My Dragon System

CHAPTER 007

The third event was the Labyrinth, and nobody liked it.

It was not a physical event. It was a puzzle event, held in a giant glass maze behind the science building.

 Each House sent three competitors in at once, and each team had to solve a series of riddles, locks, and pattern puzzles to reach the center. The first team to claim the golden key won.

"It's a brain event," Marcus said happily on Thursday morning. "This is my moment. This is my entire purpose in life."

"I thought your purpose was snacks." "Snacks and puzzles. Equal status."

Coach Whitaker announced the Ashford lineup. Marcus Reed, finally promoted from alternate, would lead the team with Rachel Kim and Caleb Turner as support. Marcus nearly fainted with joy.

"Coach," Sophie said carefully. "Turner again?"

"The kid has instincts. And his Intellect score is the highest on the team." Coach Whitaker shrugged. "Besides, I do not care what the rankings say. I care who gets things done."

Caleb accepted the compliment with a quiet nod. Inside, his Dragon Sovereign System hummed with approval.

It was the first time an adult had ever said anything like that to him. He kept his face calm, but his ears went warm, and Marcus grinned at him sideways like a proud older brother.

[Quest Reminder: The Hoarder's Instinct. Search for your father's hidden object.]

"I know," Caleb whispered. "I'm doing the Labyrinth first."

[Dragons multitask. It is a gift.]

The Labyrinth's entrance was a tall glass archway glowing with soft white light. 

Inside, the walls shimmered like frozen water, reflecting endless copies of the competing teams. Marcus stepped in first, his Analyst System glowing blue behind his glasses.

"Okay," he murmured. "The first puzzle is a color lock. Red, blue, green, gold. There's a pattern on the wall. If I read it correctly..."

He worked quickly, tracing symbols across the glass. Rachel spun threads of silk along the floor, marking their path. 

Caleb watched the walls with half-lidded eyes, using Ember Sense to read the faint heat behind the glass.

"Left," he said suddenly. Marcus blinked. "What?"

"The correct path is left. The walls on the right are cold. That means there is nothing behind them." 

"How do you know that?"

"Lucky guess."

Marcus stared. Then he shrugged. "Okay. Left." They turned left. A door slid open with a soft hiss.

The puzzles grew harder as they moved deeper. A riddle about a clock that ran backward. 

A floor of switching tiles that collapsed if you stepped on the wrong one. A mirror room where every wall showed a different version of the same hallway. Marcus solved the riddles. 

Rachel handled the traps. Caleb found the hidden paths with Ember Sense, steering them gently away from dead ends.

Behind them, Sterling's team was struggling. Brandon Cole's voice echoed through the glass walls, snapping at his teammates to hurry up. 

Blackwood's team moved in silence, Jake Mercer's shadows flowing along the floor. Hawthorne was lost somewhere to the east.

Halfway through the maze, they reached a circular chamber with a single pedestal in the center. On the pedestal sat a small bronze plaque. Words were carved into its surface.

Marcus read it aloud. "The dragon sleeps beneath the gold. Wake the fire, and the truth unfolds." Caleb's blood went cold.

[Warning: This is not part of the standard Labyrinth.]

"What does it mean?" Rachel asked.

"It's a riddle," Marcus said. "Probably the last one before the center. A dragon sleeping beneath gold. Gold..." He frowned. "The key at the end is gold. Maybe it means we have to look under it?"

Caleb stared at the plaque. Something in his chest pulled him toward it, a warm tug like a rope. "Wait," he whispered. "Don't touch it yet."

He stepped forward and pressed his hand to the bronze. The metal was warm. Warmer than it should have been. His Ember Core flared in his chest, and the plaque began to glow with a thin red light.

[Quest Update: The Hoarder's Instinct. You have found it.]

"Found what?" Caleb whispered.

The plaque slid sideways. Underneath, in a small hollow carved into the pedestal, lay a tiny brass disc, about the size of a coin. It was stamped with a crest he recognized at once: a dragon curled around a flame. It matched the pendant under his shirt perfectly.

"That's incredible," Marcus whispered. "Is that part of the Games?" 

"No," Caleb said slowly. "It's mine."

He picked up the disc. The moment his fingers touched it, a rush of light flooded his vision.

He was standing in the same chamber, but it was twenty-five years younger. 

A teenage boy with dark hair and tired eyes stood at the pedestal, pressing the same disc into the hollow. He wore a Ridgemont jacket and a dragon pendant around his neck. His face was Caleb's face, older by a decade, and filled with a terrible weariness.

"If you are reading this," the boy said quietly, "then the system has chosen you. I am sorry. I wanted to protect you from this. But they are coming, and you must be ready."

The vision flickered.

"Find the Council vault," the boy said. "Find the third Ember Stone. And whatever you do, never trust..."

The light cut out.

Caleb staggered backward, gasping. Marcus caught his arm.

"Whoa. Whoa. Are you okay? You just went completely blank. Your eyes were glowing."

 "Glowing?" Caleb said weakly.

"A little. Kind of golden."

"Must have been a trick of the light."

Rachel was staring at him with wide eyes. "Caleb," she said slowly. "What was that?" 

"I will tell you later," Caleb said quickly. "Right now we need to win this."

[Quest Complete: The Hoarder's Instinct.]

[Reward: Dragon Heart plus 8. Memory Fragment: Daniel Turner's Warning.] [Hatchling Progress: 58 percent.]

The system's voice was quieter than usual, almost gentle.

[That was your father. He left that message for you.]

Caleb swallowed hard. He closed his fist around the little brass disc and slid it into his pocket.

"We should go," he said hoarsely. "The center is close."

They found the golden key five minutes later, sitting on a velvet cushion in the final chamber. Marcus grabbed it triumphantly and raised it above his head.

"We did it!" he shouted. "We won the Labyrinth!"

Behind them, Sterling's team stumbled in, red-faced and furious. Brandon Cole stared at the golden key in Marcus's hand and snarled something unprintable.

 Jake Mercer arrived a moment later, calm and silent, and nodded to Caleb with a thin smile.

The crowd roared when the Ashford team stepped out of the maze with the key. Principal Pierce presented it to Sophie Grant, who held it above her head.

 Ashford had won an event for the first time in six years.

But Caleb stood at the edge of the celebration with his hand in his pocket, his thoughts a hundred miles away.

Across the field, Mr. Alden Reeves watched him through narrowed eyes. His fingers drummed against the rail. He did not smile.

"The Council vault," Caleb whispered to himself. "Third Ember Stone."

[Information locked. Insufficient Dragon Heart. But we are getting closer.]

"Closer to what?"

[To the truth. And to a very large problem.]