Dragon Warrior · Chat

When An Xiaoda swept his flashlight across the cavern's rock walls, three fist-sized eggs lay quietly among the rubble. Their shells glowed with a faint blue light, as though someone had crushed starlight and brushed it across their surface. He crouched down, but the moment his fingertips brushed a shell, an electric numbness jolted up his arm, just as a muffled crack of thunder suddenly boomed outside the cave. "Xiaoda—are you in there?" Tianle's voice drifted in from the cave entrance, tinged with his usual impatience. Right after came Wang Meihan's shriek: "Something's there! Something is moving right by my feet!" Xiaoda hurriedly stuffed the three eggs into his backpack. As he scrambled out of the cave, he saw Meihan hopping backward in fright, while Tianle bent down and hoisted a plump, round creature from the grass. It looked like a discarded basketball, yet it had stubby little limbs and translucent eyelids. "What kind of weird creature is this?" Tianle poked its belly. Suddenly, the creature opened its eyes, revealing vertical slit pupils. Meihan leaned in for a closer look and immediately reached out to snatch it. "It's so cute! Give it to me—" "Why should I give it to you? I found it first!" "You stepped on it! I saw you!" Hugging his backpack, Xiaoda stood a couple of steps away as faint clicking sounds drifted from inside. Looking down, he saw blue light leaking through the zipper's seam; something was wriggling and pushing against the fabric. The trio's bickering was suddenly drowned out by a low rumble vibrating through the earth. Across the distant sky, a thin fissure split open like torn tinfoil, and behind the rift, an immense shadow swept across. "Do you guys feel like..." Meihan's voice dropped, "...something big is about to happen?" The Baby Dragon in Tianle's arms let out a yawn, blowing a trail of stardust-like bubbles. Inside Xiaoda's backpack, the first crack split across an egg.