She was no stranger to pain. Her scales had been shattered countless times in the past, though as she’d aged it had become rarer and rarer. But this pain was more than just of a physical nature. The chains binding her in place told her more than she was just suffering. They told her she had lost. She had been defeated. That, as one of the few Ascended Dragons, was far more painful.
She idly wondered who would take her place. Would they try to fight this war as well? Or would they, like most of her kin, remove themselves from this battle of the lower creatures? Instead watching as a neutral party, never leaving their homes for fear of what may happen? Or would they, like her, offer aid to those who were too weak to fight against this seemingly impossible force?
Then again, the war was all but over. With her capture, another one of the handful of remaining forces opposed to the monstrous demons would disappear. Without her aid, she doubted the others would hold out much longer. Perhaps her kin had been right, perhaps she never should have offered such creatures aid. All who had come to her for help were now long dead, having disappeared so quickly it felt as if she blinked and they were gone.
May whoever replaced her be wiser.
Her self-contemplation was shattered when she heard the shriek of metal against metal. Light entered her dark prison when the cold, metal door opened. Her eyes narrowed on the creature that stood in the doorway.
Barely larger than one of her claws now, he looked almost elven in appearance. The large leathery wings and the solid black eyes were the only sign of the incubus he truly was. General Obsius.
“I hope you’re finding your accommodations comfortable?” he asked.
She snarled at him and attempted to lash out, but the chains binding her shimmered with a red light and only coiled tighter around her.
“I see,” Obsius said. “I do hope you understand why I can’t let you free. It nearly cost me a wing just trying to ground you the first time, I’d rather not have a repeat performance.”
“You should have killed me when you had the chance,” she said venomously. “I will not be your trophy. You--”
“You will die soon enough,” Obsius said, waving a hand dismissively. The chains around her turned purple and she found her words silenced for a moment. “At least, if you will still not relent? It’s such a little thing I ask. Tell me, dragon, what is your name?” The chains stopped their glow a moment later. “Few of your ilk hide theirs so closely.”
She merely growled in response.
“As I suspected,” Obsius said before he began to pace. “Still you throw your lot in with their alliance? You know the war has long been over, yes? Your great hero perished nearly a century ago.”
She let out a furious snarl and lunged forward at him. The chains glowed bright red but she refused to stop, even when they tore at her scales.
The demon merely chuckled, out of her reach. “Ahhhh, still a touchy subject, is it? Come now, dragon,” Obsius said in a mocking tone. “Even had our lord not slain him, he was only human. A pathetic, short-lived species that died out millenia ago. Did you truly believe that such a creature, even one summoned from another realm, could stand against my brother?”
She opened her mouth and tried to unleash her flame on him, but nothing came.
“Ah, right, I always forget. You were there on that day, weren’t you?” Obsius asked. “When the body of your ‘Chosen One’ was thrown from my brother’s throne? Well… at least, what was left of him?”
She roared and struggled against her chains, though she felt her bones might break. She would have gladly given them in order to get just one claw on him. To plunge a single claw into his chest and rip out his foul, twisted heart.
“You told him your name, did you not?” Obsius asked. “So why will you not tell me? We won, should we not get the spoils?”
“You will all PERISH!” she yelled, spreading her wings as wide as she could, only to feel the chains digging deeper into her body.
“I see,” Obsius said. “In due time, I suppose. But not on this day. I suppose it is only fitting you learn of your fate. Celebrate and be joyous, O Ascended Dragon. For your death will herald a new generation of our empire. Your head shall be cleaved and your heart served as tribute in honor of the heir’s own ascension.”
That, however, made her pause. Slowly her eyes narrowed on him. “What heir?” she asked.
The demon’s grin grew ever wider. “The greatest secret of our empire, O Great Dragon,” Obsius said in a mocking tone. “For you see, his lordship has had a child. A demon who will one day continue the legacy of our lord.”
