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As I watch them scan the perimeter, I realize the truth. Even with the dragon gone, I know this jungle is not the place I’d want to raise my children.

The tribe starts to chant our names as we drag the dragon’s bloody head inside the cavern. It barely fits down the tunnel.

As we enter the main cavern, I sense a blackness emanating from one of the tunnels that leads off. There’s a dark eagerness coming from the cavern that houses the tribe’s sacred Orb – as if the otherworldly object cansensethe sacrifice being brought to it.

The three Aurelians pull with all their might, so close to their reward, and with the dragon’s head leaving a bloody trail in its wake, we enter the shrine room together.

The Orb pulses and shimmers as Stryker, Brigg and Haleon drag their offering to it. Blackness seems to extend from the Orb, and it literallygobblesthe dragon head; absorbing it into the blacker-than-black darkness of its shimmer, spherical body.

There’s no sound as the Orb consumes the sacrifice – nothing except for a low hum. I shudder, wondering what thoughts grow in the mind – if it has such a thing – of the massive Orb.

Then, suddenly, a blue tendril darts from the Orb, and skewers me like a spear.

I gasp, staring down at the rippling black shaft of lightning, piercing my belly like a sword.

For a moment I’m fearful – remembering how the Orb back on Earth literally burned that guard from the inside out…

…but instead, I’m lifted up in the air, and feel my body filled with a crackling force like electricity.

And then it suddenly stops, and I drop to the ground, clutching my belly.

There’s no wound where the shaft of black lightning pierced me. No burn marks, or scars. I feel no different, in fact…

…until I suddenly gasp; feeling a sensation I’d long since forgotten.

My panties suddenly grew wet.

“I-I just got my period,” I mutter, in shock and confusion.

I’m sixty-four years old, according to the calendar of Earth. And yet, for the first time in over thirty years, I’m once again fertile.

Ripper enters the room, studying the four of us.

I fear he will yell, scream, or assault us…

…instead, he lowers his head in shame.

“I misjudged you,” he murmurs. “I banished you. You have brought more honor to this tribe in a single day than I have in my lifetime – and I must recognize that.”

And then, incredibly, this ancient and powerful Aurelian drops to his knees in front of us – offering up the chain he wore around his neck to mark his position as Clan Leader and Chieftain.

“I would make one ofyouChief of the tribe,” he says, looking up and holding his head high as he addresses us.

Stryker shakes his head. “We must refuse, Ripper. We travel south, now – to raise a family.”

I expect Ripper to mock the choices of the Aurelians. I know that the southern valley people have a reputation for being soft.

But, instead, he nods – his pride abandoned.

“The truth be told? I myself have longed for those lush valleys.”

Stryker extends a hand – pulling the old Chieftain to his feet.

“You honor us with your offer – but in making it, you have proven yourself once again worthy to be Clan Leader.” Stryker lays a heavy hand on the old Chief’s shoulder. “It takes bravery and courage to face mountain lions, or Scorps, or even a dragon itself…”

The leader of my triad bows respectfully.

“…but it takes far more to admit when you have been at fault.”