Chapter 5

"That wasn't a coincidence," Casey—no, Sage—whispered, watching the water with new eyes. "Did I... did I do that?"

"Your awakening is accelerating," Marcus said, glancing around the food court with concern. "We should continue this conversation somewhere more private."

Xaihuang tapped his cane sharply against the floor. "For once, I agree with Mr. Chen. Though we differ on what should happen next."

"What do you mean?" Sage asked.

"Marcus represents the traditionalists—those who believe we should continue hiding, continue limiting our true nature." Xaihuang's voice dropped to a silky purr. "I represent a different perspective. Why should dragons with your potential be forced to live as fast-food workers? To suppress their true nature for the comfort of humans?"

"Don't listen to him," Marcus warned. "Xaihuang was exiled from the Council for trafficking in dragon artifacts. He's the one who's been authenticating stolen coins for the black market."

"Stolen?" Xaihuang scoffed. "One cannot steal what rightfully belongs to all dragons. The Council hoards our heritage in vaults while our kind struggles to maintain their identities in this digital age."

Sage felt a headache building behind her eyes. The fountain's splashing seemed to grow louder, more insistent. Nearby, a group of college students were excitedly discussing DragonCoin's meteoric rise, their phones displaying those swirling geometric patterns that matched her dreams exactly.

"I need to understand what's happening to me," she said finally. "And what this DragonCoin thing has to do with it."

Marcus checked his wrist device again. "Not here. The Scale-Sync readings are off the charts. Something's interfering with our concealment magic."

As if to confirm his words, the overhead lights flickered briefly. Sage's skin prickled with static electricity, and for a moment, she could have sworn she saw something shimmer across Marcus's face—a flash of scales, a more pronounced angularity to his features.

"The Shimmer Incident is happening again," he muttered, grabbing Sage's arm. "We need to move. Now."

"Wait—my backpack, my laptop—" Sage protested as Marcus began guiding her toward an exit she'd never noticed before, tucked between two storefronts.

"Your laptop can be replaced," Marcus said urgently. "Your life cannot."

Xaihuang followed at a more leisurely pace, his cane tapping a steady rhythm. "Such dramatics, Marcus. The girl deserves to know what she's walking into."

The hidden exit led to a narrow service corridor lined with pipes and electrical panels. The walls here weren't the polished surfaces of the main complex—they were rough stone that looked far older than the building's modern construction.

"These tunnels predate the complex by centuries," Marcus explained, noticing Sage's confusion. "The Crossroads was built on a natural convergence point. Your ancestors met here long before humans erected their shopping centers."

The air grew warmer as they descended, and Sage caught the scent of something like heated metal and ozone. Behind them, the lights in the food court flickered more violently.

"The digital surge is accelerating," Xaihuang observed. "Every DragonCoin transaction is creating feedback in the magical field. Fascinating, really. Someone has found a way to weaponize cryptocurrency."

"Weaponize how?" Sage asked, though she suspected she wouldn't like the answer.

Marcus paused at a heavy door marked with symbols that hurt to look at directly. "By forcing dragons out of concealment. Each magical disruption makes it harder for us to maintain human appearance." He pressed his palm against the door's center, and it swung open with a sound like distant thunder. "If this continues, the masquerade that's protected both our species for centuries will collapse entirely."

The chamber beyond took Sage's breath away. Carved directly from living rock, it stretched up into shadows, its walls covered in the same geometric patterns that haunted her dreams. At the center, a pool of water reflected light that seemed to come from nowhere, its surface perfectly still despite the streams that fed into it from channels in the floor.

"Welcome," Xaihuang said, spreading his arms wide, "to the true heart of the Crossroads. Where your story actually begins."

Sage stepped into the chamber on unsteady legs, her eyes adjusting to the strange, sourceless light. The air thrummed with energy that made her teeth ache and her skin tingle. Around the pool's perimeter, she could make out alcoves carved into the rock, each containing what looked like pedestals holding various objects—coins, she realized, but not like any currency she'd ever seen.

"The Repository," Marcus said, his voice echoing strangely in the space. "One of seven hidden throughout the world. We've been safeguarding these artifacts since before the founding of the Order."

Sage approached the nearest alcove, drawn by a pull she couldn't resist. The coin resting there was larger than a silver dollar, its surface a swirling mixture of gold and silver that seemed to move like liquid metal. The patterns etched into it shifted as she watched, forming symbols that felt familiar despite being completely alien.

"Don't touch it," Marcus warned sharply.

Too late. Sage's fingers had already made contact with the cool metal.

The world exploded into sensation.

Fire raced through her veins, but instead of pain, it brought clarity. The chamber around her suddenly made perfect sense—she could see the ley lines of power flowing through the carved channels, could feel the ancient magic that had shaped this place stone by stone. The pool at the center wasn't just water; it was a conduit, a meeting point where elemental forces converged and balanced.

And she could hear them. Hundreds of voices, speaking in the dragon tongue she somehow understood, telling her stories of the time before the Severance, when dragons could command all elements instead of being limited to just one.

"Kasai-Mizumi," the voices whispered. "Bridge-builder. Harmony-keeper. The one who will choose."

"Choose what?" she gasped aloud, her hand still pressed to the coin.

The visions shifted, showing her flashes of the future—dragons revealed to the world, some scenario where the ancient balance collapsed entirely, cities in chaos as magic and technology warred against each other. Then another possibility: dragons remaining hidden but slowly losing their power as the digital world encroached further on their magical frequencies.

And a third path, hazier than the others, where somehow both worlds found a way to coexist.