The underground lake appeared exactly as the hourglass had shown me.
A perfect circle of black water, mirror-still, surrounded by towering smooth rock walls. Across the far shore, a wide bank of pale stone offered the only foothold in this sunless cathedral. Bioluminescent moss clung to the walls in faint blue-green streaks, just enough to see by.
*Déjà vu. The dream was accurate down to the pebbles.*
I landed in the center of the bank, claws scraping on stone. My wings folded with a relief that bordered on obscene — every muscle in my body was screaming.
Ferra touched down beside me, heat radiating off her crimson scales like a furnace. She didn't look tired at all. Of course she didn't. The woman probably used physical exertion as a *seasoning.*
The other hatchlings landed in a scattered line behind us, some clumsy, some graceful. Munch landed belly-first and skidded two meters before catching herself. Nyx touched down silently on the far edge, already scanning the perimeter with those watchful black eyes. Loa hovered near the back, wings trembling from the flight, but she made it.
*Everyone's here. Good.*
Vesperra was the last to touch down. Her crimson eyes were already scanning the water's edge, calculating. She turned to me.
"Rest first?"
"No. Let's start now." I shook out my wings and flexed my claws. "I'm not that tired."
Besides, I wasn't planning to do the heavy lifting myself. I was the project manager. The *architect.* My job was to point at things and say "put that there."
I let my gaze drift to the hatchlings sprawled across the bank, panting and grooming their scales.
They felt it immediately. Twelve pairs of dragon eyes turned back, ranging from curious to openly hostile.
*Yes, yes, I see your dissatisfaction. Register it with HR.*
I turned back to Vesperra. "Can you handle its attacks?"
She gave a single nod. "No problem."
Short, confident, zero wasted syllables. The Vesperra special.
"Good. Go to the water's edge and pretend to drink. It'll attack you."
Her eyes narrowed — then she understood. A bait run. The Mindkraken would lash out at the closest threat, and she'd demonstrate exactly why nobody in this colony wanted to test her.
She walked to the water's edge with the casual confidence of someone who'd already won the fight before it started. Body low, crimson pupils slit to razor-thin lines.
The hatchlings went silent. Even Munch stopped chewing.
Vesperra lowered her head toward the water.
*No warning. No ripple. Just—*
A massive black tentacle erupted from the surface like a spear aimed at her skull.
She sidestepped. Clean. Minimal. The tentacle tore past her ear close enough to ruffle the scales.
Then her jaws opened and *clamped* down on the retreating tentacle. She bit through the rough hide like it was wet cardboard, green ichor spraying across the water. With a violent whip of her neck, she *tore* the tentacle clean off.
The severed stump retracted underwater. The lake surface began to boil.
Vesperra didn't retreat. She took *five steps back* — and stopped.
Ten more tentacles erupted in a ring around her, blocking every exit.
She opened her jaws.
*FWOOOSH.*
Crimson flame engulfed two tentacles. They went limp instantly, the fire clinging to their surface even as they retracted. Two charred stumps floated to the surface, still burning.
Then she *charged.* Claws shredded through two more tentacles. She bit a third and ripped it free with a spray of black fluid.
Three tentacles down in the first exchange. The remaining five pulled back into the depths.
The lake went still.
Vesperra stood at the water's edge, a five-meter severed tentacle dangling from her jaws, and stared at the surface like a bouncer who'd just cleared the dance floor.
*Four combat talents I can see from here: stamina burst, claw sharpness, strength enhancement, reaction boost. Plus the destruction breath. She's a full-tank agile assassin. What a broken build.*
A severed tentacle landed in front of me with a wet *thud.*
"Eat."
Vesperra's eyes still hadn't fully shed the battle fury. I nodded obediently and started chewing. The meat was tough but dense with magic — I could feel my internal reserves ticking upward with every bite.
*Mmm. Power sashimi.*
I waved Munch over. She trotted up, sniffed the tentacle, and immediately started gnawing on the *skin* — wrinkled, slimy, covered in her own drool from the last piece she'd been chewing.
She offered me a one-meter strip of slobber-covered tentacle hide.
*...No thank you. I have standards.*
"I'm good. Keep it."
Her white pupils lit up and she stuffed the whole thing into her mouth.
*That's... not how food works. But sure.*
Once everyone had eaten, it was time to build.
I spat a glob of green magic into the air and let it form into a Spell Circle. Blue sigils began flowing from my claw tip as I inscribed them one by one into a Kelpfang magic core — egg-sized, translucent white, humming with water-attribute energy.
