Alex's back had brown hairs that matched his hair and went straight down his back and toward the tips of his tail. Lastly, his eyes, glowing with golden jewels, with a slit pupil like all snakes have, shine like two little suns.

"ROAR!" Alex yells in a dominant roar.

The dark wizards from the Mistress' Guild begin to attack Alex with their magic; however, everyone in Etheria knows that it's hard to fight a dragon. Miranda and her remaining family watch as Alex sweeps the floor with the Mistress' Guild.

"Well, he is taking care of the Mistress' Guild," Miranda says, gazing at the sight of the battle.

"Is there anything we can do, Gran?" Nate asks, worried about his big brother.

"We need to save him," Kevin adds, agreeing with his brother's statement.

Miranda agrees with them, but she also knows that Alex, being a dragon, is going to find it hard to save himself and to calm down. Seeing his golden eyes, they look sad, in pain, of pure unadulterated fear. Suddenly, a faint memory hits: Miranda faintly heard Serena singing her Lullaby, soothing her sons.

"Boys, do you remember the lullaby that your mother used to sing to you?" Miranda asks, hoping they were old enough to remember.

The boys look at each other, and they suddenly know the one that their grandmother knows. The song that Alex will calm down and hopes to fix him.

"We know the song, but how will it work? since he is now a huge dragon?" Nate asks, pointing at his dragon of a dragon.

Just before Miranda could answer, a magical portal appeared, and walking out were Marcus and the rest of Alex's friends.

"Did we miss the fun?" Marcus asks with playful teasing.

Miranda's eyes are wide with shock, seeing them and a portal from behind, "How did you?"

"You forgot your grandson's familiar is a Starlight Unicorn, and she's the one who opens the portal," Marcus answers her question, pointing at the portal. 

Stella and the other familiars walked through as well. Once the portal vanished, they suddenly heard the wail of the dragon and the cries from the members of the Mistress' Guild. Stella felt her master in pain, she is more worried for his safety.

"We have to do something," Stella pleads, in a horrifying tremor.

Xenos looks out at the battle and is amazed by how powerful Alex is in that form. He turns to look back at Miranda, speaking in a calm, commanding voice like a leader in a team, "How much longer do you need to cast your spell?"

"Five minutes, give me five minutes for me to cast the spell," Miranda answers, and she has her wand ready.

"Then you'll have your five minutes, everyone suspend Alex only, we can't hurt him," Xenos commands, acting like a leader to the group.

Looking at the familiars, giving him a master's command, "Protect Alex's brothers, while we handle him ourselves."

"Leave it to us, master," Reaper replies as all of the familiars stay close to the twins.

"Alright, everyone, let's go!" Xenos says as he dashes his way toward Alex.

Xenos' body turns into mist and bursts into a swarm of bats. He flew close towards Alex, surrounding him.

"Spectral Shackles," Xenos chants his spell.

In front of the bats, there is a magic circle, and suddenly, chains appear and bind Alex and his shadow. As Alex struggles, the others surround him on top of other buildings. Kimberly waves her wand, and her magic swirls around her.

"Ancient Shell!" Kimberly chants her spell, putting a barrier up for Alex.

"Thunder Cage!" Rex chants, slamming his wand down to the ground as thunder strikes down, caging him.

Watching all three of them casting their binding spell and barriers, Alex is roaring in pain, but seeing that he is a dragon, their spells are not working on him.

"ROAR!!"

The bats converse, and Xenos returns to his human form. "Well, that's unexpected, but then again, he is a dragon after all."

"What should we do?" Kimberly asks, worried about trying again.

"Let me hold him," Marcus says, walking towards Alex.

Suddenly, Marcus' Nighe magic (Shadow) surrounds him. Once the magic shatters in Marcus' place, it is a black serpent. Matching Alex in height, his eyes shining blood red.

"Sorry, but this is going to hurt you more than me," Marcus hissed.

Both Alex and Marcus attack. Xenos sees some of the wizards in dark robes running away, and he turns into a swarm of bats to block some of them.

