I am a dragon, and that is well.

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Long, long ago, there was an era lost to time.
At that time, the ancient gods had briefly fallen into a deep slumber underground.
The gods of faith had yet to be born.
At that rare and fleeting moment, a powerful race seized this precious opportunity.
In one fell swoop, they became the masters of the firmament and, indeed, the entire world!
Countless colossal silhouettes occupied the sky.
Raging fires incinerated the wilderness.
Molten lava blanketed the earth.
In those days, all living things bowed their heads and submitted under their supreme might.
They instilled this fear deep into the bloodlines of every race, causing their descendants to tremble and grovel at the mere sight of them.
Although the tides of chaos eventually swept through again and new races toppled them from their thrones, and the sky no longer belonged to them, no one could deny that there was once an era that belonged to them.
It was the Age of Dragons!
...
Fire.
Fire, fire, fire.
Everywhere the eye could see was ablaze.
Looking out, both the sky and the earth were entirely covered by flames.
Nothing but fire.
There was nothing else.
It seemed as though this world had only one theme: fire.
But strangely, Herbert, who was standing in the midst of the roaring flames, did not feel the heat; he even found it somewhat comfortable.
Warm and soothing.
Upon seeing those flames, a faint sense of hunger stirred within his heart.
*Gurgle!*
When a deafening roar erupted from his belly, Herbert could not suppress the instinct in his heart and involuntarily drew a breath toward the flames before him.
*Whoosh—*
Accompanied by a swirling gust of wind, the fan-shaped wall of fire surged into his mouth, leaving behind a void that exposed the parched, cracked, and charred earth beneath.
As the fire entered his mouth, burning his throat like high-proof spirits, Herbert suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Huh?"
Is fire something you're supposed to eat?
He hesitated for a moment, but still yielding to his instinct, he swallowed it down in large gulps.
*Gulp!*
*Ssss—* It wasn't hot.
Not only was it not hot, but the taste was actually quite good.
It tasted delicious!
And this act was like Pandora opening her box, a house dog tasting grain for the first time, or the first copy-pasted message in a chat group...
It was too late.

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Having opened his mind, Herbert couldn't possibly contemplate the reasons; all that remained in his brain was: "I need to suck down more fire."
He ran wildly through the land of flames, eating to his heart's content.
*Whoosh—*
*Slurp—*
A gulp on the left, a slurp on the right; it was pure bliss.
He did not know how much time had passed, but when the flames for tens of kilometers around had been devoured by Herbert like a rabid dog licking the ground clean, he finally slowed his gluttonous pace.
When he stopped, his body had grown dozens of times larger than it was initially; every movement he made could whip up storms and shake the earth.
He lay lazily on the cooling ground, letting out a world-shaking burp from his throat.
*Burp!*
At the same time, as the burp escaped, a brilliant pillar of fire erupted from his mouth, illuminating his surroundings.
By this moment, Herbert had long since realized his current identity—he was no longer human!
"Mom, I'm done with being a human!"
Although he didn't know what had happened, he seemed to have turned into a giant dragon.
"If I am a dragon, then so be it."
Furthermore, there was something even more important—he couldn't remember his past.
His mind was as clean as new, a blank slate without a single shred of memory remaining.
Deep in his heart, there was only a name and a faint subconscious remnant of his time as a human.
"What on earth is this situation? Am I currently... hmm?"
As Herbert pondered, he suddenly felt the ground beneath him begin to sway.
"Uh... am I drunk on carbon?"
"Oh, I ate fire; the calories are indeed high—no."
"That's not it."
"The earth is trembling!"
*Crackle, crackle...*
Accompanied by the roar of the earth, the charred ground cracked, shattered, and rose... A mountain range so massive it blocked the sky emerged from beneath the ground.
"ROAR!!!"
When the roar rang out, Herbert finally realized it wasn't a mountain at all, but a head.
The head of a giant dragon!
*Wow—*
Herbert had thought his own body was already massive, but he hadn't expected that he wasn't even as large as one of the other's pupils; he was as tiny as a toy.
The one-eyed dragon king lowered his head, staring at Herbert, who lay there blankly, and let out a low growl: ["You dare to wake the great Dragon King! Speak your name!"]
"Me? I'm Herbert."
Herbert answered honestly. Though shocked by the other's size, he felt no fear in his heart for some reason, and even dared to ask in return:
"And who are you? What Dragon King are you?"
"Are you the Dragon King of the East Sea? Or the West Sea... wait, what is the East Sea?"
"Xia Donghai?"
"No, and what is this 'crooked-mouthed dragon king' thing?"
"What kind of messy, nonsensical stuff is inside my brain?!"

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The Dragon King seemed equally baffled by this question, remaining silent for a moment.
*Stare—*
He stared at Herbert quietly for quite a while before asking in a strange tone:
["You ask who I am? Your bloodline is concentrated enough to qualify for the Land of Inheritance, yet you do not know who I am?"]
"I don't know, so who exactly are you?"
The one-eyed giant dragon fell silent again, eventually letting out a hearty laugh.
["...Pfft! Hahahaha! Interesting, very interesting!"]
In Herbert's bewildered gaze, the dragon surged from the ground with a boom, flapping his tattered wings covered in scars as he soared into the sky.
That gargantuan body, whose very movement altered the space around it, was covered in countless wounds: a missing eye, tattered wings, severed limbs...
Old wounds remained unhealed while new ones were added; time and again, countless injuries had accumulated into his current form.
In that moment, even though Herbert had forgotten everything, he understood through his very soul—his existence itself represented destruction.
["Remember my name—"]
["Amidst the call of the abyss and the whispers of chaos, my name is spoken in forbidden tongues—I am the End of the Dragon-born, the Eternal Flame that never fades, the Everlasting Darkness before the dawn!"]
["The Destroyer!!!"]
The Dragon King roared, and then, that terrifying silhouette dove down from the high sky—charging straight toward Herbert.
Herbert: ?
Before he could even react, the terrifying behemoth stepped on Herbert's head.
*BOOM!*
["Remember the rage of this moment."]
["Little one, we shall meet again!"]
.
.
"What kind of 'palm technique descending from the heavens' is this!"
"No, why did I turn into a 2D character again!?"
"Wait, why did I say 'again'?"
Herbert snapped his eyes open, his mouth twitching as he raised a hand to touch his head, ensuring it was still there.
Phew.
He hadn't turned into 'Herbert-chan' this time; the character wasn't flat or thin at all.
Shaking his head, Herbert noticed the candle on the table. With a flick of his mind, he reached out and touched the outer edge of the flame.
*Ssss...* It wasn't hot.
Hesitating for a moment, Herbert leaned his head in and took a sharp, deep breath of the flame.
*Ssss!*
"Cough, cough, cough..."
"Ugh, I inhaled the candle wax!"