“Where are we going?” she asked.
“The Dark Planet.”
“That’s where you first transformed? Why?”
Reeve lifted his hand, palm flat, and created a swirling Portal. “Patience,” he said.
“Where’s your sword?” she noted, slightly nervous at its absence on his hip.
“I won’t need it today,” he answered. “Well, I suppose I don’t need it on any day, but I find it helps me control my Magic.”
Maeve played absently with the band of the Dread Ring on her finger.
“Come,” said Reeve, nodding towards the Portal. “We shouldn’t keep them waiting.” He stepped away from her, preparing to enter the Portal.
Maeve’s brows pulled together. “Them?”
Reeve stopped and turned back towards her. He bent over, bringing his face to hers. “So distrusting today,” he said, but there was no bite in his tone. “And here I thought we’d gotten past that. What with you practically dragging me into your bed last night and all.”
Maeve’s fingers shot out, lightning dancing across the tips. Reeve looked down at where the silent threat lingered, an arrogant grin on his face.
“I was drunk,” she countered.
Reeve half rolled his eyes at her deflection and stood to his full height. He turned back towards the Portal and beckoned her over his shoulder. She trailed him through the swirling mass of color, where a faint blur of brown mixed in the center.
The atmosphere changed at once as she moved into a different realm. Though, courtesy of the bubble of soft warmth Reeve provided at all times, she didn’t feel it. The Dark Planet was barren. It was a planet of rock and solid matter, long abandoned. But her mind shifted back to Reeve’s words. Who would possibly be in this place?
Its desolate nature was why Zimsy was dumped there to die. The thought forced her to focus on her breathing.
The grey sky hung low, dipping into the thick fog all around them.
As the Portal closed behind her, Reeve spoke.
“I feel I should prepare you for what you are about to see.” Reeve’s eyes lifted to the sky, watching carefully, waiting for something. “Despite how much I enjoy hearing the affection in your voice when you refer to me as ‘the last Dragon’, I am not.”
Lightning cracked across the grey sky in the distance, followed by a low rumble. Her eyes were drawn to it at once as she took a step closer to Reeve. The sky darkened further, and more bolts of bright golden lightning soared across the mountainscape.
“You’re kidding,” she breathed in awe.
A thundering clap, like a boulder cutting loose from the side of a cliff, slammed behind her. She whipped around as another shadow formed along the slope of the closest peak. She hadn’t realized her fingers were wrapped around Reeve’s forearm until he spoke.
“They won’t hurt you, Maeve.”
“Oh, I know,” she said, a smile of anticipation at her lips. She hadn’t grabbed him in fear. She had grabbed him in an expression of her awe. “I have lightning too.”
Reeve chuckled and said lowly, “There’s my girl.”
The rumbling and light display grew closer and closer until the Earth beneath them rocked. Reeve’s barrier, like an invisible shield around them at all times, kept them unimpacted. As rock and debrisflew by them, not even a single hair on Maeve’s head was blown out of place.
Steady, unhurried steps of a monster crept closer to them, casting them in complete darkness. Through the fog, a glimpse of shining and leathery gold became visible. The dense mist around them parted beneath a growling exhale.
“Reeve.”
The voice was deep and booming with a menacing quality that made her question why Reeve didn’t turn and run immediately. A few more earth-quaking steps and most of the creature’s form was visible. Glittering, golden scales covered its massive form. It was larger than Reeve’s dragon form, much larger. Its scales gleamed like polished metal.
The dragon held an air of grace as it twisted its humongous frame down towards the earth to level its slit-like eye with them.
“Demevirld,” said Reeve.
