The next morning, Tao woke up late. The sun was already high in the sky. He had slept poorly, disturbed by his strange dream.

Grandma is waiting for him in the kitchen. She has prepared rice and vegetables. But she isn't smiling like usual. She seems worried.

"Eat, my little one. You need your strength."

Tao eats in silence. He senses that Grandma wants to talk to him about something important.

After the meal, she asks him to help her in the garden. They work side by side, pulling weeds and watering the plants. Tao enjoys these quiet moments with her.

Suddenly, Grandma drops her basket of vegetables. She turns to Tao and looks him straight in the eyes.

"Last night, during the party, I saw something. Your eyes shone with a golden light. Am I mistaken?"

Tao felt his heart beat faster. How did she know? He hesitated, then decided to tell the truth.

"No, Grandma. It's true. I saw it in my reflection in the river. I was very scared. What's happening to me?"

Grandmother sighed deeply. She took Tao's hand and led him to sit on the old wooden bench under the cherry tree.

"Tao, my beloved child, the time has come to reveal a secret to you. A secret that our family has kept for a very, very long time."

She pauses, searching for her words.

"Do you remember the dragon stories I used to tell you? They're not just legends. Dragons really existed. And our family... our family has a special connection with them."

Tao listens, fascinated.

"Several generations ago, your great-great-great-grandmother was named Mei. She lived alone in the mountains, far from everything. One day, she found an injured dragon. Instead of being afraid, she treated it with medicinal plants. For weeks, she took care of it."

"The dragon healed her. To thank her, he gave her an extraordinary gift. He shared with her a part of his essence, his magic. Since that day, dragon blood flows in the veins of our family."

Tao is speechless. "You mean... that I have dragon blood?"

"Yes. Not much, but enough for you to have special powers. These powers have been dormant within you since birth. But now you are eight years old. This is the age when they begin to awaken."

Grandma takes something out of her dress pocket. It's a pendant attached to a thin gold chain. The pendant is shaped like a dragon's scale and shines like the sun.

"This belonged to your mother. She wanted you to have it when you were ready. I think that time has come."

Tao carefully takes the pendant. It is strangely warm in his hand, as if it were alive.

"Where is Mom now?" Tao asks softly.

Grandma's face grew sad. "She left on a journey a long time ago. She was looking for other people like us. She wanted to understand our powers. She promised to come back before your eighth birthday... but she never returned. I don't know what happened to her."

Tears glistened in Grandma's eyes. She fastened the pendant around Tao's neck. As soon as it touched his skin, Tao felt a comforting warmth spread through his chest.

"What am I going to be able to do with these powers?" he asks.

"You will learn little by little. Some with dragon's blood can resist fire. Others can see in the dark. Some become very strong. You must be patient and"Learn to control these powers."

"And you, Grandma? Do you have powers too?"

She smiled sadly. "I used to have it. But I'm too old now. Dragon magic weakens with age. It's up to you to keep it alive now."

That evening, Tao tried something. He reached his hand toward the flame of a candle. Slowly, cautiously. His fingers touched the fire. But he felt no pain! The fire didn't burn him. He withdrew his hand, amazed and a little frightened. His powers were truly awakening.

But what Grandma doesn't tell Tao is that she senses something else. Someone else. Far away in the mountains, a man has just sensed the awakening of a dragon child. A monk who has been searching for children like Tao for years. And now he knows where to find him. He sets off for the village of Autumn Cloud.

The next morning, Tao woke up with a strange feeling. The previous night's dream was still very vivid in his mind—so vivid that he could hardly believe it was just a dream. He could still feel the wind on his face, the sensation of absolute freedom from flying, and that powerful warmth in his chest.
He gets out of bed and approaches the small mirror hanging on the wall. His eyes are normal. Dark brown, as always. No golden glint. Perhaps he really did imagine it all?

But when he placed his hands on the wooden windowsill, something strange happened. The wood grew warm beneath his palms. Not burning hot, but definitely warmer than it should have been. Tao quickly pulled his hands away.
No, he didn't imagine it. Something inside him changed.

In the kitchen, Grandma prepared breakfast: rice with vegetables and jasmine tea. But unlike her usual habit, she wasn't humming as she worked. She seemed preoccupied, almost nervous. Her hands trembled slightly as she poured the tea.

"Hello, Grandma," said Tao as he sat down.

"Good morning, my little one. Did you sleep well?"

"I've been having strange dreams."

Grandma nods slowly but says nothing. They eat in silence, which is unusual. Normally, the morning is a time for chatting and laughter.
After the meal, Grandma asks Tao to help her in the garden. It's one of their favorite activities. The small garden behind the house is filled with medicinal plants, vegetables, and flowers. Grandma knows the name and properties of each plant.

They work together for a long time, pulling weeds, pruning dead branches, watering the young shoots. The sun rises in the sky and warms the cool morning air.

That's when it happens.

Grandma, who was picking herbs, suddenly dropped her basket. The green leaves spilled onto the ground. She slowly straightened up and turned to Tao. Her face was serious.

"Tao," she said in a voice he didn't recognize. "Please come here."
Tao puts down his watering can and approaches, his heart pounding. He knows this moment is important.

Grandma looks at him for a long time, scrutinizing his face as if she were searching for something. Then she speaks:

"Last night, during the lantern festival, I watched you from afar. And I saw something I had been waiting for for a long time. Something I both hoped for and dreaded."

She pauses.

"I saw your eyes shining with a golden light."

Tao felt his throat tighten. "You... you saw?"

"Yes. And I know you saw it too. I know that terrified look you had when you came home last night. It's the same look your mother had at your age."

Grandmother takes Tao's hand and leads him to sit on the old stone bench under the cherry tree. The tree is a hundred years old, its twisted branches forming a kind of canopy above them.

