The forest had burned to ash. The thick smoke now just whisps of haze. A deep orange glow illuminated the horizon. The volcano was still active but calmer now. Darrius and Lana had saved dozens of refugees. Lana's beautiful red hair was soaked in ash and near completely grey. Darrius looked at her with a smirk. "You're still gonna be gorgeous twenty years from now.", he said briskly wiping an ash flake from her forehead. Lana chuckled slightly.
"For all you know, I'll be dead twenty years from now.", Lana whispered softly.
"The hottest dead girl ever.", Darrius smiled back at her and wiped another piece of ash from her face. Her emerald eyes were sad and bloodshot but she was still beautiful to Darrius.
"We saved a lot of people today.", Darrius said grasping her waist and pulling her closer to him.
"But what about the boy?", she cried slightly while inquiring. "He lost everything. His home, his family, everything.", she whimpered.
"Yes, but he's alive.", Darrius whispered to her. He clutched her tighter. "And we can be his family now.", he continued. Lana had also lost her parents when she was younger. She could feel the burned boy's pain. "Zoba and The Elders would never allow it. They see us as children ourselves.", Lana declared with a deep sigh. Darrius just smiled again and flipped open his personal communicator. A hologram of Stone Master Zoba floated above the device and started to speak.
"Darrius, your request has been approved. You and Lana now have custody of Perphillius. He's going to have to remain in the Stem Tank for a few weeks while his injuries are treated but once he is recovered you have the right to claim him as your child. Contact me when you return from The Hearth for further details. The Order thanks you and Lana for your service. Zoba signing off." Zoba's hologram disappeared. Lana squeezed Darrius' ribcage and wailed with excitement.
"He's ours?! I can't believe it!", she cried. Her Eidenstone floated above her head and shown with a bright pink hinting toward her joyous mood. The deep green seas in her eyes began to turn black and her skin wrinkled and hardened into stone.
"Calm down, Lana.", Darrius said nervously staring at her shifting form. "Even in times of great joy, we mustn't shake away our control. As Stone Master Zoba says.", Darrius repeated the measured rhetoric of The Elders. Lana's skin reverted back to its supple tissue form and her eyes poured back to their normal green after flashing a milky white.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was caught up in the moment.", she said with a huge smile. "Dee, you're gonna be such a good dad.", Lana continued, threw her arms around his neck and leaned to kiss him.
"You're gonna be an even better mom.", Darrius said softly before kissing her. A thunderous roar boomed from the blackness around them. The ground beneath them shook ever so slightly. Then silence. "What the hell was that?", Darrius inquired almost sarcastically. Another booming roar this time with a twinge of pain masked inside of it. "Yep, that's definitely a dragon.", Darrius continued sarcastically. His Eidenstone floated above his head now as well. Lana released Darrius from her embrace. Her Eidenstone glowed a dark purple partly illuminating the beasts scales in the distance.
"There!", she screamed in a blood curling growl. Her body made completely of stone now she pointed in the direction of the dragon. Darrius let out a single whimper before collapsing into the darkness. Lana looked over to him just as the dragon's tail lifted above his body and disappeared into the darkness as well. "Dee!", Lana's hoarsed beastly voice rang out. Darrius lie on the dirt and ash bleeding from his ribs. She couldn't remember Zoba's words.... She couldn't remember Darrius' words.... She does remember catching the dragon with her stoney mitts as it flew. She does remember piercing its chest and ripping its massive still beating heart from the gooey cavity. She does remember the terror in that ancient creature's eyes as she killed it.
© EdulK.