With the sun falling and the moons rising, the shadows stretched further. Melanie watched as the first of the two moons crested the horizon. It looked three times larger than the moon she was used to. The color was vastly different too. Instead of a white, it was a bright blue. As though the moon was made from pure water held together by a gravitational pull.

As the blue moon rose from the east, the second moon rose from the south east. It was smaller and less luminous, yet just as gorgeous. It glowed with a purple hue that seemed to change in tone the further up it got. In the west, the horizon looked as though the sky had been set a blaze. Reds, yellows, oranges and peach colors lit up the sky.

With every passing minute, the colors darkened and faded as the sun vanished from sight. Kelly and Brandi walked the edge of the training area, looking at the thick wooden poles that protruded from the stone. Deep cuts and furrows had been taken out from the poles after repeated use. Hundreds, if not thousands of warriors had tested their wood against the grain of the pillars.

Off to the right of the training yard was a clearing. A sand pit just under two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. The sands had not been raked through yet, allowing the impression of feet and body marks to remain. It was clear that this was used as the sparring yard. Lucian walked out into the sand pit and Melanie followed.

"My Lady." Lynx said, "I think it wise to stay outside of the pit."

Kelly and Brandi had just been about to walk in after her. They too stepped back.

"Now, I assure you that you are all safe and no harm will come to you. Please do not scream and do not fear." Lucian said.

Melanie looked at Lynx who offered no explanation for the warning. They watched as Lucian closed his eyes and tensed his body. For a long moment, nothing happened except the light around them grew darker. That was when Melanie realized it before the other two did. It had gotten darker but it wasn't because of the sun setting.

She looked at the moons which seemed duller. Then she looked at the western horizon and the darkening horizon appeared far too dark.

'Is he changing the atmosphere around us?' She asked, sensing a slight chill in the air.

"You noticed. I am surprised. Most people don't." Lynx said in a soft whisper.

"What did he do?" Brandi asked.

"Lord Drakkon is drawing in the darkness and shadows." Lynx explained. "It is his fuel for the transformation."

Kelly, Brandi and Melanie watched with intensely focused eyes as his body began the change. The pigmentation of his skin darkened to a deep black that matched his robe. From the follicles of his skin grew dark scales. The same way that they had seen him do before. However, the shift did not end there.

The darkness that he had collected around them began to coalesce on him. That was when they noticed the change. His body began to grow. From the top of his head, down to the side of his jaw line sprang six horns. The shadows surrounding his body added to his presence. The clothes on his body grew with him as he changed.

From six foot five he grew and didn't stop until he was well over nine feet tall. The scales that had grew over his arms had spread across his whole body. Lucian let out a loud snarl as he fell to his hands and knees. The sound of bones popping and joints cracking caused the three of them to shift uncomfortably. Lucian snarled as his spine elongated into a tail that was more than twice his height.

Wings sprang from his back that were double his height. His neck and face elongated and as he continued to grow, it was apparent as to why he was King. In a matter of seconds, Lucian had gone from a handsome man to a massive black dragon.

His body did not stop growing until he reached a full length of one hundred and twenty five feet, from the tip of his snout to the tip of his tail which ended in a spear like point. His black scaly wings were nearly two hundred feet long spreading almost to the walls of the palace. His garnet eyes gazed down at them from fifty feet up.

In the moonlight, his black scales had a slight purple hue that added a bit of beauty to his fearsome form. His four limbs ended in curved black talons that sank into the sands of the pit. No one said anything for a long while. They just stared up at their Lord in shock and Awe. Melanie walked forward and looked up into his gaze, never breaking eye contact.

When she got to his front leg, she laid a hand on him and smiled.

"You are incredible." She said.

Lucian's large scaly draconic head swung down and met her at eye level.

"You are my incredible Queen." He said through snarling pitches that put Melanie in a slightly arousing mood.

She didn't understand why the growling tone of his voice made her want him so badly but nonetheless, it did. She wrapped herself around him and held him. Kelly and Brandi walked up to him, laying their hands on his snout they could feel just how hard and strong he was. Like touching a mountain side they could feel the majesty of it.

"So Lord Drakkon?" Kelly smirked. "I guess it means Dragon? It seems obvious now that I think about it."

"Are you the only dragon around?" Brandi asked.

"No. I am not." He replied. "There are dozens of dragons though not all of them retain the same demeanor as I."

"You mean some are...dangerous and unfriendly?" Melanie asked.

"Some, but not all. It is my job to protect this kingdom. The same way my father did before me, and his father before him." Lucian added.

"So this is how you intend to fight off an army." Melanie chuckled. "It makes sense now. I don't doubt that you'd be able to fight off ten armies."

"Do you breathe fire?" Kelly asked.

"No. I do not breathe fire. Well not only that anyway."

"What do you have to fight this army with?" Kelly asked.

"Take a step back." He growled.

The three of them took several steps away giving him plenty of room. Lucian's chest expanded causing the sharp overlapping scales to lift slightly, like the ruffled feathers of a bird. His dark garnet eyes lit up brightly to a burning scarlet color. The horns at his head began to glow a deep red as did the spines at his back.

Melanie felt the static electricity within the air increase. The hairs on her body pricked up and then Lucian lifted his head up to the sky opening his massive jaws. A long beam of dark red energy erupted from his open mouth with the sound of a thunder clap. Lucian reeled in his internal energy and closed his jaws.

The beam of red energy continued up to the sky where it vanished out of sight before exploding in a cloud of red lightning that crackled across the atmosphere. Lucian closed his eyes and slowly his body began to recede. His tail shrank and his wings folded back. The horns in his head slid back into his skull. His draconic form returned to his human form.

Lucian held his twelve foot tall humanoid black skinned form as he knelt down before the three of them.

"You can do that too?" Brandi asked.

"You are huge!"

"I bet it is huge too." Kelly said, leaning over to Melanie who blushed but had been thinking the same thing. Lucian shrank down to nine feet tall and smiled.

"I have several stages of my form. It is part of being an immortal." He explained.

"An immortal?" Melanie asked.

"Yes. I am an immortal." He then pointed to her and smirked knowing his next words would impact her harder than anything she had seen so far. "By extension-" he touched the the band on his wrist and Melanie touched hers. "- you my Queen are an immortal too."

Kelly and Brandi turned their heads and looked at Melanie whose jaw had dropped. 'I am...an immortal?' She asked silenty.

"What...does that even mean?" Melanie asked.

Lucian shrank back down to regular size and as he did, the black pigmentation of his skin returned to a dark tan. He walked over and held her hands.

"It means that as long as you are not gravely wounded, you will live for as long as the universe and the lady of the land allows." Lucian pulled her in and kissed her.