"Draii, you're back. Sniff! What took you so long? We thought that... waaah!" Dimitra excimed, her words interspersed with sobs as she id eyes upon her brother's return.
His other siblings soon gathered around him, their faces etched with a mixture of relief and , tears streaking down their cheeks.
'I really made them worry a lot,' Draco thought, his heart heavy with the realization of the distress he had caused his family.
"It's alright, I am fine. I got everything we needed," he reassured them, his voice calm and steady, despite the turmoil he had experienced.
Draco had left the carriage o a tree on the surface, along with his half of the bck dragon scale.
"Didn't you say that we were all going to gather things together ter?" Michalis asked with a sniffle.
Draco's expression softened, "That was the pn, but after seeing what happeo the town, I am gd that you all didn't e along." he replied.
"What happeo it?" Eleantly asked. Draco paused, his mind repying the siing ses he had witnessed.
He didn't want to burden his already emotionally overwhelmed family with the grim details.
"Well, it was destroyed," he replied, his voice den with a heavihat belied the true extent of the devastation.
Eleni could sehe weight of her brother's words, and she muttered, "I see."
She khat whatever Draco had entered had been truly horrific, so she didn't press him further.
"So do we leave now?" Nikoos asked.
"No, we will leave tomorrow. If we leave now, the night will meet us," Draco expined, his gaze sweeping over his siblings.
Cir, who had been uncharacteristically quiet sihe previous day, spoke up.
"Then what do we do now?" she asked.
Draco took a deep breath and replied, "I think that we should pack up and move to the surface. We will depart early in the m. I mao find a map.".
He paused for a moment before adding, "But before that, I will be returning to the town to chee st area for any survivors."
Vasileios immediately protested, "Why are you going back? Aren’t the scary mohere?" he argued.
Drache in his brother's voice, a remnant of the harrowing experiehey had endured during his kidnapping i in the past.
'Of course he wouldn't fet such a thing easily,' Draco thought.
"I will be fine," he assured Vasileios.
"I have the bck dragon scale with me, it keeps the monsters away." He expined.
Vasileios stared at him with a skeptical gaze, and Draco couldn't help but smile.
"Don't you trust y bro?" he asked, reag out to give Vasileios a f head pat.
Vasileios simply shook his head in response, a bit tent for now.
Draew that he would o toughen up his siblings if they were to have any ce of surviving in the dangerous city of Orario.
As much as he wao preserve their childish innoce, the harsh realities of the world demahat they grow faster to be prepared for the challehat y ahead.
"Alright, everyone, begin pag," Dranounced.
"We will set up camp on the surfad leave for a new porrow." He instructed.
'This should help them adapt to the outdoors,' Draco thought.
With the dragon scales, the monsters wouldn’t attack them but they would still be heard and seen roaming around the edges of where the one-eyed dragons' aura influended.
As his siblings busied themselves with the task, Draco turned his attention to the pce where their parents, grandparents, and teacher had perished.
He stretched out his hand, using his earth magic to jure simple graves for them.
There were no bodies he could y to rest – their remains had been reduced to ashes and mixed with the molten robsp;
Draco's as did not go unnoticed by his siblings, who had pleted their pag and gathered around the newly formed graves.
They stood in solemn sileil Draco decided to speak up.
Clearing his throat, Draco stepped forward, his eyes glistening with uears.
"We gather here today, in this pce that once held the vibrant lives of our beloved family and teacher, to honor their memory and bid them a final farewell," he began.
He paused, allowing the weight of his words to settle over the sathering.
"Our parents; Mark, Chise and Rose. Grandparents; John, Anita, Rita, and Marcus. Our teacher: Rize, have left an indelible mark on our lives. They have guided us, nurtured us, and instilled within us the values that have shaped the people we are today," he said.
Draco's voice wavered slightly as he tinued, "Though their physical forms have been taken from us, their spirits live on, woven into the very fabric of our existehey shall forever remain in our hearts, their ughter, their wisdom, and their love, a stant source of strength and inspiration.".
He k down, his firag the simple graves he had jured, as if to feel the e to those who had once occupied this spabsp;
"In these graves, we y to rest the remnants of their earthly forms, but their true esseransds the fines of the physical world. They have returo the elements, to the cycle of life ah that binds us all." he said.
Draco rose to his feet, his gaze sweeping across the faces of his siblings, eae etched with a profound sorrow.
"We may never agaiheir faces, hear their voices, or feel the warmth of their embrace, but they will live on through us. In our as, our decisions, and the way we choose to honor their memory, they will tio shape the course of our lives.".
Draco turned his attention back to the graves, his hand reag out to caress the freshly turh o time.
"To our parents, randparents, and our teacher, we offer this prayer, may your souls fiernal peace. May the light of your memories guide us through the darkness of this loss, and may the love you have bestowed upon us tio nourish and sustain us in the days to e." He paused, his eyes closing as he sought the words to vey the depth of his emotions.
"We thank you for the gifts you have given us – the gift of life, the gift of love, and the gift of family." Draco's siblings moved to stand beside him, their hands csped together in a show of unity and support.
One by ohey each added their own words of remembrand gratitude, their voices mingling in a chorus of love and sorrow.
As the final words faded into the stillness of the air, the siblings gathered around the graves, all turned away and began climbing to the surface.
