An Ancestors Mark (#Wattys2016)

Uncle

She had landed a few feet from the fallen beast. Hardly far enough, but somehow far enough to keep her from his arm, but close enough to the ground to not have broken her bones.

"Tori, you are horrid at the whole "listening to your elders" thing. Aren't you?"

Her Uncle Verik stood before her. His hair a bit more ash like than before, his once green irises a bit darker, almost more sunken in with the appearance of dirt and blood all around his face.

His clothes were tattered in some places, scorched in others as he helped her from the death ridden earth beside them.

"N-No. . .well I mean. . .I suppose. B-But, Uncle that's not the point!" She pouted at him in the slightest, a bit angered at his still persistent need for rude humor in all situations.

He merely chuckled at her stuttered out response. "Then what is the point?" He glanced at the dying dragon. "The fact you did a fair deal of damage to that, and still manage to kill it with out help from your dear Uncle and his trusted arrows?"

She glared at him, just beginning to notice the blood that had begun to sink into her skin, and clothing. "Also no."

"Then I have no idea what you mean Victoria. Other than perhaps that you're dead?" He smirked at her, remember their previous conversation that had been ridden with fear and reassurance.

Victoria touched her face with a small smile, hardly having thought of her acclaimed destined death with the rise of her other fears. "Oh thank the Ancestors! I'm not- I'm not dead Uncle!"

He chuckled at her surprise. "I told you, you let go of the nonsense and you live. And you did."

"Uncle do you know what this means?!" She shouted, gripping at his shoulders with what little might remained within her.

"That the Ancestors mean well with you?"

"Well. . .that. But," She grins from ear to ear. "It means I'm the first female to have survived as a Slayer!"

Verik offered his niece a small nod. The slightest bit of a smile upon his lips. "I suppose it does mean that, doesn't it? We'll have to tell the Professors of this."

"We most certainly wi-" She stops short of her sentence, the image of the rest of her family and their comrades behind her uncle. Their frames blending within the mask of the smoke around them until all lot of them were just a few feet short them all. "Vivian, Victor!" She proclaimed at the sight of them.

"Tori!? Did you-did you claim the final dragon?" Their voices hushed as the pair gathered around her. Marcus falling in step behind them, his face written in near disbelief.

The Slayer offered them a small nod. "I think so, Uncle might have helped." She glanced at the fallen beast, its breath still staggering, the puddle of blood falling around them still growing and deepening in color.

"Well, you still seem to have done most of the damage. Probably helps that the beast wasn't completely grown." Her brother spoke,
smirking with a slight glance at the dragon. "Do you think that's the end uncle?"

The siblings Uncle glanced at them all. Afraid to tell them what really ran through his mind. He hesitated. "You'll have to ask the Professors of that one. No one can tell for sure."

The trio dropped their heads in what appeared to be disappointment. "We'll ask tomorrow, along with some other things." Vivian spoke, sending a quick glance at her brother, reminding him of their previous conversation about their sister.

"You do that." Verik encouraged her. Though Adelaide gripped his shoulder before he could continue, whispering in his ear. He nodded in the slightest. "Time to get going home, you need to rest those minds and muscles of yours before your training begins." He forced a small smile, placing his arms around them and pushing them forward, hiding his expression of concern.

Verik knew what had been happening, how it began, and he had an idea about it's end. But such an idea was only found in tall tales not believable to children.