TLOS legend of the black dragon chapter 20 aftermath
Here is the next chapter. This chapter is one of the few in my story that is sad. I know I said that of chapter 19 as well but that one still had action as well, this one has only sadness. Even though I mostly like happy chapters I do have to say that I did it rather well. My favourite scene is the harrement scene in the end. I hope this chapter builds anticipation.
The legend of Spyro
Legend of the black dragon
Chapter 20 Aftermath
Georga fired an earth shot towards her opponent.
It was heading straight for him but the dragon spun around and crashed the shot with one swipe of his tail.
Georga could hear the dragon laugh heartily at the easy of which he blocked her attack.
It was pitch dark so Georga couldn't see her opponent.
She fired another earth shot at him in the hope that if she kept attacking something might become clear. This time she forced more power into it so that he couldn't just smash it again with his tail.
The dragon suddenly unleashed a blast of flame to counter this more powerful attack what lightened up the room for about one second.
Within the short flash of light Georga could spot a dragon like figure that was about the same size as she was and because the counter attack was fire she deduced that it was a 13 aged fire dragon.
Hoping that he was blinded by the flash she jumped towards him. She knew his position now so she wanted to attack before he moved again.
However he wasn't blinded and sidestepped. Georga couldn't see him but for some reason her opponent could see her perfectly.
Georga could feel that she missed and fell hard on the floor.
She quickly turned around and shot an earth shot towards her opponent's most likely position.
She had to move quickly now that she still had an idea of where he was.
She heard a loud blow and the shot let out a few sparks when it disintegrated on his chest.
However the dragon didn't same faced by it at all and the shot didn't even leave a scratch.
Georga tried to get back up but was forced down by a powerful paw on her shoulder.
She struggled against the grip but it was futile. The dragon clearly was far stronger than she was.
She was now completely at his mercy.
"Here we are Georga" The fire dragon said with a voice that was so familiar to Georga that it shocked her.
"Oxidus?!" She exclaimed. She couldn't see him but she would recognise his voice anywhere.
The room suddenly lit up and revealed that it was indeed Oxidus who was pinning Georga down with his paws.
He was covered in piercing marks and from those ran many gashes across his body. There was blood flowing out but for some reason it didn't seem to bother him at all.
"Oxidus why? I thought you were my friend" Georga whimpered from underneath him.
His blooded body scared her but nothing could come close to the burning fire that he had in his eyes. It was a fire of pure rage that seemed to burn away at her very heart.
"Indeed Georga, I was once your friend" Oxidus replied with a voice filled with the same rage as his eyes.
"But Fuoca was something you could never understand and you failed" He said in a dark and cold voice.
"Why? How?" Georga started to cry from underneath him.
"The Oxidus you knew is gone forever. This is the real me now" He was sounding even more malicious now.
"But, Oxidus-!" Georga squirmed to get away from him but Oxidus kept her pinned down.
"Let me go!" Georga yelled with all her might against the blood tainted monster.
"Farewell, old friend" Oxidus opened his mouth and Georga's eyes filled with fear as she could see the bright light from the incoming fire stream appearing in the back of his throat.
"NO!!!!" Georga shot up now.
She was gasping deeply and magical energy was pouring out her body.
She looked frantically around the room in search for the monster that was on top of her but she found nothing.
She now recognised the room as her own. She could see the doll of Gaius, her toy shelf and her window from where the morning sun was starting to shine.
"A dream?" Georga thought looking panting at her paw.
It had all just been a nightmare. Oxidus hadn't hurt her, yet.
"Oxidus" Georga thought to her best friend again and about what he had turned into.
She had been shocked yesterday by the scene of massacre she walked into.
With Blizzard completely covered in blood and parts of his body ripped away. Oxidus having blood flowing from everywhere on his body and from seeing Igüsa crippled on the floor.
In the heat of the moment she put the emotions to wait and didn't really try to grasp what had happened. Back then there were people that needed her help.
Only when she had returned home let she finally sink everything in. When she had put the chain of events back together she was absolutely devastated by it.
It was clear Oxidus literally tore him apart and must have fought with rage and bloodlust. The Oxidus that she knew for so long had truly ripped Blizzard to shreds even when Blizzard was already defeated. On top of that he then even tried to kill a helpless and powerless dragon.
"How? How could you do that? You were never like this Oxidus" Georga had always known Oxidus as a very respective battler.
"You always said that you believed a real dragon should have respect for his opponent and to always keep himself under control. A true battler never does any more damage than is absolutely necessary. No real warrior would ever kill an opponent who is already defeated" Georga could remember all of Oxidus' battle speeches by heart as she had been fascinated by them. He often talked about what he learned at the dojo and Georga had always listened very closely to it.
"I don't know you anymore Oxidus" Georga started crying.
"Just what has happened to you? Who are you?"
That thing that was with her yesterday just seemed completely foreign to her. How the dragon she liked and looked up to so much had turned into that thing was beyond her understanding.
"Did I really fail you?!" Georga thought with fear in her heart.
"No, I did everything I could!" She shook her head wildly like she was talking to herself.
