The celebration that followed the dragon reveal was as chaotic as it was unforgettable.
For the first time in years, the Ravenwell Tower was full—not with diplomats or investors, but with laughter, warmth, and the rare scent of frosted cake wafting through the polished halls. The twins' sixteenth birthday party was officially underway, and Jack had spared no expense. Floating light displays shimmered like auroras above the vaulted dome. A live band of AI-generated instruments accompanied by human vocalists played an upbeat synth-folk tune on a suspended stage, and drones delivered hors d'oeuvres and holographic invitations to every guest.
Friends, mentors, a few well-known figures from academia and tech, even some celebrity personalities—the crowd was varied, a kaleidoscope of suits, gowns, and vibrant cultural wear. Among them stood the Ravenwell household staff, for once not in uniform, joining the festivities freely. Scientists from Jack's genetics division mingled with logistics officers and AI engineers, laughing as Claire dared them to pet the "sleeping doom-lizard" behind the containment field.
At the heart of it all stood Caelan and Claire, glowing with a different sort of energy.
"Happy hatchday, nerds!" shouted Jules Veyla, Claire's oldest friend, with arms full of gifts—most of which rattled ominously.
"Oh my stars, Jules. That shirt again?" Claire laughed, pointing at the outrageous 'I Survived the Dino Age' tee.
"Hey, it's vintage now!" Jules grinned, throwing an arm around Caelan, who nearly choked on his fizzy synth-drink.
"Whoa, personal space!" Caelan said, trying to hide his smirk.
Their group burst into laughter. Echo, Caelan's AI assistant, materialized just above his shoulder in the form of a soft blue fox-shaped light. Her voice, smooth and melodic, chimed in. "Reminder: One present remains unopened. Also, Claire has already stolen your third slice of cake."
"Claire!" Caelan snapped, turning toward his sister.
Claire grinned mid-chew. "Evidence is circumstantial."
Jack Ravenwell watched them from a few steps away, drink in hand, a faint smile tugging at his lips. He had traded his usual lab-coat elegance for a crisp obsidian tunic with silver trim, his hair slightly tousled for once. His glowing veins, usually hidden beneath sleeves, shimmered faintly in the mood lighting. The weight in his eyes lingered even as he smiled.
"You know," came a voice beside him. It was Astra Lane, his oldest lab partner, sipping from a glass of glowing berry elixir. "You almost look human right now."
Jack exhaled a small laugh. "Let's not ruin it."
"You brought dinosaurs back to life and even gift some bio-engineered ones to the teenagers. You've already ruined everything."
"They're not just dinosaurs."
"I know," Astra said quietly. "That's what terrifies me."
Jack said nothing. His gaze had returned to the twins—Claire tossing a handful of confetti at a blushing assistant, and Caelan talking animatedly to Echo. For just a second, something unguarded passed over his face. A flicker of memory. A breath of loss.
A spark of her.
He looked away.
Later that night, after the last of the guests had gone and the lights had dimmed back to their usual calm hues, Jack sat with the twins in the observation lounge at the top of the tower.
Claire was sprawled across a hovering bean sofa, her feet kicking in the air. Caelan sat upright on the glass balcony rail despite Echo's repeated warnings.
"Dad," Claire said, swirling a drink in her hand, "you smiled today. Like, for real."
Jack raised a brow. "Miracles happen."
"I think we even saw a laugh," Caelan added. "Someone call the news."
Jack leaned back, swirling his own drink. "It was a good day."
"Is that why you built all this?" Claire asked. "The company, the tower, the.... empire of mutant creatures?"
Jack's expression shifted.
Caelan sat forward slowly, sensing the mood change. "Was it really... just for science?"
Jack hesitated.
Then—
"No," he said. "It was for someone I lost."
Claire straightened up. "Mom?"
Jack didn't answer at first. His eyes turned toward the stars, and for a long moment, the only sound was the low hum of the city far below. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft but anchored by something deeper.
"I need to tell you both a story. Something I've never told anyone. Not Astra, not the board, not even Echo."
"Wait," Echo blinked. "I'm not part of this? Rude."
Jack chuckled lightly. "You'll want to listen too."
