THEY DROPPED INTO THE CAVERN of the Dracsi, the same one where Fort originally landed, the only light coming from two fireballs that Rachel created, holding one in each hand. Now that Fort could actually see the nest of Dracsi properly, he wondered how he had ever lived through his first trip here, as the entire cavern was full of the creatures.
“MY CHILDREN!” the dragon said as he passed through Fort’s circle, sounding stricken at the sight of the Dracsi.
The sight of the Old One sent the Dracsi into a frenzy, each struggling to get closer to the much smaller dragon. The abrupt movement quickly became dangerous, with the huge creatures threatening to stomp them at every turn.
Fortunately, Jia was able to get her Corporeal Sphere up to protect them before anyone was hurt.
“I SHALL FREE YOU FROM THIS HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE,” they heard the dragon shout, though he was now lost in a sea of Dracsi, each one growling its love for their creator. “YOU SHALL BECOME DRAGONS AGAIN, EVEN IF IT MEANS…”
Whatever else he said was lost when blue light as bright as the sun exploded in the cavern.
All around them the Dracsi began to roar in surprise, twisting and turning—though they didn’t necessarily seem to be in pain. Their bodies glowed with the same blue light, and as Fort watched, entranced, Gabriel grabbed his arm, a huge smile on his face.
“We’re actually going to do this, Fort,” he whispered, tears in his eyes. “We’re going to bring them back.”
The nearest Dracsi to them began to shrink abruptly, wings emerging from its back as its arms extended down in front of it, matching the length of its legs. The shrinking grew more rapid now, and as Fort watched in awe, the black-scaled Dracsi morphed into a bright blue dragon, which collapsed to the ground with a heavy sigh.
“MY CHILDREN!” the Old One shouted, and his voice rang out clearly in spite of the roaring Dracsi. “RETURN TO YOUR TRUE FORMS!”
All around them, the giants collapsed in on themselves, most growing wings and becoming dragons once more. But off in the distance, Fort saw something strange. One Dracsi had continued to shrink, and this one had no wings. In fact, it lost its scales too, becoming more and more… human.
“There!” Gabriel shouted, but Fort was already banging his fists on Jia’s bubble until she shut it down. The moment it disappeared, he was off, not caring about the Dracsi still changing shape in front of him. His eyes were locked on where the person had fallen, and nothing was going to stop him now…
“Fort!” Jia shouted. “Above you!”
He looked up just in time to find a Dracsi collapsing right over him. Without a second thought, Fort created a teleportation circle in front of him, sliding through it a moment before the newly formed dragon slammed into the spot where he’d been standing. He emerged right next to the human, who had landed on his stomach. Fort dropped to his knees, his momentum sending him skidding to a halt at the person’s side.
“Dad?” he shouted, turning the human over. “Dad!”
But it wasn’t his father. This creature had longer ears, light blue hair, and looked like he’d been sculpted from marble.
“Is it him?” Gabriel shouted, making his way over as Fort slowly turned the creature over.
“No,” Fort said, looking up at his roommate. “It’s… I think it’s an elf.”
“Watch out!” Jia shouted, and Fort turned in her direction, only to be yanked to the ground as the elf’s eyes flew open, and it wrapped its hands around Fort’s throat, an animalistic rage filling his eyes.
“Let him go!” Gabriel shouted, bashing the elf in the face with his shield. The creature immediately released Fort, snarling at this new threat, but Gabriel just slammed it again, and it fell unconscious.
“What’s wrong with that thing?” Rachel shouted.
The Old One let out an ear-splitting shriek. “MY CHILDREN!” he yelled, his voice filled with desperate grief as, one by one, the dragons’ bodies slowly began to fade away, leaving behind the same blue glow that had filled the room a moment ago. It was almost like they were returning to the magic from which they’d come. “I WILL MAKE MY BRETHREN PAY FOR WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO YOU!”
“He killed them,” Rachel said as now even the blue glow disappeared, leaving no sign of the Dracsi.
“No, he released them,” Jia said. “Turning them into those monsters did something to their minds, like with the elf. I’m not sure they were ever going to come back from that, not after living as Dracsi for that long.”
“RETURN TO THE MAGIC,” the Old One shouted. “BUT REMEMBER WHAT THEY DID TO YOU. REMEMBER, AND AWAIT YOUR REVENGE, AS IT WILL COME SURELY AND SWIFTLY TO MY FAMILY!”
Fort stared down at the elf on the ground before him, a new fear gripping his chest. If this elf had lost his mind… what had happened to his father?
“Fort!” Gabriel shouted from behind a particularly large dragon that had just started to dissolve. “I think I found him!”
Fort felt all the heat drain out of his body as he raced over to where Gabriel was standing. As he rounded the dragon, he saw the body on the ground, and he almost collapsed, tears streaming down his face.
It was his father. And he was alive!
“Dad?” he whispered, touching his father’s face. “It’s me. It’s Fort!”
His father’s eyelids fluttered, and he opened them to look up into his son’s face. For a moment, madness filled his eyes, and his face twisted into something unrecognizable, but then he seemed to focus, and his expression turned instead to wonder.
“Fort?” he said.
Then his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell unconscious.
“Jia!” Fort shouted as Gabriel ran off in a new direction. “JIA! It’s my dad! He needs healing!”
She and Rachel both ran over as Gabriel continued searching the floor for his brother. “I’ve got him,” Jia told Fort, but he wouldn’t move, he wouldn’t let his father go, not now, not after he’d just found him. “Please, Fort, you have to give me room.”
Rachel gently pulled Fort away, and somehow he resisted fighting her, instead watching intently as Jia concentrated, then put her glowing blue hands down onto his father’s chest.
“Fort, as soon as Gabriel finds his brother, we need to get out of here,” Rachel hissed at him. “If we can get to the portal, we can close it and leave the Old One trapped here. We can’t let him get back to Earth, no matter how much he hates the others.”
“Jia, is he okay?” Fort asked, barely hearing Rachel’s words.
“Shh,” Jia said, crinkling her forehead. “Give me a minute. I’m trying to see what’s wrong.”
“Fort,” Rachel said. “Did you hear me? We have to get out of here before the Old One, or—”
“Hey!” Gabriel shouted from the far side of the room. “Where is he?” He ran over to the Old One, who was ignoring him, tears turning to steam as they rolled down his scaled face. “I don’t see him. Where is my brother?!”
“Uh-oh,” Rachel said.
“LEAVE ME TO MOURN,” the Old One said.
Gabriel angrily slammed his shield against the dragon’s leg, more to get its attention than from any possibility of hurting it. “We had a deal. Tell me where my brother is now!”
“IF HE IS NOT HERE, THEN MY FAMILY MUST HAVE TAKEN HIM,” the Old One said, snaking his dragon head down to within inches of Gabriel. “BUT THAT IS NOT MY CONCERN. AS OF NOW, OUR BARGAIN IS COMPLETE. I HAVE RETURNED TO YOU THE ELDER HUMAN.” He lifted his head and sniffed toward the tunnel leading to the portal. “AND I CAN SENSE SOMETHING OF MY CHILDREN IN YOUR REALM! PERHAPS YOU WERE NOT LYING ABOUT THE LAST DRAGON AFTER ALL.”