Dawn of Dragons

Chapter 22: Arena

For all my readers awaiting this next chapter, let me apologize to you for being so so late updating. I haven't had the time or the mind to update for months, and I'm sorry. Updates will probably be slow. I'm sorry everyone :(

~AX

(Recap: The duel with Vera is tomorrow. After Aria is done training with Andres, she discovers the dorm belonging to the late Queen Cress, and also discovers the secret room underneath it. After exploring the secret room underneath, she finds a scythe hanging on the wall, and as soon as she touches it, she was whisked into memories of the last Chaos dragon, Anjel. Aria discovers the relationship between Queen Cress and Anjel, and Aria claims the scythe as her own personalized weapon.)

Aria woke up with something like butterflies in her stomach. She jumped out of bed and looked at herself in the mirror. She was a tangled mess, eyes sunken low, bags underneath her eyes. And even so, she grinned. Last night was not wasted.

After she had discovered the scythe, she spent half the night delving deeper into the memories of Anjel, a Chaos dragon before her. After examining the entire blade, she discovered a pitch black gem at the thickest part of the blade.

The weapon was technically also a magic staff, and Aria could feel the chaos magic of Anjel infuse her with magic every time she touched it. It would probably be the only chaos-infused gem in all of the Land of Dragons.

What kind of weapon would Vera wield? Aria stared at herself in the mirror, pressing her lips together. A sharp pain jabbed in her lower lip. She opened her mouth and stared at herself in the mirror. Two of her upper teeth had sharped and elongated. She closed her mouth again, careful not to cut herself.

Suddenly, a sharp knock on the door made her jump, as well as Ember, who was a very light sleeper. Aria crept to the door, and then opened it. It was Andres.

As soon as the door opened, he hurriedly pushed his way into the bedroom, shutting it behind him. "Thank god," he muttered. "I hope no one saw me."

Aria raised her eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

Andres nervously looked around, then leaned to Aria's ear. "I'm a guy," he whispered. "I can't be in the girls' dorms, unless assigning someone new to their room."

After Aria heard that, she burst into laughter, startling not only Ember fully awake, but also Andres. Both pairs of eyes caught sight of the huge scythe leaning on the chaos dragon's bedpost.

"Woah," they said at the same time.

. . .

"Aria, uhhhhhhhh, I don't even know how to start." Ember said, rubbing her eyes, squinting at the chaos dragon casually leaning on the weapon. "Where did you even get something like that?"

Aria hesitated. Should she tell them?

"I, uh, after leaving practice," she nodded at Andres, who looked very ready for a good explanation for how she got such a massive weapon into her room, "I walked around the school for a while, and then came back, but you were gone. So I looked around the weapons and found this..." She chuckled nervously.

While Andres still didn't look convinced, Ember's eyes burned fiery red with excitement. "That's so cool!" She squealed. "Do you even know how to use it?" Aria nodded hesitantly, and Ember exploded again. "You might actually stand a chance against Vera!" Then her tone became serious. "Don't hold back, Aria. You have to beat the crap outta her for me. Got it?"

Aria nervously smiled and nodded, and Andres cut in their little bonding moment. "Aria, how are you going to get it to the arena? I'm sure the teachers here won't let you carry a giant scythe through the school."

Aria blew a piece of stray hair out of her face, and smiled. "That's where you come in!" He arched his brow at her, not at all getting what she was implying. She sighed, and shook her head. How clueless can guys be?

"I mean, you can create a portal from here to the preparation room in the arena," she explained, as if talking to a five-year old.

"Ah," he said, finally understanding. For once, Aria saw something like a gleam of excitement shine in his eyes, and happiness blossomed throughout her body. She had people she could rely on. She belonged here.

. . .

"Remember, the Princess will generally start with her elements, before taking out her weapon," Andres explained for what seemed like the millionth time while Aria strapped on her boots and clutched her scythe nervously.

"Yeah yeah, and her signature moves are blades of wind and a tendrils of water that grab you and then stick you in an orb of water that slowly drowns you until you surrender. I've heard it a million times, Andres."

Andres fiddled with his fingers nervously. "To be honest, no has actually gotten a proper glimpse of what the Princess's actual weapon is. The last time she showed her weapon, it was so fast it only looked like a blur, and by the time her opponent surrendered, it had disappeared."

Aria licked her lips, full of adrenaline but still worrying at the same time. Suddenly, she heard a sounding horn and the roar of a crowd. She looked back at Andres nervously. "Well, I guess that's my cue, wish me luck-"

She was abruptly cut off when Andres pulled her towards him, pressing his lips to hers. Aria stiffened with surprise at first, but then, relaxed as she enjoyed the warmth that came from his body.

They finally pulled apart, gasping. He smiled at her, and whispered, "go get her,"

Aria smiled tentatively back, then turned away and took a deep breath. She walked forward, her weapon held ready in front of her, into the blinding light.

Let the duel begin.

Heya guys, just wanted to let you know I am NOT GIVING UP ON THIS STORY. It's just that updates will be very slow from now on, but I will update! Thanks for understanding :(

~AX