Nera sat with her legs crossed with the smell of rot and disease swarmed the dungeons beneath the Den of Dragonslayers. Her dirty body was covered with old, ripped clothes. The crows' unending gaze focused on Nera as she sat motionlessly. She thought of how she could escape but to no avail. Miura's ever-watching eyes continued to peer over her, and above her were groups of knights and dragonslayers. She tried to relax herself from the horrifying sight of Miura, but she couldn't forget the witch's horrid maggot-filled eyes.

Nera felt lucky that she was still alive, but felt sorrow for the others. She blamed Akai, but mostly the witch who turned them into piles of rotten flesh and bones. If Akai hadn't specifically ordered Miura to not hurt her, then she would have been dead already. Miura's sadism and bloodlust were only brought back by Akai holding the loose reins over her. Although her bloodlust was kept in check, she had other ways of torturing Nera.

Nera was calm and breathed normally. Although she hated the smell of the other villagers' corpses and bird droppings, Nera eventually became used to the disgusting smells. Above her, she could hear the small conversations between the dragonslayers. The two guards outside of the entrance were usually quiet, but she could recognize their footsteps. Nera couldn't see the two guards, but she could hear two sets of footsteps whenever they would switch to the next shift. She was unaware of the time, but instinctively she knew when the next shift of guards would come in. That was her window of escape. She couldn't see any other way in or out of the dungeons.

However, that was the most she could do given the circumstances. The crows continually watched and if she tried to pick up any kind of object from the floor, they would begin to caw loudly as if they were alarms alerting the dragonslayers above. The crows would swarm around the object without causing any physical harm towards me.

Nera began to lose hope in escaping. Her thoughts dwelled on Nia and whether she was safe, but she had a feeling that the little green dragon would come and rescue her. Nera thought as long as Nia was safe, she would continue to hold onto a glimmer of hope.

As she sat there staring down at the crows that covered her surroundings, she heard the dragonslayers changing shifts.

Nera looked back at the crows which occasionally flapped their wings or gave a small caw. If it wasn't for the crows, she would have found a way out of here by now, she thought to herself.

For a moment, the entrance of the dungeons opened for a mere moment. Nera noticed, but didn't hear any footsteps. The crows were unaware.

From the shadows, Nera was able to discern a hooded figure wrapped in brown cloth. The dank dungeons hid the figure from the crows and even Nera was unable to keep up with it's speed.

When the figure was close enough, Nera was able to see figure's face. It was Nia with her dark skin and light green dragon scales. From the corner of the shadows, Nia motioned Nera to keep quiet, but Nera couldn't help but give a smile. After a second, she stopped smiling after realizing that the crows continued to watch her. Nera remained calm so that she wouldn't tip off the crows.

Although, Nera was the one being rescued, she was more glad that Nia was safe.

It was over in a single moment. Nia quickly unsheathed a red blade and slashed against the flock of crows in one fell swoop. The crows panicked and one-by-one they fell. Nia's accuracy was pinpoint accurate as if she could tell where the crows were flying. In one more second, the crows who survived fled towards the entrance of the dungeons trying to escape, but before they could even make a sound, Nia created a small spark from her mouth and the next moment, she breathed fire towards the entrance burning away the remaining crows.

"So much for stealth," Nia commented upon hearing the panicked footsteps above them.

When Nera looked back at Nia, her heart skipped a beat as she saw how much the little dragon grew up in a short amount of time. Tears began to swell up and without a second thought to her dirty rags, she wiped them off to see Nia more clearly.

The dragon walked towards Nera and broke off the cage doors with ease. Nia held out a hand and the same wonderful smile that brightened up the entirety of Kyte village. It was the one thing that hasn't changed, Nera thought.

"Let's get you out of here, Nera," Nia said. Nera was surprised that Nia didn't call her big sis Nera, but so much was happening that she brisked that thought away. Nia pulled back her hood revealing her long brown hair. Nera could only feel a sense of joy upon seeing her, again.

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"Is this a dream?" Nera asked as she was about to hold Nia's hand to pull herself up. Nera thought that the dark dungeon brightened with Nia's pleasant smile.

But that pleasant dream was cut short.

Nera saw Miura walking behind Nia. With each silent step, the fires whisked away. Miura's sadistic smile created darkened the entire dungeon. Chains from Miura's dress began to slither across the entire dungeon like snakes.

Nera shouted, "Behind you, Nia!"