That made her blood run cold. The Wolf had a child? One like him? It had to be slain. Immediately. One of him was bad enough, but a second? It--
“Oh, it is far too late for that,” Obsius said with a low chuckle. “This celebration isn’t for her birth, you see. Oh no, that has long since passed. This celebration is for her coming of age, as High Queen and future Empress. With your death her ascent will be heralded throughout the land and all will finally understand. This war is over. This world is ours. Soon she will lay claims of her own.”
She stared at him, despair filling her heart. How could they have hidden such a thing? How did they possibly manage it? What would happen to this world with a second Wolf?
“Knowing this, dragon, I ask once more,” Obsius said before offering her a hand. “Come, tell me your name. There is no more need for you to fight. Accept your defeat with some dignity.”
Slowly, she stopped struggling and instead stared at him. She sunk down to the ground, the chains loosening slightly around her. “My name…”
“Yes?” Obsius asked, his black eyes seeming to glimmer with a foul light.
“Will perish with me,” she said.
His smile vanished and he shook his head. “Bah. Such a waste, but so be it. When next we meet each other, know you will finally get a chance to meet your precious ‘Savior’ in the afterlife soon. Know your resistance was as useless as his.” He then turned and stormed away, the door slamming shut behind him.
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A second Wolf. To imagine that foul demon had spawn. If she truly was grown, if she had even a fraction of her father’s power…
Then this truly was over and hopeless. They had all failed. With that despair in her heart, she closed her eyes and rested, giving one final prayer to the gods that she be granted but one chance to try and help those who remained. Even though it would surely cost her her life. Not that she believed she would have one for long.
------
New chains bound her, even more than the last. No cage, however. Not that she could move. In the center of the coliseum she lay bound, each limb held back by half a dozen enchanted chains, head trapped so all she could do was look ahead.
To watch helplessly when the Wolf entered. Had she not known exactly what he was, she would have scoffed at the idea that this creature had been the one to slay the hero summoned from another realm. As he was, he towered over most, his body covered in a snow-white fur. His eyes were black, with only a single red dot in the center of each. Even his teeth, while sharp, looked like they were nothing special. A mere werewolf, hardly a threat. But she knew who he truly was.
Having adopted the legendary name of Fenrir, his power likely dwarfed all of the other demons in the coliseum. Possibly together. Were he to take his true form, even she doubted she could truly face him without some advantage of her own. He lifted his arms and the crowd erupted in a cheer, as if he was some grand conquering hero.
Then again, she supposed that to the demons, he was. Their lord, their emperor. The Wolf. She tried to move, but the chains refused to yield. She could not slay him, but perhaps she could wound him. Give some hope to those who remained. Even the Wolf could be wounded. Perhaps, one day, killed.
He had nearly crossed the distance between them when she realized there was someone else besides him. She would have laughed if she didn’t feel a bit of pity for the tiny thing. At first she thought the thing was an elf in a furry robe, perhaps a consort of some kind. However, after a few moments she realized it wasn’t a robe at all, it was wool. A sheep demon. How amusing. It seemed she wasn’t the only sacrifice today. Judging by the look on the demon’s face, it was too frightened to even try to flee.
The pair came closer and she saw Obsius walk past her towards the pair, a great black axe in hand. The tool for her execution. So it seemed she would meet her end at the hands of the Wolf himself. How fitting.
However, Obsius walked past the Wolf and instead offered the great axe to the sheep.
For a moment, she was bewildered. The sheep looked just as bewildered. Then it finally hit.
That was the Wolf’s daughter. She looked closer this time, not letting anything escape her notice. At first glance she really did look like another small, weak sheep demon. But when the demon stared at Obsius with her mouth hanging open in alarm, the fangs were clear to see. More than that, her eyes were like the Wolf’s, black with a single red pin-prick.
No, whatever that demon was, it wasn’t just a sheep. She was something else, a trick of some kind. If she truly wielded even a fraction of the Wolf’s power…
The sheep took the axe and looked to her as the three came ever closer. The crowd was roaring now. They could probably all but taste the blood soon to be spilled. Her blood.
She felt her ire rise the moment she could hear what they were saying. “Daddy, you said I can have anything I want! I want the dragon!” the sheep said.
