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"Oh, fuck...where am I..."

"In a medical wing, Seraphor. That was quite a show out there. Something tells me you've ever fought a middle-sized dragon, and you win big."

Seraphor wanted to try to stand, but a force held him before he woke up. When he cleared, he saw that they were black fore legs, and saw Bartoz was holding him. He also realized that he was on a stone bench...or bed, covered with soft silky bed sheet. He groaned for a moment before he saw a familiar sky blue-colored Parusan taking a bowl of water.

"W...what's going on? I...what happened?" He suddenly realized something and exclaimed, "The Parusan! What's with him? Did I..."

"You gave him back everything he said, but maybe he'll be alright after some patching up," said Bartoz. "You need to rest. I guess you're too tense, huh? Oh, Kar, maybe I need to talk privately with him. I think that Parusan needs your care."

After Karkariz left the small room to themselves, Bartoz suddenly grabbed Seraphor's throat and started to strangle the small dragon, which caught him by surprise. He realized the black dragon was draining Seraphor's energy and now his life energy. If Bartoz betrayed him, the silver red knew he had no chance of winning his absorbing dark energy, and now he let his guard down...

"You're too harsh, Seraphor," said Bartoz, eyes looked to the gasping silver red with an angry tone. "If this happen to you, you won't be able to run away or fight back. I can immobilize any dragons around me, and that, Seraphor, is the reason why I chose to stay like a powerless dragon instead of doing that."

"W...what the fuck do...you want to say, huh?"

"Though I appreciate your steady composure and that cool stance, what you did in the arena was out of character. What's with Parusans that you want to rough them up that badly? We have never seen them before and you suddenly lost that composure. What's wrong with you?"

"I...I don't know.... The whole world was like a blur to me. All I did was...oh, ancestors...it's horrible. I caused suffering in him."

"You caused suffering in him and terror in him. The next time you show up in front of him he'll see you as a monster, not a dragon. What did you see, Seraphor?"

"What?"

"Your actions are caused by your guilt. I can see them in you. Your guilt for something is causing you to act out of character. Tell me, Seraphor.... Is it because of me?"

"No...I...It's not because of you. I can feel everything bursting out from my chest when I fought the slayers in Xici kingdom. All of my thoughts are with the vengeance and...there are ghosts haunting my mind. Those three are..."

"The ghosts of those dragons you have failed to protect?"

Seraphor hesitated before lying down, trying to hold his sadness. He then turned his eyes and with shaken voice, he said, "I can't...save Koroskin from his ailments...I can't...help Angelus when she sacrificed herself with Caim to kill her enemy...and...Ray..."

"You're dwelling too much with the past, Seraphor. They are all with their ancestors now. Don't make them suffer more than this, and don't think their vengeance is with you. They never left you anything except memories together. Now, Seraphor, you can't help with violence, but from now on, take a deep breath and rethink everything you have known. Everything you do must now be based on your cool composure, not a dragon's rage. Do you think you can do that?"

"B...but...I prefer being a captive. Now that I'm dangerous both with powers or not, there will be a time when you'll take my life."

"I can always take your life, Seraphor," said Bartoz. "But there's always one that you can rely on that. I'm just a friend. Another better one is what you needed."

Taking a conclusion, Seraphor knew what Bartoz meant. He knew it, as it was in his thought many times.

"Spyro..."

"You need the purple dragon for this job. As your friend and parallel, he's the only one who can stop himself. For now, I'll be your guardian."

As Bartoz helped the smaller dragon to get down from the bed, he said, "You know, the ancestors can give quite a fate to both of us. Without me, what you'll do is just destroy everything in this prison, but I know you have the strength to stay cool. So, for now, rest a bit in the courtyard. Kranos is waiting for you." When they reached the courtyard, it was almost dark, meaning that they were going to get back into their cells. When he reached the place, a Parusan eyed him seriously, before saying, "You finished your fight? Get back with the flock."

Remembering what Bartoz said, Seraphor chose not to start a fight and kept silent. He knew he had hit the Parusans hard, but at the same time he almost exposed his real identity. When he turned to find Kranos, he realized some dragons were staring at him, as if not believing on his deeds. He couldn't find Kranos anywhere, and by the time there was a call, he had thought Kranos was taken again for another beating like the one intended for him.