"And where do you think you're going?" Xenos squicks in his bat form.

Kimberly and the others see them and begin attacking, making sure they'll leave Marcus and Alex alone, hoping they'll give Mrs. Griffin all the time she needs for her spell.

***

Miranda, with her wand in hand, glows, and magic swirls around her; she's been chanting her spell to help Aex. However, Alex takes to the air, sees the black snake on the ground, and unleashes a breath of fire. Once the fire was about to hit Marcus, but he vanished into the shadows, as Alex landed, looking around, wondering where the snake had disappeared.

Suddenly, shadow tendrils burst right until Alex trapped him in both snake coils and shadow binds. Marcus's head went towards Alex's neck and bit him.

"Any time now, professor!" Marcus hissed, still holding Alex.

Miranda opens her eyes, and the magic is complete. She points her wand and begins to cast her spell.

"Spectral Lullaby of the Matriarch," Miranda chants her spell.

As Miranda took its effect, mist swirled around the town, and Alex struggled within his binding. Until he felt a giant, soft, caring mother's warmth. Alex froze, his eyes on the glowing hand as it began to take shape, and everyone started hearing a lullaby. 

Alex's eyes begin to pour out tears, and the spectral shape suddenly takes the form of his mom, Serena Griffin. She sees a familiar song that only Alex and the twins know. The song felt warm, and Alex's tears poured uncontrollably; the shadow bind and Marcus released Alex. Freeing him from the trap.

Alex and the spectral Serena glow, the song so familiar to all three boys, once the light deems. Miranda and the others see Alex return to his human form, hugging the ghost of his mother and crying as she continues her song.

***

Just as Serena finished her song, Alex crashed. He is out cold from what happened. Serena's spectral body glows as she turns to see Miranda and the twins, who are shedding their tears seeing their mother. She gives a mother's smile that makes them weep. Miranda grabs hold of each shoulder.

"I love you," Serena whispers as she's completely vanished.

Lying alone on the ground, Alex is completely nude with his hair having some gold scales on his arms, face, and shoulders. On his head is a smaller version of the set of horns that matched his dragon form.

"Alex!" The twins shout, running towards the lying body.

Miranda lay down and let Alex's head lie on her lap. Everyone also saw a set of teeth marks right on the curve of Alex's neck.

"Wow, Marcus, isn't that a little too much?" Xenos asks, turning toward the big snake.

The snake swirls in shadow, then returns to his human form, "Maybe, but at least we're able to stop him."

Suddenly, as things quieted, mighty roars echoed in the sky, startling everyone. Miranda looks up, and the others see as the clouds break, dragons fly down, four of them diving towards the ground, as a blue sea dragon surfaces from the ocean.

Xenos, his friends, and the twins were shocked to see five dragons around them. Seeing them big, like the size of a castle.

"Everyone, meet the Dragon Council," Miranda announced.

The twins' eyes open with wonder, seeing that these five dragons are members of the dragon council. Each dragon's magic and element swirl around them. Suddenly, they begin to shrink to the size of people.

As fire swirls down, once it vaporizes, a man stands dressed like a warrior. The twins notice that it's a gladiator; his dragon horns are small, and he has tiger-like ears and a tail.

"I'm Dastrasz, leader of the Topaz Red Dragons," Dastrasz says, introducing himself.

Black swirls vaporate, and a male dwarf appears with black dragon horns and tail out, "Zadarian of the Zircon Black Dragons."

From the water, a female elf appeared with blue scales, along with horns and a tail, "Lilvygosa, of the Sapphire Blue Dragons."

A female dryad with green tail and horns appears from the nature tornado, "Rinera, from the Agate Green Dragons."

And lastly, from the ice vortex, is a female human looking elegant with her horns and tail, "And I'm Idormi, from the Diamond White Dragons."

Dastrasz walks over and leans down, looking into both Miranda's and the twins' eyes. "It's good to see you again, Lady Miranda."

"It's wonderful to see you too, Lord Dastrasz," Miranda says, smiling.