Daddy? HAVE HER? Did the sheep think her a PET? The Wolf surely had kept his heir quite sheltered if the sheep thought an Ascended Dragon could be tamed. As she was, she could easily tear the sheep apart with but one claw.
Her indignant rage was distracted when suddenly the axe lodged into the ground by her head. The sheep had thrown it amidst the three arguing. Pathetic. Did she--
Her eyes went wide when she realized she could move her head. More than that, the magic binding her was disrupted. She could feel her breath returning. She looked to the side to see the axe had cleaved through the chains by her head. Though she had to shrink her form in order to do it, she turned her head and gripped the axe by the handle and lifted it up, only to bring it down once more on the chains further down her body.
The magic binding her shattered and she could feel it. She was free. She spread her wings and pushed her legs to the ground, tearing what little bound her from the earth. Screams already surrounded her from those watching…
She only had a moment. She would be imprisoned again, soon. But she would make the Wolf hurt. She would give them one last chance. She opened her mouth and unleashed a wave of flame at the Wolf, forcing him and Obsius one way, the sheep the other. Separating them.
She then lunged forward, her eyes narrowed on the sheep. She would give them hope, give them but one threat to deal with. Not two. Her jaw snapped shut a moment later. However, to her annoyance and slight panic she felt her mouth filled with wool and only the smallest taste of burning demon’s blood.
The sheep stared into her eyes, an arm trapped in her mouth.
The sheep smiled at her, a few tears in her eyes. She looked around at the fire surrounding them, before she reached out and lightly pat her on the nose with her other hand. “Yroth, please. Calm down,” the sheep said. “It’s going to be okay. Trust me.”
It felt like she’d had a mountain fall on her head. She stared, unable to move. Not even able to breathe. Even when the sheep pulled her hand free, only slightly ragged from the bite. How? How did this creature know her name? Impossible.
The sheep reached out and gently stroked her snout, giving it soft strokes. “There there, see?” the sheep said. “You can trust me. Please, just sleep. It’ll be okay. I promise. Yroth, sleep...”
Yroth felt the world around her begin to darken and felt panic rise inside her. No. NO! This was her one chance. Her one opportunity. She’d never be able to--
Those last thoughts were taken from her when consciousness slipped away.
------
Yroth’s eyes opened and she felt everything aching. Still, no chains bound her. But how did she--
Chains surrounded her, scattered on the ground. Had she torn them off?
No. She wasn’t in the coliseum anymore. She was inside a strange, large room. The chains surrounding her looked as if they’d been torn off after she’d arrived. She--
Her head whipped around to see the sheep sitting on a massive bed in the middle of the room. Hugging a massive pillow to her chest. Just staring at her.
Yroth stared back.
After a few moments of staring, the sheep gave a sigh and buried her head in the pillow. “I don’t even know how to start…”
“How do… you know my name?” Yroth asked.
“You told me,” the sheep said. “Long, long ago. When I was… well. A different person.”
“What?” Yroth asked.
“Uhhhh…” the sheep said before glancing up again. “I uhhh… know this is going to sound insane. But I was Ch-- no. I guess you didn’t… really know me as that, huh? Ummmm… right. I was Medon, the hero summoned from another world to, uhhhh… save you all. From the Demon Lord. I kind of… failed. I guess?”
“What?” Yroth asked.
“And now, ummm, I guess I’m his daughter, kind of,” the sheep said nervously. “You can call me Phaedra. Everyone does. I haven’t really taken a name yet, though. Not like you have. I don’t even know if it would work the same way.”
“What?” Yroth asked.
Phaedra gave a soft sigh and then buried her head in the pillow. “This is why I don’t even know where to begin.”
Yroth stared at the sheep, unsure of what to say or do. Did this sheep truly expect her to believe that she was Medon? That after everything they’d been through, suffered through, that somehow this tiny, insignificant sheep hiding behind her pillow like a frightened mouse was the champion they had summoned from another world?
But… then how did she know her name?