“Now, can you two finally tell me what the hell happened?” Acher asked.

  Aaron glanced at Luther and spoke up, “It’s all my fault. When we…”

  He went on to recount the entire chain of events. As expected, Acher was furious.

  “You idiots! How many times have I told you not to go more than a hundred miles from here? Are you trying to get yourselves killed or what?? Next time, you stay out of this kind of nonsense, no matter what!”

  He could hardly believe the kind of recklessness these two had shown. Acher sighed and said:

  “It’s also my fault for letting you two go with that octorpus. The peace at the Origin made me drop my guard.”

  Although his divination showed that the two boys would be safe on this trip, foretellings were not always absolute.

  “It’s on us. You’re not to blame,” Luther said.

  Acher shook his head and muttered:

  “To be honest, I never thought you’d actually stumble into a place capable of interfering with the covenant’s teleport. The entrance was a mirror? Could it be…”

  “What is it?”

  Acher swooped over and gave each of them a hard peck on the head before saying:

  “It might have been a fragment of the scarlet brat’s mirror realm. Probably just a tiny lesser shard; otherwise, you’d never have made it back alive.”

  “Scarlet brat? You mean… Lord of the Scarlet Moon???” Aaron drew in a sharp breath.

  “Who’s that?” Luther asked.

  “He’s the great Ascended One of Hypsos (The Sixth Layer.) If that’s the case, we were truly lucky not to have entered the Main Mirror.”

  Acher’s gaze shifted to the egg beside them, its true form hidden beneath a layer of veil of lies so that it looked like an ordinary egg.

  “In short, it’s all because of this egg. Might as well fry it up and have it for breakfast,” he said, his gaze fixed on the golden egg resting on the table beside them. “Even if it’s dead, it should still be edible.”

  The three little pumpkins crowded in close, giving it curious sniffs.

  “No way!” Aaron said, frowning. “The remains of a Hemerian dragon must be returned to Solstice!”

  Inside his mind, he even made another decision that once he was strong enough, he would go back to that palace and retrieve the dragon skeleton as well.

  “There’s no need for that,” Luther said.

  “What do you mean?” Aaron asked, puzzled.

  Luther lifted the egg in his hands and channeled a small amount of his Ascended Power into it.

  Just like with the gray egg before, under the might of one of the greatest abyssal beings ever, something miraculous began to happen. Life itself seemed to awaken once more, radiating from deep within the egg, making it glow like a sun. Luminous red-orange clouds, like the Arizona sky at dusk, appeared to embrace it, slowly swirling around, making it clear at a glance that this egg was anything but ordinary.

  Aaron’s mouth dropped wide open.

  “Oh! My! God! How did you do that?” he exclaimed.

  “Its soul was still there; it’s been trapped inside ever since. Because of that, I can bring it back to life,” Luther replied.

  “Holy crap, you’re seriously awesome!” Aaron’s brown eyes lit up, sparkling with excitement. “That means we’re gonna have a Hemerian dragon! Woooohooooo!”

  Luther couldn’t help but smile when he saw Aaron’s unrestrained joy.

  The raven watched the whole thing intently from the side, his gaze flickering with a touch of confirmation and a hint of doubt.

  So, it really is that power. Why though? And maybe even he would be surprised if he saw how much the Flow favors this boy, huh?

  A while later, Luther stood up and said, “Acher, you and the pumpkins. Stay here with Aaron. I’m going to meet Inkshadow. To let him know. We’re alright.”

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  “Okay, but don’t go with Inkshadow to Tranquil Sea again. It’s too dangerous,” Aaron reminded him.

  “Got it.”

  …

  A secluded spot behind the cliffs on the shore of Tranquill Sea,

  Luther went to the water’s edge, brushing the crest of a wave with his fingertips as dark magic spread into the sea.

  Just in a few minutes, creatures, some small, some massive, stirred beneath the surface, the depths churning with restless motion. Their eyes gleamed with hunger at the taste of that power: a mix of purity and divinity. But the steady, unwavering gaze of the boy standing on the shore kept them from daring to approach closer.

  After a while, a round head pushed through the other creatures, parting them aside. That was Inkshadow.

  The octopus made a rapid string of chattering sounds upon seeing the boy.

  “Hi, Inkshadow.” Luther stepped forward and stroked Inshadow gently.

  The octopus's large eyes curved into crescent shapes. Then he opened his mouth and spat out a pile of more than a hundred black-purple fruits, pushing them toward him.

  Luther picked up a few and said:

  “This is enough. You keep the rest.”

  Inkshadow used his tentacles to gather the remaining ones into his mouth.

  Luther thought for a moment. The cloak of ambiguity shimmered into place around him, and he reached his right hand out. A small portal of the Underworld appeared above his palm.

  From it poured the purest dark magic like a flowing spring, condensing into a solid oval-shaped black crystal. It grew larger and larger until reaching the size of a wheel.

