Dragon Beloved: A Reverse Harem Dragon Mythology Romance (Dragon Gladiators Book 3)
Page 15
“Hey, I was thinking,” I started.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” Raiden interrupted.
I pinched his nipple and he slapped my hand away. “Watch your manners.”
“Sorry,” Raiden apologized.
“Anyways, what I was saying was is that isn’t it weird that you guys had to come back to the past to participate in the games? They fed you that line that they are running out of dragons but what if that’s not true?”
“What do you mean?” Raiden asked, his voice full of interest.
“I mean, what if they force modern dragons back to the past to participate because the games don’t exist in our era anymore,” I told him.
“You mean? The Games were canceled?” Raiden pulled me close to him. I looked up into his face, you could practically see the wheels turning in his head from the expression on his face.
“Yeah, the Concilium defeated and the contract broken,” I grinned. “That’s good news, right? Why bring so many back to this specific time period? The games have been going since the dawn of time and yet they bring people of the future to this specific time period. Why?”
“Because this is their end,” Raiden grinned.
“Do you think we play a part in that?” I told him.
“You mean, do you think that’s why they are so adamant about killing you? It makes sense. Part of me just wants us to go home, live our lives and be safe but another part wants to rip those damned warlocks apart,” Raiden grit his teeth. “Am I any better than them if I just play my role, fight my thousand and then move on? Letting others die in my place. There are a few monsters that love to fight and kill but most of them are like us, just trying to survive.”
“What if we have children? They’ll be half-dragon, how old will they be when they’re ripped from our arms to fight for their lives,” Raiden gripped me tighter as I struggled to get the words out, verbalizing my darkest thoughts for him to hear.
“We won’t let that happen, I swear on all the Gods, we won’t,” Raiden squeezed me closer to him. “We just need to get to your thousand and we’ll figure out what we’re going to do.”
“Damn right we will,” I nuzzled into his neck and sighed. Closing my eyes.
Chapter 8
The Gasp Reflex.
One of two reflexes that will kill a person trapped under water.
I remembered learning about them one summer when I volunteered as a lifeguard at my local small town public pool.
When people are unwillingly submerged in water, most often cold, people have the automatic response to gasp. This allows water to flood into your body, down your throats, and into your lungs. If you have that reaction, you're more than likely going to die.
Water rushing at me in the darkness, I fell prey to the same thing I had a seen a handful of times that summer. The wave hit me, icy salt water consuming my body, throwing me backward. I gasped and water snaked down my throat. It burned its way down my throat and into my lungs. I clenched my mouth shut, I was going to die.
I struggled underwater, trying to find my way up, any direction where I might find a pocket of air. That's when the second of the two drowning reflexes hit. A reflex of neurological optimism, a trick of your brain that tells you that it couldn't possibly hold its breath any longer and opening your mouth and trying to breathe is your only option. It always sounded silly in my first aid class, I had chuckled thinking would someone really lose all basic intelligence because of a trick of their brain. The answer was yes. I gasped and swallowed more water.
I could feel myself losing consciousness. I fought to stay awake, clawing at the water, struggling to break through the surface of the water but I couldn't find it. Anywhere.
My energy was leaving me, my movements becoming more sluggish by the minute. I closed my eyes and I wasn't sure I had the strength to open them again. I sunk deeper into the water, hitting the floor of the flooded hallway.
I heard a flutter around me and the sound of riffling paper instead of water. I coughed the water from my insides, my lungs burning from pain. I laid there for a moment, trying to get my bearings, I threw water up a few more times before I could open my eyes and look around. The water had turned into cards. With a trembling hand, I grabbed a face-down card. The backs were an ornate damask design in black and red. I turned it over. It was a tarot card. Not only a tarot card but the scariest one you could draw. The Tower. One lone building struck with a lightning bolt and two people jumping from it. It signified a sudden and shocking change, liberation, upheaval and disaster on a massive scale. I frantically reached for the other cards around me, turning them over. The Tower. The Tower. The Tower. Over and over again. They were all the Tower. Thousands of them surrounded me. I dug through the cards, they were all the Tower.
Coughs wracked through my body as I tried to cough up more water. I cupped my hand over my mouth to try and force the water out of my lungs when the coughs passed I looked down into my hand. There was a card there, folded into a tiny square. With wide eyes, I slowly unfolded the card. It was the tower.
I woke up coughing, Raiden patting my back. We must have fallen asleep because Raiden’s armor was still on and glinting in the low light of the olive oil lamps. I looked down, I still had my glittering metallic dress on.
“Are you okay?” He whispered into my hair.
“Yeah,” I gasped, my throat felt raw and rough as sandpaper.
“Bad dream?” Raiden asked gently.
“I can’t remember,” I told him. I peeked over his shoulder, the dawn light was just starting to come up behind the hills. It wasn’t quite time to wake up yet. Raiden pulled my back down to lay beside him. I rested my head on his chest and he ran his fingers through my hair.
