The Shadow And The Night (Colabing&changing)

NightSky-Exile And Ordeal

NightSky doesn't not belong to me, but rather my friend who will also be known as 'nightsky'. She wrote this chapter in honer of her own charecters.

(NightSky)

For Night's whole life she couldn't remember what her life had been before this ring and other like it had become her home. But no matter what ring she fought in, the living was always the same. She'd be transported via dragon hunter ship, chained and muzzled and drugged until she was at her new location. Then she'd be shoved inside some cage layered in some sort of metal—Night always thought the humans were smart like that, ensuring she coukdnt dig through stone or dirt floors.

If she'd had another life before the hunters and the fight rings, Night couldn't remember it. She'd have had to been very young when her clan abandoned her. At least, that's what other sand wraiths said. Apparently wraiths always had a clan or a tribe of sorts. To be without one usually suggested exile or banishment. Night always wondered why. She assumed it was becuase of her starry Night coloration. Her pitch black scales, the speckles on her body a brilliant white, and her eyes as pale yellow as the moon. Usually sand wraiths and other wraits had colors similar to stone and dirt.

If she had been banished for that reason, Night didn't care. She thought she was rather beautiful, a creature worthy of fear and respect.

The door to her cage opened, jerking Night from her thoughts. It was show time.

The human announcing Night was proud as ever. "From the farthest corner of the south, a brilliant Sand Wraith we once thought to be a Night fury, and our current champion... Nightsky!!!" The crowd cheered in response, their voices almost silent as Night prepared herself for a fight. She wondered what species of dragon she'd be putting out of their misery this time.

"And now, from the highest mountains of the north... a newcomer.... the woolly howl... WOLFE!"

The cage door opened and out stepped an absolutely stunning woolly howl colored in silvers, gray, and cyans. He froze once he saw Night.

Night, just for show, flared her wings.

She was intrigued by this woolly howl, but she needed to keep the audience entertained.

"Wolfe, eh?" She teased, sizing him up. He was a good bit larger than her both in muscle mass and size. "You ready to do this?" She began circling him.

"No. You're terrifying."

"Good. My reputation precedes me."

"I'm serious. I don't want to fight you." Wolfe joined her in circling, keeping a mean face on. "I'm not going to do the humans bidding."

"The humans bidding!? Ha! Oh please, I do this for my own enjoyment." Cought up in conversation, Wolfe had managed to get Night distracted.

He pinned her down. "No you don't. You do this—" his breath was hot in her nose— "becuase it's all you've ever known."

Night froze, truly feeling his weight as he held her to the stone floor of the fight ring. *"What did you say?"*

"You heard, Wolfe roared as Night shoved him off.

"*Don't talk about things you don't understand!*" She smacked him upside the head with her tail. "You don't know me."

Wolfe bounced to the side, the sky above growing darker and darker. "I won't fight you, Night."

"If I don't kill you then the humans will! That's what happens here!" She charged at him, the top of her head colliding with his chest. "If you lose, you die! You don't get a second chance."

Wolfe steadied himself, catching his breath. "You believe that? Why not just leave?"

Why was this dragon trying so hard to be her friend? "You don't know me, Wolfe. You don't know my life. Stop talking to me like you care!"

Wolfe side stepped her next attack, but Night saw it coming. She blasted the ground beside him, a plume of dust and rock and flame temporarily hiding her from his vision. Night used the opportunity to pin Wolfe beneath her. "Younare going to die today, either by my claws or by the hands of the humans. Take your pick."

"I don't have to." The sky was now an angry shade of dark gray. A ball of ice hit Night's eyebrow.

"What the hell?" She muttered.

The storm above started as one ice ball and quickly turned into a full blown hailstorm. Suddenly, Night felt Wolfe envelope her in his wings. "Night, I don't know you, but please realize that this doesn't have to be you."

"Why do you care? You've known me two seconds."

Wolfe tilted his head to the side. "You don't hear about a champion fighter like yourself and *not* have some questions. You fight like you have nothing and everything to lose. Actually... you fight like you've already lost everything."

Night froze as brief images of a white sand wraith flashed across her mind. A kind smile within a crowd of hateful ones. The voices of a mother and father arguing over their daughter. Blood dripping off a pair of baby claws. Hunters finding a lost hatchling and taking her for their own entertainment.

"You summoned the hailstorm." Night managed to say, realizing that wooly howls had that ability.

Wolfe nodded. "Also, for clarification, I know I don't know you. But it also seemed like I'd have an easier time escaping if I wasn't locked in combat."

Night nodded. "You've no idea." She pulled away from him, feeling the hail hot her scales as soon as she was exposed to the outside elements. "See you around." She dug her claws into the ground. After   a few minutes, she was met with a rush of air. *Fresh air.*

She left into the air, faltering for a moment before stabilizing. It had been... years, actually, since she'd last flown.

She made for the east, and by the next morning she landed, exhausted, but free.

A few meters away was a faint purple glow. Adrenaline stamping out her fatigue, Night approached the glow, teeth and claws bared.

Maybe she wasn't done fighting just yet.