender. With an internal sigh, the blue wyrymling followed her companion’s lead, lowering herself to the ground.

The gesture was unmistakable. An admission of his superiority. An acceptance of his dominance.

From that moment on, the hierarchy of the clutch was set. Until the day they left the nest, Aiden's supremacy was absolute.

*****

Power surged through Aiden’s larger form. He felt invincible. He opened his jaws and a torrent of pure flame erupted, blasting the ground beside the blue wyrmling. The earth flash-melted into a pool of bubbling slag, the radiant heat forcing Azure to flinch and shuffle backward.

Aiden ignored her. He lifted a claw, watching the flames that still licked between his scales. A new awareness dawned. In his right eye's vision, a vertical, fiery sigil—the gauge for this transformation, he realized—was rapidly draining.

In less than thirty seconds, the gauge was empty. His body shrank, the fiery crown sputtering and fading into nothing.

The moment he returned to his normal size, a leaden exhaustion settled into his limbs. The innate need for a hatchling’s first slumber descended like a physical blow. His eyelids felt impossibly heavy.

Sleep. I need to sleep.

He fought it. Not yet. I have to deal with these two first.

He lowered his heavy head to gaze at the two wyrmlings still prostrated on the ground. What do I do with them?

Feeling his gaze, the hatchlings huddled closer together, the very picture of weakness. They braced for the inevitable beating. They had challenged the victor and lost; a thrashing was the price.

That single gout of flame had extinguished any spark of defiance. That was the breath of a juvenile, not a hatchling. This red wyrmling, they realized with dawning terror, was some kind of Ascendant Dragon—a monstrous anomaly that defied all natural laws.

Seeing their pathetic state, Aiden’s rage cooled. Their large eyes shimmered with unshed tears, a calculated display of helplessness that was surprisingly disarming.

“Take the black egg and stop whimpering,” Aiden grumbled, his voice thick with exhaustion. “Just stay out of my way.”

With that, he turned and crawled back to his half-eaten blue egg, devouring chunks of shell and lapping up the fluid. The tide of sleep was becoming a tsunami.

Azure and Bianca stared at each other in disbelief. He wasn't going to beat them? He was giving them the egg?

Hunger gave Azure the courage to speak. “Um… it’s really for us?” she whispered.

Aiden didn't answer. With a flick of his tail, he hooked the black egg and casually tossed it toward them.

This is an investment, his human mind reasoned, overriding his draconic instincts. Life from here on out will be brutal. Sticking together is a better survival strategy than going it alone.

The black egg rolled to a stop before them. It wasn't a trick. A look of pure joy lit up their faces. Working together, they cracked the top and buried their heads inside to feast.

Aiden swallowed the last piece of shell. He had held on as long as he could. He collapsed on the spot, his heavy eyelids closing as sleep took him in an instant.

After finishing the black egg, Bianca and Azure looked over at the red wyrmling. He lay a few yards away, his breathing deep and even.

The same profound exhaustion was now pulling at them. Their first slumber was here. Huddling together for warmth, they too lay down and surrendered to the deep sleep of growth.

The silent cavern was once again at peace.

*****

Hunger. A deep, gnawing pain pulled Aiden from his slumber. His eyelids peeled open, his vertical pupils burning like embers. The hunger was a thousand times sharper than before.

Instinct took over. He lowered his head and took a massive bite out of the ground. He swallowed the mouthful of acrid, fishy-smelling soil. It barely dulled the ache, and the taste was so foul he knew he couldn't manage a second bite.

Eating dirt was not a sustainable solution. He needed to hunt.

He glanced at the two wyrmlings sleeping nearby. They should be waking soon. He noticed their scales had deepened in color, the pale blue and white now rich and vibrant.

Aiden twisted his neck to look at his own back. His scales had also darkened from a light crimson to a deep red that seemed to absorb the faint light.

Wait. Something else is different.

He focused on his vision. The fiery sigil in his right eye, which governed his empowered form, was already a third of the way recharged. But now, in his left eye, there was a new symbol: a single, glowing ring.

While he waited for the others to wake, Aiden decided to investigate. What is this new ring?

He focused his mind on the symbol. The moment he did, the ring shimmered and expanded. A panel, wreathed in ethereal flames, materialized in his mind’s eye.

A status panel?

A jolt of pure excitement shot through him. Barely suppressing his elation, Aiden began to devour the information before him.