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When a Dragon Wishes for Freedom

There was a long walk down the prison's corridor, which was enough for Bartoz to gather up some of the dark energies from the cells. Some of the places were tainted with darkness and it was like a happy harvest for him, if it wasn't ironic. Having a unique power to absorb the darkness in every creature's hearts was useful for him now, as it was considered a vile thing in a normal sense. But now, he knew he needed that control to be safe, especially since one of the most powerful dragons he knew was beside him and was under the influence of the dark potion he called 'drug' and now he was like having the worst hangover in his life. Something he really didn't like was about how he was not with his rider at this moment and couldn't find a way to talk to him.

Just as he was thinking much about his rider and his comrades did he was distracted by a strong clanging sound coming from a giant door, big enough to put three dragons in a row through. The blinding light of the sun struck his face, but he could clearly see the courtyard.

The place they called a courtyard was instead a place where he could find so many dragons in one place, most of them were doing their own jobs without hearing others. Some bipedal dragons were guarding the area, and he was astonished on how they were carrying giant weapons only dragons could wield. The dragons were carrying swords, spears, and especially hammer.

As Bartoz walked with Seraphor he witnessed many other things he didn't get to see every day, such as some dragons playing balls to each other, some, with their flexile hand, was clawing on the sky, and more importantly some just stare at the sky just as Seraphor did with his 'hangover' thing. The rest were normal and did something like talking and eating, but no effort to fight the guards.

"Must've been persuaded to be ignorant," thought Bartoz. "Still, those dragons got something with weapons. I wonder what kind of dragons they are."

When he approached a vacant food, his senses could see the potion-laced meat. Somehow he knew those dragons, or maybe their caretakers, were trying to make the dragons into a kind of a pet or a mindless animal.

"Hey, Bart, maybe some of them are using..."

"No, Seraphor. These foods were laced with that dark potion."

"Hmm...maybe someday later I grow my own crops for food."

"And considering your popularity, I guess that's not the good idea, either. I'll help you on the food. Are you feeling better?"

"Getting a withdrawal of using a drug isn't making me feeling better soon. I need a rest and not having those drugs in my blood system again."

"You know, after you're gone, your talks are somehow off."

"You too."

Bartoz tried to explain to him about the dragons, but he somehow felt it wasn't right in his current state, so he used his power to knead the darkness he had gathered and filtered out the things. He saw the drugs in a form of liquid and spilled it. Knowing that they could have potential friends, he did the same to some other untouched foods, hoping the dragons eating them later were getting this withdrawal Seraphor was getting, and he hoped what he did wasn't seen by those on charge.

"Seraphor, drink some water," said Bartoz while helping the small dragon to a water trough. "It's so hot here. You might get thirsty."

"I...I'm fine, really. It's like we're near a beach..."

"Look, Sera. You're under an influence. This can be bad if you can't get a hold on yourself. Drink first. I'll find something else to..."

"Hey...I was here first. You two are taking my water?"

A dragon around the size of Bartoz was in front of them trying to take the water with his bucket. Seeing on how the dragon looked Bartoz touched the water and felt the same drug, which he promptly absorbed them inside his body. The effect kicked into him, but he managed to disperse it with the help of his darkness. Absorbing energies and some materials seemed to be something so useful here.

Just as the dragon had drunk the water, he acted strangely, before saying, "This is nothing! This is not my water! You stole it!"

"Wait, dragon. This is every dragon's water. This is not some kind of a drug. You're getting..."

The dragon didn't listen and roared which prompted Bartoz to put his front leg to his head and took the energy in him. He slumped down and went to sleep slowly. Bartoz didn't try to make things worse, and thus, while helping Seraphor on the water, a yellow dragon approached him and said, "Well, some of us need that rest from the drink. It hurts my pride."

"Most of the dragons here are. Are you new?"

"No.... I've been in this prison for a long time. Could have been the first dragons in here. This place is always a place we dragons would surely say a hell on earth." "You mean this place destroys the pride all dragons have? You mean it's hopeless? I thought dragons with no black scales are more dignified than this."

"You'll know better, new one," said the yellow dragon while walking away. This is the only place on earth where you can see the dragons begging for release and wishing for freedom. Hard-hearted dragons like you will flatter and die in this forsaken place."

