Well... This is it... The last chapter...

But there's gonna be an Epilouge and Alt. Ending, So don't miss that ^_^

Warnings: Mentions of blood, gore, major character death in a pretty violent way

     ~3rd P.O.V~

     Everyone wheels around at the voice, eyes wide and mouths gaping. Everyone holds weapons, which now drop to the ground, and Mitch holds his bow, the string only drawn back halfway. Even Lachlan and Roxanne stop their battle at the voice, out of everyone Roxanne being the one most surprised.

      "P-Preston?" Jerome sputters, instantly the all of them-excluding Roxanne-running to stand around Preston.

     Preston, still on his back, smiles weakly as his gaze shifts through the five of them. Grunting in pain, he pushes himself to a sitting position, looking pretty terrifying seemingly rising from the dead, covered in blood and with flaps of skin hanging off the back of his head. A few pieces of loose stone tumble from his back, a nasty crack dominating the majority of it. The pickaxe, with little stone around it to hold it in, clatters to the sand, tipped with red.

      "But... But you're dead!" Roxanne cries, eyes wide in fear.
      Preston's eyes shift towards her, narrowing. "You wish. Y'know... I guess I probably should've thought of this sooner... But I'm literally made of lava. You can't kill, lava. Well I mean you can... But I just realized I can do something."

       And with that Preston's skin begins to glow brighter, and almost instantly the immediate area around him rises in temperature. And as it continues to grow hotter, Preston's skin burning brighter, the Pack find themselves backing away to avoid getting burnt.

     "Preston, what are you doing?" Vikk questions, backing away with caution.

       Preston doesn't respond, but instead closes his eyes, focusing as his skin continues to grow hotter, by now far surpassing the boiling point. Preston's skin begins to drip, and everyone watches in both awe and terror as Preston's skin begins to actually move, dripping and shifting. Before everyone's eyes, scalding hot lava slides and fills in the gaps on Preston's head, repairing the misplaced skin. And the same goes for any other cuts or gashes. Lava just shifts, and fills them in. But he doesn't stop. Not after his wounds are sealed, not after there's a pool of lava gathering under him, not even when his shape becomes like jelly, losing much of its structure. And it would be a lie for any of them, even the Pack, to say they weren't throughly shocked and petrified as they watch Preston begin to morph in front of their own eyes.

     Everyone turns away to sheild their eyes, continuing to back away as the brightness of Preston's skin becomes nearly blinding, and it rapidly begins to stretch and expand. Bubbling, Preston grows, to a size impossibly bigger than his usual size. Even Lachlan, the tallest of them all, has to lean his head back to witness the terrifying sight in front of him. Even the stone on Preston's back expands. How, no one can guess.

      "Preston he's... He's transforming!"

     Two shapes unfurl from Preston's back, though no one can exactly tell what they are, since none of them can directly look at Preston, now shining as bright as the sun. Something long and muscular spurts from behind Preston, lashing as his limbs grow long and strong, now growing like a four legged animal. His neck becomes unnaturally long, as does his face, now elongated and wide. As the transformation finishes, accompanied by a blinding flash of light that out shines the sun, Rob rubs his eyes as they water. When they're clear, and he glances up at Preston once again, now back down to his normal warm glow, he gasps in shock. Because although there's no doubt in his mind what's standing before him is Preston, it's not... Preston.

      Standing just as large as an Enderdragon, if not larger, is a dragon with warmly glowing lava like skin, and empty black charcoal eyes. Two large wings-which as he fans them stretch dozens of blocks wide-unfurl from his back, the boning between the Orange membrane a pitch black. Standing on all fours, spikes darker than night line the joints of his limbs, the claws on his feet just as black, and each as long as a sword. Protective black scales, once again black, run all the way from his throat, down his neck, over his chest, running across his belly, and nearly all the way down the muscular tail swaying regally behind him. Sharp black spines run from the tip of Preston's snout, all the way to the tip of his tail where a diamond shaped spike, larger than the others, jut from the end of his tail. Two black spiralling horns grow form his head, and the tips of deadly sharps rows of teeth stick out from his mouth. There are large patches of stone on his back, some cracked deeply, but he seems largely unconcerned by it.

     Eyes glinting, Preston rears up, head arching back in an earsplitting roar that shakes the entire stadium, literally knocking everyone off their feet. Muscular legs propelling himself forward, Preston leaps into the air, wings spreading out and easily carrying him as he glides over his friends to the edge of the stadium, where Roxanne is fleeing and trying to escape with her life. The arena is light up in a brilliant glow as a pillar of fire shoots from the open jaws of Preston, dozens of long sharp teeth shining in the fires light. The fire is so hot it sets fire to the sand itself, creating a fiery barrier between Roxanne and the exit. She whirls around, eyes wide and quivering in fear as she holds her battle axe in front of her, shaking in her grip. Preston snorts, as if to laugh, when the battle axe strikes against his foreleg and snaps like a twig. Rob, Jerome, Mitch, Vikk, and Lachlan all promptly look away and cover their ears as Preston's head whistles down, jaws parted with a furious roar. There's a stomach churning crunch and the top half of Roxanne's body is gone. A second later, and she's gone without a trace.

      As Preston steps back, a forked tongue slipping out to lick his lips, Preston glows brightly once again and shrinks rather quickly to his original size, his elongated neck, large limbs, tail, wings, spikes, and claws vanishing into this air. Preston burps loudly, grinning, as everyone stares at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws, speechless. Like, what are you supposed to say when someone, who was supposed to be dead, suddenly sits up and literally turns into a gigantic dragon?! So Lachlan says the only thing that can come to mind, summing up everyone's thoughts pretty well.

        "What?!"
       Preston shrugs, smiling cheekily yet again. "Honestly, I don't even know. But no hugs? No 'welcome backs?'" Preston inquires, tilting his head as he opens his arms, inviting an embrace.

       Rob is the first to react, releasing a choked sob of relief and joy and staggers forward, dashing across the sand to leap into Preston, hugging him tightly. Jerome arrives a split second later, wrapping his arms around both Rob and Preston, squeezing them tightly in a bear hug. Lachlan joins in, then quickly Vikk, and finally Mitch who literally jumps on the group, nearly knocking everyone to the ground.

       "I still can't believe you're alive, and you morphed into a freaking dragon!" Mitch rejoices, tears of joy pricking his eyes.

        Preston hums a response, and finds his own tears of joy spilling. He's just as happy to be alive as everyone else is. The group parts, everyone smiling like idiots.

      "You realize what this means, right?" Rob asks, wiping a tear form the corner of his eye. "We did it. We actually did it. The six of us control the kingdoms and now the war is really over."
       "And-" Vikk adds, "None of us died. I mean we had literally a ton of close calls, but still we're all here now, aren't we?"

      A peaceful slice falls on them, as they take in what they've accomplished into full consideration. Against all odds, the six of them managed to, single handedly for the most part, stop the entire war themselves. And it's been going on for twenty-seven years. With thousands of people fighting... And it only took six to stop it.

      "Well I guess that means we should probably have our first meeting then... And figure out what to do from here." Mitch suggests, everyone nodding their agreement.
      "I still can't believe we actually did it though. Like we're gonna be legends now!" Preston bubbles, beaming childishly.
      "True, but just remember the real treasure was the memories we made along the way." Jerome says, rather cheesily.
Lachlan stares at him. "I almost died!"
A small smile spreads over his face. "Ah yes, that was my fondest memory."

End

~~~
Question of the chapter:

Well that's it... The end of this book... So what did you guys think? Do you have a favourite chapter?

My answer: I really liked writing the desert temple chapter, as well as the mutant kingdom challenges.