"What… what is that thing?" Felix called out as the family all dove in opposite direction as the giant creature made up of the remains of their home and burning with the fires of the encanto candle rushed towards them.

"A Hollow Dragon!" Ernesto called out before looking at Anton. "Armor!"

"On it!" he shouted, pulling out a small bag from his pocket and pulling it open… wider and wider and wider, impossibly wide for such a tiny bag. He said… something, Felix couldn't quite understand what it was as the tongue was a swirling mixture of clicks and twisting lyrical words, but whatever it was from the bag flew a set of armor that latched onto Ernesto, locking onto his body. The last piece was a shield, round and made of a gleaming pale green metal that Ernesto quickly fastened to his arm."It's not your normal stuff-"

The Hollow Dragon roared and fired off a blast of fire, Ernesto raising the shield to protect him and Felix, the enchanted metal instantly expanding to block the paladin's body from the flames.

"Better than nothing!" he shouted back. The shield shrank down and Felix was able to see that Saharah had sent out several of her toy soldiers, the little things not so little anymore as they expanded rapidly to the size of an adult and moved to rush the beast, distracting it so that Ernesto and Felix could begin moving away.

"What is a Hollow Dragon?" Felix asked again, looking about wildly. Antonio's new jaguar friend had appeared and the boy was on its back, gripping onto her fur even as his eyes were wide with fear. Camilo was looking about wildly, clearly wanting to help but Dryft was putting himself in front of the boy, hands held out as he drew water from the ground, lobbing liquid bowling balls at the dragon to try and douse some of the fires; it wasn't doing much but it was at least something. Pepa spotted him and gave a nod before she ran towards Julieta, who seemed shellshocked by the entire situation.

"Normally they are metallic dragons, who are classified as Good Alignment in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. They protect places to ensure they aren't damaged or guard items mental for noble purposes. But if a metallic dragon dies while too focused on their mission there is a risk that they will rise back up as Hollow Dragon, an undead monster consumed with the singular goal of protecting… something. A jewel or a fortress or a king long dead! They forget who they are protecting it for, who it belongs too… the mission is all that matters. They are mindless in it!"

Mirabel shouted something and all her metallic animals raced to her, slamming into her body to form her armor before she leapt onto her jaguar Valeria, raising her hammer and giving a battle cry even as Agustin shouted at her to stop. But Mirabel was already off, Valeria dodging swipes from the Hollow Dragon as Mirabel darted under the dragon's belly.

"And how did it get here and where did Alma go?" Felix asked.

"That's the thing," Ernesto said as Nocci fired a spell at the Hollow Dragon, causing it to stumble before it turned on him, lashing out with its tail and striking him. The warforged went flying, Ulika leaping into the air and grabbing his hand to help slow his descent. "That is Alma!"

"What?!"

"The spell!" Ernesto cried out over the din of battle. "She wanted to reveal our true selves! But she didn't make a sacrifice to whatever she called upon so they took the cost out on her! And seems whoever she asked for aid from has a sense of ironic humor… she wanted to reveal our true selves so the spell revealed her's."

"The dragon," Felix whispered. "How do we stop it? How do we change her back?"

Ernesto swallowed. "I… I don't know."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Bruno!" Pepa cried out as she saw her brother drop his cloak and unbutton his shirt, letting both flutter to the ground before he rotated his bare shoulders. "What are you doing hermano?!"

"I have to try and hold her back," Bruno told her. "Julieta!" Their sister snapped her head up in their direction. "Get to the village! Warn them about the attack! Tell them to get to the forest!"

"My children are still here!" Julieta cried out. "I have to help them-"

"You are a healer, hermana!" Bruno shouted. "Dryft can at least use offensive attacks-" The capricorn bellowed in pain as he leapt in front of Isabella, taking a blow that had been coming her way from the the Hollow Dragon's clawed hand, his body bouncing along the ground before coming to a stop next to Gahoole, who paused whatever blood spell she had been performing to check on him. The Prince moaned but slowly began to get up, though his hand came back bloody and Gahoole set to work on him. "But you can't! We need you to lead the villagers to safety! Find Camilo and Dolores, take them with you."

"Antonio-" Pepa began but Bruno cut her off.

"His jaguar is getting him away from the danger." He paused, jaw working. "And we might need him. He might be able to talk to her, get her to calm down."

"Bruno…" Pepa warned.

