Clouse sat in his stone carved throne as he watched Vex experiment with his new ice powers on the opposite side of the room. Vex didn't want to admit it, but he was overjoyed and was actually having a lot of fun. To him, only a few hours ago, he was suffering and frozen in the snow. But now, he couldn't feel more powerful. EXCEPT for the fact that he was still extremely hungry. THAT, Clouse didn't bother helping with. Sure, heal some insanely bad frostbite patches, but ignore the hunger literally killing him. Sure. Why not? Not to say he wasn’t grateful for what Clouse had done for him though. Prior to this, he was in a lot of pain from various injuries and frostbite. Maybe he should thank him?... But then again, something told Vex that Clouse was the type of person to see actions like that as weakness. So keep it to himself. Just then, the skeleton from earlier ran in with an armful of things. He placed the objects on the ground and bowed before Clouse.

"Here you are, your highness. Food for the newcomer. As you requested."

Vex's eyes lit up as he ran over to see what was brought for him. It looked to be an assortment of various fruits and vegetables that he'd never seen before, and something else.... it kinda looked like... no way. Both villains seemed to land on the same realization at the same time.

"It can't be..." Clouse muttered. "WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT?!"

The skeleton tilted its head. "Oh, not too far from here. I found that huge, wonky looking coconut in a ditch."

Vex couldn't believe it. "This 'coconut' you found- is a dragon egg, you peasant!!! That ditch was a nest!"

Clouse picked it up and inspected the egg. It was a muddy grey with tiny speckles of lime green. Honestly looked nothing like a coconut, but it did peak his interest. Clouse dismissed his servant and turned to Vex. "You are every bit correct. This is a dragon's egg. Do you know what this means?"

Vex folded his arms. "Well for one, if we manage to hatch it and train it up, then we'll potentially have a realm ending monster in our lair."

Clouse stroked the egg while admiring it. Exactly. If they got that egg to hatch, then imagine how powerful it could be with time and training! It could bring their enemies to their knees in an instant. And depending on the type of dragon, that damage could be incomprehensible. Things were managing to go even better than Clouse had planned. After a few more minutes of discussion with Vex, Clouse carried the egg into a relatively small hexagon shaped room with a stone table in the center. The walls were carved with archway patterns, and on every corner, stood a pillar. On every other wall hung a purple banner, and the ones that didn't, were adorned with a half bowl-like decoration that held green fire. Clouse placed the dragon egg on the table and stared longingly at it. He knew that if he still had his spellbook, he'd be able to find something that could speed up the hatching process. BUT, that book was long gone. He longed for it to be as easy as wishing for the book back and it returning, but something about that thought made him shiver. He honestly had no idea why...
Regardless- they'd have to wait until it hatched naturally now. It would be a pain to, but it was all they could do. Vex walked into the room; peeking at the egg around Clouse's shoulder.

"You know, I had a dragon back in the Never Realm. Granted, it was an elemental creation, so it was never a hatchling, but I'm aware of their power. Dragons are complex creatures. Some require more than just a nest to hatch."

Vex was right; Clouse knew that. The sorcerer had studied dragons before, WAY back when he was still training with Garmadon under Chen. Some needed help to hatch via their parents. Whether that meant physically breaking the egg slightly to assist with the hatching, or using elemental magic to trigger something inside the baby to make it want to hatch. The only issue with this, is that there was little way to tell what type of dragon was in the egg. If it was one that required a special type of help without them knowing, that could mean death for the young one inside. Vex mentioned that they needed to find someone or something that could help them identify it properly.

But what or who could that be?...