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Xici Kingdom

A very strong roar erupted out in the fit of the morning, shocking and waking most of the inhabitants and dragons alike. The dragons were still sleeping at the time of the day while some started to hunt. The roar was strong enough to make them woke up, like a wake-up call.

"Ah, goddamn it. What kind of a dragon dare to roar that loud?!" said a black dragon. "Hey, do you know what time is...whoa!"

The black dragon knew the dragon that roared was the dragon that was a mischief for the rest of the dragons when they moved to the dragon district in the big kingdom. It tried to run, but the chains binding all of his movable parts held him. He was still struggling to break the chains, even trying to break it, to no avail. In frustration he started to make a fire when a pair of clawed scaled hand closed his maws and forced him down.

"You are one pain in the arse, Jaradas!" said a female voice, a crimson, soft scaled dragoness. She was using the whole of her body weight to hold the smaller ash green dragon down. "Do you know what time is it?!"

Jaradas tried to struggle free, but the crimson dragon held him down and used a nearby rope to tie his maw together, preventing him to bite or making any fire. He tried to shake it, but he knew he was hopeless with his limbs being restrained and the only dragoness that could beat him was pinning him down. Jaradas then relaxed in disappointment.

"If you ever cut the binding to your maws I'll make you a douchebag for your entire life. You got me?!"

Jaradas in both fear and anger nodded slowly. He knew what the dragoness meant.

"Oh, Asola?" said a nearby blue dragoness. "The king wants to meet you."

"The king?" She wondered on what she had done. "Uh, on what?"

"It's a private matter. He only wants to speak with you."

Asola knew what 'private matter' the human king wanted, so she unfolded her wings and made a swing on her wings, lifting off from the ground when the wind produced pushed her up. She slowly flew to the castle while cursing herself and thinking.

"Damn that Jaradas! You are one hell of a burden to me!" she thought. "Why am I the one taking care on that fake dragon? It isn't right!"

The crimson dragoness landed on the pad reserved for dragons. Some of the soldiers helped her opening the giant door able to size most dragon sizes. Her body was in somewhat a middle size, seen by her own head that wasn't as big as some of the adult big-sized dragons. She wasn't as old either, still around 150 years, and yet, she had seen this once new young king grew old by time.

The corridor toward the throne room was spacious even for her. Many soldiers and servants needed to cover many distances from the landing/takeoff pad to the throne room. Asola only needed around 45 paces, and quite possibly bigger dragons needed lesser paces. The castle corridor was well-lit by sunlight at the time of the day, despite that it was still morning.

Asola didn't need to wait long before the next heavy door leading to the throne room was opened. She took a deep breath before getting in, not because she was anxious on the king (she wasn't scared to humans. Her pride was stronger than the king), but because of the dragon that guarded him.

The throne room was very spacious to even put three or four dragons in the place with maybe thousands of humans inside. Since Xici kingdom's plan had some of the houses spacious so dragons could fit in, it was ordinary. The king was sitting on a throne in the middle of the very large room. The material for the throne wasn't ordinary, as it was made from a special masonry only unique to him. The lack of jewelries on both the throne and the king was either to represent his own trait on simplistic life or maybe not to make the dragons currently in audience with the king too drawn to his own wealth and in turn making the kingdom down.

The king now started to have white hairs over his normally reddish brown hair, as Asola would see him 22 years ago. While she saw the king was a long-haired knight in his 30s now had started to take on age on his 52th year on life. He was currently wearing a robe of white, with his family's crest visible under the silk robe. His walking stick was beside him; just on reach with his hand should the need to walk arisen.

"Ah, our crimson guardian has come," said the king when he noticed Asola. "Come, mighty dragoness. I and Flicrist have been waiting for you." "Sorry for being late."

"It's nothing, Asola. You have all the times in the world. Now...I think I will dismiss all of you, my servants. This talk is between the three of us." His servants left the hall after bowing to him, leaving only Asola, the king, and the blue silver dragon alone. The blue silver made a low growl before opening his sapphire eyes that made a gasp to Asola, knowing that the dragon was young, yet handsome in her opinion, despite of her not having an interest on the dragon at all.

"Okay, so," said the king in the usual talking tone when he wasn't in need for nobility. "What's the news around Xici?"

"It's complicated, but...there are always talks about any rebels living inside the kingdom. There are also rumors on the remaining anti-dragons settling in the sewers of our kingdom."

"Sewers are necessary for filth processing, so as you know. It's not the same when my father ruled this kingdom. It's not as spacious enough for your aid, except if you put younglings inside. Well, that aside...how about Jaradas?"

"Jaradas is not even getting better!" said Asola with rage. "That ash green dragon is killing me! Do I need to take on the responsibility on a dragon that's..."

"Slow down, Sola," said the dragon behind the king. "This place is not soundproof."

Lowering her voice, she continued, "A once filthy dragon hater human that's not even a real dragon?! My king, he will become a menace to us by time. Why the hell an eccentric human sorceress would sacrifice herself just to make the leader of the once dragon hater city become a dragon? It makes the condition even worse."

"Asola...this is not a simple matter, but you must understand. Based on the authority of my father and myself as his son and the current king, I will make those deem too dangerous as a human be changed into a dragon for the rest of their lives and serve under the king of Xici kingdom."

"But Jaradas is a nuisance, my king!"

"Hey...Asola, you think only ex-general Jaradas is the one trying to rebel? As you're the one defeating him as a dragon you have the rights to do whatever you want from him. The other dragons aside from you also expressed similar concerns on the political prisoners. They even try to take a harsh decision by killing the prisoner."

The dragon behind the king then said, "Asola...there are political prisoners yet to become dragons in the dungeons of this castle. They know their fate to be the one they should hate, so they are very scared. Hansel wants to make a peace with the fallen antis, not making them a worse enemy than before. Uh, Han...can I speak to her in private?"