As soon as she finished that sentence, Nia turned around and the chains came at her. Each chain sharpened themselves into knives. The light green dragon struck against the chains with her red blade. The speed at which the chains attacked Nia was too quick for the human eyes, but for every strike with the chains, Nia would block each strike. No chain would pierce her, but Nia was being pushed back nonetheless. They fought for what seemed like an eternity as Nera could do nothing but be a spectator. The walls were covered in bloodied chains.

Miura continued to smile as Nia struggled. At one point, the witch conjured lightning from her fingertips without any warning. Nia's entire body was fried, but she continued to block the relentless chains. Nera watched as Nia struggled, but there was nothing that she could do against the witch. For a moment, she pondered on what to do, and the only thing that she could think of was charging forward. Instead of thinking of her own safety, she thought of Nia as she must have suffered just as much as she. Nera ran forward to surprise of both Nia and Miura. Instinctively, as she charged forward, one of Miura's chains pierced through the air towards her.

Nera took a risk. She believed there was a reason that the witch wasn't able to harm her during her imprisonment, so she had nothing to fear except losing Nia. She stared straight at the sharp end of the chain as it was inches in front of her eye. Miura realized in that second what would happen if she were to harm Nera. Miura's face contorted in fear for the first time in her life and as soon as Nera saw Miura's horrified face, she smiled at getting payback.

A mere pinch would cause severe burns on the witch's neck. Miura couldn't imagine what would happen to her if she ended up killing her. A side of her feared what kind of pain she would feel throughout her body, and another side feared whether she would survive from the shock. She couldn't lose at this point as her plans were so close to fruition.

Miura's chains let up on Nia for mere milliseconds, but it was enough time. Nia sprinted towards Nera before the chain struck her eye. With enough force, Nia struck the chain away from Nera and pushed her away.

As Nera fell to the ground, Miura felt a sharp pain course through her body, but held back the urge to convulse. The markings on her neck glowed and during that time the chains slowed for that moment. As soon as Nera looked back towards the battle, Nia charged ahead with her red blade pointing at Miura's head. The witch gave one more horrid smile as she knew victory was in her grasp. Within inches of the red blade stabbing Miura's rotten heart, Nia stopped in her tracks.

Nera watched in shock. The chains on the walls behind the green dragon coiled onto Nia's legs, arms, and sword. The more Nia struggled, the more they constricted. During the next few seconds as Nia tried to break free of the witch's chains, but as she tried to break free, a number of chains came down from the ceiling piercing through Nia's feet and hands. The green dragon cried in pain, but she didn't let go of her red blade. Nia inched forward and as the red blade touched Miura's chest, the chains hardened and tightened their grip. The red blade shattered into glass. The shards fell to the dirty ground. As Nia created a small spark from her mouth, more chains came from behind her and stabbed through her lungs. Instead of fire, the green dragon coughed out raw blood. Her eyes turned bloodshot red as she looked back at Nera in despair.

Miura felt a surge of joy through her body as she knew that she broke Nera. Having completed her personal challenge of breaking her prisoner without inflicting physical torture pleased the witch. She enjoyed giving an ounce of hope to Nera and then swiftly snatching it away.

Nera couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I'm sorry," Nia said before her body went limp. There was no more resistance as the chains let up.

"It has to be a dream. This can't be real," Nera whimpered.

As Nia's lifeless body fell to the ground, Miura looked down on both the green dragon and her prisoner. Nera crawled towards Nia. There were no tears as disbelief overcame grief.

Miura walked away and left Nera by herself. It was all coming together, the witch thought.

Miura left the dungeons with a smile. The noise within the dungeons caused a number of dragonslayers to take battle positions outside of the dungeons, but as soon as they saw the witch leave the dungeon quiet, Miura was able to convince the other dragonslayers that the situation was handled. She explained that an intruder tried to break into the dungeons, but Miura was able to intervene. They weren't convinced, but due to Akai's personal orders, the other dragonslayers wouldn't dare enter into the dungeons to investigate for themselves without permission from the Crimson Black Knight. As nobody heard any more noise from under the dungeons, they relaxed themselves and went back to what they were doing.

Nera couldn't believe what she was seeing. Nia didn't deserve to die like this, Nera thought. She would rather switch places. It should have been me, she thought. Not my sweet, Nia. Voices in her mind repeated that there was no escape; that she would be stuck in the dungeon alongside Nia's decomposing corpse for an eternity. "Nobody is going to save you," the voice inside her mind said.

As Nera held Nia's cold hands and stared deep into her blank eyes, the only thing she could think of was that it was all a dream. There was no way that any of this was happening. She thought that she might wake up any second. Maggots slowly crawled from the rotten bodies and began to eat away at the recently killed corpse. Within the corner of her eyes, she saw the red shards of the once proud blade that she, Akai, and Nia used.