“Two more battles, Tavia, you don’t have to be afraid, we got this,” Raiden promised me. “We’ve made it through nine hundred and ninety-eight battles, there’s no way we can lose with those odds.”
“All it takes is for one enemy to have one lucky day, all it takes is one small misstep,” I told him.
“With our good luck charm on our side, how could that ever happen?” He kissed the top of my head. “Get some more rest, you have a while yet.”
I didn’t need to be told twice, I drifted back to sleep, safe in Raiden’s arms, surrounded by the rest of my loved ones.
I woke up groggy and the morning flew by as the guys navigated my sleepy, out of itself around. I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally made it to the Colosseum and were able to sit down at a table. I stuffed my face with bread, hoping the carbs would wake me up.
The Concilium member guarding the entrance into the arena called us forward, it was our turn to battle. All of us rose from our small table at the same time, me brushing off breadcrumbs as intimidatingly as possible. The man visibly flinched away from us as we walked past him. Azar gave him a wicked grin and Cobalt burst into a cackling, villain-esque laugh.
Our arrogance stopped the moment we stepped into the arena. A murky blue banner with a lime green puff of air on it waved across from us. All of our eyes locking on a very familiar creature standing across the arena. Two of them actually. The first had the same floating locks of hair and deeply bruised looking eyes of a banshee, not the same one but a banshee nonetheless whose screams could cause your soul to leave your very body. I looked to Cobalt, placing a comforting hand on his arm.
“I’m okay,” He grunted, shrugging my hand off of him. “Show no weakness, remember?”
I nodded but my eyes went to the pale green skin of the dryad. Another male dryad, he didn’t have the same pale yellow-green skin that the other dryad Alder had, instead this dryad had a darker muted green tinge to his skin that was reminiscent of a parsley, and his hair was long and daffodil yellow. A smug expression sat on his pouty lips the same color as his hair. His eyes were a startling shade of pink. Another damned dryad. I glared at Azar. “Don’t get stabbed again or poisoned.”
“No promises,” Azar shrugged. “We’ll be alright.”
“We’ll be fine,” Raiden interrupted. “Trust me.”
“Team Bumblebee has made it to the third round! Against them is Team Hellscream! A newly joined team made of survivors of other teams! Don’t let their new status fool you! They are a fearsome, well-rounded three dragon team with a banshee and dryad! Two creatures that have nearly defeated members of Team Bumblebee before!”
The crowd roared and Team Hellscream waved around to their new fans. I swallowed my dread, the announcer had just vocalized my fears. Raiden waved us over to him and pulled me closer to him, ruffling my hair.
“It’s going to be okay, Tavia,” Raiden looked deep into my eyes. I nodded but wasn’t sure I believed him but I wanted too.
“Alright, what’s the plan,” I asked.
“First, I have a very important question,” Azar held up his hands to stop our conversation. “Are they Hell-Scream or Hell’s Cream?”
We all groaned at him.
“I’m serious,” Azar laughed. “Which is it?”
“Hell-Scream!” We yelled at him.
“Cobalt and I watched them fight yesterday actually. They use the air dragon to further push the sound of the banshee's screams. They wiped out their last opponents really fast that way. That’s why we need to focus on them right away. The air dragon likes to manipulate the air like Azar manipulates flame rather than using it to fly or move quickly. I don’t know if he has those abilities so we need to watch out for that. Nevada I want you to make the arena cold, slow down the air molecules. Octavia, I want you to use your Empress of Shields and take out the air dragon and possibly the banshee as quickly as possible. If that doesn’t work, I’ll be going for the both of them myself. Azar is obviously going to go for their dryad. I’m thinking of something risky for the ice dragon, I want Nevada to absorb as much of that ice dragon’s power as he can and keep it and not use it. I want you to save it up for our last battle,” Raiden looked over to Nevada.
Nevada nodded his agreement. He was still riding high from absorbing all of the cold in the Atrium Libertatis.
“Once that ice dragon has cooled off a bit, I want Cobalt to go in for the kill,” Raiden continued. “That leaves Hellscream’s fire dragon. I want Azar to absorb his fire for the very same reason. Cobalt will wait for Azar to absorb him and then take him out. First and foremost, the banshee and the air dragon need to be handled, all our efforts need to be focused on that first and defending from their other teammates.”
“Got it,” I told Raiden.
“Aye, aye Captain Prick,” Azar saluted him.
Raiden opened his mouth to retort but the announcer cut him off. “That battle between Team Bumblebee and Team Hellscream begins in three, two, and one!”
The starting horns sounded off all around the arena and the battle began. The banshee and air dragon immediately levitated off of the ground and shot through the air making their way to us. The air dragon was a buff man with white blonde hair and silvery eyes, his eyes met mine and he didn’t bother to hide the disgust in them.