"It's all his fault; he wouldn't allow me to do something. It's his fault the situation is like this anyway. If he had learned to control himself then Igüsa would still have her job!" Georga grinded her teeth in anger. He resented any help that she, Igüsa and everyone else kept offering him.
Although it was painful, Fuoca was gone and he just had to deal with it. Igüsa could do it so why can't he? He was just trying to make himself look pitiful! Someone like that wasn't even worth a dragoness like her!
But then Georga quickly released the pressure on her jaws and sighed "Oxidus" she sadly said to herself.
Georga just couldn't be angry at him. It was the easiest way to deal with it but she couldn't muster it to even do that. What Oxidus was and what he had turned into was just too painful to be settled by something as simple as anger.
"What can I do?" She thought out loud now as it was the one question she desperately wanted an answer for and was also the one she didn't have an answer for.
At the exactly same time the same thought was also going inside the head of a fire dragoness in an old decayed house.
"What can I do?" Igüsa thought desperately.
"Maybe..." The nasty thought appeared to her once again as it already had done many times before.
However she then shook her head so hard that her cervical hurt from it "No! No! No! No! No! I refuse to go that low" she clenched her teeth. As unacceptable as it was it did seem like it was the only plausible way for her to find a new job.
"Last time I searched for a job everywhere but I came up with absolutely nothing. I got my job with Blizzard because Frost was there and he convinced his father they needed a maid" Igüsa recalled as there was no job for her and Frost therefore had to create one for her.
"That such a miracle happens again is out of the question. Blizzard has made up his mind and there is no changing it. I'm fired as his maid and I will never work for him ever again" Igüsa was striping off all her possibilities one by one.
"Iga, problem?" Igüsa heard the high pitched voice of her little brother asking.
"No, everything is fine" she lied.
"Oh yeah, you sure don't look fine" Oxidus said sceptically. Oxidus rarely paid attention but this seemed to be an exception.
"What do you mean?" Igüsa asked a bit in panic as she was always doing her best to conceal her concerns and emotions. However Oxidus seemed to be able to spot her emotions perfectly as if she was hiding them behind a paint of glass.
"What are we going to do without you having a job?" Oxidus asked the exact same question Igüsa had been asking herself countless times already.
"We'll see Oxidus" Igüsa assured him. She tried. She did her best to keep them reassured but it didn't seem to work on Oxidus.
"Are you going to enter in the prostitution then?" Oxidus asked next as he seemed to be able to read her mind.
"I would never do that!!!" Igüsa yelled fiercely as it was a very sensitive topic for her.
"Iga, what's prostitution?" Furno asked.
"Well, um" Igüsa didn't know what to say to her three year old brother.
She couldn't possibly say what it really was to a three year old whelpling!
"It's something only adults can do" She said hoping it to be the best choice to say it didn't belong to his age group.
"What you do?" The next question was a clear indication that it wasn't a good choice. Bringing adults in it had made him only even more curious.
"We'll talk about that later" Igüsa hoped that would end it before she would be forced to say something that might give him hints.
Furno didn't ask it again so that meant it had worked.
With that thing settled Igüsa's mind shifted back to the matter of her unemployment
However the more she thought about it the worse it got.
She didn't know it anymore. She knew for sure that there wouldn't be a job for her. She had learned that last time as Frost had to create one for her first. What would they do now?
She couldn't get a job but she had to have one to support her family. Igüsa would truly do anything to support her brothers.
She owned it to her mother to take care of them.
Georga was eating together with Volt again but her mind wasn't in the room at all. It was somewhere very deep inside of her head.
"So Georga-" Volt said. He didn't continuo on his sentence because he felt it too painful to ask.
However he decided to still ask it so he continued "What happened?"
Georga sighed very deeply and didn't answer him. It almost looked like she hadn't heard him.
"Georga!" Volt raised his voice to put a little pressure on her.
"Blizzard attacked Igüsa and Oxidus defended her" Georga said emotionlessly.
"Blizzard attacked Igüsa?!" Volt repeated in shock.
Georga looked away still wanting to say as little as possible.
Knowing no way to comfort her or to say anything Volt did nothing more.
Georga was looking empty and absent. She didn't look sad but just lifeless what was even worse.
"Georga" He mumbled, it almost looked like Georga was going down the same road as Oxidus what would a horrifying thought.
He loved her and he would do anything to help her but he just couldn't think of something he could do.
He just turned his attention back to the food but he didn't taste flavour.
Meanwhile, in the high parts of Warfang Frost was also struggling with the events of yesterday.
His mind was so full of the incident of it that Frost had barely slept at all during the night.
He was laying on a couch in the living room and he took another look around the house.
It was still badly damaged after the battle; the hole in the wall wasn't repaired yet and a large number of stuff was damaged or broken including the high priced clock.
His father had hired a repair crew and they would arrive this afternoon. After that his father had gone to the tournament. Frost remained at home, he said to welcome the repair crew but he just had too much on his mind to watch the cup.
Frost had been shocked when he saw his father nearly die.
