*Huff… Huff…*
Beneath the starry sky of the night, a young man in ragged clothes desperately pushed his body forward.
The sound of his gasps filled the air as he ran atop the colossal skeleton of an ancient dragon.
He turned his head around, only to see a group of men, carrying long blades and revolvers, chasing after him.
"Return here, you filthy thief!" One of the two men at the front shouted at the top of his lungs.
He then aimed his revolver at the young man before firing a bullet that barely missed his head, landing on the bone and shattering a shard.
White dust emerged from the shard, clouding the young man's vision.
The moment he inhaled it, his throat started burning, and breathing became harder.
Yet, the young man refused to slow down. In fact, it only fueled his panic and pushed him further.
"I can't stop… I can't die in this damn place!" The young man thought, "How did things turn out this way?"
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A few hours earlier…
The sound of pickaxes hitting against tough bone echoed loudly throughout the marrow pit.
Countless kids wearing torn-up clothes were lined up inside, swinging the pickaxes they held in their hands nonstop.
Their fragile bodies screamed for them to stop, yet their empty eyes showed no emotions.
Even if they wanted to stop, they knew they couldn't.
A lineup of men wearing long coats and military hats stood behind them, carrying long whips and ready to strike them if their eyes caught any faulty movement.
Throughout the empire, these kids were used to mining the bones of one of the legendary dragons in this connected network of caves.
The guards covered their mouths with tight gas masks, since the air in these caves reeked of the smell of the rotting flesh that lingered for tens of years.
Not to mention, they couldn't afford to inhale the marrow dust, no matter what happened, as it caused serious effects that could lead to death.
However, the kids didn't seem affected by either of them, as their bodies grew accustomed to it after working endlessly in the same environment for years.
Suddenly, the sound of a loud explosion erupted from the corner of the pit, echoing throughout the entire place.
The guards promptly turned their heads, shifting their gazes towards the source of the sound immediately.
One by one, their eyes widened and their heads flinched in shock as they saw a clear crystal shining brightly from within the bone.
In front of it, a young man stood motionless in his place, flustered by the sight in front of him.
Liam's golden eyes were wide open as he stared deeply at the crystal, with his black hair swaying slightly along the occasional breeze that entered the pit.
Unexpectedly, all the other kids froze in their tracks, pulled by the sight in front of Liam.
They looked at the young man in awe, a mixture of surprise and disbelief covering their faces.
Before the guards could react, Liam dropped his pickaxe and extended his arm, eagerly reaching for the crystal as if it were calling for him.
"Step away from it, boy! That's not something you can touch!" One guard yelled loudly, but Liam didn't seem to pay any attention to him.
His eyes were glued to the crystal, his vision narrowing as he heard voices inside his mind.
"Touch it… Hold it!..." A deep, thunderous voice echoed inside his mind.
His heart was pounding faster and faster as his hand got closer to the crystal, and the whispers in his head began getting louder.
The guard immediately raised his revolver, aiming it at Liam's hand to prevent him from touching it.
However, before he could press the trigger, his finger stopped abruptly, frozen midair and shaking just a few millimeters away from it.
His lips began to tremble, and a sweat dropped down his forehead as he stared at the boy's back in fear, feeling as if the surrounding air became a thousand times heavier.
Behind the boy, what looked like the head of a dragon, manifested by white dust, stared at him with its golden eyes.
Its sharp gaze felt as if it was penetrating the bodies of all the guards and ripping them apart from the inside out.
They felt as if the creature was holding their hearts, slowly squeezing them as a warning not to move.
Once Liam's hand touched the crystal, streaks of brilliant white light that resembled vines emerged from it.
They quickly grew longer, wrapping around Liam's arm and covering half of his upper body in mere seconds.
Liam felt his body getting hotter, with his veins growing so large that his slender body now looked like a distorted mess.
Before he knew it, the vines of light had covered him from head to toe, leaving him to resemble a ghostly figure to those looking at him.