"You know I'm right!" Bruno snapped. "I don't like it but we might!"

After a moment Pepa lowered her head and nodded; she wasn't happy but she knew he had a point.

"I'm not leaving my daughters here!" Julieta shouted over the sounds of battle; Gahoole had reentered the fray when Dryft had waved her off, darting about the battlefield that had been the Madrigal's front lawn, lashing out with her sword and sending ribbons of magic into the Hollow Dragon. But all that did was cause bits of wall and furniture to drop from the body of the beast, making the battlefield even more chaotic.

"They need to fight," Bruno said sternly. "Those three are the most powerful of the grandchildren… we need their help." As if making his case for him Luisa suddenly roared, having grabbing one of the massive boulders she'd once used in her workout and hurled it at the hollow dragon just as it was moving to bite down on Anton; the mage nodded in thanks before returning to his spells. Nocci, for his part, slammed his staff into the ground and caused more boulders to rise up for Luisa to hurl.

"But-" Julieta exclaimed only for Agustin to place a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll watch out for them," Agustin promised her. "You get the innocent out of harm's way."

Julieta swallowed at that before pulling him down for a kiss. "I will be back as soon as they are safe… do not get hurt my love."

"I promise," Agustin whispered and then Julieta was running shouting for Camilo and Dolores to follow her.

"Do you have a plan?" Pepa asked once their sister was gone, winds swirling around her thanks to her nerves. She had the horrible feeling that might have been the last time they were all together.

"One," Bruno said as he took a step forward, his aura flaring out and causing him to look several times bigger than he had before, multiple arms flexing around him. And yet… he was still so small when compared to the Hollow Dragon. "Hit her really really hard."

And with that he ran forward, cocking back two fists before unleashing a flurry of attacks.

"There has to be something else we can do," Pepa said. "Some way to stop what mama did with that stupid book-"

"The book," Agustin whispered. "Where's the book?"

Pepa's eyes went wide as she realized just what Agustin was getting at. "We have to find it!" She took a step forward only for Saharah to land in front of them.

"No offense but leave this to the professionals," the bard said, furiously playing her lute to command her metal soldiers.

"The book mama had!" Pepa called out, having to yell over the roars of the Hollow Dragon as Ulika grabbed a fallen piece of lumber and drove it like a lance into its side. The dragon twisted though and sent a burst of flames out of the wound, forcing the Orc Woman to leap away as the timber was reduced to ash. "Could that undo this?"

The dragonborn's eyes widened before she let out a shrill whistle. "New plan! Find the spellbook!"

"Oh it!" Gahoole shouted. "Dryft, hold back and heal! There isn't enough water for you to do much." The capricorn nodded and Gahoole darted back into the fray. His chest had stopped bleeding but the wounds were rather nasty looking.

"Water…" Pepa whispered before hurrying to Dryft, Agustin breaking off to check on Isabella who was watching the battle with wide eyes. "Dryft!"

"Yeh?" the capricorn slurred, shaking his head before reaching up and cracking his jaw. "Sorry. Yes?"

"You can perform healing spells better if there is more water around, right?"

The prince nodded. "I can use blood but if someone lost some I can't make more out of nothing. And many of my spells-"

Pepa held up a hand. "I can get you water." She turned, narrowing her eyes as she stared at the monster that her mama had become, thinking about all she had done the last few weeks, how her foolishness had nearly tore the family apart before they had realized the depth of her lies and hypocrisy. How it was forcing her family to fight. How she might LOSE her family-

Storm clouds began to form above the battlefield, dark and ominious.

"It's about to get very wet," Pepa rumbled.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Any weak points you spot, Mirabel?" Gahoole asked as the golemsmith returned from her examination of the Hollow Dragon. Bruno was now the lead attacker, plummeling the monster and breaking off chunks of casita from him. If they hadn't been told that Bureau had moved to protect casita's magical soul Mirabel would have been terrified about the damage being done to the sentient house; she just knew she didn't want to be a part of the attack.

"Everything keeps shifting… notice how it moves?" she pointed to the hollow dragon and how it was dragging its belly on the ground before lumbering to its feet, only to suddenly rush forward and slam down again. "It's adding debris and rocks to its body… its replacing what we break off of it."

Luisa frowned, panting slightly from having to rapidly throw boulders and other items at the beast. "So there is no way to take it down?"