He was really worried about him and when he awoke Frost felt like he couldn't be happier.
However his happiness and pity for his father was shattered when he fired Igüsa.
Frost also didn't know didn't know either what to think of Oxidus right now. On one paw he nearly killed his father but on the other paw he was only protecting his sister from harm. He had done something awful but he had his reasons.
Also Frost had always really liked Oxidus so hating him was difficult.
Oxidus had a bond with Igüsa that Frost felt as well so he just couldn't hate him for what happened.
"What now?" Frost had that question in his mind as well as seemed everyone had at this moment.
For him things would right now most likely go back to normal minus Igüsa. He still had a life to live unlike Georga and Igüsa.
However the thought of Igüsa being jobless felt very nasty and he still didn't know what to think of his father firing Igüsa after she put him always before herself despite the treatment she always got from him.
Frost let out a very deep sigh. "Is there something I could have done or can do right now?" He desperately wanted an answer to that question.
As if called for Frost heard someone knock on the door.
He got up and walked down to open the door. He was alone with his father gone now. His gang of dragon friends was busy with the tournament so he had been feeling a bit alone now and he would like some company.
Maybe it also someone was who could help him? He hoped as he opened the door.
He was surprised to see Spyro appearing from behind the door with Sparx floating beside him.
"Good morning Frost" Spyro said kindly as if nothing had happened.
"Good morning" Frost replied in the same tone although he most certainly knew what Spyro was coming to do.
"Well are we going to hear it already or not?" Sparx said inpatient.
"Come in and I will tell you" Frost said being sure they came to hear about yesterday. That Sparx was impatient didn't bother him as he didn't really want to draw it out anyway.
Spyro walked into the house and settled down on the leather couches. Sparx as rested on his head.
Frost took another couch and turned to face his friend.
"Well get out with it" Sparx urged as soon as they had made eye contact.
"So Frost, what happened yesterday?" Spyro asked now a bit more polite.
"Well I wasn't really there when it actually happened but from what I've heard Oxidus and my father fought fiercely" Frost began.
"My father sent me away when he had a quarrel with Igüsa for interacting with me. I had the feeling something was wrong so I went to get you. By chance I bumped into Oxidus and in my haste I told him his sister was in deep trouble. He reacted extremely fierce and stormed out of the citadel. I then instantly understood the grave mistake that I had made so I rushed to get you and the guardians" Frost told him.
"I of course can't be sure of precisely what happened but it is clear Oxidus was so full of rage that he nearly tore my father apart!" the mental picture of his dad in that horrible state still shocked Frost so he almost yelled the last few words.
"Well he had it coming" Sparx said a bit vengeful.
Frost looked venomously at Sparx who gulped and hid behind Spyro's horn.
"Oxidus really was that ferocious?!" Spyro asked to continuo the conversation. He didn't even seem to notice Sparx.
"It seems like he was but that's not the end of it" Frost said sadly. Also forgetting about that comment from Sparx.
"After you two went away I stayed with my father. The healer told me that I could better go to Igüsa but she sent me back saying she was fine and I shouldn't leave my father. I protested a bit but she ordered me to go to my father and not leave his side until he was awake again" Frost explained.
"After a couple of hours my father had recovered and he instantly went to the room of Igüsa" Frost now stopped as he had trouble to continuo the story.
"Then he scolded at Igüsa and fired her" he sighed
"He fired Igüsa after she put him before herself despite his horrible treatment of her?!" Spyro said in disbelief.
"Well what a surprise from him" Sparx said sarcastically
Frost didn't reply to it as he couldn't think of something to say.
"I tried to convince him but his mind was set and now Igüsa is without a job" He finished.
"Is your father okay?" Spyro asked.
"He's fine, after a good night sleep he was completely recovered. According to the healer no injuries were severe and she has healed them all" Frost said what disclosed that chapter.
"But who I'm worried about is Igüsa, I know how poor she is and without a job Igüsa can't support her brothers" Frost said as she was the one who needed help.
"I also know they have almost no saving so they will be out of food and other things very soon"
"Now what?" Frost asked Spyro the question that was racing through both their heads.
There was a silence that hang for seconds but with the situation like this it seemed like hours.
"We just have to go and find her a new job then" Sparx finally said gleefully to break the silence as it was starting to get to him.
"And how do you suppose we do that?" Frost asked in sceptically. His voice almost had a sarcastic tone to it.
"Sparx is right Frost, that is what we have to do" Spyro allied with his brother.
"Like what Spyro?!" Frost now almost shouted as it seemed they thought it could just be done like that.
"What are we supposed to do about it?"
"I think that we can get her a job again" Spyro said still sounding determined.
"Like what?!" Frost now shouted as they didn't listen to him. Spyro seemed to think it was a piece of cake to find Igüsa a new job but in the overpopulated dragon city finding a job was extremely difficult.
"You're the one with the riches, can't you think of something?" Sparx asked to Frost.
"I can't ask my father again so what do you suppose?" Frost said accusing to Sparx.
"You keep saying it is so simple after all!" Frost said with a bit of anger.