For a few moments afterwards, time seemed to have stopped, with everyone frozen in place and not even a single sound echoing inside the cave as everyone stared at the boy in shock.
However, the silence quickly shattered as screams of panic began rising inside the pit once the light around the boy started growing.
But before they could flee the place, the light had completely engulfed them.
Once Liam opened his eyes again, he found himself standing atop a mountain edge, staring at the horizon with his eyes wide.
The view before his eyes was nothing short of mesmerizing.
An overcast had just begun clearing, opening ways for the golden light shafts of the sunset to seep through.
The sun cast its golden light upon the river stream that flowed down the mountain and passed by forests of pine and birch trees, which were at the bottom of a mountain range.
A smile formed on Liam's face as he stared at the view in front of him, opening his arms wide for the wind to envelop him.
Then, he heard a thunderous roar echoing through the land, startling him and forcing him to shift his gaze around in a panic.
The ground beneath him started shaking, then a colossal dragon dove from the sky, splitting the clouds apart.
It had a long, serpent-like body that extended into the horizon, with snow white fur covering its body and flowing gently in the wind.
Sharp, tree-root-like horns extended from its head while its golden eyes shone brightly, and its scales shimmered with a silver light.
As it descended slowly, it twisted its body, rolling it around the mountain before facing the young boy standing at its peak.
Standing before this creature felt like a fever dream for Liam.
Even with the menacing presence that it exuded, the boy didn't feel fear or surprise; in fact, it calmed his earlier panic.
He felt as if its presence was a warm, welcoming embrace that brought him close to a home he had always dreamt of.
Suddenly, the dragon opened its mouth and started to speak, not in any language that Liam understood or knew about, but it felt familiar to him.
Then, it extended its arm before touching Liam's chest with one of its claws.
The claw started glowing in a golden color, and quickly after, the boy's body started glowing with the same color.
Liam started feeling dizzy, and his vision started getting blurry. He couldn't help but close his eyes as he felt tired throughout his body.
After a while, he woke up, only to find himself staring at the ceiling of a tent, lying on one bed there, and experiencing a comfort that he had never even imagined.
"Where… Am I?..." He thought before he slightly turned his head, scanning his surroundings..
Tables with maps and guns placed on top of them were scattered inside, as well as some weapon racks holding spears and swords placed around the place.
"What is this place?" he mumbled.
"No, wait! That dragon… was that a dream?" Liam thought as he started checking his body, his muscles tightening in concern.
However, before he could have any more thoughts, he heard the voices of people talking approaching the place, prompting him to close his eyes in a panic and pretend to be still asleep.
"He is still asleep, huh?" Two figures suddenly entered the tent, with one of them asking as he looked at the boy.
"With that weak body of his, I don't think he would wake up anytime soon," the other one replied.
Listening to their voices, Liam managed to recognize them.
They were the leaders of the overlookers assigned to his group, named Mark and Edward.
"What do you think we should do? Should we just report the incident to the royal palace?" The first one asked.
"Are you crazy? In what universe do you think reporting that a slave had not only touched crystalized marrow this pure but also drained it of all energy to the point where it disintegrated is a good idea?" Mark asked.
Suddenly, the memories of what happened started flooding Liam's mind, sending a shiver down his spine as he realized he had committed a major crime for a slave like him.
His heart started pounding faster, and he started fidgeting with his fingers under the blanket he had on top of him, but neither of the two seemed to notice.
"I know that allowing a slave to touch something like that is practically a crime for normal soldiers like us, but don't you realize? The boy had awakened into a dragonborn!" Edward replied.
"Do you know how desperate the empire is to get hold of these folks? If we can explain the situation to them, we would surely be rewarded!" He added.
"D-Dragonborn?..." Liam thought as he silently gasped for air.
His heart was racing as his mind was full of possibilities of what that could mean for him, but his thoughts were interrupted by a sentence that sent shivers down his spine.
"...Did you just see his eyes twitch?"