Blue and white dragons swept over the city. Beneath the night sky, the Protective Barrier gave off a faint glow, becoming one streak among the countless flowing lights of neon-lit Tarlonnd. Standing between Melita's shoulder blades, Gawain looked at the massive steel structure nearby, seemingly built to support some kind of aerial garden, and could not help asking, "Where are we going?"
Melita's deep voice came from ahead. "We'll begin at the start of a dragon's life—the central Incubation Center."
"Incubation..." Gawain froze for a moment, feeling as though he had heard a term he had never considered before. "An Incubation Center?"
"You can also call it an Incubation Factory, or a Dragon Egg Hatchery. Those are more common names," Melita said casually as she began descending. "See that structure ahead, the one that looks like a giant pillar? That's Agondor's Incubation Factory. Hold on tight—we're landing."
Gawain instinctively adjusted his footing, his line of sight drawn toward the front. He could already see the enormous "factory"—it truly resembled an unimaginably colossal pillar, with countless tank-like auxiliary structures, pipes, and support beams clustered around a cylindrical main body. Lights extended diagonally from its midsection, tracing more than a dozen illuminated landing guides through the air.
Gawain also spotted a ring of landing platforms around the facility's middle. Many dragons were taking off and landing on them. Platforms in use were surrounded by red lights, while vacant ones were marked by conspicuous white halos. Melita and Noreta, flying alongside her nearby, were approaching one of the empty platforms.
But just as Melita was about to descend, the sound of rushing wind suddenly came from another direction. A Black Dragon streaked through the night sky like lightning and charged toward the platform Melita had chosen. An anxious roar thundered through the darkness: