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The next morning, Bartoz woke up, trying to remember what happened last night. He quickly saw light blue figure beside him, and he smiled. His new lover was still sleeping soundly, and with a reason, too, because it was not Bartoz who woke up late, he woke up too early.

The sun hadn't even made any strong lights to the blue sky over him, so he could assume that it was still at dawn. He never woke up before dawn. He again turned his view to the light blue dragon beside him. He was sleeping soundly, but with the smirk, Bartoz could say that Karkariz really enjoyed the night before, and this was the first time he saw Karkariz could smile, albeit unwillingly, indicating that he was genuinely happy and fulfilled.

With a small walk, he went to the small river to at least bath himself, cleaning the mess he made last night. He noticed the crocodile again, and feeling curious, said, "Can you talk?"

The crocodile turned its head, but he didn't even made any noise. Thinking that's a ridiculous question to talk to a lesser reptile, he turned away, which invoked the crocodile to walk closer and said, "You talk with the language of the humans."

Bartoz understood his language, and with the ancient language taught to any dragons, he replied, "I'm quite surprised you can talk with a dragon's ancient language."

"It's the language used by all reptile, because this is what differs us from common sentient creatures like dragons. Anyway, do you still have the meat you gave this crocodile last night?"

"Oh...we ate them all up. Can you hunt by yourself?"

"This croc doesn't have many fish to eat."

Just as he talked with the crocodile, Karkariz suddenly appeared beside him and said, "There you go, croc. Got 'em from some dragons."

The crocodile ate the fish and left, which made Bartoz said, "You really are influential to many animals."

"I saved him from a net when I wasn't inside this forsaken place one day. He's stuck with me since."

While cleaning himself, the Parusan said, "Are you feeling lonely now, Bart?"

"I am not now, but I wish we could have a better life."

"Like?"

"I don't know, Kar. It's ironic. You have all that freedom in this prison, but what you can really feel of it was because of you being in charge. You never lived as a true free dragon, and your salvation is inside a dome."

"Parusans are slaves," said Karkariz while making a smile, somehow sarcastic, but Bartoz knew deep down, those three words mean something. "I can freely talk about this myself here. Will you listen?"

"Anything for you, my love. I trust you more than the other bullies."

"We are slaves to the humans. Most of us have forgotten what we once was, but I took a great length in studying our own heritages, and I realized, embarrassingly, that our ancestors were not great dragon warriors as we were now. We were the first attempt of humans to control our race's dangerous rampage. All dragons were free at the skies until this day, but I am not blind. We are all slaves to those. We are made pets and forced to put unworthy humans on our backs just for the sake of war. When the dragons became civilized and started working alongside great humans, our races were forced to wield swords around our sizes to act like humans, and became a great asset to the wrong side."

"So that's why I really think 'Parusan' rings a bell. It's an ancient Andragon language that went extinct around 300 years ago. No offense, love...but Parusan is 'pet'."

"Pet? Our race is called...pet?"

"I'm sorry...it's not appropriate."

"For that, I must thank you, Bart. If you haven't enlightened me about that fact, I would be blind."

As the dome became lighter with the rising of the sun, the black dragon knew it was time for them to patrol. He wanted to tell Karkariz about it, but somehow the Parusan knew about it. He turned his gaze to the sky, limited by the dome, while saying, "I lived for 40 years inside this prison, and I wish to be a free dragon again. Will you be the hope?"

"I'm not, Karkariz," said Bartoz while walking to him. "We are helping him."

The day went on without any incidents involving Seraphor. Of course, with the guards all around him and Kranos, there's no way they wanted to make a ruckus. Somehow the silver red dragon found more friends with the unintended violence, but overhearing their conversation, Bartoz could say Seraphor was normal...at least for now.

While watching the dragons all around him, he was disturbed by the sight of many dragons watching him with pure hatred and disgust. Bartoz knew this had a reason. There weren't many captives that could gain a trust to the Parusans, as those captives were promised better life in prison and authority over the others to the point they abused it for a payback. The Parusans also made a restrain, though, which were currently used by Bartoz himself. Those that gained a Parusan's trust was even more shackled than those that didn't, as without any supervising dragon, they would just be restrained in a special cell, immobilized to the point they couldn't move, as most trusted by the Parusans were bound to a devil, with an exchange of their freedom with their service with violence.

Bartoz saw one of them in a holding cell full of chains, where a dragon lay immobilized by them. It wasn't aware of Bartoz and Karkariz's presence there for a while, before it turned. With its jaws clenched shut by a chain circling its maws, it could only stare at them with sadness.

"This one took too much of his time with a captive dragon. Only a Parusan has an authority to do whatever they like to a prisoner. He crossed the line by being caught mating with a female captive, and thus was permanently incarcerated here."