"Oh, there are ways," Mirabel said as it began to rain hard. She glanced over to see Dryft standing up, a slight smile on his face and eyes shut as he held out his arms, the wounds he'd taken from fighting the monster healing. Once done he turned his focus outward and the puddles that formed around him began to glow. "And as long as Dryft is kept safe we can heal up and replenish ourselves."

"That's nice, dearie, but I don't want to spend years fighting this thing," Gahoole commented.

"Saharah's right," Mirabel stated. "We have to find the book and-"

Ulika let out a scream of pain, the orc having stepped into a pothole the hollow dragon had formed which caused her to crash down, twisting her ankle. She struggled to get up only to cry out when the hollow dragon suddenly slammed a foreleg down onto her own legs, pinning her down.

"No!" Anton shouted, firing a barrage of spells at the hollow dragon but the beast merely snarled before firing a blast of flames at him, driving him back before it lowered its head, maw opened and teeth made of broken pipes and shards of glass gleaming in the light of the lightning that was striking around them from Pepa's storm.

Mirabel tensed, gripping her hammer, ready to rush forward… only for the grass under the hollow dragon to ripple before it suddenly shot straight up, the blades expanding into 8 foot tall shoots, thick and hard that pierced the hollow dragon's underbelly, forcing it to rear up. Gahoole at once rocketed forward, grabbing Ulika and moving to drag her away, only the orc woman wasn't staring at her or the dragon. No… her eyes were on someone else.

"I hate you."

Isabella Madrigal marched towards the Hollow Dragon, utter fury written on her features.

The dragon burned the grass away and turned towards her only for Isabella to swipe her hand, causing massive cactuses to grow under the dragon, their spines driving into the dragon's body like a pin through a butterfly. The rains pounded around her, drenching her, but Isabella showed no sign of noticing as she marched towards the creature.

"You… you turned yourself into a monster," she snarled. "But before that you turned ME into a monster!" The dragon fired off a gut of flames right at Isabella but a wall of trees at once grew in front of her; they were reduced to ash but Isabella was safe. "Made me mock my family! Want to drive my baby sister away! Ignore Luisa! Think my cousins were less than nothing! Filled my head with you poison!"

The hollow dragon reared back and roared.

Isabella merely sneered before screaming right back at her.

"YOU DID THIS TO ME! ALL OF MY LIFE!" she raged and the ground under her pitched before a massive rose burst from the ground, lifting Isabella into the air. "YOU MADE ME!" she shouted before thrusting out her arms, rose vines wrapping around the hollow dragon and yanking on its limbs. "I! HATE! YOU!"

"I… think Isa is working out some things," Luisa muttered.

"This family so needs therapy," Mirabel commented.

~MC~MC~MC~

"We should be doing something," Dolores said, looking back up the hill towards where Casita used to sit, brushing her wet locks from her eyes. Now it was a dragon built from the remains of the only home she had ever known, fueled by her abuela's twisted drive to dominate the family and bring them under her utter control.

Camilo opened his mouth to say something only to wince when he saw a massive rose rise into the air, Isabella's small form riding on it as she thrust out her hands and sent out a multitude of vines to try and tear the dragon apart. "No offense but being able to hear things and turn into people abuela probably wants to burn alive isn't going to be that helpful."

"We are doing something," their Tia Julieta declared firmly, grabbing Camilo's arm and gently but firmly turning him away from the battle. Dolores turned to see that a crowd of people had begun to gather, looking on in fright at the sight before them.

"Julieta… what… what is that?" someone asked.

Dolores watched her tia struggle to find the right words only to eventually realize… there were no right words at all. Not for the situation they all now found themselves in. "I am afraid… that is my mother. She performed a spell-"

The villagers burst into clamor, yelling over each other, all demanding something different. Protection. Answers. A scapegoat they could blame for all that had happened. Even with her headband on blocking her Gift the wild collision of voices were making her ears ache. She could see that they were worried, angry, confused, scared, unsure what to do and Julieta was trying to get them to calm down but none of them were listening. Camilo let out a gasp and everyone began to scream and Dolores whipped around to see that the large rose was on fire and Isabella was swinging away, firing off vines and creating mushrooms to help her escape the dragon that was now chasing her. Someone, she wasn't sure who, suddenly leapt at the hollow dragon and fired a spell at it, striking it in the jaw and causing the dragon to whip around and focus on them. Fire arched through the sky, creating miniature suns that fought against the rain storm that was now leaving them all drenched.