"Wait a second! I think have an idea" Spyro said standing up on the couch.
Igüsa was still desperately thinking about any possible jobs but she hadn't thought of anything yet.
The prostitution thing was so prominent in her mind that she didn't think about other ideas.
As much as she hated it she just couldn't get it out of her head.
"Maybe it is the solution after all" Igüsa thought defeated after coming up with zero ideas for hours.
"No! I refuse to abuse my body just to make money" She said out loud.
However the problem still there and she needed to come up with a solution for it.
"What can I do, what can I do" Igüsa kept worrying about it so much that it started to drive her nuts.
Oxidus was gone because he had a match and Igüsa had insisted that he would fight it.
Since she didn't show up at her match yesterday Igüsa knew she was disqualified but it didn't matter as there were more important things to think about than the tournament.
Igüsa let out a deep sigh as she was very tired.
Her body was feeling heavy and it felt like she had been up for days on end.
This wasn't really what was going on however.
The pressure she put on herself was having a toll and all her worrying made it only worse.
Igüsa just walked to her bed to try and rest a bit.
She laid down and tried to relax but that seemed impossible.
Her mind was filled with images of poverty and prostitution and rest was something she couldn't find.
Igüsa buried her head in her paws while she started crying.
She didn't feel sad but just so helpless and under pressure. What could she possibly do?
"Iga?" A high pitched voice sounded what awoke her from her trance.
"What!" she snapped fiercely while she shot her head up towards the origin point.
Suddenly she spotted her little brother cringed in a fearfully and taking a few steps back from her.
"You okay?" The tiny fire dragon asked to the full grown dragoness who was more than ten times his size.
"Sure Furno, I'm fine" Igüsa said in the most soothing voice she could summon at this moment.
This was probably worst lie that had ever escaped her mouth. Igüsa right now was driving herself completely insane with all her worrying and despair.
In the citadel Ember was right now entering the battle ring as her third and final match of the preliminaries approached.
She had beaten Zerzelie yesterday with ease because also Zerzelie was helpless against her secret weapon.
Now she was going to battle it out against a friend. She had partially fought against Flame but that wasn't a real battle.
Therefore to be really fighting against a friend was a new experience for her but it was nothing Ember couldn't handle.
Inge was a young dragoness of a similar build as Ember. She was slightly larger and had a more robust build. She also looked a little bit older although they were of the same age. However that was only minor and the only significant difference was their colour.
Ember had seen Inge battle a couple of times before and she knew Inge could be very powerful.
She was looking very forward to this as it might be the first time she would have a battle that was actually a challenge for her to win.
The two young dragonesses walked to the centre of the arena and did the usual greet by slamming their tails.
"Finally someone who doesn't have to let his tail lay down" Ember though as her two previous opponents were both adults. When clashing tails with an adult it looked like a worm slamming against a snake.
This often made Ember feel quite puny so it was nice to fight someone her own size for a chance.
"Let's see what you're made of" Ember whispered to her opponent. As her body lit up from the fiery energy.
"You won't be disappointed" Inge whispered back as they nudged and turned away from each other.
Ember turned to face her and now activated her secret weapon.
"Ready, get set, Fight!" Volteer shouted as he flapped his wings down.
Inge was the first to move and breathed a stream of fire towards Ember.
Ember didn't defend and she would take the hit head on. She had an evil smirk on her face and didn't even show the slightest hint of fear as the fire came rushing towards her.
The attack hit her full on but like normal she didn't feel anything from her. Inge's power was much too weak to get through her protective hide.
"Is that all?" Ember mocked as she walked unshaved out of the fire.
"If that's all you have to offer you might as well give up" She said taunting as she revealed her fangs and made sure Inge saw them.
Inge grinded her teeth and shot a powerful fireball at her.
Ember was hit full on again but only braced herself a little to keep her balance from the shockwave. The actual fireball didn't do anything.
Ember took a step towards and made her familiar sizzling sound to scare Inge.
"Ember how, what-what are you?" Inge stammered in disbelief.
Ember didn't reply and continued her steady pace and her sizzling sound.
Despite that this already was the third match in which she used it. That Ember was completely invulnerable to any attack was still difficult to grasp.
Inge unleashed her most powerful attack at Ember just like Ember's previous opponents had done before her in the hope it would at least do something.
She shot a perfectly straight fire stream at her that exploded on impact. Ember was hit full and was now surrounded by fire.
However Ember just walked out of the flames, completely unhurt and not even having any marks on her at all.
"What are you?" Inge asked once again unable to believe that something like this was even possible.
"I am the queen of burns" Ember answered darkly.
"Are you going to surrender or do you want to find out why?" Ember asked as she was sure Inge had seen one of her previous two matches.
Ember didn't move and gave Inge plenty time to think it over. She didn't burn her right away as a sign of their friendship.
Inge now suddenly turned around and breathed a fire at her.
Because of her spin it wasn't straight but bent around. It looked a bit like a fire whip.
The fire whip hit Ember on her chest but again didn't cause any damage through her protection and Ember didn't even flinch from it.