He stood and turned toward the large panoramic window, the starscape reflected in his nebula-blue eyes.
"Before any of this—before Ravenwell Biogenetics, before you two were born... I went somewhere impossible. A world so unlike ours, I spent years thinking it was a dream. Until I realized dreams don't leave scars."
Claire and Caelan exchanged a glance. Their father, always the unshakeable mind of logic, was speaking with something fantasy in his tone.
And just like that, the past returned.
*
He hadn't fallen, not exactly. One moment he had been reaching toward a breach in space, an experimental portal too unstable to fully grasp, and the next—he was somewhere else. The air burned different there. Richer. Wilder.
He awoke lying among blades of grass that shimmered like spun glass. The sky was pale violet, laced with gold-thread clouds, and two massive moons hung overhead—one silver, one the color of rusted bronze. Trees stretched impossibly tall, their bark glowing faintly in pulses, and in the distance, mountains floated, anchored by chains of black stone.
He could hardly breathe, not because of lack of air, but because of too much of it—so pure, so vibrant it overwhelmed his lungs.
And then the sound came. A low, thunderous hum. Not a roar. Not a scream. It was as if the world itself was breathing.
From the mists beyond the crystal valley, a reptilian figure rose.
A dragon.
Nothing like the ones in books or simulations. This one was too immense to comprehend. Its wings shadowed half the field, and its eyes glowed like stars.
It saw him.
And it remembered something he did not.
He had crawled backward, bloody and disoriented, trying to survive in a world with no rules he could predict. And yet, amidst the terror, there had been awe.
So much awe.
He met beings that didn't speak with tongues, and monsters that walked like men. He learned to fight. To hide. To survive.
And there… he fell in love.
*
Then Caelan broke the silence.
"So," he said, "you gonna tell us what that look was?"
Jack blinked, then glanced back at them.
"You had that same face you made when you thought we hacked the bio-vault in seventh grade," Claire added, sipping her cocoa.
Jack let out a soft breath. "That wasn't a look. That was mild terror."
Claire grinned. "Exactly."
Jack chuckled. Then his expression sobered. "There's something I haven't told you. About… what I've seen. About where this creatures really motivates me to make them walk among us again."
Caelan sat up slightly. "We figured they weren't just glorified pets."
Jack turned, leaning against the railing, and for a moment, the soft rooftop lights reflected the nebula-blue of his eyes—same as theirs.
"They're not dragons," he said. "And they're not dinosaurs either."
Claire tilted her head. "Then what are they?"
Jack's eyes drifted skyward.
"They began as something rooted in science—reconstructed genomes, advanced hybridization, grafted traits from fossils and imagination. I've made dozens of resurrected species. But yours… I made differently."
Claire blinked. "Differently how?"
Jack's voice lowered. "These weren't built for research. Or military funding. These were for you. They were meant to protect you, to be yours alone. But in doing that, in designing them with a purpose so deeply personal… something crossed over."
Caelan's gaze dropped to his wrist, where the AR tattoo softly pulsed. "So they're something else. Something more."
Jack nodded. "Born of memory, instinct, and whatever power still lingers between worlds. They carry pieces of me, of her… and of Drakhelm."
Claire's cocoa stilled in her hand. "Drakhelm?"
"That's what the people there called it," Jack said softly. "The other world."
Caelan leaned forward. "You were really there?"
Jack was quiet for a moment.
"When I was younger than you," he said, "I was caught in an anomaly. A field test that should have failed. But instead… I woke up beneath two moons. In a sky I'd never seen. Among creatures that defied every law I knew."
He paused, eyes distant. "And among people who… saved me."
Claire leaned closer. "And Mom?"
Jack hesitated.
"…Yes."
*
The rooftop felt colder somehow, though nothing in the environmental settings had changed.
Caelan stared at him, stunned.
Jack looked at them now—not as children, but as the only people who might one day understand.
"I came back. Eventually. But part of me never left that world."
"And Mom?" Claire whispered. "She's still there?"
Jack hesitated.
"…Yes."
The wind carried the silence between them.
"I built everything—this tower, the biotech division, the portal protocols—not to reshape the world," he said.
"But to go back. To find her."
He looked up at the sky again, the clouds parting above.
"And now… something has answered."