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!”