After returning to his cell, though, he found the dragon walking back into the cell with Karkariz and Bartoz at his sides. When they finished putting the sea dragon into the cell, Bartoz went into the cell and said, "Both of us will be meeting more frequently, so stick around."

Kranos slowly turned his gaze to Karkariz, and said, "Maybe I was wrong about you, young dragon. You're a noble Parusan, and you can have my thanks."

Karkariz just blushed before Bartoz covered the small dragon with his wings and said, "C'mon. Maybe they need their own time alone. I have something with you..."

After they left, Kranos let out a long sigh with a little salty effect, before scratching a little of his scales and said, "Damn water. If it's sea water I would like a salt scrub now, but guess you only managed to find a bowl of sea water coming in from the gutter, and this trough is something to bind us in this place. Well, that's the hardship of a sea dragon. You can't find any sea water, you'd better die."

"You hold on longer than I think."

"And you start to be a bugger to the Parusans. Well done, Seraphor the silver red. You never stop to amaze me in many ways. You're as vicious as the rumors said about you."

"But...I wasn't..."

"I know a calm dragon like you would never do that, but what you must do to survive is what matters. Now, because of you, aside from giving them something to work for, you've raised some hope to the sane dragons around here."

"I wasn't trying to raise it with violence."

"For us, violence is the hope we are waiting for. The Southern World is the worst place you'll ever be since everything there only wants to kill you. We don't believe in the war, and we don't want any war to make us a plaything, so we disapprove of this prison. What we need is retaliation. You've proved yourself to be worthy of a survivor."

"I'm a warrior, not a survivor."

"You are a survivor here, in this prison. Like your black friend making friends with the Parusans, you are able to survive in a different way. Just go to sleep. I'll take you to my friends. They are eager to meet you, western dragon."

The next morning felt very hard for Seraphor to wake up. After the usual harsh morning call from the Parusan and their half the day in the courtyard, Kranos pointed Seraphor to a group of dragons, clearly with different looking anatomies from the normal dragons. They had fins for legs, yet some had normal dragons legs. There were also white scaled dragons bathing in the only sea water pool they could get in the prison. The sun was high and with that kind of heat, the sea dragons couldn't survive without water, and they were trying hard to even get the smallest part of their habitat.

"Bugger me...this is so much of sea water! Where can you get this pool?"

"This is a tide pool, Krani! You get the sea water when it's high tide."

"Oh I thought the sea water is all gutter water."

After a brief laugh from the sea dragons, Seraphor somehow remembered the accent from somewhere. A little while after they talked Seraphor knew it was one of Spyro's friends. The dragon was called Miller and came from a place Spyro could only say 'Far Away'. He talked with a funny accent similar to the Southern dragons.

He remembered that after both he and the purple dragon were alone, Spyro, or somehow Shyplis, said, "Miller came from a place far from our Realm. If you want to put it straight, his accent is like Mad Max. You know, that drifter in the Australian Outback I gave you the movie? Spyro doesn't like the idea of a world after it ends, so I watched this classic thing. His accent is Australian, much like the human Mel Gibson."

"Well, that's informative. I don't know where the hell you got that movie," thought Seraphor. "But I think it's like that Max Rockatansky he gave me to watch. Dull movie..."

"Hey, kid, I want you to meet the remaining group of the Southern Sea Striders. We are the only marauders left after the Onslaught. Dragons, this is Seraphor. Some of you might have known him as..."

"The fallen angel. What a coincidence to see you in here," said the white scaled one. "You are like the legend said. You never aged much after a century of mysterious absent. I never thought that title suits you with your wings."

"Angelo, he's suffered enough to be earth-bound," said another sapphire scaled. "Don't make him suffer."

"Oh, it's alright, sapphire one. I've lived longer than any flying dragons. Anyway, I might as well said I haven't aged much, but I'm 45 now."

"I thought you're at least a century old."

"Uh...yeah...I mean, 135 years old."

The silver red's mind suddenly shouted, "Goddamn it! I almost make them lost some respect out of me. I'll cause my own progress halted!"

"Oh, it's alright, friends. You might have known the achievement he had done in the pit, right?"

