That day, Raymon was trying to use his telekinesis to guide a wisp of fire element, making it coil around his fingertips into a more complex shape. A faint tremor came from the rock layers beneath his feet, but Raymon paid it no mind; this dormant volcano often twitched like this, and he had long grown accustomed to it.
But this time seemed different. The tremor suddenly intensified within a few breaths! The books on the table rattled, fine dust sifted down from the cracks in the stone wall, and the flickering candlelight in the cave twisted wildly, as if disturbed by this ominous shaking, threatening to extinguish at any moment!
"?! An earthquake?" A chill instantly shot up his spine! Without any hesitation, his body's instinct preceded thought, and Raymon's hand had already gripped the hilt of the "Sky-Rending" sword on the stone platform beside him.
He abruptly stood up, clutching the precious sword, and rushed out of the cave like a taut bowstring.
The moment he stepped out of the cave entrance, the heat wave that assailed him directly choked his breath!
Not far away, that mountain-like, silvery-white giant cocoon was undergoing an earth-shattering metamorphosis! The cocoon, over fifty meters tall, heaved violently, and pure silver light surged out from the dense cracks, illuminating the entire massive volcanic crater as if it were daytime! "Crack—smash—!" Piercing, continuous sounds, like an entire glass wall being shattered by a giant hammer, reverberated. The thick cocoon shell visibly disintegrated and peeled off section by section.
"Roar—————!!!"
A dragon's roar, splitting the clouds and cracking stones, exploded like an ancient war horn! The last restraints of the cocoon shell completely shattered in this roar proclaiming rebirth! A colossal figure, elegantly and powerfully stretching its long-dormant body, shot up into the sky!
A silver giant dragon! Its form seemed to have been refined considerably, shrinking from its previous immense size to about fifty meters, yet beneath its elegant, flowing lines still lay heart-pounding power. Its broad dragon wings spread, like two giant sails forged from pure silver, stirring up mountain-shaking gales with each beat!
Its appearance bore a striking resemblance to the Dragon God Reshiram, yet it lacked the softness of fur, replaced instead by rhomboid scales that gleamed with a cold, metallic luster.
Its massive amber dragon eyes slowly rotated, carrying an ancient majesty that seemed to pierce through all things. Finally, its fiery gaze locked onto the tiny human at the cave entrance like a torch. That gaze traversed space, filled with the joy of new birth and a strange, profound recognition and closeness from the depths of its soul.
Raymon's heart felt as if it had been clutched by an invisible giant hand, almost stopping its beat! The "Sky-Rending" sword in his hand seemed to be responding to the giant dragon's might, trembling slightly as he unconsciously tightened his grip.
At the same time! Inside the cave, on the stone wall, the chaotic charcoal-drawn magic arrays suddenly lit up one after another! Faint but tenacious lights connected into a continuous glow, as if awakened by an unseen force!
On the stone table, the ancient parchment scroll left by Illys flapped open without a breeze, rapidly turning pages, precisely stopping on the previously blank last page! On the yellowed paper, faint golden patterns were quietly emerging.
As if pulled by a predestined current spanning time and space, Raymon, the youth who inherited the Dragon King's bloodline, unconsciously took another step forward, then another… until he stood completely beneath the fierce winds agitated by the giant dragon's beating wings, raising his head to directly face those massive eyes burning with amber flames. So close was he that each of the giant dragon's heavy breaths carried scorching air currents.
"You… have finally awakened…" Raymon murmured, his voice dry and hoarse, yet unable to conceal the excitement surging like lava in his chest, and an indescribable tension.
A month of solitary vigil, a month of burning the midnight oil… All the anticipation, at this moment, transformed into a myriad of emotions facing this awe-inspiring existence. What would the future hold? He didn't know.
But a voice deep within him roared: A new era, with this dragon's roar, had officially begun!
The giant dragon lowered its head slightly, its massive head eclipsing the sky above. It leaned in closer, its warm dragon's breath, like a nascent sea breeze, carrying the scent of sulfur and powerful life, brushed over Raymon.
