darkness rising ( complete )

Shards of Ice

Mal covered her ears at the noise and ducked her mother behind the walls. "Stay here!" she said. With a firm shove, she moved a piece of ice in front of her mother. 

"Mal!" Emma yelled, trying to move. 

"Don't struggle," said Mal. "I'll come get you when the time comes."

Emma brushed a strand of purple hair behind Mal's ear. "Make me proud daughter."

Mal nodded and turned to face the dragon. With a deep breath, she stepped onto the ice and advanced the dragon. It breathed deeply and stared at Mal intensely with it's deep blue eyes. Mal reached into her shirt and pulled out the dragon necklace, and held it out in front of the dragon.

"I am not your enemy," said Mal.

The dragon growled.

"I just want to help you."

The dragon roared loudly, but Mal held her ground.

"Let me help you."

The dragon slowly backed away. It didn't seem to want to trust Mal. The necklace around Mal's neck began to glow furiously and the dragon froze in it's steps. Echoing around the icy walls came another roar. After it finished, the dragon roared something in response. It turned it's blue eyes to Mal and slowly approached her. Mal could feel the ice cold breath on her neck and shivered. The dragon closed it's eyes and leaned it's forehead closer to Mal. Mal did the same so their foreheads touched. She half expected the dragon's skin to be cold, and it was, but there was a kind of warmth to it that was comforting. Mal and the dragon released foreheads and Mal turned to go get her mother. She moved the ice and helped Emma up.

"Does it trust you?" Emma asked, shaking off pieces of ice.

"She does," said Mal.

"She?" said Emma.

"Yes," said Mal. "And I am going to do a huge Evie thing and name her." Mal turned to the dragon. "Do you like Icicle?"

The dragon snorted.

"What about Snow?"

The dragon lay down and huffed.

"Shard?"

The dragon looked up quickly and roared in approval.

"Shard it is," said Mal.

Emma smiled proudly at her daughter. "Let's go find the second dragon. The sooner we find them, the quicker we can defeat Raven."

Mal followed the dragon into an extremely large tunnel. The ice began to melt and the floor turned into ashes. Mal coughed in the smoky air. Shard turned and blew a tuft of snow on Mal's face. The particles stayed on her face and the air became breathable and visual. Shard did the same for Emma and they began to continue walking down the tunnel into the dark and heat.

--

The sun began to set on Anvia as the VKs worked with their friends to improve their skills. Jay watched as Lonnie took down figure after figure of training dummies. When she finished, she looked over at him.

"So?"

"It's good," said Jay, standing up and walking over to her. "Your stance is a little off."

Lonnie raised her eyebrows. "Off? My stance is off?"

"Get into position," said Jay. Lonnie did as he said. He walked over and moved her arms so they were raised higher. "Now try to swing."

Lonnie swung the sword with surprising speed. She grinned at Jay. "Thanks."

"No problem."

Lonnie rolled her eyes. "Don't get cocky." She diverted her gaze to the others and scrunched her eyebrows. "Where'd Jane and Carlos go?"