This was something new for Ember but it didn't matter as it didn't cause damage.
After seeing that her final attack was a failure as well Inge made her decision.
"You win Ember, this time" Inge sighed as she put her claw at her own throat.
"The winner is queen of burns Ember" Volteer declared.
Ember now deactivated her secret weapon and walked out of the arena feeling fully satisfied with herself.
"I did it!" She thought as it was her third win.
She had won her three matches and she knew perfectly well what that meant.
"I'm now in the victory tournament"
As she was walking through the hallway she had her head up high and her chest pronged forwards.
She was full of pride at her perfect winning streak. She had won all three of her matches with ease.
"That went perfect" She thought a bit cocky.
She had perfected her weapon only just before the tournament and it still sometimes failed when she pushed it too much. However even with that risk she had successfully used it and it had brought her victory three times in a row.
"And now I'm officially in the victory tournament" Ember just couldn't get enough of the thought that she was doing so well in this tournament.
This was something she had always longed for and it looked like she might actually have a shot at winning it. It was really a dream come through for the young fire dragoness.
Suddenly a new thought entered her mind "Flame and Oxidus" the thought of those two powerhouses now also occurred to her.
"They won't be easy to defeat, Oxidus defeated his opponent in mere seconds and Flame also completely overwhelmed his adversary" Ember remembered.
"Then there is also that Flannery" Ember had seen Flannery battle and she had to admit that she was impressed.
Flannery often was annoying and boasted a lot but she was able to put her money where her mouth was because she was doing an awesome job in the arena.
Ember decided just to go to the stands and watch the matches for the day.
But first she walked up to time-table to look for interesting matches to watch.
"11:30 Oxidus versus Volca. I wouldn't want to miss that"
The clock indicated half past ten so with little else to do she might as well just get to the stands.
Ember walked to the young dragon stands while her mind was still filled with the thought that she was now in the victory tournament.
Ember reached the stands quickly and settled down on the first empty spot she saw.
A battle was already going on so she looked to see who it was.
The match was fought between two unknown fire dragons and they were rather weak.
Ember didn't really find it interesting so she looked around to see if there was anyone to talk to.
Suddenly she spotted a red figure that was very familiar to her.
"Oh Flame" Flame was sitting only five metres away but he hadn't spotted her yet either.
"Oh, um, hi Ember" Flame stammered as he stiffened like he often did whenever he was around her.
Ember stood up and walked towards him. Flame was always entertaining to be with so with little else to do she decided to join him.
"Hi Electa, mind if I sit here?" She asked the electric dragoness who was sitting between her and Flame.
"Not at all Ember, go ahead" Electa moved to the side to let Ember sit between her and Flame.
Electa was from the orphanage as well and Ember had seen her before many times.
Ember walked into the newly created gap. She then turned around, put her wings to the sides of her body and laid down.
Ember was now less than a metre away from Flame and he didn't like it at all.
He tried to move a bit away from her but she just moved with him.
"So I'm into the victory tournament" Ember wanted to start a conversation and it was the first thing that came to her mind.
"Well, incredible! I mean, congratulations! I mean, it was expected, no I mean-" Flame was starting to panic as he couldn't figure out what to say to her. Ember was a strong dragon so that he was impressed she might take that as an insult.
"Thank you Flame" Ember interrupted him and moved her head a bit closer to him.
She was now so close that he could almost feel her body heat even though her heat attack wasn't even on.
"Um-" Flame tried to shove a bit further away from the pink dragoness but he felt that he pressed himself against the dragoness who was sitting to his right.
"Hey! Move aside you!" Flame heard a heavy female voice say aggressive.
"Sorry!" Flame shouted as he turned around.
The dragoness was almost deafened by Flame shouted mere centimetres from her sound receptors.
The dragoness snarled angrily at him and now Flame also recognised her right away as Flannery.
Feeling very scared he jumped sideways to be away from her.
However he forgot that Ember was still laying to his left and he bumped into her.
Ember was smiling very much as she tried not to laugh at him.
Half instinctively she spread her right wing and lifted it over the panicking Flame.
When she lowered it and it touched Flame she could feel him relaxing and calming down.
Flame lied back down with her wing covering him as a sort of blanked.
Ember right now was almost feeling like a mother with Flame under her wing. Both figuratively and literally.
"Like always" Ember thought smiling as she protected the shy and emotionally defenceless Flame.
Somewhere else in Warfang Cynder knocked on the door in front of the house of Georga.
She was very anxious to know what had happened yesterday and Georga seemed like the best place for her to go to.
Spyro had gone to Frost for it but she had decided she wanted to know it from Georga.
She patiently waited and after about a minute Volt opened the door.
However the look in his eyes surprised her "Oh, hi, Cynder" He said very sad and down.
"Something wrong?" Cynder asked very curious to his depressive mood.
"No, of course not" Volt's voice instantly shot up and his sadness suddenly vanished.
Volt was clearly hiding something. There was something not right here at this moment.
"I've come to visit Georga" Cynder said as it was her usual reason for being here.
