The first few steps are the hardest.
After that it becomes repetition, and the egg against my chest distracts me enough from the boredom.
I tighten my grip around the egg as I process the fact I ate a fucking dragon heart.
What a rush that was, the power it is was Intoxicating I guess Throat Trait helped surprisingly.
Now I wonder how many tickets I got for that?
[Feat achieved! You have slain a Heavenly Beast that hunted dragons. +5 Tickets]
[Feat achieved! You consumed the heart of a dragon. +3 Tickets]
Oh.
That's a lot, so it's a heavenly beast and I don't think I'm in some Chinese cultivation novel so Heaven is real and Big G hates me.
Nice I'm totally not going to process that even though I wasn't religious I did like to think that if God... OW.. was real he'd be kind but if he hates me then what did I do?
[Roll Y/N]
I guess I could one for now it is a bit of a long walk might as well use this for entertainment.
[Golden Shot]
|Common Trait|
Your little swimmers are the strongest in the world, any woman you cum inside of WILL get pregnant, even if they are more barren than the arid desserts your semen does not care. (If you didn't have the right equipment before, you will now if you choose to. If not, reroll this this trait.)
Cool, I guess I don't really know what to say to be honest at least I'll have kids lol.
Jesus, how long has this castle been abandoned?
The path is cracked, stained in ways I really do not want to focus on, and dead vines cling to the stone like they are trying to keep it from falling apart.
The closer I get, the tighter the feeling in my chest becomes.
I can taste the wrongness.
The agony. The betrayal. The sadness clinging to the castle.
I stop at the gate.
Even calling it a gate feels wrong. It is enormous, twisted black metal over dark wood hardened with age until it looks more like iron than timber. There is an old carving of a dragon across it too, but time and damage have chewed away most of the detail.
I stare at it in silence.
I stepped forward and put my right hand on it and it was cold until it wasn't and a wave of magic slammed into me.
I saw nothing clearly, only flashes of fire in the sky, wings, armoured people with silver hair and screams, blood on black stone and a wave of water smashing into me.
I jerk back.
"What the fuck-" I quickly look around and I'm fine, I breathed in deeply and then the gate groaned.
And nothing stood behind it.
No guards, servants or even enemies.
Just quietness and a dead courtyard.
"Well, at least I don't have to share this with anyone ay buddy." The egg pulses against me in agreement.
The moment my boots touched the courtyard the castle hummed to life.
A wave of magic rushed out of me and into the stone. Not enough to weaken me, but enough to make me suck in a breath.
The old stone shivered under my feet.
Cracks tightened.
Dead vines shrivelled where darker, healthier growth pushed through. Moss crept over broken rock. The split edges of the fountain looked less dead than they had a second ago.
I turned my head slowly and took it all in.
The courtyard was still a wreck. The fountain in the centre was split open. Statues that must have once been impressive were so weathered I could not even tell what they had been. The main hall stood cracked wide open, one whole section of roof and wall simply gone.
But even like this I could tell what it used to be.
Magnificent.
And if I am going to call this place home, then it will be again.
I started walking.
The castle opened around me room by room. Long corridors lined with red banners destroyed beyond recognition. A chamber full of broken tables and rusted armour. Half-collapsed stairwells leading into darkness. Everywhere I looked I found signs of destruction.
Someone had not just abandoned this place.
They had broken it.
At least no one can object when I take it.
The egg started getting warmer if I walked in a certain direction so I did what any smart man did and I walked further into the castle and came upon a room with Dragon carved doors.
It was a throne room.
Of course it was, the ceiling arched overhead cracked but still holding, Great pillars shaped like coiling dragons ran down either side and torn banners hung in strips and at the far end of the room and atop a raised dais of fused black stone stood a throne.
It was not what I expected for sure, no gold or even elegant but it looked carved from volcanic rock sharp lines and was too large and also brutal.
I loved it.
I walked up the steps slowly, the egg getting warmer and warmer. I reached my hand on the armrest.
Everything started shaking, dust rained from the ceiling cracks started closing the broken fire braziers lit up one by one in a dark red flame a breeze carried the scent of blood and fire wafted in.
I sat down, power flooded from me and back into me the castle responded and started waking up and I let out a breath and smoke left and I froze and did it again and slower.
I look down at the egg. "You saw nothing." The egg pulsed again.
And I decide to roll.
[Adept Blade Weapon Mastery]
|Rare Skill|
You are very talented at wielding bladed weapons, on the level of a veteran swordsman. You are able to effectively wield any bladed weapon such as swords and daggers with great efficiency and finesse.
The moment I read it knowledge settles in my mind cleanly and I now know how to use a sword and more I wonder if I could magic a lightsaber because that would be fun.
I roll again because why not.
[Gaia's Child]
|Legendary Trait|
You are the child Gaia herself, now mother nature is your actual mom. Anyone trying to attack you in a forest is asking for death as mother nature will actively defend you, branches of trees will move like snakes with spear tips harder than metal, treats will rise and roots will shield you, nature itself treats you like her child. Animals and nature-aligned beings favor you and are more affectionate towards you, some may even recognize her touch on you.
"Ohhhhhhh fuuuuuuuuck."
A huge rush of power tears out of me and I cannot restrain it. It feels like being smothered and pampered at the same time, like the castle, the egg, the whole bloody forest is eating my magic and healing with it.
I close my eyes and for just a second I feel something kiss my forehead.
I suck in a breath and my eyes snap open.
I lean back against the throne, slump, and the egg cracks.
The sound is tiny.
So soft I almost miss it.
I go completely still.
Then the egg cracks again.
A thin line spreads over the black-and-red shell, jagged and delicate.
"Oh, shit."
I shift forward on the throne so fast I nearly drop the bloody thing.