"What dragon would want to relinquish this dragon from his freedom," said Bartoz while staring at the red dragon.

"He was Konaz's favorite, before that Parusan found one that's as corrupt as he is."

Eyeing the dragon again, Bartoz was trying to stop the urge to release the chains so the dragon could be free, but he risked himself being put in the same position, and worse, blowing his true power and the presence of two Order members in the prison. Bartoz could easily slaughter every single dragon there, even Seraphor. But, allies were also required, and he followed Seraphor's plan.

"So, what are we doing here? It seems that he doesn't like our presence."

"He doesn't like YOUR presence, Bart. You're not as it seems, and this dragon knows it."

"I said it's a secret between us, okay?"

"Don't worry," said Karkariz while eyeing the only door inside. It was closed. "No one will be able to hear us in this dark soundproof room. Now, stop struggling with your bonds. Bartoz is not going to hurt you."

When he had calmed, Karkariz said, "Just tell me, love. How did you make those strings? You sutured Kranos' wounds with only your hands. I didn't see anything that looked like a needle. It's a secret worth keeping, Bartoz, but I want to know. What are you two? Why are you two here? Since that silver red, the arena never felt the same. Seraphor spoiled all of the fun the Parusans had, and many of them were itching to kill him, yet he didn't seem scared. Bartoz, your medical skill is extraordinary for a dragon and you can brew unknown potions with some effect."

"If this information leaks, we will all be dead, and your freedom is wasted."

"I'll take the risk, my love. Tell me...I beg you. You might be the only dark angel I can trust."

Silence came for a moment. Bartoz was reluctant to say anything about it, but he drew a long breath, and said, "By now, you might feel a tingling sensation near your back."

"Yes...but what..."

"It is the only evidence that a dark magic user is near you. Some dragons were oblivious about it, but if you can sense it, I'm the dark magic user."

"But I thought that collar..."

"The collar limited the use of elemental magic, yes, but it was only elemental magic from inside a dragon's body. My magic incorporated the use of fear, hatred, and darkness to power it, and not requiring any inner magic. I know that having this power makes you a devil yourself, since you're virtually unstoppable, even if the dragon had devastating powers capable of leveling this place."

"So that's how you avoid being broken! That magic saved you from the water, thereby filtered it. No wonder Kranos became healthier by the day. It was all you."

"Does that answer your questions, Kar?"

"One more thing. Where did you come from? Your accent is a bit off. The other one also trash-talked with our slangs but with a mocking kind of tone."

"As you want to know, we're both Western dragons. You maybe oblivious of the war, but your human slavers are our mortal enemy, and each of us swore a blood oath to kill every last of the dragon traitors, dragon slayers, and those that defies us and thinks us only as animals. Now, we're both in the middle of them, and it's a perfect timing to kill them...and ensure your freedom."

"But why haven't you done that?"

"First thing's first, we lost many dragons during the last war. After Seraphor's disappearance a hundred years ago, the Western Region started to turn into chaos. The Anti-dragons were very vicious in developing dragon-slaying weapons while we used a strong transformation curse that permanently turns any of their generals into our race. This war has been going on for centuries and there's no winning in this thing. That's why we need Southern support."

The dragon was hearing everything and tried to talk, but the chains were holding his progress and he was muzzled. This caused Karkariz to try to shut him up, but Bartoz just put a claw over his head and he quickly fell asleep.

"Do you have anywhere private to talk?"

"If you want to talk in the dome I lived in, it's okay, yet we're not alone and that crocodile is still an animal. If this is a sensitive manner, I'm afraid there's no private place in this prison anymore."

"Hey, Karkariz...did you see what I do to the dragon? I can do it with that crocodile if you want to, yet I need your..."

"Just do it," interrupted Karkariz with serious eyes. "Anything for privacy."

They spent the rest of the day in the medical bay, during which Bartoz tried to think about Seraphor. What if Seraphor needed to drink and he was not around? Sure, the courtyard was as hot as hell, but despite of his survival skill, he couldn't make it without drinking any water. The black dragon remembered of a dehydrated dragon thrashing around in the desert when he wanted to drink water. He survived only after almost drowning himself to the underground water reserve. The black dragon also saved a dragon that accidentally drank salt water from a contaminated oasis, and from those experiences he needed a way to decontaminate the water.

Walking around the medical bay, he suddenly stumbled upon a polished ebony rock with trace amount of natural magnet. The magnet is a form of corrupted electricity that assimilated with darkness energy, and Bartoz got an idea.

