Freedom's Last Hope

Samuel could hear the agonizing screams of his parents as he watched them being executed by the demon invaders, telling him and his older sister, Saige, to run away to go find their grandparents, as they should be safe with them. Samuel screamed in terror as his sister tried to comfort him and get him to run away. They then ran away, out of the small village, which was still being under siege by an evil mage and his demonic servants.  That was when Samuel woke up in his bed, hyperventilating. He had had the nightmare again. The nightmare of that horrible memory. He woke up his sister and informed her he had another nightmare.

"Guessing by the sunrise, I'd say about 5:00 a.m." Samuel mumbled. He then stretched his arms and let out out a long, exasperated sigh. "I'm going to go get a pale of water from the well so I don't have to hear grandfather yell at me to do it later." Samuel then ventured just outside of his grandparent's small cottage to fetch a pale of water from the well. As he got to the well and filled the pale with water, he had the sudden urge to look out into the valley, towards the direction of the village that he and his sister used to call home. He tried not to bring the memories of his parents' deaths back into his head and quickly walked back inside the cottage and placed the water pale down. He then walked back into he and his sister's room. "There. I'm back." He said as he sat down on his bed.

"Sure." Samuel said with excitement. He quickly got ready and prepared a note for their grandparents. "Let's just hope you don't change back to human while we're in midair like last time." He said as he chuckled to himself for a second. He remembered what had happened last time. They were flying when Saige had suddenly morphed back into her human form and they crashed, ending up with some slight bruises and scratches. He even remembered how they had to lie to their grandparents by telling them a made up story of how they where attacked by some wild animals. "I don't think they'll believe the same story twice." Samuel said as he had packed his bag with his spell books in them. He loved reading and from time to time, he practiced spell casting.

Samuel had walked outside with his sister and watched in awe as she morphed into a dragon from head to toe. "I still don't know what goes on with your body when you transform," He said in confusion. "I mean, how does your skeletal structure change, your skin turn to scale? You grow these unremarkable wings and a tail and it just fascinates me more and more every time." Being smart for his age and having a love of wanting to gain knowledge, learning new things always made him happy.

He took his glasses out of his pocket and put them on and asked if his sister was ready.

Samuel looked back to make sure his grandparents hadn't awaken. "Okay. The coast is clear." He said, reassuring Saige as he had climbed atop her back. "Go ahead and take to the skies." Samuel said. '"You know, I've been working on something that should give you a bit more control over your form so you have a lower chance of randomly changing in between the two forms." He said.

"Why, yes I have. I'm almost done with it. It should help clear your mind and help you stay in your dragon form for longer by not ruining your focus. And when you're in your human form it should keep you from randomly changing into a dragon when you're nervous. I've been observing every time you randomly change, and my conclusions where that when nervous, you have a higher chance of changing into a dragon; and as a dragon, when lacking focus, you have a higher chance of changing back into human." Samuel had said while feeling the wind in his hair. It felt good to him. Like it gave him a sense of freedom, which is something he hasn't felt in a while.

"Right this moment?" Well I could give it a try right now if you-" He paused for a second, noticing that Saige seemed distracted by something. "Saige, you have to remember not to lose focus. As I was saying, I'll give it a try if you want me to." He said as he took out one of his spell books from his back and went to the page where he wrote the spell. "Okay. I'm about to cast it on you." He then read from the book and casted the spell on his sister, in hopes that it would work. "Well how do you feel now?" He said with curiousity.

"That's great!" Samuel said with pride, knowing his spell was a success. He smiled. He likes being able to help out his sister. He looked down to the ground, wondering if their grandparents have awoken yet, then grew concerned. "I hope our grandparents are still asleep by the time we get back." He said with a bit of nervousness. They both knew their grandparents would be worried if they were gone.

Especially in these times of darkness and disarray.

"I guess we should head back." Samuel said with worry, as he too felt like something was awry. He then look off into the distance and noticed some storm clouds approaching. "How could a storm be setting in? The weather was fine just earlier. Hmm, we should try getting back a bit faster so we can prepare if necessary." He said, trying not to sound cowardly.

"I share your confusion, Saige. I, too, cannot explain it." Samuel said, worried about the storm. The two siblings make it back to their cottage, still concerned about the menacing, dark maelstrom heading their way.

"We should warn our grandparents. But hopefully they won't question why we were outside." Samuel said.

Samuel stood behind his sister, wondering how his grandparents would react to the two siblings being awake so early. "How are we going to explain everything to them if they start questioning us?" Samuel whispered with worry. Their grandparents are rather strict sometimes and Samuel knew they didn't like being woken up. But he and Saige knew they had no other choice but to do so.

Then their grandparents awoken.

Their grandparents acknowledged that and went back to bed "We'll be in our room if you need us to do anything." Samuel said, as he just wanted to get back to his room, as standing there by the door of his grandparents' room made him feel uncomfortable. The two siblings went back to their room, confronting their grandparents like that made them feel awkward.

"That went...well. I guess" Samuel said.

"I'm not too sure about that. Going outside clearly isn't an option." Samuel said. "Hmm. How about we mess around with some spells?" Samuel said with excitement. He never liked doing chores and was willing to do anything just to avoid having to do them right now.

Then an idea struck Samuel. "Hey, why do chores when you can sit back, relax, and let magic do all the hard work for you?" Samuel said with a smirk and took out his spell book.