The gray sky hung low, heavy with snow. Its flakes drifted lazily onto the cobblestones, settling in the crevices and on the children's thin clothing. Lily's silver horns caught the faint glimmer of light, but they did little to keep her warm. Her hands were raw and stiff, her stomach twisted in hunger.
Beside her, Liam shivered silently, his ash-blond hair clinging to his pale cheeks. Kyle, restless as ever, muttered something under his breath, his dark hair tipped with crimson sticking to his skin. Neither of them had eaten since being dumped on the street. Hunger clawed at them, sharp and relentless.
Lily knelt between them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. Her voice was soft, yet every syllable carried the weight of command, the sharp edge of determination that cut through their panic.
"We can't wait for mercy," she said. Her black hair, threaded with silver, swirled slightly in the cold wind. "We're trash in their eyes. Nobody is going to feed us. Nobody is going to help. But we can survive if we stop panicking."
Liam's lips quivered. "But… we're just kids. We can't… we—"
"Shut it," Lily said, her tone calm but unyielding. "You can't survive whining. If you do nothing, we starve. If we starve, we die. And I… I won't let that happen." She placed her palm on his chest, over his racing heart. Her voice softened. "You have to think clearly. Hunger is a tool, not a chain. Fear is a tool, not a cage. Use them."
Kyle scoffed, teeth chattering. "And what? Just… take it from someone else?"
"Yes," Lily said without hesitation. "If they won't feed us, we'll take what we need to survive. That's the law of this world. Trash gets trampled. But if we move, if we think, we can stay ahead. I won't let either of you die today. Not like this."
Her words dug into their minds, cutting through despair and indecision. Slowly, their fear began to settle into focus. They shivered less, though their bodies still trembled. The three of them huddled, tiny dragons forced into a world that had no place for them.
---
The street ended at a low wall. Beyond it stretched a garden. Lanterns lit the edges, revealing fruit trees—apples, pears, and strange berries covered in frost. The scent of ripe fruit carried faintly through the cold air. Lily's stomach growled violently, but she forced herself to remain silent.
"We'll move," she whispered. "Careful. Quiet. Watch the shadows."
Liam nodded. Kyle's restless movements slowed, though his hands clenched into fists. Lily felt the faint stirrings of their draconic bloodline, subtle and locked, pulsing like a heartbeat beneath the cold. It whispered at her—survive, survive, survive.
Step by step, they crept toward the garden wall. Lily lifted herself first, placing one foot onto the cold stone. Liam followed, then Kyle. Their breaths puffed out in soft clouds, mingling with the snow.
The garden was almost idyllic, but every movement carried risk. A lantern near the center lit the branches of the apple trees, revealing shadows. Lily motioned for the boys to freeze.
She pressed herself against a tree trunk, glancing around. A servant, fat and yawning, passed near the far edge of the garden. His heavy boots crunched over the snow, eyes focused elsewhere. Lily felt the familiar grip of fear rise—but she kept it controlled.
"Wait," she whispered. "We move when his back is turned. Liam, quietly. Kyle, cover me if anything happens."
They nodded. Her words had drilled into them, embedding clarity and purpose. Hunger had sharpened their minds, and Lily's calm determination sharpened them further.
The servant passed, oblivious. Lily moved. Step by step, she reached the apple tree nearest the wall. Her fingers, red from cold, brushed the frost-covered fruit. One apple fell into her hands. She held it as if it were a treasure.
Liam and Kyle reached for pears and berries. Their small hands shook, but they worked together quietly, collecting a few fruits each.
Then—a sharp snap echoed from the edge of the garden.
The servant had turned. His eyes widened as he spotted the three children in the shadows, hands full of stolen fruit.
"Hey! Thieves!"
Panic surged in Liam. Kyle's natural recklessness flared, ready to lash out. But Lily's hand shot up, pressing against their chests, her gaze sharp and commanding.
"Think! Control! Don't panic!" she said silently, speaking directly into the fragments of their minds. The System amplified her presence; her calm, sharp thoughts acted like a mental tether, forcing clarity into their chaos.
Liam froze. Kyle's movements slowed.
"Run!" Lily hissed, darting toward the low wall. The boys followed instantly, her words a mental leash pulling them forward. The servant lunged, but the children scrambled over the wall, snow spraying from their landing.
They rolled onto the ground on the other side, hearts pounding, breaths ragged, hands clutching stolen fruit. The lanterns flickered behind them as the servant shouted, too late to catch them.
---
They sat huddled against a hedge, cheeks red, snow melting on their clothes. Lily handed out the fruit. They tore into it hungrily, each bite a reminder of survival.
"We live," she said softly, holding a frost-coated apple in her hands. "That's all that matters. Nothing else. Today, we survive. That's the first rule. Do you understand?"
Liam and Kyle nodded, eyes wide but burning with newfound resolve.
"Yes," Liam whispered. "We… we survive."
"Today," Kyle added, crunching the apple between his teeth, "we survive."
And in that frozen garden, abandoned in snow, the three children—one with silver horns, two with black—began their first day as orphans in a world that saw them as nothing.
It was the day Lily, reincarnated, planted the first seed of determination.
They were trash to everyone else.
But to each other, they were everything.
The draconic blood within stirred faintly in their chests.
It waited for them to grow.
It waited for them to awaken.
And the world, blissfully unaware, would soon learn that the abandoned children of dragons were already beginning to rise.