My eyes fluttered open to a disorienting bnkness.

  The cssic trinity of bewilderment immediately assailed my thoughts: Who, precisely, was I?

  Where, in this unfamiliar expanse, did I find myself?

  And what, by any stretch of imagination, was my purpose here?

  Slowly, with a conscious marshalling of thought, the scattered fragments of recent memory began to coalesce.

  I recalled slipping away from the Dragon's Den, my singur intent to reach the Academy's uppermost egress and drink in the sight of the stars.

  My ascent, however, had met an unceremonious end on the ninth floor, my energy reserves utterly spent.

  Just as I was about to seek a moment's respite before continuing my cndestine journey, a True Dragon, spectral and imposing, had shimmered into existence directly behind me.

  Then, a profound and utter bckness had enveloped my senses.

  So, my current location remained a mystery, I conceded.

  Yet, its connection to that phantasmal draconic entity seemed an undeniable certainty.

  With these reflections, I pushed myself to my feet, commencing a more thorough survey of my strange new environs.

  It was a cavern of considerable vastness; a soft, diffused luminescence, far exceeding the gloom of our den, filled the space, and the air carried an indescribable, faintly disquieting fragrance.

  In the middle distance, stone ptforms of indeterminate utility rose, bearing a multitude of crystalline containers filled with liquids of every conceivable hue.

  Further still, imposing stone shelves supported colossal crystalline vessels, their contents tantalizingly veiled by the intervening space.

  A brief hesitation, then I was drawn, as if by an unseen current, towards these imposing shelves.

  The contents of those monumental crystal containers exerted a peculiar, almost irresistible fascination upon me.

  Truth be told, the entire setting vibrated with an atmosphere strongly reminiscent of the cndestine boratories of deranged scientists, figures from that other, half-forgotten world!

  This, however, was not that world.

  The very existence of humans here was a matter of conjecture, rendering the probability of mad scientists decidedly remote.

  Events, as they unfolded, would soon expose the full extent of my naiveté.

  As I drew closer, the forms suspended within the crystal containers began to resolve with increasing crity.

  And upon the precise moment of discerning their true nature, a ripple of profound unease, originating at my snout and culminating at my tail-tip, caused every scale on my body to bristle and stand erect.

  What, then, had I beheld to elicit such a visceral reaction?

  Eyeballs!

  The vast, cylindrical crystal vats, each capacious enough to comfortably engulf my entire form, were filled with a translucent, pale green fluid, and suspended serenely within were orbs – immense eyeballs, each adorned with a golden iris.

  Each orb appeared to be approximately the size of my own head; one could readily deduce that the original proprietor of these ocur spheres was, undoubtedly, a creature of no insignificant magnitude!

  And this discovery was merely the beginning.

  The stone shelves were den, row upon row, with these cylindrical crystal vats.

  The one currently before me was far from the sole repository of such disconcerting ocur specimens.

  Furthermore, the eyeballs within each distinct container exhibited subtle, yet significant, variations in size, the intricate configuration of their pupils, and even the precise chromatic shade of their irises.

  This st observation was of paramount significance.

  Though my mind was a tabu rasa regarding inherited memories, it was an observable fact that myself, Celine, the others, and even Winters, all possessed pupils of a brilliant, dazzling gold.

  The Dragon Beasts, too, shared this distinctive golden gaze.

  It was, therefore, not a difficult leap of logic to surmise that, at the very least, the True Dragon Species was characterized by irises of this resplendent hue.

  Yet, within another crystal jar I was presently scrutinizing, there floated an eyeball whose pupil bzed with that same, unmistakable, resplendent gold!

  That, beyond any shadow of a doubt, was the preserved eye of a True Dragon!

  Then, in the very next instant, my gaze was irresistibly, almost magnetically, drawn towards another crystal jar situated not far distant!

  My scales, which had only just begun to settle from their previous agitation, once again rose in a wave of profound disquiet.

  For, suspended within that crystal jar, preserved in its bath of fluid, was a young dragon, several times my own current size, and its appearance, while not a perfect mirror, shared a striking simirity, perhaps nine parts in ten, with my own.

  An Argent Dragon!

  "I chanced upon it deep within the Starspring Mountains."

  The sudden, unexpected voice sliced through the silence, causing me to start violently.

  Turning my head with a jerk, I beheld the "Phantom Dragon" from my pse into unconsciousness, now hovering nearby, regarding the preserved Argent Dragon in the jar with an expression of profound, almost mencholic, emotion.

  "Did you… dispatch it?" My voice, a dry rasp I barely recognized, finally formed the words.

  "Assuredly not," Boco replied, his gaze still fixed upon the preserved youngling.