"Well come in then" Volt said friendly as he opened the door.
Cynder walked in and quickly searched the room for Georga.
However she couldn't see Georga anywhere in the room.
"Where's Georga?" she asked Volt. Georga was home because if she wasn't Volt would have sent her away.
"Her room" Volt said his voice turning down again.
Cynder went to Georga room but she still found Volt's attitude very strange.
Cynder walked through the curtain and spotted Georga laying half asleep with her back to her.
"Hey, Georga!" Cynder addressed doing her best to sound as cheerful as possible.
Georga didn't reply nor did she look back. It seemed like she really was asleep but her head was lifted and her wings were up so that meant she was awake and had heard her calling.
"Hallo! Georga!" Cynder said louder now.
"Hi, Cynder" Georga said without turning to look at Cynder.
The tone that she had was very strange. Georga usually had an energetic voice that sometimes had mischievous tendencies.
But now her voice was empty. It had no sadness, anger, happiness or any emotion at all in it.
"So Georga, how are you feeling?" Cynder asked as Georga attitude really indicated that something was seriously wrong.
"I'm good" Georga said very unconvincing.
"So, how about it, you know, what happened yesterday?" Cynder asked trying to be careful with that topic.
Cynder waited for five seconds to Georga silence before concluding that Georga wasn't going to answer her question.
Getting enough of talking to Georga´s back Cynder walked around her to look to her face now.
"What is going on with you!?" Cynder demanded as Georga was behaving very strange.
Georga just diverted her gaze away so that she didn't look at her.
"Georga!" Cynder said a bit fiercer.
"Just go" Georga said while still avoiding eye contact. The voice had no strength in it but only sadness what was very unlike Georga.
Cynder was quite struck by her voice but she wouldn't let Georga sent her away so easily.
She decided to bring up an emotional but less heavy topic to at least try and get Georga to talk.
"Oxidus' match is up soon" She chose it as the best option because Georga has never missed one of his matches.
"I rather stay-" Georga started but Cynder didn't let her finish the sentence.
"You're not going to watch!?" Cynder exclaimed in shock.
"I thought you said he was your best friend!"
Georga kept silent from that.
"Georga!" Cynder yelled at her.
Georga let out a deep sign and now finally made eye contact with Cynder.
However the look in Georga's eyes was more than Cynder could handle.
Her eyes were completely empty. There was no life, no spirit, no emotion, there nothing in it. Georga was completely broken inside.
Cynder took a step back and looked astonished at her friend who lay mortified before her.
"So are you going to watch his match" Cynder said needing every bit of self control not to get emotional.
"I will" Georga said as she slowly got up and walked out of the room.
"Georga" Cynder couldn't believe that the dragoness she had just talked to was actually Georga. The look in her eyes and the tone in her voice...
It was something she had never seen before. Even when Georga was devastated after Oxidus attacked her she wasn't like this.
"What is going on with her?" Cynder thought as Georga seemed so empty and broken that Cynder could feel pain herself when their eyes met.
She walked out of the room after Georga as it seemed her role here was over.
She stopped when she spotted Volt looking sad and almost disappointed.
"Hey Volt?" Cynder said her voice matching her mood.
"Yes?"
Cynder took a few seconds to prepare the question so that she could bring it well.
"Have you any idea what could be wrong with Georga?" Cynder asked as Volt seemed closer to her than anyone.
"No, I'm sorry Cynder" He said obviously aggravated that it was the case.
"I have never seen Georga like this in my life" He looked towards the door and just caught a glimpse of Georga while she took off.
"She has been sad before but never as empty like she is now" He said as he had a tear now rolling out of his eye.
Cynder had never seen Volt cry before. Cynder had never really been that fund of him because he hit Georga sometimes but this truly showed her he really loved her.
It was very clear it pained him very much to see Georga like this.
"Just what has happened to her" The thought almost appeared simultaneously with both Cynder and Volt and neither one had an answer to what has happened to her or what they or anyone else could do about it.
Cynder left the house feeling more down than she had ever been in her life.
This emotion was very different from what she had experienced before. When she had left the temple to seek her destiny she still could feel strength of life but now it all seemed gone. Georga seemed so powerless and empty, it was beyond description.
Back in the citadel Ember continued to watch the matches unfold.
Suddenly she spotted a small green dragon fly into the stadium and walk towards the young dragon stands.
She quickly identified the dragon as Georga.
That Georga would come was no surprise to her as Oxidus' match was soon to begin.
"Hi Georga" Ember shouted as she moved closer to Flame and seeing what to do Electa moved as well to create an empty space in between them.
Georga didn't reply to Ember and just settled down next to her and watched the match.
"Do you think he'll win?" Ember asked although it was partly an unnecessary question.
"Yeah" Georga said emotionless she seemed too deeply in thought.
"Georga?" Ember was very surprised. Georga was never like this at all. It looked to Ember like something was seriously wrong with her.
"Ah, she's probably just tired" Ember settled for although she found it very hard to believe by the way Georga was acting.
Ember turned her eyes back to the arena as Oxidus' match was just about to start.