  Inkshadow’s eyes widened, his tentacles curling restlessly with eagerness, though he didn’t dare snatch it away. Luther handed the crystal to the octopus. Inkshadow carefully wrapped his front tentacles around it, absolutely overjoyed.

  “A gift from us. We’re leaving soon,” Luther said.

  “Gurgle… gurgle…” Inkshadow let out a sorrowful, reluctant sound.

  “When we have the time, we’ll come back to visit. Take care of yourself. Don’t take reckless risks. Don’t come back to that place. Too dangerous,” Luther told him.

  Inkshadow waved his tentacles to signal his understanding. Once he had gotten these fruits, he would never return to that terrifying place again.

  …

  When Aaron’s sun projection exploded.

  Somewhere in a coastal city in Europe, on the rooftop pool of a hotel, a young woman with long green hair lounged on a recliner in a swimsuit.

  Her body had perfect curves, and her fair, smooth skin caught the sunlight in a way that drew lingering, heated glances from both men and women around her. In her hands was a book, its cover printed with the title “100 shades of black.”

  “Annie’s eyes went wide when she saw Chris pull a diamond-studded handcuff from inside his briefs…”

  She was deep into this particularly intense scene when the sun-shaped pendant at her neck began to glow, sending a beam of light pointing in a certain direction.

  “Damn it!” Photenis muttered. “This thing really triggered? Well, there goes my vacation… Sighhhh…”

  Seeing the guiding ray slowly fade, she opened her palm in front of her, and from it sprouted a tiny green shoot that grew into a small plant. At its tip, a sunflower bloomed wide.

  She brought the flower close to the pendant, and the guiding ray was absorbed into it. The bloom then rotated, turning to point in the same direction the beam had indicated.

  “That far?” she frowned.

  She picked up her phone and dialed a number.

  “Hey, get a private jet ready for me…”

  …

  Columbus Day, at the Ravenswood house.

  Aaron was shirtless, lying on his side on the bed with his mouth open.

  “Give me another bite, please, aaaa.”

  Luther scooped up a spoonful of minced beef porridge, blew on it to cool it down, and fed it to him. The three pumpkins stood in a neat row right next to Aaron, looking at Luther with such hopeful eyes that he had no choice but to get a separate bowl and feed all four at once.

  “Dude, he’s got a tiny burn on his back, not a broken arm,” Acher remarked. “Why do you have to feed him like this?”

  “Sitting up makes my back hurt.” Aaron pouted.

  Then, while Luther turned away, he shot Acher a sly, triumphant grin.

  “You little brat!” Acher gave him a sharp glare.

  Aaron winked at him. When Luther went down to the kitchen, he whispered to the raven:

  “Please, come on, Mr. Acher. If I don’t act like this, he just looks… kind of gloomy. I think he’s mad at me for hurting myself.”

  Acher let out a chuckle. “That boy? Mad at you? It looks more like he’s angry at himself.”

  “Huh?”

  Luther came back, carrying a fresh bowl of warm porridge and continued feeding him.

  Aaron looked at the incubator on the table beside the bed, where the two eggs rested inside. “I wonder when they’ll hatch. I just can’t wait anymore! Hemerian dragons are just so cool.”

  Both boys poured magic into the two eggs to feed them every day, but they showed no sign of hatching yet.

  “You’re going to wait a long time, kid. Eggs of that rank can take decades, sometimes even centuries or millennia to hatch,” Acher said, clearly enjoying Aaron’s frustration. “And even after they hatch, they take even longer to grow. At first, it’ll probably be the size of a puppy. If you tried to ride it, you’d squash it flat.”

  “I know that.” Aaron sighed.

  “It won’t take that long,” Luther said, contradicting Acher.

  “Really? How do you know?”

  “They grow fast. I can feel.”

  “To be honest, these two little ones are just incredibly lucky,” Acher said. “Across that many eras, very few have been cared for like this from the moment they were still in their shells.”

  “Uh-huh, a Sunkindler and a living reaper, after all,” Aaron said with a grin.

  “Time to change the bandages. Lie on your stomach,” Luther instructed.

  He peeled away the old dressing and began applying fresh ointment.

  “It’s almost completely healed,” Luther remarked in surprise.

  “That medicine works great! The pain’s gone right after you put it on. Plus, I’ve got strong resistance to fire and light-element magic.” Aaron let out a breath of relief. “I was quite worried about it. Normally, a burn like this would probably take weeks or months to fully heal. It would be super hard to hide it from my parents. If my mom found out, she might have grounded me for a whole year.”

  “It’s my fault. I’ll be more careful. From now,” Luther said.

  “Hey, what’s this about being your fault? Going into that palace was my idea! We’re both safe now, so just forget about it, and we even came back with a Hemerian dragon egg!” Aaron said. “Give me another spoon, please, aaaa.”

  “Squeak squeak me toooo!!!”