Prologue
On a rainy day,the golden egg suddenly appeared.
Five young, curious dragons gathered in a circle around a makeshift nest. Upon finding the egg, the oldest of them hurried to find sticks and feathers to support it. But they were inexperienced and immature. The nest wasn’t perfect. As usual, they were on their own.
Rain drenched the dragons. The sky over the island had been overcast and storming for the past week. Today was no different.
The youngest, a light purple dragon, blinked the rain from his eyes. “When’s it gonna hatch already?”
The oldest, a large dragon the color of the sea, extended his wing over the younger one. “Be patient, Thystle. You can’t rush it.”
“Hmph. I bet I didn’t take this long,” Thystle grumbled. “Did I, Cobalt?”
At any other time, Cobalt would’ve been amused at the youngest’s sass. But now, he was concerned about the mystery egg. It had been years since the last time an egg appeared on the island. Who laid it? Who brought it here?
“We don’t know if it’s ready to hatch,” the jade-scaled dragon explained to Thystle.
A deeper purple dragon let out a raspy laugh. “Yeah, it might be fresh out of a dragon’s butt.”
“We don’t even know if itisa dragon,” the red dragon pointed out. “It could be a bird egg, or a lizard egg.”
“Yeah, Crimson’s right.” The dark purple dragon leapt up to his paws, grinning. “Let’s eat it.”
Cobalt growled in warning. “No, Violet. I sense a dragon in there.”
“Boo,” Violet complained, sitting on his rump.
“Does that mean I won’t be the youngest anymore?” Thystle asked, his voice torn between eagerness and disappointment.
Crimson smirked. “Not if Violet eats the hatchling.”
“Iamgetting hungry,” Violet joked.
The eldest dragon had enough of their callous comments. He rose to all fours, snapping his tail and snarling at them.
“Enough,” Cobalt said. “This is a dragon egg. That makes it our sibling.”
He knew the others didn’t remember, but he did. He remembered being utterly alone on the island—until one day, from out of nowhere, a dark purple egg showed up. That was Violet. Then came a jade egg, followed by a crimson one, and finally, an amethyst.
Cobalt was present for each hatching. He felt a responsibility to protect and raise the dragonets. And he certainly did not raise a cannibal.
But Violet wasn’t serious. He nuzzled Cobalt in deference to show his playful nature.
Cobalt’s anger deflated. He licked Violet’s head. Despite being the second oldest, he’d always liked receiving affection the most.
Thystle sniffed the egg. “Where do the eggs come from?” he asked.
Violet flashed a toothy grin. “When two dragons love each other very much—”
“I knowthat,” Thystle grumbled. Dragons were not shy about the knowledge of biological facts. “I meant, why did it randomly show up today?”
“I don’t know,” Cobalt admitted.
He raised his head to stare at the gray sky. Had it come down from there? Did it wash up from the ocean? Had some creature dug it up from the sand? Even after five eggs, Cobalt was clueless about where they came from. He just knew that they felt like home.
Jade gasped. “Cobalt. Look.”
All dragons snapped to attention.
