No sound. No light. No feeling. Just an endless, heavy nothing pressing in from every side.
Jordan tried to move, but there was no body to move—just thought, floating weightless in the black. Time didn't seem to pass here. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years… they all bled together into the same suffocating stillness.
At first, there was peace in it. Then the quiet began to feel wrong. Too deep. Too empty
Jordan liked it at first — the stillness, the quiet. No noise, no problems. But the longer it lasted, the more it felt like a locked door he couldn't open.
His mind went back to the man behind the counter. One second selling gas, the next putting two bullets in him. Why?
He turned it over and over — robbery, mistake, madness — but nothing made sense. No answers here. Just darkness.
And as much as he liked it, he didn't want to stay.
The thought of being dead didn't bother him. He wasn't leaving much behind anyway. Only child. No family that still claimed him. His parents had kicked him out the day they found out he was selling.
That memory floated up sharp and clear, and before he could stop himself, he spoke into the dark:
"Still wish I could've left on better terms."
The words vanished into nothing, swallowed whole.
Just as he thought nothing would change in the void, something did.
A claw — huge and cold — wrapped itself around his entire being, gripping tight. Then it yanked, and he was moving — fast. He twisted, looking everywhere as the darkness peeled away. Galaxies swirled past him in blurs of color, suns burning like white-hot eyes. Planets and moons drifted in their endless orbits, close enough to touch before vanishing behind him.
The pull didn't stop. It dragged him through the endless sky like he weighed nothing at all.
"Now what? First the void, now I'm being pulled through universes… where is this thing even taking me?" Jordan thought, twisting to watch space bend and warp around him. At first, the speed and sheer scale scared him. But as the pull went on — for what felt like years — the fear faded to fascination, and eventually, to boredom.
Then the motion slowed. Stars stopped streaking past, and the claw came to a complete halt before a massive world.
"I've never been to space, but I can tell this planet's gotta be at least ten times the size of Earth," Jordan muttered, eyes sweeping over its swirling continents and endless oceans.
Before he could take in more, a booming voice echoed from everywhere at once, vibrating the space around him
The name wasn't spoken — it happened.
A ripple tore through the stars, bending them like heat haze. Jordan's vision fractured into impossible colors, each one humming with its own weight. Galaxies trembled in their orbits. Planets tilted as if bowing.
And in the middle of it all, the claw still holding him pulsed with an ancient presence.
My name is ᚾ⟟⟁ʍ⟁⟟ᚾ
Jordan didn't hear it. He felt it — a memory from before memory, something older than the concept of time. It poured into him, flooding every corner of what he was now. For a moment, there was no Jordan, no self — only the god's will pressing in, measuring him.
It wasn't pain, exactly. But it was pressure, heavy enough to strip away lies, excuses, and half-truths. Every weakness was laid bare. Every moment of his life flashed past — every fight, every choice, every wrong turn — as if the being was rifling through him, deciding if he was worth speaking to at all.
Before Jordan could question why he was here—why the claw held him, why it dragged him from the void, why this colossal world floated before him—the being's voice pressed into his mind like the weight of a collapsing star.
"Most who enter the void are consumed. You endured. That endurance does not belong to your kind. It is… anomalous."
Jordan couldn't form words—he had no mouth here, no lungs, just thought.
"I have searched for such an anomaly. Dragons grow proud, stagnant… blind to what they lack. You will be reborn among them, not as one of their own, but as something new. You will carry three traits of your choosing—your weapons, your tools for survival. This is not mercy, human. It is purpose."
For a moment, Jordan forgot the darkness, the void, even the fact that he'd been shot dead. Dragons. Fighting. Freedom. If he'd had a face, he would've been grinning.
Before he could even think about what traits to choose, the claw shifted, hurling him toward the massive planet below. Stars and moons blurred past as he found his voice again, screaming into the void,
"Wait! What about my traits?!"
The god's reply followed him down like thunder rolling across infinity:
"The you that will be… has already chosen. Live, anomaly. The rest will come."
Jordan didn't have time to argue — the claw released him, and he was already hurtling toward the planet below. The world rushed past in a kaleidoscope of color — swirling clouds, oceans that glimmered like molten silver, and continents shaped like roaring beasts.
Then he saw them — thousands of dragons. Their scales flashed like living gemstones in the sun, wings carving through the air in endless waves. Their roars rolled across the sky like unbroken thunder, shaking the heavens themselves.
Below, an enormous palace rose from the heart of a city, its towers carved from white stone that shimmered as though dusted with stardust. High above the palace, a ring of armored dragons circled protectively, each the size of a small ship.
Jordan's path was locked — he was falling straight toward the tallest tower. The closer he got, the more he saw: a massive open chamber at its peak, its walls lined with banners bearing the sigil of a dragon's eye. In the center, resting on a marble dais, sat a single enormous egg — black as the void he'd just left, so dark it seemed to drink in the light around it. The darkness wasn't still; it shifted ever so slightly, like ink swirling in deep water, hinting at something ancient moving within.
There was no time to think. His formless body slammed into the shell — and instead of shattering, it drank him in, pulling him deep inside.
Warmth wrapped around him instantly. Darkness. A slow, steady thump-thump echoed in his ears, like the heartbeat of something vast. And for the first time since the void, Jordan felt… safe.
Warmth wrapped around him instantly. Darkness. A slow, steady thump-thump echoed in his ears, like the heartbeat of something vast.
At first, there was only stillness. Then… something stirred within him.
It began as a low hum in his core, spreading outward in waves until he felt the changes take shape—three distinct forces etching themselves into his very being:
Primordial Dragon Physiology – His body took form in the dark, denser and stronger than he'd ever imagined. Scales began to coat him, each one humming faintly with ancient power. He could feel the strength to crush stone and fly through storms already inside him.
Instinct of the Apex – A dangerous awareness bloomed in his mind, sharp and unyielding. He could sense movement, threats, and openings in ways that defied logic. Every strike, every dodge, every kill—it was as if he already knew the outcome.
Draconic Charisma – A strange pull radiated from him, subtle yet undeniable. The darkness itself seemed to draw closer, leaning toward him as if it craved his presence. It was more than charm; it was influence, command… temptation.
The thump-thump grew louder—so loud he could almost feel the vibrations in the shell around him. It wasn't his heartbeat. No… it was far deeper, stronger.
It was hers.
The mother dragon.
Even in human form, her presence pressed against him like the heat of a blazing sun, her heartbeat filling the air beyond the egg. He couldn't see her yet, but he could feel the weight of her gaze. In his mind's eye, he caught flickers—hair like molten gold, eyes glinting with draconic light, and curling black horns rising from her head like a crown. She was close—watching. Waiting.
The darkness in the egg was warm and heavy, thick liquid wrapping him in a metallic heat. The shell pressed close, smooth and unyielding. When he shifted, something sharp scraped it—claws.
A cramped weight twitched along his back. He tried to stretch it—pain shot through folded wings. A tail pressed against the curve beneath him. Piece by piece, he realized—no hands, no human shape, only a coiled, alien strength.
Space was running out. Wings ached, tail cramped, muscles straining. His heartbeat and a deeper one outside thudded together in the heat.
The egg wouldn't hold him much longer.
CRACK. The sound wasn't just heard—it was felt, a deep, shuddering note that rippled through the palace walls and out into the skies. Every dragon, no matter how far, froze mid-flight or mid-step, a primal instinct telling them that something older and greater than themselves had just awakened