His Return

My brother, parents, and I worked together with our powers to remove the parts of the temple that we could, but most of them were too big for us to handle, so most of the work was down by the dragons. When we had finally reached the bottom, the stairwell down into the floor was still intact with just a few pieces of debris resting upon the steps. We glanced around briefly and then quickly enter the hidden room; the candles lining the walls burst with flames that for a brief moment seemed to climb up the walls and to the ceiling before settling down to a moderate glow.

My father and mother approached the encased body, and quickly glanced to one another. Taking each other's hand they closed their eyes and placed their free hand over the glow of the shield. They stayed that way for a few minutes, the rest of us becoming antsy as no noticeable change took place. My mother then opened her eyes and reached out towards Edgar.

Edgar approached her timidly, taking deep breaths to calm his nerves. We he reached my mother she stooped down, picking him up, and had him lay a paw upon the shield. No apparent pain inflicted him like when I had touched the shield previously. My mother closed her eyes once again, Edgar doing the same, and purple sparks began to emanate from the shield.

Merlin took my hand to calm my nerves, and I greatly accepted it. The candles about the room began to flicker wildly, but neither my parents or Edgar made a movement. My grip tightened around Merlin's hand; whatever kind of magic this was was not the kind of magic I was accustomed to. The candles then quickly died out, leaving us in a darkness that seemed almost unnatural. I let out a small gasp and quickly tried to relight all of the candles. Merlin took hold of the free hand I tried to use and he tried to soothe me.

"Relax, dear sister." He whispered. "All is well."

I let out a deep shaky sigh and glanced about the room. I began to fidget, still unable to see what was going on with Edgar and my parents, when a dim light began to spread from the candles, slowly illuminating the chamber once again. The shield had disappeared and Edgar was also gone himself. I rushed over to Aurelius, who appeared to be sleeping.

"Why doesn't he wake?" I asked.

"You must wake him." My mother prodded. "Call his name."

I felt my heart racing a hundred miles in my chest; all the feelings I had felt in my human body still coursing through my veins. I ran a hand across his forehead, brushing across his unusually combed hair, and down his temple to his cheek. "Aurelius," I breathed. "Time to wake up."

Aurelius' eyes opened slowly, and he glanced about as if none of it had sunk in. He then looked to me and he stopped glancing about, trying to focus. "Fia?" He asked. I nodded as he then glanced down at his own hands, inspecting them. Looking back at me he remarked, "You look a lot smaller." He sat up slowly and flashed me a crooked smile.

"No, you just got bigger." I retorted, tears wetting my eyes.

"Is that a fat joke?" He inquired. I just smiled.

"Well if you've had enough bantering we have important things that must be attended to." My father retorted. "Nequior is still out there, and Aurelius is the only one that can destroy him. As you have noticed our magic simply feeds him, and dragons are built of magic just as we are. Our only hope is that we get Aurelius to him safely so that he can end all of this suffering." He walked over to one of the grooves formed along the wall and pulled out the chain-mail and armor that Aurelius had worn during his last battle. After handing them to Aurelius he then proceeded to another wall and pulled from within it Aurelius' sword. "This" he said, holding the sword out with both hands. "is your destiny."