"And now the Volcano Master Oxidus will face the Empress of Heat Volca!" Volteer shouted.
As Oxidus walked into the arena Ember could see he still looked the same: focused, empty, machinelike and dangerous.
"Just what has happened to him?" Ember also could remember the old Oxidus very well and she most certainly didn't like this ice cold fire dragon.
His emotionless battle style didn't not to belong to a dragon that loved battling as much as he did.
Ember turned to Georga and saw an emptiness in her that was new for Ember.
"What is going on?" Ember thought as Georga was behaving almost like Oxidus now unlike her normal exuberant, happy and sarcastic nature.
Ember just used her tired excuse again to get the stuff out of her head but her instinct strongly told her it was wrong.
"Ready, get set, Fight!" Volteer shouted indicating that the match started.
As soon as the match began Oxidus fired a highly concentrated fireball at his opponent and followed it up right away with a comet dash to keep up with the speed of his own attack.
The high speed fireball hit his opponent almost instantly and temporarily stunned him.
Oxidus stopped his comet dash by digging his claws deep into the ground. Using his powerful leg muscles he instantly came to a hold in less than a metre of ground.
He then chanced his forward momentum into upwards force and jumped to the height of his opponent's neck with ease.
While his opponent was still covered in the fire from Oxidus' attack he put his paws around the dragon's neck and put his tail barb at his opponent's throat. He had made another instant win.
"The winner is Volcano Master Oxidus!" Volteer shouted.
"He was awesome as always" Ember grinned to Georga in trying to make her speak.
Georga just looked away and didn't seem to be able to speak.
"Aren't you going to him to congratulate him?" Ember asked a bit shocked as Georga hadn't moved from her spot.
"No" Georga answered emotionlessly.
"I'm going home now" She said using an empty voice as she walked out of the stands and towards the outer ring.
The place was very crowded so Georga couldn't take off in the stances.
She waited until she was out of the crowd and then she flew off to her house.
"Looks like Georga has finally given up on him" Flannery said smirking.
"Shut up Flannery!" Ember snapped. Normally she accepted Flannery's mocking remarks but this was something very serious. Ember could see that Georga was struggling with her emotions and that was nothing to joke about.
Ember was now not really in a happy mood herself. With Flame not having a match today and the one of Oxidus already over she decided to leave as well and go back home.
She walked out of the stands and when she had reached the outer ring she spread her wings and took to the skies.
While she flew home there was one thought she just couldn't let go
"What is going on?" she kept thinking.
Georga was never like this so something new and pretty serious must have happened to her.
There also was another thought that stubbornly kept circling in her mind.
"Looks like Georga has finally given up on him" Flannery's words repeated themselves in her head again and again.
"Georga has given up on him" Ember thought, now seriously thinking about it.
"Maybe Flannery might actually be on to something here"
Also Igüsa was feeling like all hope was lost.
She hadn't left her home all day and right now she was pondering while walking around in circles.
She had brought Furno to Zerzelie to take care of him and Oxidus was having his match now. Therefore she was now alone.
Trying to get the thoughts out of her head she decided to take a flight.
She walked outside and took to the skies.
She took a deep breath what seemed to refresh her mind a little.
"Let's see, what could I do?" She wondered as she flew around aimlessly in the big dragon city.
"Maybe that guy- no that isn't possible"
"Or maybe I could- Out of the question"
"Maybe they could use a- Yeah right, like someone would want something like that" Igüsa was striping off every idea that came up in her head right away.
Feeling a bit in public above the city she landed in a random street and walked the rest of her stroll.
"What talents do I have?" Igüsa now to find the answer that way in the hope that she had something that someone might want.
Her brother's talents were obvious. He was a fire dragon powerhouse and was born to battle. With his skills he could climb up the ranks with ease and maybe even become guardian one day.
Oxidus' talents were in battle. That was what he loved and what he was best at. In his case it was that simple
However for her it wasn't that simple. As hard as she thought about it she couldn't think of any remarkable talent she had at all.
She was no battler like her brother was, she hadn't studied for anything and all her other skills seemed mediocre.
"Well hallo there" a voice said behind what interrupted her thinking.
Igüsa turned her head and spotted a male electric dragon approach her.
He was a rather large dragon with a heavy build. He two plain brown horns and a trident tail appendix. He looked well fed but Igüsa thought he smelled awful.
"Hello" Igüsa said emotionlessly.
"What is a beauty like you doing out here all alone" He asked in a half friendly half worried tone.
"Just taking a stroll" Igüsa shrugged.
The dragon now slowly approached her further.
While he appeared friendly Igüsa felt like she wanted him to keep as much distance as possible.
"So then why don't I escort you home?" He offered still in a half friendly tone but this time it hid something more sinister.
"I can take care of myself" Igüsa replied clearly but not fierce.
Then she bowed to at least be proper "Thanks for the offer but I refuse" She said although it wasn't just meant as a sign of politeness.
"So how is your job searching going?" He asked what totally caught Igüsa by surprise.
"How do you know that?!" She asked.
