The Last Keeper and Her Two Monsters

The forest of Evershade was dying, and so was Elara. She was eighteen, but her eyes looked forty. She sat on a cold, dead stone in the middle of the black trees, hugging her knees to her chest. Her cloak, made of dry leaves, was torn and useless against the cold. Her cheeks were wet with tears that never seemed to stop. No one had ever loved her. Ten years ago, the village elders had dragged her into this forest and left her to die. "Cursed child! Keeper's cursed blood!" they had screamed, their faces full of hate. Her own parents never came back to find her. She was completely alone. Until a warm breath touched her cheek. It was Kael. Kael was not a normal wolf. He was a Beautiful and Innocent Wolf, with soft silver-grey fur that glowed faintly in the dark like moonlight. The humans in the villages called him a monster. But for Elara, he was her whole world. He sat beside her, close enough to keep her warm, and gently wiped her tears with his furry head, making a low, sad whine that sounded like he was crying too. Elara buried her face deep into his warm neck. "Why does no one love us, Kael? They call you a monster, but you are the only one who ever wiped my tears. You are my only family." Kael couldn't speak, but his golden eyes said everything. For ten years, he had stayed by her side. He brought her berries and small rabbits when she was starving, he chased away the shadow beasts, and he curled around her like a big pillow when the nightmares came. He was her brother, her protector, her first baby. The forest was dead silent. The trees were black and dry. Even the magical blue mushrooms that once lit up Evershade were now dead. "I am so hungry, Kael," she whispered. Kael stood up quickly to go and find food, but Elara grabbed his soft fur. She heard something. _Tap... Tap... Tap..._ It wasn't the wind. It was a soft, broken crying sound, coming from deep inside the forbidden cave. No one ever entered that cave. The old Keepers called it the Heart of the Forest. Kael's ears stood up. He let out a small growl. It was dangerous. But the crying came again. It sounded like a newborn baby, cold and alone. "A baby? Did they leave another child to die like me?" Elara's heart ached. She couldn't ignore it. She stood up, her legs shaking, and walked towards the cave. Kael walked right in front of her, his body shielding hers. The cave was dark and freezing. Water dripped from the rocks. In the center, on a bed of cold stones, something was glowing. It wasn't a human baby. It was an egg. The egg was as big as both of her hands, its shell blue like the summer sky, with silver veins that pulsed like a beating heart. The crying was coming from inside it. The egg was shaking, scared and cold. Elara gasped. She had seen a drawing of this in her mother's old Keeper book. A Dragon Egg. But dragons had been extinct for a thousand years. "Kael... it's a dragon egg... and it's alive... it's crying for its Mama..." She knelt down slowly. The egg was warm. The moment her fingertips touched it, the crying stopped. The egg glowed brighter. _Crack._ A tiny c***k appeared. Then another. And another. Kael stepped back a little, his body tense, ready to protect Elara from anything. The shell broke open. And the most beautiful creature she had ever seen tumbled out. A baby dragon. His scales were soft and blue like diamonds. His tiny bat-like wings were too small to fly. His big, golden eyes were full of tears. He looked at Elara and made a soft, sad sound. "Pew..." It was Pip. The moment Pip saw Elara, his tears stopped. With wobbly legs, he crawled straight into her lap and rubbed his tiny head against her hand, just like Kael did. Elara started crying again, but these tears were different. They were happy. "You... you think I am your Mama?" she laughed through her tears. Pip sneezed. A tiny puff of beautiful blue fire burst from his nose and hit the dead cave walls. Magic exploded. Wherever the blue fire touched, dead stone turned green. Tiny plants grew. The whole cave lit up with a soft, blue glow. And at that exact moment, a sharp, warm pain burned Elara's wrist. She looked down. A mark was appearing on her skin - a perfect circle, made of a dragon and a wolf chasing each other. It glowed gold. The Soul-Bond. The legend was true. The dragon had chosen his mother. Forever. "Pip... what have you done to me?" she whispered, smiling for the first time in ten years. Kael came closer and sniffed the tiny dragon. Pip was scared at first, then bravely licked Kael's nose. Kael made a happy sound and licked him back. He accepted him as his little brother. Elara opened her arms. Kael put his head in her lap, right next to Pip. "My babies," she whispered, tears falling. "My two babies." They were now a family of three. Elara held Pip to her chest like a real mother. Pip purred and fell asleep in her warm hands, safe and loved. She thought her happiness had finally begun. She was wrong. _BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM!_ A terrible war horn shook the entire forest. From the edge of Evershade, she could hear horses, swords, and men shouting. Kael's fur stood up. His golden eyes turned sharp. The humans had felt it. When Pip's fire revived the dead cave, a wave of pure dragon magic had shot into the sky. The whole kingdom had seen the blue light. The King's hunters had been searching for a dragon heart for ten years. And now they knew. A dragon had been born. They were coming. Right now. To kill her baby. Elara held Pip tighter. Pip woke up, terrified, and hid deep inside her cloak. Elara wiped her tears. Her soft eyes turned to stone. A strange, powerful blue light started to glow in her own veins. She looked at Kael, then at Pip. "Let them come," she whispered, her voice no longer that of a scared girl, but of a mother. "No one will take my children. No one."