"Is that true? You almost killed that good-for-nothing Parusan?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sure you ripped his tongue out and gouge his eye like a piece of meat ball? Did you crush his priv..."

Suddenly Seraphor jumped to the dragon and closed his maws. He scanned the surroundings. There were no Parusans approaching them, nor any dragons even care about their conversation. When he believed it was saved, he released the dragon and whispered, "Don't talk about it. There are sensitive sword-using bipedal dragons being twitchy with their front leg on the hilt of their swords, so stop talking or you'll suffer the same way I did to the Parusan. Oh, and about that, you think I'm that cruel to crush his balls?"

"Balls? What do you mean?"

"His testicles, bloody idiot. I thought that's your slang?"

Kranos made a small chuckle for that. "Well, seeing you as a western dragon make me unaware that you talk a little Southern, thought in an offensive way. Okay, that aside. Let me tell you about the Striders."

"Hold your tongue, Kran," said the seaweed green dragon that was clearly older than Kranos. "I know more things about striders than you, as I was his mount before all of this happened."

"His mount?"

"Kid...I gotta tell you something that might either make you laugh or fascinate you. You see, I was one of the oldest members of the Striders. We are primarily marauders, but those are for the best. The people of the Southern World were dying for food and safety. Though we're primarily sea dragons, we helped those on the coast, but wouldn't be successful if not for that dog. I respected him, but after a fight, he was gone."

"I'm sorry...I never knew a dog can even make some dragons respected it..."

"Not it, Seraphor, but him. This dog is not what you know. He's a..."

"Human turned dog. I know that already. I have friends in the past who are like what you told me. We can't determine what they are, but they're one heck of a fighter, and they can kill a dragon. I know the reason why you respect him, and I know what you want to tell me about the Striders. Are you a group of dragons that steal from other for other's good?"

"Yes, but how do you know that?"

"There's always a story like that, whether it's true or not. But, Kranos and you guys...you all want to tell me that giving hope is how to be a violent dragon, right?"

"We can start something from fighting back. With you leading us, we can free ourselves from this bondage. We'll be able to go back home."

"But we won't be able to win from any reinforcements they have. A dragon cannot fight a Parusan alone. The Cerbesans can be of help, but they are going to lose with so many of their enemies surrounding them. What's worse, no other dragons are as sane as you all are."

"But we can't stay in this place much longer! You know what place this is, kid. This is a madhouse. I won't be staying in here much longer and slowly become as insane as those broken dragons."

"And that's why I need some good friends to do what's right, not just violence."

When the silver red watched his surroundings for a moment, making sure no dragons were hearing him, he turned his head back and said, "We'll fight the insanity."

This caused a silence in the middle of them, before they laughed out loud. They weren't able to make it content with them, knowing that it was something that was impossible for a dragon. Seraphor was worried their laugh would attract a Parusan, but apparently they were thinking the small group was just insane, since no one came.

"Oh, this kid is funny, Kranos! You sure this is that silver red?" said Angelo while holding back his laugh.

"Hey, Seraphor, I know you're still just a whelp, but I can't believe you can talk as big as that! Where have you been for the past century, huh? Sleeping?"

There was a louder laugh that followed. Seraphor turned to Kranos that he just couldn't say anything except, "Well...living for 10 years around dragons with their minds out can drive even dragons crazy."

"They're not crazy. They're just hopeless dragons only laughing on a dream. Maybe I can talk about something I've known for sometimes."

Seraphor then made a small roar, enough for the dragons to be silent. After he made sure no other dragons were spying on them, he said, "True. I also think I'm only dreaming. I just think like 'yeah, even a human fell into despair', but it worth a try, especially since humans can."

Kranos was taken by the statement, and said, "But maybe you need to tell us about the human."

"Maybe you won't believe me, but in the place where I was stranded, there was a thing called movie. Then, in this movie, I saw a human that intrigued me. This human was running from a trial by feigning insanity and was sentenced into a mental asylum where he found out the life in the asylum was very strict and harsh. With him being the only one sane enough, he had found a way to bring them into something more pleasant. Each day, he tried to communicate with them, trying to find their reasons and ailments. In just less than a year, he managed to slowly help the other humans to live their lives to their best, and as the result, the asylum became merrier, and despite they couldn't leave for a while, they have given hope to their families, to the others, and especially to the human that saved them."

