Even though it was the middle of winter, the Ravenswood garden still glowed with life. The trees stayed green, rose bushes overflowed with blossoms, and the branches sagged under the weight of ripe fruit. From above, the garden looked like an emerald set in the heart of a dying city.

  The gemstone cherry trees they had planted now reached their chests. Luther moved between them, checking each one for healthy growth and signs of pests.

  He then knelt in a corner of the garden, between the lemon trees and the rose bushes, and dug up a small patch of soil. He mixed in grassrabbit dung, dusted a bit of powdered purewhite etherstone over it, and took out the moonflower seed.

  “There’s no Ascended Moon here. I wonder if it’ll even sprout,” Acher said from his perch.

  Luther paused, then pressed a thread of Ascended Power into the seed before covering it with soil.

  Aaron jumped down from an apple tree, carrying a wooden basket filled with ten pale-gold apples, each almost twice the size of an adult’s fist.

  “These apples just keep tasting better and better,” Aaron said as he wiped one clean and bit into it with a crisp crunch.

  Acher pecked at another and snorted. “Of course they do. These trees get watered with purewhite etherstones every day, along with Luther’s Ascended Power and your solar magic. I can tell they’ve already reached the Enchanted rank.”

  “Enchanted rank?” Luther asked.

  “Just like supernatural creatures, magical plants also have ranks,” Aaron explained, “Awakened, Enchanted, Treasured, Transcended, and Sacred. After that, they step into the realm of Grand Beings just like other paths. I didn’t expect these mortal trees to reach Enchanted so soon. That’s quite impressive.”

  Acher shot a sideways look at Jack-O, who was already gnawing on an apple.

  “And it’s thanks to these apples and lemons that this pumpkin boy has gotten so round. He eats these fruits every day, plus whatever else you two keep feeding him.”

  Aaron’s lips curled into a grin. “Hmm. Luther, don’t you think Mr. Acher looks a bit plump, too?”

  Luther narrowed his eyes and gave the raven a slow once-over.

  “Shut up! I’m not fat! Don’t listen to him, Luther!!!” Acher squawked.

  That evening, Luther made seafood soup for dinner. Aaron stood beside him and helped with the prep.

  Jack-O hopped onto the table.

  “Let me help!”

  Aaron raised a brow. “Help? Do you even know how? You just want to steal bites when we’re not looking.”

  “No, I don’t! Bad Aaron!” Jack-O protested, though his darting eyes gave him away.

  “It’s fine. Jack-O, you can help me crack the crabs. Like this,” Luther said.

  A pile of jadecrab claws lay on the table. With a flick of his finger, Luther summoned a small shadow hand to grip one. He then shaped a thin shadow blade and split the shell in two, revealing the tender white meat inside. He lifted the flesh out and set it in a clean bowl.

  “Wow!” Jack-O gasped.

  He tried to copy him, wrapping a vine around a claw and forming his own shadow blade. At first, his cuts came out uneven and rough. But with each try, his vines grew steadier.

  “Good job,” Luther said, patting him.

  Jack-O lit up at the praise. His urge to sneak a bite faded as he focused on doing it right.

  When dinner was ready, Acher took a spoonful and nodded. “This soup is good. Give me another bowl.”

  “I made that!” Jack-O shouted. “Eat more, Acher!”

  “Jack-O is a good boy,” Luther said.

  From that day on, the round pumpkin picked up a new hobby besides gaming: cooking.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  …

  The Hemerian dragon egg had started to stir more and more often. Aaron even went as far as playing music for it every day.

  “I read online that this makes baby dragons smarter,” he said with complete seriousness, then put on a bass-heavy hit that had been trending everywhere.

  Luther and Acher:

  “…”

  “It’s close to hatching. Much faster than it should. Honestly, it’s hard to believe. It must be because Luther fed it Ascended Power,” Acher said.

  “Hooray! You’re amazing!” Aaron laughed and threw his arms around Luther.

  “Baby dragon! I want to be a dragon knight!” Jack-O cried.

  “Keep dreaming. Pyrasol is mine!” Aaron smiled.

  “Pleaseeee… can I ride him just once?”

  “No. You’re bigger than him. Maybe he can ride you, though.”

  “???”

  Squashy brushed the egg with a vine, while Pompo circled it and sniffed.

  “Will the baby dragon be big?” Squashy asked.

  “When he’s just born, he’ll probably be as small as a puppy,” Aaron said. “You’re about to become big brothers and a big sister, so set a good example for Pyrasol.”

  “Yayyyy! I’ll be a big sister!” Squashy bounced in place.

  “I’ll teach him how to play games,” Pompo declared, his fiery eyes shining.

  Ever since Jack-O had lost to him for the thousandth time, he had refused to play games against Pompo. The two pumpkin brothers stuck to team games now, ganging up on strangers online.

