Lucien sat down on the sofa in front of his bed where the little girl Valerie lay. He stared at her with somber eyes.
Her mother was in Gaya's room, recovering. Gaya had said not to blame himself, but it was hard not to. Perhaps wickedness and vengeance were not for the likes of him. As much as he wanted to tie this to coincidence, the fact remained—if he didn't have two divine fragments existing in his body, he probably wouldn't have been chased by some vile metal bird hoping to devour him and grow stronger.
It was an unfortunate situation, and he was deeply sorry for them.
'Why did something have to happen? Just how unpredictable is this game? Is it even a game?!'
Lucien had every right to ask that question. Because now, before his eyes, things looked quite different. Why were his quests—whether significant or trivial—always leading him straight into the eye of the storm?
He exhaled and leaned back into the chair, breathing gently. His little dragon was somewhere under the cupboard, having quickly grown fond of chasing rats. It didn't seem interested in eating them, but rather tormenting them.
Lucien had watched it catch two rats only to release them and have fun catching them again.
He hadn't thought about a name for it yet. Gaya had warned him to be careful about naming creatures . She'd said something about names not being ordinary, but a reality that tethers to one's soul and grounds their existence. For creatures whose races are closer to the heart of mana and concepts—the rules of existence in general—it becomes even more critical.
Her warning was what had him thinking about it so much. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N0veI.Fiɾe.net
He had considered Black, Storm, Darkness… he'd even thought about Toothless!
But all of them felt hollow to him. So he set the trouble of naming aside for a while and pondered the consequences he would face when Valerie and her mother woke up.
While mulling this over, he dozed off on the couch. When he opened his eyes, it was already day—in fact, it seemed to be late morning.
He felt quite refreshed and good. For a moment he forgot he was in a game because it felt like reality itself. All his senses had been working far better since the strange event that had locked him in the game.
It wasn't until he stood up and walked toward the window, seeing the scenery of blue roofs, that he remembered. He quickly spun around toward the bed. But no one was there anymore.
He rushed out and entered Gayanna's room. No one was there either, except her—she sat cross-legged on the ground.
Lucien looked around, but there was truly no sight of Lady Varlyeth and her daughter.
He looked at Gayanna, whose eyes were closed.
"What's wrong? Where are they?"
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.
"I explained to them what happened. They were grateful but had to leave, although Lady Varlyeth says she will send for you soon and give you a reward."
Lucien tilted his head slightly.
"They'll give me a reward? That lady?"
It was strange to hear and didn't align with the personality of Lady Varlyeth that he'd witnessed.
"I'm sorry, Gaya, what did you tell them?"
Gaya looked at him directly.
"What they needed to hear."
She waved him away with her hand.
"Now scram, boy. In case you haven't noticed, I am very busy."
Lucien started to leave but returned.
"Actually, I have noticed, and I've always wanted to ask what keeps you so busy. I thought you were the strongest and didn't need to train or anything like that."
Gaya raised her head, looking at him with a deadpan expression.
"Have you tried being sealed for ten thousand years? Do you think you'd be able to use all your body parts accurately when you wake up? Or that your amassed power wouldn't be affected? Besides that, ten thousand years have passed since my reign. I don't want to assume the world has regressed instead of progressing."
Lucien scratched his cheek.
"Well, you do have a point there."
He watched Gaya close her eyes and was about to leave but ended up returning again.
At this point, Gaya opened her eyes, her anger quietly simmering.
"I'm just thinking—we might have to leave this place soon."
"The people I stole the kill from—I'm sure they'll keep hunting for me. And I think there are many of them, so I can't be careful enough. Besides that, I want to go pay my enemy a visit in the Kingdom of Elsair."
Gaya looked at him with an irritated expression and closed her eyes.
"Fine then, at least wait until the lady sends for you. Apparently, she's incredibly useful."
Lucien looked at her dubiously for one more second before excusing himself from her room and returning to his.
He stood in his room for a moment, remembering that he'd had a dragon just yesterday.
He swept his gaze around but found nothing. At that point his heart nearly dropped, but then he sensed that the dragon was still in the room. Both of them were connected by the dragon heart.
Lucien ran his hand over his chest.
'Is this what it means to be a dragon owner, or a dragon mother?'
He attributed whatever had happened to him to the fact that the dragon needed a mother to hatch. He became the dragon mother while the celestial fire burned both of them viciously. It was agonizing for Lucien but was just right for the egg.
When he fused with the fire, the damage became bearable and he was able to successfully become a dragon mother, birthing a dragon that was now his own.
It was a strange mixture of coincidences that made Lucien question how things worked in Evolution Online.
The coincidences felt eerily arranged. But by whom? The game itself?
'What exactly is the main scenario? Isn't everybody missing something important?'
Lucien felt like they all were. It was almost like they were chasing something that was chasing them. But there was no way to explain this, no example to use.
He sighed as he walked toward his bed and bent down. There, under the bed, the newborn dragon was curled up and sleeping peacefully.