powerful and broken.

The cheering was loud. It boomed in Taimyr’s ears, rattled the cage that she stuck herself in. And she roared in delight, roared at the rich vigor rushing through her veins like alcohol and drowned her in jubilee.

She was powerful. She was unhinged. She was free.

The battered parts of her mind said nothing. All of the pain she was feeling from her lovers, from everyone else’s abandonment… It wasn’t there under the hot flesh and blood under her claws. She only heard dragons howling in pain, only felt the hot sticky liquid rushing under her claws.

In here, she was free. And she earned money too; maybe selling herself to the fight ring was the path she was destined for. Maybe that’s what she could do with her life. Everyone else was making drastic changes; who’s to say this shouldn’t be hers? Maybe this is how she should live. How she should die. At least there was a pattern she could follow.

She grinned, blood staining her teeth as she shouldered her way to the ring. Cowbells rang to announce her arrive, shadows lurching as her wings stretched out. The dull lanterns lighting up the underground gave darkened halos around her eyes, made the blood on her face shockingly scarlet. The sting drove her; made her claws sink into the breaking wood and made her howl in joy. The audience roared back with her, fueling off her excitement.

In here she was respected. She was admired. Dragons were scared of her- it wasn’t new, but this was real fear. Fear because they’ve seen what she could do. They didn’t even know the half of it, they didn’t know half of the reason for her fury and pain.

They didn’t know that a heartbroken dragon was the most dangerous.

But they didn’t question it. Instead, there was laughter from outside the fight ring as dragons shoved the next contender up. Taimyr took her time to sweep the audience, raking her eyes over their sneering faces. She felt herself frown slightly, turning to study the dragon now being pushed up. She knew some opponents were laughable, but this one seemed different. Dragons seemed very amused by her next victim.

So she set her shoulders back, wings tilted open as a sickly grin twisted her snout. Another easy win, she supposed.

But then the dragon climbed into the ring, fur and feathers glaring off a mirage that Taimyr felt her heart sink under. Every limb in her body froze, and her heart seemed to stop working correctly. Erratic beats, thundering in horror at the sight in front of her.

In front of her, a dragon with barely any nicks or wounds except for a small scar on his face. Only soft, round fur behind a plump body fed well. Soft paws with stocking-like markings, heart-shaped tail curled close and wings folded down. His chest was puffed up, chin tilted high and floppy ears pulled back. And his blue eyes, the swirls of gold and lavender, making Taimyr keel right there.

She didn’t know why he was here. How he was here. But all she knew was that he was here. And his very presence made her collapse right there, falling low to the ground as the wounds on her body stung brighter than before. It didn’t matter that the audience was gasping and snarling in disbelief, all of her foes chiding her and confused as she broke.

But little did they know that they were no longer her worst enemy.

The disappointment and pain in the other dragon’s eyes was.