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Twenty-five cores total. Each one needed a custom inscription.
"So cool~! Chaos, you're amazing!" Nixie chirped from her perch on my head, her tiny legs swinging back and forth. "You can draw all the spell patterns in one go!"
"Of course I can." I grinned. "Hey, Nixie — can you do me a favor later?"
"Of course! Nixie is super capable!"
*Too easy.*
"Later, sit on one of the cores and push your magic into it. That's all."
"Got it! Leave it to me!"
*Pure. Unfiltered. Zero scam awareness. I feel almost guilty.*
Almost.
While I worked on the cores, the other hatchlings stripped fish bones from the Kelpfang carcasses — long, translucent spines half a meter each, sharp enough to pierce stone. They stacked them neatly, nobody daring to slack off. Not after Vesperra's little demonstration.
I took to the air, hovering ten meters above the bank. The entire layout spread out below me.
"Alright. Each of you take two fish bones. I'll tell you where to put them."
I pointed at a green hatchling. "You — five steps forward, push the bone into the soil."
Then a black one. "You — five steps left, then ten forward."
One by one, the hatchlings found their positions. The fish-bone framework took shape: a double-ring pattern with a winding serpentine form coiling inside.
From the ground, it looked like random sticks poked into dirt. From my altitude, the Water Serpent Binding Array was unmistakable — two concentric circles, and within them, a serpent with its tail in its mouth.
Only Nyx remained, standing alone with her fish bones, staring up at me.
"Nyx, drop those. I've got a more important job for you."
I pointed at the far stone wall. "See that wall? Use your claws to carve out a flat stone block. Three meters by three meters."
She tilted her head. Then, without a sound, walked to the wall and started digging.
*Huh. She didn't even ask why. That's... new.*
I'd prepared a sarcastic deflection in case she questioned me. Unused. *Tch.*
The last core clicked into place on the serpent's head. Twenty cores on the double ring. Nine along the serpent's body. One on the snout.
"Nixie. You're up."
She fluttered down from my head and landed on the snout core, duck-footed and beaming. The moment she pushed her magic in, the core blazed with dreamlike blue light.
"Like this?"
"Perfect. You're doing great, Nixie."
She grinned like she'd just been employee of the month.
*This fairy is going to get scammed so hard in another lifetime.*
I landed at the array's center and pushed magic into the activation core. It floated up, trailing blue threads that connected to each of the twenty-five inscribed cores in sequence.
The array *ignited.*
A transparent water serpent erupted from the Spell Circle — massive, easily three times my body length. Its head rose high above mine, serrated transparent fangs glinting in the bioluminescent light.
My perspective shifted. I was looking *down* at myself.
*Weird. Very weird. Like being a remote drone operator for a AAA game boss.*
From up here, I could see the hatchlings on the bank — all staring up at the serpent with a mixture of awe and terror. Even Vesperra's crimson eyes were wide. Good. Let them be impressed. Let them remember this.
Nyx was still at the stone wall, tiny black shape paused, staring up at the serpent with round eyes.
*Caught you slacking.*
The serpent's jaws opened and — *spit* — a glob of water slammed into Nyx like a tidal wave, pinning her against the stone wall. A crack spider-webbed across the rock.
*...That was a little much.*
Nyx peeled herself off the wall. No roar. No complaint. She just turned around and went back to carving stone.
*...I feel slightly bad. Slightly.*
The serpent dove into the lake. *Splash.*
*Underwater.*
Dark. Silent. The serpent's elemental body didn't have dragon vision — I could only see about fifteen meters in any direction. I sent it deeper.
Minutes of nothing. No fish. No anything. The Mindkraken had eaten everything in a ten-kilometer radius.
Then — a black tentacle lanced out of the wall rock. *Fast.* It pierced straight through the serpent's head.
No blood. No damage. Just a transparent elemental body with a hole in it.
I looked up.
There it was.
Gorthax.
A mountain of black flesh plastered against the cavern wall, covered in writhing tentacles. Four pairs of black vertical pupils — all fixed on me.
*Found you, you ugly calamari.*
The serpent's jaws clamped down on the tentacle piercing its head and *bit through.*
Gorthax's mouth-area tentacles writhed furiously, blasting a volley of water bolts. They punched holes through the serpent's body — but each one sealed shut almost instantly.