Dastrasz suddenly reaches and picks up Alex from the floor, "Come, let's return home."

Idormi twirls, and her Ice magic swirls around her, turning her back into her dragon form. Dastrasz, Miranda, the twins, Benjamin, and Alex's friends all get on top of her. Once she takes flight, the other dragon council members change and start heading out too. The twins look out, seeing the ground below, and wonder where they are going now, for this new adventure.

***

Suddenly, in the darkest cave, a terrifying roar of pure unadulterated hatred destroyed the walls. Turning pillars into dust, the purple glowing eyes within the Shadow dragon look angry.

"How dare my curse activate? How dare you, golden dragon?" the Shadow dragon huffs, angry at his own magic.

"Mark my words, Golden boy, I'm coming for you," the Shadow dragon declares.

***

Meanwhile, in a dark corner of Ethernia, there is a headquarters of the Mistress Guild. Inside their members, they are chatting on the second floor. The demonic-looking cat looks out, seeing the members chatting.

"So, that boy is the Golden Dragon," the Demonic Cat hissed, "What should we do? He is too powerful now?"

The cat suddenly feels a whisper of eerie wind in its ear. Giving a sinister smile like the Cheshire Cat, the wind provides a piece of paper, and magic reveals the name.

"Our mistress has given us a new order, we're to get her vessel to send the dragon into a chaos of purrfound terror," the demonic cat purrs. "And she'll be purrfect."

***

That night, in a city full of dragons, Alex lay asleep in a massive king-size bed as an elderly dragon healer checked on him. Miranda and Benjamin are sitting on a couch, while Xenos and the others wait, and the twins look out the window at dragons flying around. 

"Where are we?" Kevin asks.

"Dragonsmeadow, this is the name of the capital, but we're in The Dragon Lands," Miranda answers, "An Island solely for dragons."

"Wow, that's amazing!" Kevin cheers with excitement.

"And scary," Nate adds, nervously seeing a lot of dragons outside.

Dastrasz enters the room, and he sees Miranda and the others. Walking over, everyone except Miranda is surprised to see a council member.

"How's the boy?" Dastrasz asks, seeing the Healer examining Alex.

"We'll know once the Healer finishes with their test," Miranda answers.

Kevin started asking questions about dragons, and Dastrasz answered his questions to the best of his abilities. Suddenly, the Healer began walking by, and Miranda and Benjamin got up too.

"Please, is he okay?" Miranda asks, with a grandma's worried tone.

"He's okay, just needs rest. It was his first time as a dragon. So he's drained, give him time to rest. Also, there is something else," the Healer replies, "That mark on his stomach, it's a curse."

"We did know that much, but we don't know what his curse is?" Miranda says.

"Oh well then this is going to be hard, *breathe* the young man is pregnant," the Healer replies.

Miranda and the others feel shocked, frozen, and in disbelief. Marcus, on the other hand, went pale, his hands trembling. He knows that he and Alex kissed and made love in the Mirrored Mountains one night, and some of Alex's friends turn to see Marcus's shocked expression.

"He's only a few weeks pregnant," the Healer announces.

"Is there a way to break that curse?" Miranda asks.

"There is a way, if there is a good Alchemist, they can create a potion that can remove the curse," the Healer answers.

Both Xenos and Marcus looked at each other.

"This once, for Alex's sake, I'll work with you to find the potion we need," Xenos says, crossing his arms.

"Work for me," Marcus says, crossing his arms.

"One last thing, you should wait if you want the baby, remove the curse when the baby is out of his stomach," the Healer says.

"So nine months, then Marcus and Xenos can remove the curse?" Kimberly asks.

"Sounds easy," Xenos says.

"That depends on the ingredients for the potion to remove this curse," Marcus adds.

Kimberly and the rest of Alex's friends look at one another, knowing they'll have to wait for nine months, but also knowing that once Alex wakes up. He's going to have a ton of questions, and they will be right, because soon Alex's life will be a reality of both old and new threats within Etheria.

And it has just begun.