Tierra: The Dragon Uprise [Book Three]

Chapter VIII

The trio didn't had much left to go from the point where they re-grouped. Serena was grateful for that, but time was still running out. The blue moon was coming and she needed to be human again to stop Howkin from causing another war.

Serena frowned as she walked behind the dragon siblings. Tierra didn't have much luck with in the past few years. Loosing their king and queen, a war, a crazed man taking over, and possibly another one. She begun to question to why she liked Howkin in the first place.

The feeling of the knowledge of knowing what she choices effects the future felt heavy on Serena. She wondered if this was how Rena felt with being queen and all. 

A cave came insight and caused Serena to change her focus to the task at hand. She had to take this one step at a time. "How long until Moon is in position?" She asked out loud to both Ryuu and Charoite. 

Ryuu looked up at the sky. "It's nearly Sunset. So it will be a few hours still."

Serena sat down. "What are we going to do until then? I can't do anything until that point."

Charoite jumped up. "Eat!" She quickly took off to hunt. 

Ryuu shrugs. "I guess that handles that." He sat down and stretched. "I never walked so much in my life. How I miss flying..."

Serena rested her head on her talons. "We'll need to fly back to Tierra and to the castle." She pointed out. "But what then? How will I stop Howkin if I don't know what he's planning on doing?"

Ryuu looked at her. "You'll figure it out."

She looked at him. "What happened to you after Soran had control over you? How did that happen?" She asked him, forgetting these questions she had.

Ryuu was surprised by the sudden question and thought for a bit before replying. "It was a weird day. I was just out hunting for some of the older dragons who couldn't do it themselves. It's one of my duties as prince. He hid himself well. Father told me to be cautious in the forest, in case any of those Shadow creatures were left in Tierra. 

"Soran was hidden in the shadows, and I being like anyone would be, thought I was invincible;e and nothing would dare hurt me. I'm a prince after all. No one would dare hurt me. That's what I thought any ways. The whole thing made me more humble. Soran used magic that was unheard of this world and took hold of my mind. The magic made me forget what I did under his control. 

"In that arena, when you freed me, was the first time was me. Really me. I was confused to why you turned down a reward. But now I see why. You like to help people. That's who you are. You may be great with fire, but you do need to work with that bow." He smiled at his teasing.

Serena smiled back and nodded. "That was a crazy day for everyone. Pacific tamed the hell hound that was attacking her. She named him Liam. And I'm not any great fire mage. I haven't trained as long as the mage kids have."

Ryuu looked at her with something in his look that Rena had seen Kaiden give Rena. "But you make a great dragon."

Serena smiled as Charoite came back. "Oh come on! Why do I always miss the deep conversations?"

---

Night had fallen and Serena sat on the sand ground of the cave with Ryuu and Charoite behind her. Moon was almost in position. She dug up the red jem from the sand. It glisten in the low light the cave had. Moon's light reflected off the water and onto the crystal. It was hypnotizing. 

The growing light in the cave cause Serena snapped out of her trance. She quickly opened her palm and sucked a breath in. She cut her left palm in her right talon. Pain stunk her and hissed in pain.

She rubbed her bleeding palm over the jewel, the red-orange shine became blood red. She placed it in Moon's light over the lake. The white glow became blue and the light seemed to surround the jewel. Serena stepped back as it was lifted out of her talons and into the air. 

Water rose out of the pool and mixed with the light, filling the cave with a blue glow. The light and water wrapped themselves around Serena like a cocoon. Serena screamed as pain shot through her body as she started to shrink back into a human. 

The changes came slower then before and Serena didn't see or feel any of it. All she could feel was pain. She couldn't even hear herself call for Ryuu.

Light hit her eye lids, making her open them. She blinked a few times and noticed it was now morning and Sun's light what caused her to wake. 

She still laid on the sand, but the red crystal was gone. She moved her arm and found how sore she was.

Serena expected to be naked, but a dress of red dragon scales covered her. It was nothing she had ever seen. The scales were real and reflected the light, making it shimmer. She slowly stood up and looked at it. The reached the ground and hung off her shoulders with short sleeves. She smiled at the beauty of it then took a step towards the water to look at her reflection.

She discovered that she had no shoes on but some how her hair was styled. The red dye she had in it that covered the previous blonde ombre was gone. Her chocolate brown hair hung loose and nearly reached her waist. How her hair grew, she didn't understand.

She didn't understand any of what happened. But she remembered Ryuu and Charoite and ran out if the cave. They were up and eating breakfast. She smiled at them, and realized how small she was now compared to them. "Hi..." She finally said.

Ryuu looked over and Serena thought that his eyes was going to pop out. Charoite smiled. "Morning! That dress looks good on you! I think you looked better as a dragon and when those scales were attached to you." She said then took a bite out of a deer leg.

Serena looked down at her dress again. These scales...were her's? She looked up at Ryuu, who continued to stare at her. "Hey. It's still me. Just...in a dress now. 

Ryuu nods. Serena looked at them both, "I need to eat then we need to go." She said and they nodded in agreement. 

[So Chapter 8 is done. Four more are left. Maybe. Who knows how long it'll take them to defeat Howkin. 

I will be adding a picture, either to this chapter or next chapter or Serena in her new dress. So stay tuned!]