Tears of a dragon

31. RED AND BLUE HELL

-Blueberry's POV-

I took a deep breath, tried to calm down. I did my best to bottle up the majority of my emotions to at least appear unbothered on the outside. I didn't want to make William or Skyfall worried. However, how I felt on the inside was a different story. On the inside was a growing anxiety, an instinct telling me to flee.

I shouldn't be here.

It was my turn to fight soon, and no matter the extent of my efforts, I simply could not mentally prepare for it. My opponent would be the red spotted dragon- the leader of their pack. When recalling memories of our previous encounter, I couldn't help but to wonder if we were related in some way. We looked strikingly similar to each other, the main differences being the coloration of our spots and the shape of our horns. He seemed older, as he was both taller and more muscular than me. I felt a bitter anger at how unfair it all seemed. He clearly had the advantage here, why couldn't the humans see it? But then again, nothing was simply fair here in the arena. I felt fear. And in my fear I slipped into a desperate state of mind, a suicidal train of thoughts. In my mind I already knew that it was over, that I stood no chance against my opponent. The hopelessness of the situation forced me to consider ways of taking my own life. I wanted to have control over something, anything.

If I'm going to die I want to do it my way, on my terms.

I shamefully considered my friend's deadly abilities, SkyFall's acidic breath and Dusty's venomous spikes. Dusty's way would be instant, maybe even painless.

I can't stand it anymore, the killing, this place...

My thoughts were interrupted by Dusty walking into our cage- or what had once been Dusty. I couldn't believe my eyes, what had happened to him? His scales, they were all torn to shreds! I felt sick by the sight of the state that he was in, and of the self-centered thoughts I'd had just a moment ago. How could I think those thoughts when my friend had endured such horrors for the sake of our freedom? Dusty held his head low, facing the floor with his back hunched. I tried meeting his gaze, but the attempt was left unanswered. Silence spread as there were no proper words to utter at this moment. What in the name of the stars had they done to him? He resembled that of a dead man, someone who had died a horrible, horrible death. Pieces of skin were peeling off and detaching themselves from the rest of his body. The scales that remained glew in a bright pink hue, indicating that heat was the cause of all of this. He was in such pain that he didn't even look at us before collapsing onto the floor below him. "Dusty!" SkyFall outburst, rushing over to help in any way possible. I could hear Dusty's heavy, desperate breath takes and painful groans as he laid on the ground.

SkyFall and I exchanged worrying eyes as we both shared the panic of the situation. "Check his pulse! Do we have any water? We must cool him in some way!" William said. SkyFall rushed to bring a bucket of water that laid just outside of our cage, but could not bring it between the bars. I laid my ear onto Dusty's chest. He was still exceptionally warm, and his pulse was abnormally high. "Move!" William commanded, and I did so before SkyFall poured a mouthful of water onto Dusty. A small amount of steam rose from his body. As I panned away from him, I slowly started to notice that something was off about his wings. I was in for another shock. As he stretched them gently, it became painfully obvious that he would never be able to use them again. The wings, with their most fragile skin, had not managed to survive the heat. They had been torn to shreds. The others had also started to notice. "Dusty..." William began. "No!" I harshly whispered back. "Let him sleep... I'll tell him tomorrow." I said. William nodded.

But how was I supposed to tell him? He would never, ever, be able to fly in his entire life again. And he was so young, I felt so bad for him. Simpler wounds could heal but this would undoubtedly become a disability. A handicap for life. "Blue, it's your turn to fight soon..." SkyFall said. She looked at the resting dragon; "I will watch him, don't worry. We are rooting for you, always." She said, I nodded back and said; "Thank you." Then, William walked over to me as usual, but I was hesitant to let him go with me.