The villagers panicked. Some screamed and fled, hands actually flung up over the heads like Dolores remembered seeing in the story books her papa would read her when she was a little girl, which depicted villagers… fleeing from dragons.

Dolores would have laughed if she had the strength to do so. Apparently the old tales were more accurate than she'd realized.

Others were screaming but for different and darker reasons. They demanded that Julieta do something, wanting to know why they family had allowed this to happen, why they weren't doing more, what were they going to do? Some began to bring up other mistakes the family had causedand somehow those all got twisted together so that the dragon was linked to people not getting house renovations or Luisa not moving a dam. A farmer was actually complaining about the rain even as there was a flash of lightning as Pepa tried to fry the dragon. And still more were asking about… fairies and trolls?

What?

"Please, we need to get you all-"

"Why should we listen to you?" someone shouted. "This is all your fault!"

"Tell us what to do!"

"We have to run!"

"Should we fight?"

"What should we do?"

"ENOUGH!"

The crowd grew silent as Mariano shoved his way forward through the crowd, demanding they focus on him.

A Mariano… who had pale purple skin, pointed ears, and a pair of long spiral horns that arced from his forehead and swept over his head.

"We are all confused and scared!" he shouted, his voice seeming to fill the village itself, stilling all those gathered. "Something has happened… some of us remain the same. Some of us remember things that should never have been forgotten. And some of us-" he smiled and gestured at his own form, "-have changed." He looked at his hands and smiled softly. "Changed… and yet feel more like ourselves than we ever have." He shook his head, focusing on the problem at hand. " But we are still the same mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the valley! The Family Madrigal has always aided us, every day, expecting nothing in return! Now they need us to listen… and we shall!"

The crowd grew silent and as they did so Dolores began to look beyond the front of the gathering and saw that it wasn't just Mariano who had changed. Senorita Gonalez, who had always been the shortest woman in the village, had removed her shoes and stockings and was staring at the tops of her now rather large and hairy feet. The town minister was no longer concerned with his bald head… considering his skin was pale blueish white with two thick protrusions sticking out on either side of his head, his ear lobes so long they hung to his shoulders. One of the village children, who was hugging a purple bear for comfort, shifted and a pair of dragonfly wings fluttered behind her as she sucked on her thumb, her mother cuddling her close as her own wings flared out in agitation.

"The spell," Camilo whispered. "Abuela's spell… to reveal true natures."

Dolores nodded, remembering her Tio Bruno's comment that Mariano hadn't felt entirely human.

"Senorita Julieta… we are yours to command," Mariano said firmly. "Guide us."

Dolores watched as her Tia took a deep breath before holding her head up, declaring in a strong voice. "My family and Mirabel's party are doing all they can to keep the hollow dragon from descending down the hill and attack the village. However, we can't not assume that they will be able to do so." She held up a hand before any of them could say a word. "We don't know just what the hollow dragon can do… none of us were expected it to appear. We were caught by surprise just as much as all of you were. We have to have hope we can deal with this but if not we will protect all we can." She began to point of people. "Gather up all the old, sick, and young and move them into the forest. We will move towards the mountains… not climbing them but we will put as much space as we can between us in the dragon. Those of you that wish to protect your homes… I won't stop you but I do ask that you think of those you love."

"What about what happened to us?" one of the villagers shouted; he looked mostly human except his hair had taken on a blue hue and his eyes glowed yellow which matched the stripes that covered his neck and cheeks.

"We believe it was caused by a spell," Dolores called out, the villagers shocked by her speaking out. Even with her having spent the last few weeks with Mirabel's headband allowing her to hear like a normal human so many were used to her being a quiet little thing that squirmed at any loud noise. "There is nothing wrong with you! Any of you! And I promise that once we have the situation with the dragon settled we will give you answers. But for now we must protect each other!"

The villagers finally accepted this and began to move, following her orders. Some did head back to their houses to get farming tools that they could use as weapons but to Dolores' surprise a majority of them didn't stay there but rather moved to protect the rear of the mass crowd that was forming.

Dolores found herself walking with Mariano, who looked down at her and smiled awkwardly. "I know this must seem odd-"

"Isabella is dating an orc," Dolores told her. "My uncle Tio has apparently dated a dragon woman and a mermaid. My family doesn't get to question me about my choices." She slipped her hand into his and he smiled. "And… I might have a thing for horns."

Mariano stumbled a bit at that.