Nevada swept his arms through the air around us, sending a wave of chilly air toward the banshee and air dragon. I moved next to him and pulled a card out of my deck, trusting my deck to know which one I needed. I twirled it in my fingers and the twelve swords sprang out of the card, streaking into the sky and crashing down on the air dragon.
The crowd cheered as the air dragon went down. I let myself feel guilty for a moment, I didn’t even know the name of the man--err dragon I had killed. It seemed like it would make it less personal and painful but somehow it made it more painful for me, I didn’t even know his name.
“Yes!” Azar yelled, clapping me on the back as he zoomed past Nevada and I. The dryad’s eyes went wide as he noticed Azar coming straight for him. The dryad clenched his eyes shut and dripped thorns began to sprout from all over his body, pushing slowly through the skin making the dryad drip blood and poison. It made my stomach turn. When I thought of dryads, I thought of the beautiful female creatures from Ancient Greek artists, gentle-looking women hugging a tree with flowers in their hair and the sun on their face. Apparently, that vision of dryads couldn’t be further from the truth.
I expected Azar to manifest his fire fists, ready to punch the dryad with his fire but instead, he balled his fists and slapped the circles of his thumbs and forefingers together and then pulled them apart, a giant fire sword forming in each hand. Azar jumped into the air and slashed down at the dryad.
“Tavia! Banshee coming in hot,” Nevada screamed, interrupting me from watching Azar.
“Sorry, Vada.” Crap! I had to be the queen of short attention spans, I had been so absorbed with watching Azar, my brain had wandered from my actual task. I deactivated my Empress of Spears and went to pull out another card but my hand stopped. The dice sitting at the bottom of my holster started to bounce and the magic around them crackled in anticipation. They practically yelled, ‘Pick me! Pick me!’ through our magical bond. My fingers cracked from the strain of how badly I wanted to grab my die and how obviously I needed to pull out a card, any card.
Something clicked into place in my head and I grabbed two dice and pulled them out. Nevada was holding his hands up, slowing the banshees approach with cold air. He looked over his shoulder at me, eyes landing on the dice between my fingers “What are you doing?”
“No idea! Go get the ice dragon, I got this!” I yelled and Nevada quirked a dark eyebrow up at me. “Don’t give me that, I got this. Go!”
Nevada sighed and spun around, taking off toward what had to be the ice dragon, the man had blue hair after all. I sounded a lot more sure to Nevada than I truly felt. The Banshee was only a few feet away, if I waited any longer, my soul would be sucked right out of my body. I ran the first die over my fingers, the number three rolled over my fingers. The banshee opened her mouth to unleash her scream at the exact moment that the magic in my die burst to life.
An eardrum-shattering screech filled the air and I froze, that sound was not coming from the banshee. It was coming from my number three die. The banshee froze in place, covering her ears with her hands. I looked all around and everyone was covering their ears; my team, Team Hellscream, all fifty thousand plus people in the audience and even the Concilium members.
Those closest to me fell to their knees, holding their ears and screaming in pain. The Banshee was the closest to me and I could see blood dribbling from her ears.
I deactivated the die and ran the number four die over my knuckles next. The life oozed out the number four, the feeling of the magic was completely opposite of the bright and volatile impression that the number three gave off. The number four was slow moving but efficient, the magic came forth and blanketed the entire arena. It was the exact opposite of the number three, all sound seemingly pulled right out of the air.
The banshee rose to her feet and opened her mouth to unleash a loud scream. Blood dribbled down her ears and neck and I braced myself for the painful screech of the banshee but nothing came out. The banshee froze, the confused look on her strange, bruised face was almost comical. Realizing that her scream came out as soundless she bared her teeth to me and the sharp, knife-like teeth made me flinch away. She stalked toward me. I didn’t know banshees had razor sharp teeth, I guess they never really had to use them because their screams handled most of their enemies.
She lunged for me and I pulled a card from my deck, activating it as quickly as I could. The Emperor of Spears appeared in my hand. The banshee knocked me down, snapping her fangs at me and I stabbed up with my crystal sword gutting her. The banshee opened her mouth to scream in pain but still, no sound came out.
I watched the light die in her eyes and only when her eyes closed and the strands of her hair stopped floating did I kick her body off of
me. The arena was completely quiet as I stood up and looked around the arena. The crowd was cheering but no sound was coming out of their mouths, there were no sounds of fighting or magic. I frantically searched for my guys and my gaze found Cobalt slicing through the ice dragon. The rest of my team were standing around. A sigh of relief escaped me, we had survived. I had killed a banshee! Another team bites the dust!
I spun the number four die in my hand and let the magic flow back into me. The sound returned instantly, the roaring cheering of the crowd was almost painfully loud after minutes of no sound at all.
Nevada ran up to me and engulfed me into a large hug. I shivered in his touch, he was colder to the touch than I had ever felt him before. I looked up into his eyes and they were glowing as if someone had put a cyan backlight behind his sapphire eyes. Even his pale skin seemed to glow and twinkle like fresh snow underneath starlight.