Serenity the Sapphire Dragon

Today was a proper competition, and everyone felt stressed. I wore that worry more obviously than my teammates, so they let me be.

I sat in the part of the arena that was hidden from view, waiting for Verdant to be announced. Most people think that it’s just the two competitors alone out there, but in actuality, the walls of the “pit” are facades that lead to antechambers, staging areas, and emergency personnel. It also houses an alarm system. If a collar malfunctions, or any other emergencies happen, there is a device that makes a truly horrible sound that we all know means STOP NOW. It was some large crystal that touched a metal plate. When lighting mana struck the crystal, it vibrated, and the plate would make a truly horrible, bone shaking, buzzing sound.

To my knowledge, a collar malfunction had never occurred, and, as of this sport being recognized over ten years ago, nothing worse than minor training injuries had ever occurred.

It didn’t make me feel any better, though.

We had guest fighters tonight. This was a real league competition, and our prodigious reputation was being tested. The announcer’s voice boomed. “Our guest fighter tonight, hailing from the Grand Capital City School of Magic, is Topaz!”

A smaller orange-yellow dragon stepped into the pit, looking just as cocky as Verdant usually did. I'd heard of her. A properly vicious fighter. She looked around at the crowd, a faint smile playing at her features as she scanned the audience.

“And representing Silver Talon’s featherweight class, our very own Verdant!”

The crowd was much louder in cheering for him. Home field advantage, I supposed.

I chuckled. I forgot that Verdant was featherweight, because we didn’t delineate our fighters that way. Verdant was going to eat her for lunch.

That's what I told myself, at least.

The crowd finished the “Total Combat” chant, and I could only sit, helpless, as the fight unfolded.

They both sprung from the starting platforms, flying at each other for the standard “first pass”.

This time though, Verdant seemed to slow briefly, allowing Topaz a real chance of getting the first strike. She took the opportunity and sunk a vicious bite into his shoulder.

I gasped, and my claws dug into the dirt I stood on.

It seemed that Verdant meant to take that bite, because even before she started shaking her head to rip a chunk out, he grabbed both of her wings and yanked them closed. He had total control of their flight and drove them straight to the ground. It was a ten meter drop, and one that already had force going into it.

As they collided with the ground, Verdant had curled enough of his body to absorb the impact entirely with his not bitten shoulder, which he pressed into her chest. There was a deep hollow crack, and she gave a rattling wheeze as he stood, raising his claws to cast a final, deadly bolt of magic.

Bracing her forelegs on the ground behind her, she kicked up with a burst of mana that sent Verdant violently back, landing roughly on one of his wings. There was another loud crack, and he roared in pain.

I involuntarily stood, my body ready to face the threat, but I stopped myself, heart desperately pounding with adrenaline and protective rage.

She clawed her way to standing, and a shine enveloped her. Healing magic? That was a desperate gamble. Even the lightest of healing spells were a massive drain on mana. I had to guess that Verdant had collapsed her ribcage, and she had to heal to not suffocate, but did she really think she could beat him without spellcasting at all? It felt like just delaying the inevitable.

He stood, wing bent at an unnatural angle, and raised both of his claws to chest level. She charged, and he, startled, cast a small bolt of raw mana that collided with her chest. It didn’t slow her at all. She roared and leapt at him.

Verdant then did one of his signature somersaults, right over her, and for that one moment I didn’t feel like I was fighting every instinct in my body to not go save him. She grabbed his tail and slammed him into the ground, back where he had started his jump. My heart sank.

She was on him in an instant, and deep hollowing dread bore into me as I saw her breathe in deep, lighting crackling in her maw, preparing a breath attack as her claws pinned his forelegs into the dirt. She stood tall, though obvious pain reached her face from the only partially healed rib injuries.

Her eyes went wide, then unfocused, and then she collapsed onto a strangely folded Verdant. That’s when I saw it. He had used the space she gave him while breathing in, pulled his hind legs up through, and cut her throat from collarbone to jaw in one fell swoop. Looking down, I saw Verdant absolutely covered in blood. He coughed, and some came from his mouth. I cringed in empathy at the sight. A small part of me, however… I pushed that back down.

She vanished from above him, and with her body, so did the blood. After a moment, Verdant’s rear lazily flopped back to the ground. The crowd exploded with cheers and chants of his name, and I saw the little green demon of Silver Talon give a pained smile to the sky.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Verdant wins!” The announcer said, though his magically amplified voice barely rose above the thousands of voices coming from the stands.

Verdant reached up, undid the latch of his collar, and vanished as well.

I sprinted to the landing area outside the arena, and found Verdant with our coach, massaging his now unbroken wing.

“... weren’t kidding. A wing break is about the worst thing I’ve felt in there.”

When Verdant saw me, he smiled, but also braced for impact.

I tackle hugged the smaller dragon, and our coach didn’t even bat an eye. He just chuckled.