After finishing the story, Seraphor took a deep breath and said, "What we're facing now is almost similar, and I need the help of you guys to help me to do things my way, not by violence. As the human was once a killer, he tried to escape, but he never could win, except for helping the others. I know you guys want to get out. I want freedom, too. But we must lit the fire in the hearts of the dragons before we could make new allies and make an organized escape. I'll make sure every dragons in front of me do what they must do, as this is the only chance to get out from this place gaining allies around us."

"But...what if you're wrong?"

"Then I'll be damn sure we won't survive this. We all have friends on the outside, but if it doesn't worth a try, why can't we do that? In fact, it can liven up the dull place. So, what do you say?"

The dragons were hesitant for a moment. Seraphor knew it was hard for them to take the sudden change of opinion since the silver red knew them...or maybe himself, too well. He would make violence the best way to end everything, and he knew that wouldn't work, seeing that it almost cost his secret.

After thinking for a while, Angelo moved to the front, stared at Seraphor for a moment, before smiling and said, "What a bugger.... We'll do this your way. I never thought you are one of the smartest dragons I have ever met."

"And I've never thought some of you can accept my term that easily. Anyway, thank you for the support."

"You've got our help, Seraphor."

The bell of time rang and the dragons started to walk back into their respective cells. Bidding goodbye to the sea dragons, Seraphor wasn't sure if they could have their words, since he knew Southern World was a harsh place, and from Shariot, he knew every measures he could find was violence, and this worried him.

After Karkariz closed the cell door, Bartoz gave Seraphor a rock and said, "You'll gonna need this if you want to survive without me."

"What's this thing do?"

"It's imbued with my power. If you want to purify some of the water and food you want to consume, make sure you put this near them. I can remotely pull it from the foods. Karkariz agreed to help us."

"On what reason?"

"On the rights to be free. Hey, Seraphor...you know, maybe not all dragons are slaves to the Dragonsbane. Karkariz thought differently, and..."

"Yeah, I'm glad to have a Parusan helping us."

Bartoz made a smirk before leaving them. "Good night, you two. Tomorrow is as usual. Do what you must do."

After a while of watching the other dragons, Seraphor wanted to try the rock. It worked like a charm. The rock was imbued with a strong darkness that absorbed the drug into it, before spilling it out again to the floor. Kranos then interrupted and said, "Hey, about that story...I want to know how it ends."

"Why?"

"You're only telling us his main achievements, but you didn't tell me his aftermath."

"Oh...about that...I don't want you to lose your faith..."

"I won't lose it, even if it's a lie you make."

Seraphor hesitated, before saying, "The human failed to make a difference after...another human threatened a mentally unstable patient that no one was waiting for him outside, all for the sake of torturing him. It went off the limit, and he killed himself. This human snapped and almost killed the other human himself before he had his brain lobotomized...or in our language, killing his brain function, so he wouldn't be a threat to the tortures. Yet, another human, in pity of him, killed him out of misery and escaped successfully, without making any differences..."

"Yet he managed to convince one to run."

"That human wasn't even insane to begin with. He just didn't want to talk much. It's fortunate no other except you know about this end. Can I...have your promise in this?"

"It's alright.... The storyteller doesn't like happy endings, huh? It's just alright, kid. It's just life. There's up and downs, and of course, we're in the real life, not some bloody story."

"But I am afraid if it's true."

"Kid...." Kranos moved into him, and Seraphor felt the warm of the dragon past his salty smell. He never felt it since Avila embraced him like how Kranos was. With the comfort the dragon felt, Kranos started to talk, "No matter what's the outcome is, kid, I know you're going to make it, just like how you raise your friend's morale. I heard very much about you when I was just a whelp and ancestors you never cease to amaze me. I never thought you're still as you were long time ago, but I know you survive because of your friends. You have great friends, and you can make better friends easily. Now...rest easy. We'll help the dragons."

As Seraphor went to sleep, Kranos moved him to his hay bed and sat on his own, watching the small dragon twitching a little while sleeping while smiling and smirking sometimes, moving his legs a little. The sea dragon made a small laugh and said, "Well, what do you know? No matter what I see of you, you're still just a kid."