## Chapter 7: The Seeds of a Dynasty
Over the next **93 years**, Marcellus, now permanently residing in his \text{6}'\text{10}" dragonoid form, watched over the eggs with an obsessive focus. The emerald-green egg thrummed with a low, constant rumble, and he believed it would be the first to hatch. But as with so many of his assumptions about this new existence, he was wrong.
The red egg suddenly burst into an intense conflagration, a pillar of fire that burned for **three days** without a hint of ash. Marcellus's golden eyes lit up, his dark energy resonating with the primal flames. Finally, with a roar of triumph, a tiny, scaled head emerged. It was a dragon, all crimson scales, with eyes that burned like embers. **Serafina**, the first of his true-dragon children, was born.
He didn't know yet that a true dragon matured at **3,000 years old**, a stark contrast to the $\text{15}$ years it took a human on Pandora. So, when Serafina reached her fifteenth year, appearing as a fully grown woman with the grace of a seasoned warrior, Marcellus was concerned. Her dragon form was only two meters tall, **no larger than his own torso, a mere child's toy to him**. She could feel his disappointment, a cold, cutting thing that resonated through their mind-link. Mentally, she was still a fiery, frightened teenager, but she forced herself into the role of a seasoned warrior to please him. She pushed herself relentlessly, a fire-breathing shadow trying to prove her worth to her colossal father and win his affection.
Unbelievably, it would take another **1,000 years** for the green egg to hatch. For an entire millennium, Serafina watched over her father and the eggs, her loyalty an unshakeable bond forged in fear and dedication.
One day, the green egg's constant rumble became a thunderous crack. **Small earthquakes began rippling all over Pandora**, and underneath the egg, **small cracks fissured the ground**. When the egg finally fractured, **the entire planet shook with a small earthquake for an entire hour**. A small, black and green dragon emerged, its **scholarly aura** a perfect reflection of its earth magic affinity. **Damien**, the next of the true dragons, was born. Marcellus observed the child's affinity with keen interest, noting the high-level **Earth Magic** woven into its dragon form—a subtle, unique echo of Diana.
Serafina, a millennium old but still a teenage dragon by her father's new standards, smiled with unbridled joy. She scooped up her baby brother, holding him gently in her hands. She was so proud, not just of him, but of her own role in this new dynasty.
For Marcellus, the sight of his two children was a triumph. The red and green eggs had yielded powerful offspring. The black and white eggs, however, remained a dull black and white, their surfaces still lifeless and cold.
Despite the mystery of the two final eggs, this day was celebrated across the three islands of Europa. The outlaws and exiled mages, who had lived in peace under Marcellus's iron rule, felt the massive surge of magical power and saw the birth of two new true dragons as a sign of a new age, a new royal family to serve. They had no idea of the dark, obsessive plan that had brought these children into the world, nor the fate that awaited the two unhatched eggs.
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