Concentrating, the black dragon clenched the natural magnet and started to flow his own darkness into the rock. The rock shook violently, as if there was a group of beings claiming the place as a home and Bartoz' power was torturing them. He didn't care though, and after a while the shaking stopped and the rock had a strong amount of condensed darkness in it that it could be unholy enough.

Trying to test it to contaminated water, Bartoz smiled to himself when he saw the rock clearly made the water dark enough to know the substance in it, before pulling them into the rock like a magnet. After pulling the rock out from the water, it spilled its content after a while, and Bartoz realized that his intention worked.

"Goddamn push and pull theory. It worked," thought Bartoz cheerfully. "For this thing I completely agree with that magnet freak, though I don't wanna grasp 'differed polarity' thing he mentioned. I don't believe in that."

"Hey, Bart, we're wrapping this up around here. We can meet your friend now, if you want to."

Bartoz hid the rock behind his back and said, "Yeah, I should talk with Seraphor for a bit. See if he found something useful."

After giving that rock for Seraphor's good use, the black dragon then went into the dome, where he did what he planned to. After making the crocodile sleep, he settled near the camp and said, "I'm aware on the Southern World's potential in finishing this war. There are old human myths concerning those-that-rules-the-sea. These myths tell about sighting of sea monsters around the Western Bay, which in our account, are ancient sea dragons swimming around our sea. The myth, or just an old sea-tale, said that the sea has creatures older than men guarding the sea. Now, I can see that myth is actually a fact, as the sea dragons are natives to the south. You Parusans, and also the Cerbesans, are the latest generations of the western dragons migrating to the south to escape from the competition in the prehistoric human time, and by blood, we're still one and you're all still westerns."

Bartoz turned his head to the sky and said, "Thousands of years ago, a dragon managed to reach this once-uncharted land after braving the dangerous borderline we didn't stabilize back then. I read the wall carvings he left and he suggested that there was potential help from the south if one would dare to ask them. I felt this is the only way we can stop this war, give freedom to your race, and destroy the anti-dragons once and for all."

"But, from the way I see it, Seraphor could destroy them in a matter of time."

"We tried that a century ago, but we all suffered great loss from the attempt. Seraphor was lost for a hundred years, I was killed by one of the traitors, and most of our friends died on the mission. Yet, they are still alive and become more powerful than before. I...wish something can be done to honor our comrade's death, but we're both just dragons in the middle of a greater power. I don't believe in fate myself since, well, I survived my fate."

"Bartoz, what is the life in the west to you? Do you feel...lonely with your choice of love?"

The change of topic startled Bartoz momentarily. He never thought Karkariz would want to change to the topic he didn't want to talk about at that moment. But, after an awkward silent that followed (Karkariz even turned his head away in embarrassment), Bartoz caressed Karkariz's face and said, "I've been alone for hundreds of years, and I've lived with it."

"But don't you feel lonely when your friends rejected you for what you are?"

"Do you, Kar?"

When Karkariz refused to answer, Bartoz lay on the grass and said, "One day, after surviving a slayer group, I settled in my old lair, watching the stars of our ancestors shining down to me. That time I was still around a hundred or so, contemplating on my life and my choice. I was desperate and suicidal that time, but despite of trying, I've never been able to end my life."

"You're afraid?"

Bartoz turned his head to Karkariz, eyes saddened by the past. He then slowly said, "I'm...cursed with immortality."

"All dragons can live as long as they want, Bartoz..."

"But only if they can survive," interrupted the black dragon. "I escaped my fate many times. Every time I die, my soul refuses to join the ancestors, as I am rejected by afterlife. I returned to my body and...I sustained myself by feeding the darkness of others until I return to my primal, regenerated self. I'm just a specter of the dragon's world, living with the endless darkness in all being's heart. I'm the embodiment of darkness itself...and ironically, I'm with the good side."

He watched the puzzled Karkariz for a moment, before saying, "When we made love last night, I couldn't sleep. I screamed to myself of the things I have done. I'm doomed to betray our love, Kar. When you're dead, I'll be alive. I'll ALWAYS be alive."

Without any warnings, Bartoz felt his heart was like being twisted. He felt every sorrow he was trying to hold went out all of the sudden. He had lost many during his lifetime, but now, when he said that, he felt broken. He couldn't hold it in, and just as he thought he would drip a tear for the sadness, Karkariz put his hands to either side of the black dragon's head and gave a kiss to his snout, returning Bartoz to his normal state.

"Whatever happens, Bart, I'll always be with you until I must leave you. I'll survive for as long as you want."

"T-thank you...for the head up. We should be resting."

Karkariz just smiled, and Bartoz knew his intention, which caused discomfort to him.

"Now I want to live my life for each day my life is numbered, Bartoz. We'll have a long life ahead of us, my love."