  "The pgue had cimed it. Without the immediate intervention of an adult True Dragon, a hatchling so afflicted stands no chance of survival.

  Incidentally," he turned, a peculiar glint now in his eyes, "what manner of fearsome image, pray tell, do I project in your nascent consciousness?"

  His tone was light, yet I sensed an underlying scrutiny, as if he genuinely wondered what could have inspired such trepidation in me.

  "A Phantom Dragon?" I ventured, the question hanging in the air.

  At this, Boco seemed momentarily taken aback, before a flicker of comprehension illuminated his spectral features.

  "You are Vet, are you not?"

  I could only stare at Boco, astonishment rendering me mute.

  "Pray, do not regard me with such wide-eyed wonder.

  Winters dispatched a sample of your blood here for analysis and, in passing, mentioned certain unique aspects of your circumstances.

  It would appear her assessment was astute: another young dragon bereft of a complete bloodline inheritance.

  Furthermore, your Dragon Blood is quite… extraordinary.

  Never before have I encountered such an imperious, such a dominant strain of Dragon Blood.

  If it were somehow possible…"

  "Roar~" The sound was a low, guttural warning, erupting from me involuntarily.

  My tail coiled instinctively, protectively, around my small form as I directed the growl towards Boco.

  Observing my defensive posture, Boco evinced only a flicker of disappointment.

  "Very well, it seems my proposal finds little favor with you.

  Nevertheless, this particur offering should be precisely what you most urgently require at this juncture."

  No sooner had the words left his ethereal lips than the carcass of a deceased Bus Dragon Beast materialized before me, perhaps a third smaller than the one I had managed to consume earlier that morning.

  Gazing upon this unexpected provision of a Bus Dragon Beast, a flicker of bewildered confusion danced across my features.

  "You succumbed to unconsciousness earlier," Boco expined, his voice calm. "Consequently, I transported you hither and conducted a cursory examination.

  My assessment determined that your colpse was a direct result of utter, debilitating exhaustion; hence, I procured this Dragon Beast for your immediate sustenance.

  Your physiology, it appears, has an urgent and substantial requirement for copious sustenance, a demand likely intrinsically linked to your rather… dominant Dragon Blood.

  This bloodline will undoubtedly grant you an exceptionally robust physique, yet it concurrently demands a significant and continuous expenditure of vital energy.

  Your appetite, I would surmise, is considerably more voracious than that of your clutch-mates, is it not?

  Therein lies the fundamental underlying cause.

  Moreover, you become famished with an arming, almost precipitous, acrity.

  Especially in the aftermath of strenuous activity, it is of paramount importance to replenish your nutritional stores with utmost promptitude, lest you succumb once more to syncope, as was so recently the case.

  You must apprise Winters of this particurity without dey.

  Or, perhaps, you would prefer my assistance in conveying this information?”

  At his offer, I shook my head decisively.

  "No, I extend my gratitude for your concern.

  I shall endeavor to speak with Winters myself.

  But…" My voice trailed off as my gaze fell, once more, upon the Bus Dragon Beast.

  "Could you… perhaps… prepare it for consumption?"

  "Most assuredly," Boco affirmed.

  "Are you quite certain of this preference, however?

  Cooked fare, by its very nature, tends to be somewhat… unpatable to our kind."

  I nodded with a firmness that surprised even myself.

  "I find cooked sustenance rather agreeable, in fact."

  Hearing my decration, Boco acquiesced with a subtle inclination of his head.

  Then, a vibrant surge of cyan energy emanated from his being, effortlessly levitating the considerable bulk of the Bus Dragon Beast.

  He then began to float gracefully towards the distant stone ptform.

  My curiosity piqued, I followed in his wake.

  I watched, fascinated, as Boco retrieved an immense crystalline vessel, pcing it with care upon the designated stone ptform, before proceeding with practiced ease to skin, eviscerate, and meticulously cleanse the carcass, finally consigning it to the waiting vessel.

  The offal and other assorted remnants were all unceremoniously deposited into a recessed pit situated at the corner of the stone ptform.

  I perceived merely a brief, intense fsh of light, and all those discarded remnants vanished utterly from sight.

  “Boco!” The excmation escaped my lips, tinged with a renewed sense of awe.

  “What troubles you, young one?” he inquired, his tone mild.

  “You may address me as Boco, or, if you prefer, directly as Teacher.

  In the fullness of time, when your aptitude for magical studies has progressed appropriately, I shall undertake to instruct you in the subtle and intricate art of potion-craft.

  Incidentally, and to crify any lingering misapprehensions, I am not, in fact, a Phantom Dragon, but rather a True Dragon of the Wind Element.”