Chapter 0: Found It

It was spring.  

The forest was bathed in fresh greenery,  

Wild animals peeked out,  

That kind of season proves this world still holds warmth.

Before I knew it,  

It was the thirty-seventh spring since I opened my eyes.  

“The weather’s nice.”  

Me, who had woken up earlier than planned.  

A 37-year vacation.  

Folding my wings, hiding my tail,  

Pretending to be human—the daily life wasn’t as bad as I’d thought.  

Building a cabin deep in the woods,  

Strolling through the forest as if on a walk, gathering herbs,  

Occasionally visiting a small village nearby to barter and live.  

“The bread’s still warm.”  

I smiled slowly, looking down at the bread bag in my arms.  

Day by day,  

Quietly, as if nothing happened.  

Slowly, leisurely.  

That’s how I spent 37 years.  

Though I did pick up and raise a child who was supposed to become a hero.  

But aside from that,  

It was a peaceful life, drifting like a leaf on a river.  

“Three years left…”  

On my way back from the usual visit to the nearby village,  

Returning to the cabin deep in the woods.  

Muttering to myself, I stopped my slow steps.  

Right.  

There really were only three years left now.  

“…Guess I should start preparing soon.”  

Three years until the prophecy begins.  

As the root of calamity, the evil dragon, I had to prepare to emerge into the world.  

‘How should I make my entrance this time?’  

A burning sky?  

A splitting earth?  

Or should I spread my black wings amid thunder and lightning?  

I’ve grown a little attached to this place, though.  

Maybe I should just yawn lazily and descend.  

“It’d be embarrassing if the kid recognized me while I’m trying to look cool.”  

Mumbling to myself, I chuckled and shook my head.  

There’s no way they’d recognize me.  

Five years—a fleeting moment.  

Human children grow up in the blink of an eye and walk their own paths.  

And unlike me, a dragon,  

Their memories aren’t eternal.  

New things.  

Various things.  

Dreaming things.  

Encountering all of that,  

They’d have forgotten me—someone who spent just five short years with them—long ago.  

My name,  

Even my face, would’ve blurred in their memory.  

‘…Though remembering my name would’ve been convenient.’  

Thinking that, I slowly walked on.  

The spring breeze brushed through the leaves, and warm sunlight settled on my shoulders.  

—Crack.  

The sound of a thick branch snapping came from somewhere.  

“…Huh?”  

The flow of the air changed.  

Birds scattered into the sky, fleeing upward.  

I stopped walking again.  

In the always-silent forest,  

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed toward me.  

Slowly, I turned my head.  

At the edge of the forest,  

A single black shadow.  

Cutting through the wind,  

A figure emerged from between the trees.  

“……”  

Eyes glowing green like light.  

Pink hair like cosmos flowers.  

Unfamiliar, yet strangely nostalgic.  

“…Huh?”  

My body tilted backward.  

Something wrapped around me tightly.  

A scone tumbled out of the bread bag, rolling across the ground.  

“…What?”  

As if answering my question, the warmth embracing me pulled away.  

A face not unfamiliar.  

A presence all too familiar.  

But—  

The being standing before me had eyes completely different from the child I’d raised.  

‘…Huh?’  

It wasn’t the innocent gaze of a child.  

No matter how I looked at it, those eyes—  

They were like a predator, finally seizing its long-awaited prey.  

“Found you.”  

A single short phrase.  

That one short phrase,

It slowly began to crack the unchanging life I’d lived.