  “How do you know it’s a boy? What if it’s a girl?” Jack-O asked.

  “Girls can play games too,” Pompo said.

  “How do we even raise a baby dragon? Is there anything we need to watch out for? What does it eat after it hatches? And does it need shots or anything like that?” Luther asked.

  Aaron froze. How was he supposed to know that? He looked at Acher for help.

  “Don’t look at me. I have no idea,” the raven muttered while preening his feathers.

  “Let me check on the Ethernet,” Aaron said.

  He pulled out his phone and started searching.

  “Oh! There are tons of guides on Nymphnest and OracleView. They’re not specifically written for Hemerian dragons, but I think most of it still applies.” He let out a breath of relief.

  The two boys watched how-to-raise-your-dragons videos until well past midnight. By the next day, Aaron had already started preparing.

  “Did I miss anything? Nest, heating stones, bedding, special food, milk, diapers…” He went through each item in his shopping cart. “Yep. Looks like that’s everything.”

  He double checked and hit the order button.

  “Why are you being so careful? That’s a divine dragon. Even if you dumped him on the street, he wouldn’t die,” Acher said, rolling his eyes.

  “He’s still a baby. And he has no parents,” Luther said.

  Aaron’s face went still. After a moment, he sighed. “Maybe… maybe we should send him to Lumenos?”

  “Why?” Luther asked.

  Feeling how Aaron’s excitement had turned into doubt so quickly, he moved closer and took his hand.

  “I just recalled something from Orpheus’s memory. Pyrasol should actually be called Astreasol. In all of Delos’s history, there’s only one record of a Hemerian hatchling and an egg going missing, and that was during Repent Night,” Aaron said. “While Lord Everbright and the Empress of the Silver Bow were both away, the Scarlet One, ah, back then she was still known as the Exiled King, joined forces with two Primal Ones and attacked Sacred Delos, nearly sinking the island. It was a brutal battle. Two Hemerian dragons had their divinity devoured and were erased for good. Some others were corrupted by hell. Their mother, Aerisol, was also forced into corruption by the Exiled King and turned into an abyssal dragon, serving as her mount.”

  The Scarlet One has multiple incarnations. Man, woman, beast, even objects and symbols. Nothing is beyond Them. They were Lord of Hypsos, Exiled King, the Crimson Serpent, the Shattered Mirror, the Bleeding Moon, Father of Red Tide, and Mother of Pride.

  “Why would you want to send Pyrasol back there? What if it’s attacked again?”

  “They were only vulnerable because the Twin Olympians were gone. Delos is still one of the safest places in the cosmos. And Pyrasol’s uncle and family are there too. Maybe Lumenos would be better for him?”

  “Don’t be stupid! Even if you tried to return him in secret, that flower-loving brat would still be able to trace the fate bond between you and the egg straight back here. That would drag all of us into huge trouble. Drop that foolish idea,” Acher said, his voice cold as ice.

  Aaron scratched his head, then broke into a wide grin. “Well, I guess that settles it.”

  To be honest, he didn’t want to send Pyrasol anywhere at all!

  …

  The Tranquil Sea stretched far under the golden sun, as stunning as ever. Waves rolled in and brushed the sandy shore. Today, the whole group was back at Mariana Market. Since their first visit, they came back every few weeks; it was just an hour-long flight anyway.

  “Big octopus!” Jack-O called out.

  “Inkyyy!!!” Squashy and Pompo yelled as they ran over.

  The octopus lifted the pumpkin siblings with his long tentacles and set them on top of his head, where they wobbled and laughed.

  “How have you been?” Luther asked, stroking him.

  Inkshadow’s eyes curved in a smile, and he raised a tentacle in a small OK sign.

  “Hi, Inkshadow! We brought you a gift!” Aaron said, carrying over a bucket packed with Antarctic bulge-eyed fish, each as thick as a thigh and at least five feet long.

  Inkshadow took the bucket and started eating the fish one by one, chewing with clear delight. After they played for a while, Aaron asked, “Have you gone back to that place since then?”

  Inkshadow shook his head and moved his tentacles in a certain pattern.

  “What?! The entrance disappeared???” Aaron exclaimed.

  “That’s not strange. It was only a shard of the Mirror Realm,” Acher said. “After Repent Night, fragments like that still pop up across the cosmos and vanish soon after. Sometimes you find something good inside. Ancient weapons, lost treasures, things like that. Most of the time, though, it’s packed with monsters that belong to that scarlet brat.”

  “Ugh.” Aaron let out a sigh and slumped.

  Luther knew what was on his mind.

  “One day, I’ll help you get the skeleton back,” he said.

  Aaron’s face lit up at once. He grinned and wrapped Luther in a hug.

  “You’re the best!”

  Acher shot them a side but said nothing more. Across the entire cosmos, only a handful of beings had the standing to demand anything back from the Scarlet One. Fortunately, Luther was one of them.