The Last Dragon King

Ethan Carter, a scrawny kid working a dead-end construction job, is just trying to survive another mundane day. A sudden, blinding headache strikes him on the job site, triggering a cascade of bizarre sensory input. He sees flashes, hears roars that aren't there, and feels an impossible heat. His body reacts violently, uncontrollably. His crewmates dismiss it as a drug trip or heatstroke, but Ethan knows something is fundamentally wrong. The experience escalates, culminating in a searing pain in his forearm and the terrifying, impossible sensation of something *moving* beneath his skin. He desperately tries to hide it, but the anomaly is too powerful, too real. The chapter ends with Ethan’s horrifying realization of what might be happening to him, just as his foreman corners him.