“If you two are so determined to keep this a secret, you’re going to have to do a lot better than this. I’m not always the only one out here, you know.”

I pressed my face into Verdant’s neck as I spoke. “I don’t care right now. Gods, are you okay?”

“Yes, Serenity. I’m fine.”

“Good, I’m not letting you go until tomorrow, or maybe next week sometime.”

I felt his laugh through his collarbone, and then his voice as he spoke.

“His roommate caught us in the bath last weekend anyway.”

“Y’all weren’t doing anything untoward in the bathing pools, were you?” Coach only sounded mildly concerned.

“Of course not. We were just cuddling a bit.”

“I’m sure.”

“Oh, speaking of; I’m not sure if you watch the amateur theater here or not, but did you know the leads of Tyrannicide are fooling around too?”

“I ain’t surprised. With how that bronze boy tackled that opal dragon last time, I figured something was up. I don’t even like males and that scene had me pulling my collar, as it were.”

Verdant laughed aloud as I clung to him. He began petting my neck with his claw.

“Alright, you boys hit the baths, and keep it platonic this time, you hear?”

“Yes, sir.” we both said, and I lifted Verdant to fly off.

“I can fly too, you know.” He said.

“I don’t care.”

***

Verdant sat on his haunches between my hind legs, as I scrubbed his back with a soapy rag. He was nearly purring in glee at the sensation. The little brat sure does like being pampered. I smiled to myself.

“That was really impressive out there.” I spoke at last.

“Gods, that was a Pyrrhic victory if I’ve ever heard of one. She nearly broke my record.” He said somberly.

“Hey, you’re still undefeated where it counts.”

“I know, but that one was so close. I really thought that wing grab strategy was going to work.”

“It did, she had to burn most of her mana just to not die.”

“Yeah, I know. It just - it felt sloppy.”

“The crowd sure loved the twist, though.”

“Mmm hmm” he said as I started scrubbing between his wings. I swear I could get his leg kicking if I caught him distracted enough. It was a secret goal of mine.

Memories of the fight I’d just witnessed crept back into my mind, and with them, the spurious emotions the visuals caused. I recalled his peril and my stomach sank. I thought of his triumph, and my heart filled with pride and joy. It almost made it worth watching, but the stress of seeing my mate so close to death still stressed me out enough that I only watched his important competitions.

Memories of blood returned, making me shiver once more. I was struck by the image of Verdant’s otherwise green face painted red, and the thought of that coppery, hot taste. I shook my head, but my maw filled with saliva, forcing me to swallow.

Verdant suddenly spoke up. “Again, thank you for being there, love.”

“It’s no problem.”

“You don’t have to lie, Serenity.” He said. “And you don’t have to pretend it doesn’t bother you.”

“I just don’t want you to think - “ I stopped. Verdant just stared forward. After a moment, he stood and faced me, a serious look on his face. “I don’t want you to think I don’t want you doing this.”

“I value us more than I value the sport.” He said simply.

“I can’t stand the idea of this being unfair. I can’t ask you to stop, because…” Verdant was still looking at me. He was making me speak today. “Because, I need it.”

“It doesn’t have to be fair!” he reined in his raised voice as I cringed back. “I’m sorry.” He reached a claw towards my face, but the shame made me stare at my foreclaws.

“I don’t want to.” I said, weakly. “I don’t want to need it. I hate needing it.”

He brought my head down to his chest and ran his talons over where my jaw connected to my neck.

“I’m a monster.” I finally said.

“Stop it. Stop that now.” Verdant brought my head up to look me directly in the eye. “You are not, and I don’t want you talking about yourself like that.”

I pulled my head away. “What if this didn’t exist?” I said bitterly. “It was only recognized as a sport 10 years ago.” I spat. “And the collars have only been around for, what? 20 years? I’m only 21!”

“It does, so it isn’t worth thinking about.”

“I’d be feral, out in a cave somewhere. Killing, torturing - ”

“Serenity!” He shouted, silencing me. “You listen here, right now!” He raised a talon at me and pointed at me as he spoke. “Being partially feral is NOT your fault, and unless you’ve lied to me, you’ve never hurt a person, dragon or otherwise, who didn’t fully consent.”

I shook my head no. “No. I haven’t lied”. A tear left my eye and ran over my snout.

“Gods, Serenity, I’m sure you’d be vegan if Elven food was easier to get here.”

He stood, pushed my snout down with his, and looked into my eyes as closely as possible. His deep emerald stare was piercing, and it calmed the panic rising in me. “You are the gentlest, kindest dragon I know. You don’t need to define yourself by a problem that is well handled.”

I closed my eyes as more tears found their way down the ridges of my nose. I pulled Verdant into me and just held him. He wrapped us in his wings, and we pressed our foreheads together.

“I love you so much.” I said.

“I love you too, Serenity. Every part of you.” He said.

I took a deep breath, once more ready to face the side of myself that I hated.