The rainbow-colored light that appeared enveloped everything, hitting the sky, and bathing the world in it. Even though it was shining, it wasn’t blinding. The light just twinkled, stealing your gaze.
“Ah!” Suddenly, I realized that the huge black dragon in front of me was melting into the light. It faded softly into the light, leaving not even a trace. “The monster is...”
Did it disappear because of Miss Maria’s purifying light? Ah, but the color is the same as my Soap. Did that mean that our magic merged? I looked down at our linked hands. Was it because we were holding each other’s hands, or because we cast our spells together? I couldn’t hide my confusion at what was happening.
That’s when I realized... My hand, which was holding Shiro, was suddenly far too light. I would have just thought that he had flown back over to Miss Maria, but I had just seen the other dragon disappear. I spun my head to check, and I saw that he was fading at the edges.
“Shiro!” Miss Maria noticed at the same time, screaming along with me.
“No! Shiro!”
“Kyu...wah...”
“No! Wait...!”
As her fingers touched him, Shiro gave one last squeak, and melted into the light, leaving a small round stone in my hand.
“NOOOOOO!”
I couldn’t tell whether I had screamed, or it had been Miss Maria. But the light shone brighter at the sound, forcing our eyes closed...
When I opened my eyes again, the only thing shining was the purified Cristallo Sacro. Both the black mist and the egg-like fruits had vanished.
I looked down at the stone in my palm to see if there was any trace of the dragons left. The stone, which looked almost like a magic crystal, was the same color as Shiro’s scales. In the center was a faint golden light, just like his eyes.
“Eh... Where’s Shiro...? Shiro? Where did you go?” Miss Maria pleaded weakly.
I couldn’t bring myself to answer her. No matter where you looked, the cute little dragon was nowhere to be seen.
“Shiro...!” I gasped, dropping to the ground.
Miss Maria started pounding her fist against the tree’s trunk in a rage. “Give him back! Give him back to me! Why did he disappear too? He wasn’t a bad monster! He was different from that black dragon! He’s important to me! Give! Him! Back...!”
While she cried, I stared at the crystal in my palm. Why? Why did he disappear? Just like Miss Maria said, he wasn’t a monster that would attack anyone. He’d been our friend since the moment he hatched!
“Oww!”
“Miss Maria!?”
“Something just fell... What’s this?” Miss Maria rubbed the top of her head as she picked something up from the base of the tree, inspecting it. “Is this...metal? Or a crystal?”
Tears still in her eyes, she turned towards us, showing what she had picked up. The drop-shaped stone was golden, just like Miss Maria’s light magic.
“Let me see!” Eric exclaimed. In turn, everyone gathered at the base of the tree. He took the drop-shaped stone, scrutinizing it from every angle.
“Lucia.” I looked up as I felt a warm palm against my back, only to see Sir Celes give me a worried look. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. But Shiro—” The moment I said his name, my tears began to flow again. “Is it my fault for borrowing his power? He... He’s gone...”
“That can’t be it.” Sir Celes pulled me close, but I couldn’t stop crying. Part of me worried about dirtying his clothes as I sobbed.
Shiro. I’m so sorry, Shiro. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for borrowing your power without thinking of the consequences. But no matter how much I regretted it or apologized, Shiro remained a crystal. Powerless, Miss Maria and I cried.