"Hun, you have been mumbling about it the entire time" He said laughing.
"Hun!!! How dare he?!" Igüsa snarled with closed jaws.
"Maybe I can help you" He said in an overly suggestive tone.
"And how would you do that?" Igüsa replied in the exact same tone.
He now approached her even closer and then went by her side.
"If you come to my house maybe we could discuss something" He suggested while he was standing besides Igüsa so that she couldn't see his face.
"Well maybe you could give me a hint what it is before hand" Igüsa suggested not letting him get the best of her.
She kept looking forward and didn't move even a wing while she talked to the dragon standing next to her.
"I can pay you 100 gold pieces for your first time" he said although it wasn't what Igüsa had asked.
"100 gold pieces!?" Igüsa thought in shock.
With that money they could buy food and pay their lease for almost a month. It would surely help to have that money. It would also give her time to find a permanent job.
She really needed this money to support her brothers with.
"Wait a second...!" Igüsa now thought.
He had said what he paid but nothing about what it was and she didn't even know who he was.
"So what's your name?" She decided to ask that question first.
"I'm Jolt" He said simply.
"So what is it you want me to do?" She asked next. She didn't look at him but she knew that he was still standing next to her.
"Well from the looks of you I would say you should be able to do it fine" He said. Again he didn't answer the question she asked.
"And what did you have in mind mister Jolt?" Igüsa said superficial.
"Oh, feisty aren't you" He said.
"You bet I am" She replied.
"So what should I do?" Igüsa asked as would know everything about it before she agreed to anything.
The 100 gold pieces made it very worth her time but she was going to be the one who was calling the shots.
She didn't like the way he acted at all so she wanted to be sure that she was in control of the situation.
"Maybe you could put that well build body of yours to good use" He hinted.
Igüsa had a strong hunch where he was going with this but with possibly a new job paid 100 gold pieces she didn't want to discard it until he had literally said it.
"And how were you implying I do that?" The repeated questions and vague answers were starting to get on her nerves but she kept her calm and cold tone. She also didn't turn to him but kept talking with her snout pointed forwards while he was standing next to her.
If he thought he could just pluck her like a berry off a branch then he was sadly mistaken.
"Just as challenging as beautiful eh, I like that of kind of dragonesses" He said.
"Well I feel real honoured" Igüsa shot back sarcastically.
"Well if you're so eager to know-" He said not finishing his sentence.
His voice was very seductive and even harassing now.
Igüsa had a very bad feeling about this and she wanted him to finish his sentence to know what he was up to. However she couldn't let him win by looking so she waited for him to continuo while feeling very uneasy.
Suddenly Igüsa's body was rocked by an extremely powerful feeling as something moved underneath her tail.
Instantly forgetting about the contest of not looking she turned around to find the source of the tickle she was feeling.
Igüsa was shocked by what he found him doing to her.
He had his left paw at her rump and was squeezing it teasingly underneath her tail.
"I meant like this" He said now sounding lustfully.
"I, um" Igüsa was so surprised that she didn't know what to say.
She had bent her head but still was standing with her side to him.
Suddenly he stopped and moved away from her.
He now turned around and was standing behind her, facing in the same direction as she was.
"So what do you say beauty?" He asked. He placed one paw on her hip while he said it.
It looked like he was ready put the other paw there as well and mount her right there in the streets.
"This!!!" Igüsa hissed.
She lifted her hind leg and gave him a powerful slash at his face.
She could hear him scream and turned around to face him.
She could see the triple gashes of her claws in his snout. She had scratched him on his nose and partially also on his eyes and his mouth. Blood was flowing from the wounds.
"You get your filthy paws off of me!!!" She shouted down at him. He had his paws to shield his wounds and was looking up at her helpless from a cringing position.
"I will never go and mate with lizards like you! No matter what happens!!!" She scolded down at the pervert as she gave him another hard blow with her tail what knocked him over.
She could hear a shout of pain coming when she hit him. However she didn't care and just flew off while leaving him alone to lick his wounds.
While she flew home her mind was full of rage.
"That guy! How dare he?!" Igüsa cursed.
"Thinking he could just take me! I'm no slut that he can mate with whenever he sees fit! And trying to bribe me with money!"
Suddenly the thought entered about the possible money she could have received if she hadn't rejected him like that and her mood chanced in a second.
She know also felt some regret as she had just rejected a very well paid job.
"It proves that I really do have talent for something" she tried to think good about it but this made her only even more desperate.
"Is it really the solution?" She thought as she was absolutely disgusted by it.
"No!" Igüsa thought with grinding teeth. "No matter will happen I won't abuse my body just for the sake of money!"
She returned home as quickly as possible and landed in the street.
When she entered the house she also stayed there for the remainder of the day. She was feeling almost scared that the incident might repeat itself again if she got out.
This had not been the first time Igüsa had been molested in her life but with the situation like this it made far more impact on her.
It really hammered in that prostitution might be the only possible answer. It was the only thing she really seemed to be good at. She had a weak body but it was very well build and it really excelled in the thing she hated more than anything else in the world.