The first lesson I learned after reincarnating into a dragon bloodline was simple.
Cold sucks.
Not the poetic kind of cold either. Not the "romantic snowy mountain" cold you see in movies. No.
I mean the kind of cold that crawls into your bones and sets up permanent residence. The kind that makes breathing feel like inhaling broken glass. The kind that convinces you the universe personally hates you.
And unfortunately for me, the frozen wasteland I woke up in seemed determined to test exactly how much cold a newly reincarnated dragon prince could tolerate. Which, for the record…
was not very much.
Wind howled across the endless white landscape as I stumbled forward, clutching my arms around myself. Snow blasted my face like tiny knives. "Okay…" I muttered through chattering teeth. I raised a shaking finger.
"New rule."
The wind slapped more snow directly into my mouth.
I spat it out. "If I ever reincarnate again…" Another gust nearly knocked me over. "…somewhere warm would be nice." The fox trotted beside me, perfectly unaffected by the weather.
Her white fur blended almost completely with the snow, making her look like a small ghost drifting across the frozen landscape. I glanced down at her. "You know," I said, "I feel like you're cheating." She tilted her head. The wind screamed louder.
I sighed, "Yeah. Fair."
The fox eventually curled up against my side as we stopped walking. Lucky little furball had a built‑in winter coat. Meanwhile, I was stuck in the body of what appeared to be a five‑year‑old kid wearing ceremonial pyjamas.
Great start. I stared up at the grey sky as snow drifted endlessly downward. "Okay," I muttered. "Step one. Don't freeze to death." Step two would be figuring out where the hell I actually was. Because this definitely wasn't Domino.
From the fragments of memory I inherited as Theo Domino, Sparks was supposed to be warm. Not tropical, but definitely not a planet-sized freezer. Which meant one of two possibilities.
Either:
I was very far away from home.
Or…
Someone had dumped me here on purpose.
Given the cackling witch voices I vaguely remembered from before waking up…
Yeah.
My money was on option two. The fox nudged my arm. "You hungry?" I asked. She tilted her head. "Yeah," I sighed. "Same."
Unfortunately, I had:
No food.
No shelter.
And a body about two steps away from turning into a human popsicle.
Naturally, my body chose that exact moment to introduce another surprise. My stomach lurched violently. "Uh oh…" A burning pressure built in my chest. My throat tightened.
Then—
"—KGH!"
I doubled over in the snow as something forced its way up my throat. A small glowing object dropped into the snow with a soft plink. The fox blinked. I blinked. We both stared at it. A small pearl rested in the snow, glowing faintly blue. I slowly picked it up.
"…Did I just cough up a magic marble?"
The pearl pulsed in my palm.
Warm.
Alive.
And somehow…
familiar.
Something clicked inside my mind. Not memories.
Instinct.
Dragon instinct.
Knowledge surfaced naturally, like something my body had always known.
A Dragon Pearl.
Condensed magical energy.
Overflow from a dragon core that contained more power than my body could safely handle. But this one is made from the dregs, the impurities. I stared at the glowing sphere again.
"…Oh."
Then I looked down at my chest.
"…Oh that is extremely concerning."
Because if this tiny thing was overflow, then whatever was inside my body had to be a magical equivalent of a nuclear reactor. "Good to know my internal organs are apparently unstable power plants." The fox barked softly.
I glanced down at her. "…Right." Survival first, existential dread later. I looked around the frozen wasteland. Then at the pearl, then back at the wasteland. "…Right."
Time to test something. I held the pearl between both hands and focused. In my old life I'd watched enough anime to understand how ridiculous power systems usually worked.
Step one: visualize.
Step two: pretend you know what you're doing.
Step three: hope reality cooperates.
So, I imagined warmth. Not destructive fire. Just heat. Enough to keep a freezing kid and a mysterious fox alive. The pearl trembled slightly. A faint glow spread across its surface. Then a small wave of warm air burst outward. Snow melted around us. The fox's ears perked up.
I grinned. "Oh, we are absolutely abusing this ability." For the next hour I experimented like a mad scientist. Small bursts of warmth. Tiny wind barriers. Eventually I managed to carve out a crude snow cave with warm air circulating inside it. Was it impressive?
No.
Was it better than freezing to death?
Absolutely.
The fox curled up beside the glowing pearl and fell asleep almost instantly.
Lucky.
I leaned against the icy wall and sighed.
"Alright Theo," I muttered. "New life checklist."
I raised a finger.
"Survive."
Second finger.
"Figure out where the hell I am."
Third finger.
"Eventually find Daphne, Bloom, and Damian."
Because if my memories were right…
Domino had already fallen.
Which meant my siblings were scattered across the universe somewhere. And knowing how stories like this worked…
their lives were probably about to become very dramatic.
I glanced at the sleeping fox beside me.
The strange magic around her twisted slightly in my senses again. Like reality had been folded in a direction it wasn't supposed to go. Yeah. Definitely cursed.
I scratched behind her ears. "You know," I muttered, "you're weird too." Her tail wagged sleepily. "Pretty sure someone cursed you." She licked my hand.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Rude to say that about someone you just met." I leaned back against the cave wall.
"Well," I sighed. "Looks like we're both stuck in magical nonsense together." I looked down at her again.
"…Guess I should give you a name." The fox opened one eye I just shrugged. "You're fluffy." Pause.
"You're a fox." Pause. "…Foxxy it is." She gave me the most unimpressed look I had ever seen on an animal. "What?" I said defensively. "I'm five, cold, starving, and recently escaped an assassination attempt. My creativity stats are low right now."
Foxxy huffed. Then she suddenly hopped out of the cave. "…Where are you going?" She padded into the snow and began scratching something into the ground. I blinked.
"…Wait." She stepped aside. Letters were carved into the snow.
S A P P H I R E
I stared at the word. Then at her. Then back at the snow. "…You can spell?" She wagged her tail. "…Okay." I rubbed my face slowly.
"Exiled dragon prince."
"Cursed fox that can write."
"Magic pearls that pop out of my lungs."
"…Sure."
I pointed at the snow.
"So your name is Sapphire?"
The fox—Sapphire—barked proudly. I sighed and leaned back into the cave. "You know what?"
"Sure."
"Sapphire it is."
Outside, the storm howled across the frozen world of Dyamond. But inside the small cave, a dragon pearl glowed like a newborn star. And somewhere far away…
the threads of fate surrounding the royal children of Domino slowly tightened.
Daphne.
Theo.
Bloom.
Damian.
Four heirs of the Dragon's legacy. Scattered across the universe.
Unaware that the first step toward their reunion…
had already begun.