"My darling child, the time has come. I must reveal to you a secret that our family has kept for generations. A secret I would have liked to reveal to you later, when you were older. But your power is awakening sooner than expected. You have the right to know."

She takes a deep breath, as if gathering all her courage.

"The dragon stories I tell you every night are not made-up tales. They are true. Dragons really existed, and some may still exist, hidden somewhere in the most remote mountains."

Tao willHe speaks, but Grandma raises her hand to silence him.

"Let me finish. A very, very long time ago—more than two hundred years ago—a woman in our family lived alone in these mountains. Her name was Mei, and she was a healer, like me. One particularly harsh winter day, she heard a terrible roar coming from the mountaintop. Most people were too scared to go and see. But Mei was brave and curious."

"She climbed to the summit and there, in an ice cave, she found a golden dragon. A magnificent, immense creature, with scales that shone like the sun. But the dragon was wounded. A human sword was embedded in its side, and golden blood flowed from the wound. Instead of running away, Mei approached. She spoke softly to the dragon, explaining that she wanted to help it. The dragon was so weak that it could no longer even breathe fire. It agreed."

Grandma has tears in her eyes now.

"For three months, Mei cared for the dragon. She removed the sword, cleaned the wound, and applied poultices of medicinal herbs. She brought it food and water. She talked to it so it wouldn't feel alone. Slowly, the dragon healed."

"When spring came, the dragon was fully recovered. But before leaving, he wanted to thank Mei. Dragons, you understand, have a very deep sense of honor and gratitude. So he did something extraordinary, something that had never happened before."
He offered Mei a part of his essence. He placed his claw on her heart and shared with her a drop of his blood, a spark of his magic. This didn't make her a dragon, of course. But it changed something within her, at the deepest level. And that change was passed down to her children, and to her children's children.

"Tao," said Grandma, taking the boy's face in her hands. "You are a direct descendant of Mei. Dragon blood flows in your veins. Not much—a few drops diluted by generations—but it's enough to give you powers that ordinary humans don't have."

Tao is speechless. His mind is racing. It all seems impossible, crazy. And yet... it explains so much. The warmth of his hands. His shining eyes. The dream so real.

"Is that why Mom left?" he finally asked in a trembling voice.
Grandma's face darkened. "Your mother... Yes. When her own powers awakened, she wanted to know more. She heard rumors of other people like us, scattered around the world. Families with dragon blood. She wanted to find them, learn from them, understand what it truly meant."

"She left when you were one year old. She promised me she would return before your eighth birthday, to be there when your powers awakened. She told me she had discovered something important, something that concerned everyone with dragon blood. Something about the dragons themselves..."

Tears streamed down Grandma's cheeks. "But she never came back. Her last letters spoke of a hidden temple in the northern mountains, of a monk who knew the secrets of dragons. Then nothing. Silence. Just silence."

She wipes away her tears and takes something from her pocket. A pendant hangs from a gold chain as thin as a hair. The pendant depicts a dragon scale, its gold so pure it seems to shine with its own light.

"She left this for you. She carried it all her life, like her mother."before her, and so on down to Mei. It's a genuine dragon scale, given by the golden dragon himself two centuries ago. It's imbued with ancient magic."

Grandma gently fastens the pendant around Tao's neck. As soon as the scale touches his skin, just above his heart, Tao feels a wave of pure warmth wash over him. It's not painful. It's... comforting. As if a missing part of himself has just been found.

The pendant is warm, almost alive. Tao can feel an energy pulsing gently within him, in rhythm with his own heartbeat.

"What am I going to be able to do?" he asks. His voice is a mixture of excitement and apprehension. "What are my powers?"

"It varies from person to person," Grandma explains. "Some of Mei's descendants can withstand flames and extreme cold. Others have superhuman strength. Some can see in total darkness or hear sounds from miles away. Your mother could communicate with wild animals. She could sense their emotions, understand their needs."

"And what about me?"

"We will discover it together. Your powers will manifest gradually. You will have to learn to control them, to master them. It's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Dragon magic is powerful. It can protect, but it can also destroy if it is not controlled."

That evening, after dinner, Tao stayed alone in his room. He watched the candle that lit the room. The flame danced gently, casting shifting shadows on the walls. He thought about everything Grandma had told him. Dragon's blood. Magical powers. His missing mother.

He reaches his hand towards the flame, slowly, cautiously. His heart beats fast. His fingers draw closer to the fire. He feels the heat increasing. A little more. And then...
Contact.

His fingers touched the flame. Tao held his breath, expecting pain. But he felt nothing. No burning. No pain. The fire licked his fingers like cool water. He could even feel the flame, almost hold it, as if it were a part of him.

He withdrew his hand, amazed. His fingers were untouched. Not a single trace of burns. He looked at the golden scale hanging from his neck. It shone a little brighter than before, as if reacting to the use of his power.

Tao smiled. For the first time since last night, he felt no fear. Only wonder. And a newfound determination. If his mother was still out there somewhere, he would find her. He would learn to control his powers. He would discover what had happened to her.

But what Tao doesn't know is that hundreds of kilometers away, in a temple perched atop a snow-covered mountain, a man has just felt something. An awakening. A dragon energy stirring for the first time in a long time.

Monk Shen sets down his tea and rises. His deep gray eyes gaze southward, toward the village of Autumncloud. He smiles. After so many years of searching, he has finally found it. A new dragon child has awakened. And this time, the energy he feels is different. Stronger. Purer.

"Finally," he murmured.

He gathers a few belongings, takes his walking stick, and begins his descent from the mountain. The journey will be long. But he must arrive before others sense it too. For not everyone who seeks the dragon children is doing so to protect them.