"No, no, no, not now— not drop, not drop—"
I get both hands around it, holding it like it is made of glass.
Which, to be fair, it kind of is.
Another crack.
Then another.
Little pieces of shell begin to flake away into my lap.
The warmth coming off it is stronger now, but not painful. Never painful. I can feel movement inside.
Tiny.
Weak.
Stubborn.
I do not breathe.
The top of the shell gives way with a brittle snap.
A small black claw punches through.
I stare at it in shock.
The claw flexes once, then hooks into the broken edge and pulls.
A piece of shell breaks away.
A snout pushes through next.
It is smaller than I expected.
I do not know why I expected anything else. It is a baby dragon, not some ancient terror reborn in full, but after everything that happened with its mother some part of me had apparently been expecting immediate grandeur.
What I get instead is a hatchling.
A tiny, damp, angry hatchling with black scales that shine dark as obsidian and red lines running between them like faintly glowing veins. Little horns curve back from its head, still soft-looking, and when it finally shoves enough shell away to free its face, two bright eyes blink up at me.
Red.
For one long second we just stare at each other.
Then it opens its mouth and lets out a sound somewhere between a chirp, a hiss, and a deeply offended squeak.
I blink.
"You are a lot smaller than your mother."
The hatchling glares at me.
Actually glares.
Then it bites my thumb.
Not hard enough to do real damage, but enough to make me flinch.
"Ow."
It lets go immediately and licks at the bead of blood that wells up.
The second its tongue touches it, the little thing freezes.
So do I.
A pulse runs through it.
Not magic exactly.
Or maybe it is, but the instinctive kind.
The hatchling shivers once, then makes a much softer sound and butts its head against my hand.
I stare down at it.
Then down at the broken shell.
Then back at the tiny dragon currently trying to climb into my palm like it has known me its whole life.
Which, in a weird way, it probably has.
"Right," I say quietly, my throat suddenly tight. "So you are kind of cute, aren't you?"
I stroke its head carefully.
It makes that squeaky hiss noise again and wedges itself against my chest, nuzzling into the front of my shirt like that is where it belongs.
My chest tightens.
So I focus on its scales instead.
They are warm. Warmer than the shell was. Not furnace-hot like its mother's heart had been, but the sort of heat that is comforting. When I touch its head more carefully this time, it leans into it so hard it nearly falls sideways.
I snort before I can stop myself.
"You dramatic little bastard."
That earns me another tiny glare.
Impressive, really. It cannot be more than thirty seconds old and it already has attitude.
Maybe that is genetic.
Maybe it is my fault somehow.
No, cannot be.
This is not even in the top ten weirdest things to happen today.
I look around the throne room, at the red braziers burning again, at the green crawling through old cracks, at the ruin slowly dragging itself back toward life.
Then I look back down at the hatchling tucked against me.
And now I am sitting on a throne with a newborn dragon in my lap, smoke still curling out of my mouth, while the whole bloody castle decides maybe it does not want to be a ruin anymore.
I laugh.
I genuinely cannot help it.
It starts as one tired breath and turns into rough, half-hysterical amusement that bounces off the pillars and echoes through the hall.
Because of course this is my life now.
Of course it is.
The little dragon lifts its head and chirps at me.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," I mutter. "Losing my mind would not be ideal. At least not right now."
It blinks at me slowly.
Then, with absolutely no warning, a tiny puff of smoke leaves its mouth.
I stare.
It stares back.
Then it sneezes.
A spark pops out.
I bark out another laugh.
"Oh, you are definitely mine now."
The words leave my mouth before I can think too hard about them.
The moment they do, the throne hums beneath me.
Then the castle answers.
A pulse of heat rolls through the chamber, softer than before but deliberate, and lines of dim red light flare briefly through the black stone under the dais. The hatchling lifts its head at once, alert, then settles when nothing explodes.
A screen flickers into view.
[Feat achieved! You have become a father to a dragon. +2 Tickets]
I stare at the message.
Then down at the dragon.
The dragon blinks up at me with all the innocence of something that bit me thirty seconds after being born.
"Father?"
It yawns.
Tiny fangs.
I rub a hand over my face and let out a slow breath.
Smoke curls from my mouth again.
The hatchling watches it rise with immediate fascination, reaches up with one little clawed foot, and tries to catch it.
That is enough to make something in me crack into a smile.
I look toward the dark hall beyond the throne room.
I have no idea how I am going to raise a dragon.
Delilah is off building the workshop.
Heaven is real.
The Big Man might hate me.
And I may or may not have just become the owner of a haunted dragon-themed fortress.
Honestly, at least I do not have to sleep in a cave.
The hatchling makes a tiny, demanding noise and starts nosing at my hand again.
I frown.
"Wait. Are you hungry already?"
It bites my thumb again.
Harder this time.
"Right. That is probably a yes."
I push myself up from the throne with the dragon curled carefully against my chest and glance around the vast ruined hall.
"Okay," I mutter. "First priority, get you some meat." I look down at it. "You would eat meat, right?"
The hatchling chirps once.
I look down at it.
"I like you."
Another chirp.
"Also, you need a name."
Another chirp, and then a tiny bite.
I grin despite myself.
"You are a feisty one, aren't you? And I do not think anyone is going to copyright strike me, so fuck it. Welcome to the world, Balerion. Let us hope you live up to that name, little one."
A soft little purr escapes him.
I glance around the throne room one more time, at the old grandeur, the broken stone, the red fire, and the creeping green, and a slow grin pulls at my mouth.
A castle and a dragon.
Not bad.
Not bad at all.
"Come on then," I murmur, adjusting little Balerion against my chest. "Let us see what else this place has left for us."
And with that, I step down from the throne to explore my new castle.