"Go on, then, Flicrist. Use the porch."

Flicrist directed Asola to the porch, which was also the pad for the dragons to land or taking off. There were no soldiers stationed there, so Flicrist closed the door behind him with his front legs. After checking no other dragons heard them, he said, "What the hell are you thinking, Asola?! Why are you so mad?"

"That pain in the arse started to take on my nerve, Flicrist!" said Asola in a raging tone. "That...that fake dragon tried to escape even harsher and he starts to disturb the other and the humans. Why am I the one getting the worst anti in this kingdom?"

"Asola, have you ever consider talking to him in a normal manner like dragons chat to each other? He's not a goddamn enemy anymore!" "I know, Flicrist, but he's still dangerous. If he ever breaks the restraints..."

"Do you actually start to like him?"

The question somehow jabbed Asola like a dragon make a body slam on her. Shaken by it, her voice started to get shaky.

"B...but...what kind of thinking is that?"

"Asola...despite of being once a cruel dragon slayer, Jaradas is still nice. He was only hostile to you, no less, knowing that you're the one defeating him. To the others, he likes to hear their talks, trying to understand them...well, that didn't go well, so he was still hostile to this point." "B...but I didn't like him!"

"How about from this point on you try to speak to the dragon calmly? Show him the way how dragons live, their cultures, and their kindness to him. I don't know human's study much, but many said if you always treat him like such he will grow like such. Asola, if you must, don't overdo your domination over him. Treat him like a friend. Yes, I know you're now dominating him until he can defeat you again, which will never happen when he's restrained like that. Dominate him in a calmer way."

"But..." "Spreading fear and act of bravery is not how we civilized dragons do, Asola. Stay true to our cultures, while taking on the pride dragons have in check, and you'll get a better life."

"Uh..."

"Can you do this, Asola?"

"All right, all right! You force me to!"

"No...not really. You only like him."

Asola didn't want to talk much to the blue silver dragon and just fly away, leaving Flicrist on the porch. The crimson dragon kept on thinking on Jaradas. She wanted to help the dragon out from his human life and accept the fate fallen on him, but on the other side, she didn't want to act like a coward. She went to her cave at the outskirts of the kingdom to think better, out of the bustling city center.

Jaradas, on the other hand, was so sad. He was trying to run away from the restraints, knowing that they were hurting him, if not for the crimson dragon thinking that it was an act of escape and bind his maws together. He didn't want to end up like that. True, 45 years ago he was so wild and couldn't accept the fact that he had become a dragon, but as time went on, Jaradas knew his struggle was futile and he knew dragons were not as bad as he thought it would be, even for the first time in his life as a dragon slayer and a general to the anti-dragons, he was fond to love the dragons on how they lived and socialize, not like how he thought about them as flying lizards that terrorized the world's peace. True, some dragons were still as slick and as foul as many said, but he knew civilized dragons were different.

Well, now, the problem was, Jaradas couldn't speak and he wouldn't dare to break the rope as he knew Asola had a very bad temper. He looked like a humiliation. Well, at least his pride as a human wasn't hurt, but his dragon's pride was.

"Damn, that dragon whore really made me a laughing stock because of her act," thought Jaradas. "I want to try to talk to her, but...why am I only growling and roaring like a beast?"

Then, he waited many hours, only watching the dragons that somehow thought he wasn't there. Only after the sun almost set and Jaradas was tired to see the dragons did Asola came back and blocked his view. He wanted to look as hopeless as possible as to the crimson dragoness' pity. He succeeded partly because of Asola's own job.

Asola sighed and said, "You won't bite if I break this rope? I'm sure you won't."

Jaradas quickly nodded and Asola cut the rope apart. Jaradas flexed his jaws for a moment, before trying to say thank you, but he only make growls.

"Don't worry," said Asola. "The magic that changes you into this state won't let you speak with common tongue." Asola suddenly made a gesture to put her clawed hand on Jaradas' head, and like being hit by a rock, the ash green dragon felt many knowledge came into him, and he was like mesmerized by it before returning to the normal state. He, in reflex, said, "Whoa!"

"The knowledge of our language and our tongue is now within your mind," said Asola. "You are now able to talk with our race, but not to the humans, as you need their blessing to talk to them."

"But...why are you helping the one that's killing your race?" said Jaradas solemnly. He knew he was responsible for the death of ten dragons throughout his career as a dragon slayer.

Asola made another sigh. "You fool. I know you're responsible for the death of ten of our kin, but I believe, deep in your heart, you have accepted your conditions and tried to live normally as a dragon, though without the king's order I can't let those bindings loose."

"B...but..."

"No buts, Jaradas, and you know you're still our captive," said Asola sternly.

"I...I'm hurt in these chains."

"Well, don't struggle too much. It's that simple."

"S...sorry."

Asola became silent for a while, before saying, "There are many dragons everywhere, trying to communicate to the humans, yet some of the humans, like your kind, didn't heed them and just kill them like they're beasts. Our races are alike, Jaradas, yet different in body and mind. You were a mammalian, while we're a reptile."

"But...maybe if you can tell me why dragons wanted to kill us firsthand, I will want to..."

"Dragons are also animals, Jaradas. They followed their instinct, too, and these instincts are the ones saving our arses from you humans."

"I..."

"I can see you're trying to say that we're nothing but foul races with love for gold. Well, that's alright. We all have weaknesses after all. All of us had a plague of greed."

Jaradas enjoyed the chat with the crimson dragoness he supposed to hate, and knew that by trying to integrate himself into their lives did he felt calm and really in good terms with the dragoness. She was nice, yet still not so open for him. When she left him, now as friends, Jaradas could hope that their own relationship could be better than this.