The king was stumped. The entire island knew of his attentions and many of them would now either stand against him or stand aside or sail away from the island. Everything he seemed to have spent years of working went up in Valverno’s smoke, as the hybrid’s tail was still erupting black smoke. And the worst part of the king was he can read people’s minds and see if they were telling the truth or a lie: he could read Valverno’s mind and he saw the hybrid was telling the truth.
“I’ll be seeing you in two weeks, Uragiru. And good luck with your future, as I brought it to a smoking ruin. And good luck of trying to convince Lusìvar to not kill you. If your death happens, I want to make sure you fall from a cliff as your scream in horror, looking helplessly, with no hope, at a monster taking you take”
Valverno wrapped his arms around Marina and hugged her tightly. She gave King Uragiru an angry look. Then Valverno lifted off and flew in the direction of the Eastern Region, not before he reach out his arm and the Crystal Sword, which Uragiru stole from him, and came flying back to its master’s hand.
A GATHERING OF KNIGHTS
Valverno came flying down on the beaches near Geraldus’s village. Once he touched down on the soft, silky sands, he released Marina and made a mad dash into the ocean’s waters. She dived in and vanished beneath the waves. Valverno watched the Siren swim across the ocean’s surface like the back of a whale coming to the ocean’s surface.
After he watched Siren go swimming beneath the waves, he took a few moments to look at his new form. His wings had stopped puffing out the smoke as did everywhere on his dragon body. His face still retained the many dragon scales that suddenly grew on the skin. The many dragon scales weren’t just on his face, but his human body, which made him dragon whole instead of half. His new, long, red hair waved against the ocean’s winds.
His scar remained intact across his right eye and a dark purple flare sparked when he touched it softly with the knuckles of his fingers. He looked at his own reflection in each watery wave came floating to his feet on the sand. He softly signed of what he has become.
A month ago he was more human than he was a dragon, and he was wondering if Uragiru was right: being controlled by the Pool of Shadows or being manipulated by Lusìvar into thinking Valverno was indeed free and that the hybrid was the one controlling the dark power he’d unleashed. He knelt closer to see his reflection in each wave of water coming to his feet.
Now his appearance was more retched than he could ever look. He just may have sacrificed his humanity just to unleash the power to save one life. If had ever to do unleash a dark power, it would have been unleashing it against the Titans, if they were ever freed. It could be a matter of time before his freewill could be twisted by Lusìvar, by a single snap of his fingers.
He was going have to remain his distance from the people of the island. He knew when Uragiru’s crystal orb came to Valverno’s face: the entire island saw him. They saw his form and may now think he is serving an evil hybrid. But, in doing so, Valverno revealed to the island the true intentions of the island’s king.
Both he and the king were going to be under great suspicion from everyone around the island. He could see the island be united in a matter of days, but it would mean he would not be able to lead them. He would need someone else loyal to him to lead the islanders in the future, even if he does get rid of Uragiru and Belverda.
He knew Lusìvar and the Titans would be the next targets, but Uragiru said the Titans’ exact location wouldn’t be revealed until the Harmonic Convergence. What he knows from that was when the three moons that lit the night sky would point in front of the sun and make a solar eclipse.
In his lifetime, Valverno witnessed a few solar eclipses and it was always been one moon covering the sun. But he’d never seen two or three moons covering the sun.
Three years may seem like enough time for him to recover the third and last armor artifact that would restore his full, broken power and finally to be at odds with the Shadow King, but three years would be like three days going by. He was going to turn eighteen when the summer comes.
He was going to have a difficult time trying to find the last armor to reconnect to his body. The first two had monsters protecting them, which meant the third was going to have a monster protecting it. And since it was the last, he just had to assume the third was being guarded by no other than Lusìvar. Valverno’s power alone may not rival against the might of Lusìvar.
After Valverno saw enough of his reflection, he stood by back and gazed into the sky. It was cloudy and musky. It was ready to storm up a hurricane. There were so many clouds covering the blue sky and the blistering sunlight.
Dimmed lightening and soft thunder rattled through the storm clouds. There was a strong breeze in the air but not strong enough for a hurricane weather. It seemed like a regular rain storm was coming.
“Valverno!”