Deep within Raymon's mind, as if piercing through endless time and space, an ancient voice filled with eons of vicissitudes echoed:
[I've finally waited for you… the variable… the convergence of destiny…]
This ancient whisper gave Raymon a sense of déjà vu, its lingering echo persisting, silently entrusting him with a heavy crown and an unpredictable path forward.
"The Way of Heaven? Or… 'Them,' who are said to be behind the glory of Valyria?" Raymon's pupils constricted slightly, a surge of horror rising in his heart like a monstrous wave, "…This world is far more interesting than I imagined…"
After a brief moment of shock, he snapped back to attention. He tightened his grip on "Sky-Rending," straightened his spine that had once bent in the streets, and fearlessly met those profound dragon eyes, his gaze sharper than the edge of the sword in his hand. This man and this dragon, transcending the chasm of time, met each other's gaze at this moment.
Looking at the beautiful silver dragon shimmering in the light of its emergence from the cocoon, a fragment from deep within his memory flashed through his mind—it was from the tokusatsu show Ultraman Tiga he watched as a child, the benevolent monster parrot, "Shila," who transformed from a monster of disaster into a symbol of hope, the "Golden Phoenix." How similar was this dragon to it! Hadn't it also been reborn from its cocoon through the mighty power of the Dragon God Reshiram?
Without any hesitation, its name escaped his lips, carrying a sense of fated familiarity and a solemn declaration:
"Big Girl!" Raymon's voice was clear, trembling with barely perceptible excitement, "You have been reborn through the power of the Dragon God Reshiram, like a phoenix returning from the flames… So, from now on, your name is—[Shila]! May light and soaring flight be your constant companions!"
"Roar—hiss-ga—!!!" The silver dragon arched its graceful neck high, letting out a long cry that pierced the clouds! That roar was no longer merely a declaration of power, but also filled with boundless joy at being recognized and reborn! The sound echoed in the volcanic crater, as if celebrating the formal naming of a great soul!
The moment Raymon's words fell! An invisible bridge, purely constructed of spirit, was powerfully built between the youth and the giant dragon! He clearly "felt" Shila's existence, her joy, her power, her closeness… Even across a thousand mountains and ten thousand waters, he was certain that with a single thought, he could call the giant dragon's name! It was not the compulsion of a contract, but a bond deeper than blood beginning to intertwine!
Raymon stood silently. The fierce wind whipped at his thin clothes, but could no longer shake him in the slightest. He looked down at his tightly clasped, bony but no longer trembling hand holding "Sky-Rending," then slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping past the soaring Shila, towards the vast, boundless, yet both familiar and strange world beyond the volcanic crater.
The scrawny, bullied bastard from the streets of Volantis… along with all the shadows belonging to a lowly past, were utterly incinerated in the cave behind him, at the moment this dragon's roar resounded!
From now on, the one who would appear before the world was the Valyrian Dragon King—Raymon Targaryen!
An unprecedented belief, strong enough to tear apart fate, burned fiercely in his chest! The scorching flames illuminated his deep eyes:
"The road ahead is long, the stars are hidden… But, at least in this realm—"
He suddenly raised "Sky-Rending" high, its blade pointing directly at the vast sky! His voice was not loud, but each word was resonant and firm, carrying a fierce determination to tear through all obstacles:
"My fate is mine, not heaven's! If gods or demons block my path—I shall cleave the clouds with my sword and destroy their altars!" A declaration of war echoed in the wind and dragon's roar.
"Hiss-ga—!!!" Shila in the sky responded to his soul's cry, her dragon's roar shaking the heavens!
Raymon lowered his sword from the sky, its tip now pointing distantly towards the broader world map—in the direction of Essos and Westeros, a fusion of memory and reality:
"Shila!" His eyes burned with the flame of conquest, his voice like clashing metal:
"Let us together—bring this vast world, into our grasp!"