Or rather, he found us.
We came upon what I thought to be a large hill. If we could get to the top, we’d have a good view of the Dark Woods as the sun rose. Hopefully we could see the Great White, given his size.
I should have known better, of course.
Dimitri didn’t even warn me. He probably just wanted to see me scream, the little bastard.
I didn’t disappoint him.
I shrieked as the hill moved the moment I put my foot upon it.
“That is my face,” the Great White growled as he rose from the earth.
“Gods,” Zero moaned. “As if I needed another blow to my self-esteem, now I’m the only dragon without legs? This is lame. Everything about this is lame.”
“Hey, baby bro,” Kevin said. “Don’t worry about the leg thing. You’re just differently abled. And since I’m the second-biggest dragon here with all four of my legs, I totally got your back.”
“I’m not your baby bro!”
“You sound just like my stepson,” Kevin said fondly.
“I’m not your stepson!”
“See what I mean?”
“Why have you come here?” the Great White asked.
The others fell silent. The fairies hovered above us.
I took a step forward. “You say that you’ve seen my heart. That I wasn’t ready. Please. I ask that you look again.”
“Do you think yourself changed?”
I bowed my head and tried to breathe. “Yes.”
“Look at me, child.”
I did.
His eyes seemed like they were endless as they narrowed.
I didn’t look away, even as tears slid silently down my face.
His face softened. “Your heart has been broken.”
“Morgan is gone. My cornerstone is….”
“You have learned suffering.”
“Yes.”
“Sacrifice.”
“Yes.”
“These are not lessons I wish someone so young has to learn,” the Great White said, not unkindly. “But you are not like everyone else, Sam of Wilds. The forest shines a little less with the loss of Morgan of Shadows, but you must not let his sacrifice be in vain. He gave himself so that you may live. So you could become what this world needs. I ask of you, Sam of Wilds, will you hear me once again?”
I hesitated.
Of course I did.
But in the end, it didn’t matter.
I whispered, “Yes.”
He nodded, and when he spoke again, I felt the overwhelming curl of his magic as it began to pull within me. Only this time, it was combined with four other pinpoints of light that burned as brightly as the sun.
For the first time, the dragons of Verania stood with each other.
And I felt them all.
The Great White said:
Come away with me, O human child.
In this forest deep, in the dark of the wild.
Where in these woods, you’ll face your fear, as time doth stretch toward a year.
“That doesn’t mean he’s trying to get into Sam’s butthole,” Kevin whispered. “It’s not a love poem.”
“What the hell,” Zero moaned. “This is the worst.”
“You will call me your mother,” Leslie said as she stared manically at Kevin and Zero.
“We should have stayed in the cave,” Pat sighed.
“Sam of Wilds,” the Great White said, “do you accept my offer?”
Because it’s always been you, Sam. I promise. I promise. I promise, because when I look upon these stars, there is nothing I wish for more than you.
I love you, I thought, even as I said, “I accept your offer.”
The Great White reared up, wings spread wide, eyes burning a blinding white. “Then prepare yourself, my apprentice.”
The dragons of Verania roared around me.
I closed my eyes.
And accepted my destiny.