*Physical immunity, baby. Water-elemental body. Your water bolts are literally healing me. This is like the time my old QA team reported a bug that turned out to be a feature — except this time, I'm the feature.*
Gorthax seemed to realize that water bolts were useless. The tentacles stopped firing. Instead, the massive body tried to flee — jetting downward into the abyss.
*Oh no you don't.*
The serpent's tail whipped and gave chase. Wrapped around the mountain of flesh. Serrated fangs crunched through another tentacle. Then another.
*Turn-based combat. My turn. My turn. My—*
A reinforced tentacle shoved itself into the serpent's jaws. Tough. Like chewing through a tire wrapped in rubber bands. Water magic coated its surface, making it nearly impossible to cut through.
*Fine. Soft tofu, hard grind. I've got all day.*
Three minutes of steady chewing. The tentacle finally gave way.
*Turn-based, my ass. You kept attacking while I was chewing. That's cheating.*
Bite again. Another tentacle stuffed into the serpent's mouth. Chew. Three more minutes.
*Stable. Too stable. Just need to grind this guy down and—*
The lake surface exploded.
Gorthax's entire mountain-like body breached the surface, tentacles flailing, aiming straight for the bank. Straight for the *array.*
My heart dropped.
*No no no—*
Vesperra moved.
Crimson flame *detonated* around her body. Her form *expanded* — five meters, six, seven, eight — stopping at nine. Muscles bunched under scales that now looked like armored plates. For one breathtaking moment, she wasn't a hatchling. She was a *juvenile-stage red dragon.*
She *launched.*
Nine meters of crimson muscle and flame collided with the Mindkraken's charging body like a meteor hitting a mountain. The impact shockwave sent water cascading across the bank.
The other hatchlings snapped out of their stupor and piled on, bodies slamming against Gorthax's flanks, slowing its advance.
*Good. Hold it—*
*"AAAAA!"*
A piercing shriek tore through the cavern. Every hatchling *froze* — bodies locking mid-stride, pupils dilating.
The Mindkraken's remaining tentacles all snapped toward one target.
Me.
The serpent dissolved. I was back in my own body — a tiny green hatchling, standing in the center of the array, with forty tentacles aimed at my skull.
Vesperra's flame incinerated a dozen. Ferra's breath took out a few more. But there were too many.
Two tentacles broke through.
Three meters from my face.
I could see the rough hide. The spear-tip points. The glistening ichor.
*This is it.*
*No. I don't want to die.*
*Tick-tock.*
What was that?
*Tick-tock. Tick-tock.*
Like a clock. A golden pocket watch, spinning.
The tentacles... slowed. Not just seemed slow — *actually* slow. Crawling like they were moving through honey.
I tried to dodge. My body wouldn't respond. I was frozen too.
*So I can see it coming but I can't move? What kind of sadistic joke is—*
*Then kill it.*
The thought burned through every synapse. All my magic — every drop — *flooded* into the array.
The dying array *blazed* back to life. Azure light erupted.
Two water serpents burst from the Spell Circle.
*Fast.*
Faster than anything I'd ever controlled. They hit Gorthax's skull simultaneously — left and right — serrated jaws clamping down with the force of a hydraulic press.
One third of the skull. Gone. Another third. Gone.
And then time *snapped* back to normal.
The tentacles that had been crawling toward my face went rigid — then collapsed, limp as wet rope, landing half a meter from my scales.
Gorthax's body slumped across the bank, two-thirds of its head missing. Dead before it knew what happened.
The two serpents dissolved into water, cascading over the corpse.
My magic was gone. Every last drop. The river that had become a stream was now a dried riverbed.
My legs gave out. I collapsed onto the stone.
*So... tired...*
Above me, the cavern ceiling swam in and out of focus. The bioluminescent moss looked like stars. Beautiful, actually. In a "I might be dying" kind of way.
*If this is the last thing I see, at least the production design is solid.*
My eyes closed.
"Chaos! Chaos!"
Munch was nudging my head with hers, whining softly. I could feel the warmth of her scales.
"Stop shoving him, you idiot! Let me check!" Nixie's voice, shrill with panic.
Tiny blue hands pressed against my scales. Magic flowed through my body — searching, assessing.
"No injuries. Just magic exhaustion. He'll wake up after resting."
I wanted to tell her I could still hear her. But my body had already checked out.
The last thing I registered before sleep took me: every hatchling in the colony was staring at me.
And they all noticed — my left eye had turned gold. A pocket watch inside, hands spinning wildly.
*Tick-tock. Tick-tock.*
Then darkness.