"Well I got friends," said Bartoz back. "And freedom will be a reality to you and these dragons."

"You can dream, young one, but there's a limit to it. Enjoy your new life, black dragon."

The evening came by quickly and the dragons were instructed to go into their cells for the night. In the end Bartoz didn't eat anything because he was busy taking care of Seraphor's hangover and taking more information to worry about later. Just when the whole place became silence, replaced by sleeping dragons, did Seraphor said, "Bart."

"Yes? Is there something I could..."

Seraphor produced a meat from under his wing. He did ask the black dragon to fold the wings, but he didn't realize that there was a lump of meat for dinner. He quickly drooled away. Seraphor scanned his surroundings while saying, "C'mon, man, if you don't eat, those wardens will find us and beat us."

"Y...yes. Thank you, Sera. You really are a good friend."

"Don't mind that. I still can't forgive you on what you've done to my belief to my friends, but sometimes, that feeling when I saw you sacrificing your life to prevent the thing that you've done wrong made me believe that you're at least honest."

Bartoz stopped his eating upon hearing the sentence. He felt he knew what he had done to his friends, and he knew that was something very, very nasty in his part. It hurt his pride for being a betrayer to the ones he thought they would be the true side. This time, he knew he was in the worst part of his life. He was locked inside a cell with a dragon that was taking the worst possible aftermath of his actions.

"S...Sera, I..."

"Don't do that. Though you're my friend and we have known much of each other, I have a feeling that you have a dirty little secret you don't want to share with me."

"About what?"

"You seem to like to see me more than seeing a female dragon that was clearly more attractive in front of you. Is that something normal for a dragon?"

"Oh, darn it!" thought Bartoz. "He knew what I prefer!"

"Are you a gay?"

"Look, I don't know about what you're talking about, but you're getting this the wrong way. Why are we discussing this in the middle of this situation? Are you trying to pick something about me? If you want to, I don't have anything to hide. I've died once, okay. Keldif killed me. You think..."

"Stop that monologue, man. You're right, I'm not asking this. Maybe it's because of the withdrawal that it jumbled my mind a little." The silver red then just made a scoff. "What a joke...."

"Maybe it won't be a joke anymore if you want to help me find out about this place. Having a dragon prison takes a lot of place and a lot of uninhabited place, and where do you think it can be?"

"You mean, the dry air is because of us being in the middle of the desert?"

"You can assume correctly. The desert is a rough place to go and they must have an adequate water source from an oasis, and..."

"No, Bartoz. We're not in a desert. The reason that I refused your drink was because I was trying to sense back a secret of this position. Aside from the dry air, the air was salty and there was a strong amount of cold wind coming from a side. My ear caught the noise of a wave crashing to the beach, so I can assume this place is near a sea. Also, seeing the sky had no clouds meant that my assumption was correct."

Bartoz seemed dazed. "B...but how did you find out everything and why do you have that human-like deducing skill? Are you a little smarter than most dragons or why are you..."

"I have a great friend that teaches me of everything. He believes that having me observing every aspect of the five senses will help me survive. Well, I know dragons are not supposed to be able to do that, but if you're stranded in a place where the dragons were closer to humans than a beast, you'll find this a useful thing to tell lies, including your lies."

Hearing him saying that made him gulped. He knew he was very much dead when he was caught, and he knew not all dragons would understand him except Xiciro. The black dragon wasn't accepting him at all, and the worst part of it that time was when the silver red in front of him would knew him pretty well without even trying to study mind reading.

"You know, Bartoz, if you want to watch me with that gaze, I suggest you back off. It's disgusting to know that you prefer males."

"W...wait, Sera, I can explain..."

"Really? Then explain that nasty gaze."

Without talking more, the black dragon knew making this conversation deeper would be bad for both of them. He just turned to his straw bed and said, "I need to sleep."

Bartoz didn't want to comment more about his friend. Now that he knew his preference their friendship wouldn't be the same. Right now, he kept thinking if Seraphor could find out about many things just by seeing the dragons around him, since right now Seraphor was the only one that could read minds without using internal magic.