Vyt'all suddenly found himself able to breathe. A rush of air through his lungs that seemed like the first he had consciously taken in weeks. His eyes cleared of the darkness, and he staggered forward on his own four legs. The cold presence that had been with him for what seemed like eons leaked from his body in cold tingles. A cough escaped the drake as his legs, unused to moving with his own will, collapsed to the ground, leaving him lightheaded and shaky. A groan escaped him as he looked back at his own body, dimly lit by several flaming torches set some distance away.

He was met by the familiar electric yellow scales, jagged wings, and spear-tipped tail of his species. What was unusual however was the ethereal white mist seeping out from his scales and into the dim light of wherever he was. He watched, with growing fascination and fear, as the mist curled up in front of him. It then began to solidify, quickly forming into the shape of a dragon. Smooth white scales appeared from its depths, followed by a smooth body and piercing yellow eyes. He let out a short whimper, backing away as the mist revealed a large dragoness, standing over him with a slightly amused expression.

The drake looked to his left and right, only to see darkness on both sides of him, broken up by the dim red and yellow flames attached to what he assumed was a wall, but it was so dark he couldn't tell. Within the darkness, he could make out other figures. Glowing yellow eyes looked back at him, some bored, some suspicious, and others dreary and sorrowful. The darkness around them seemed to almost move as well, as though it were somehow alive. Vyt'all looked back at the dragoness, who had sat down on her haunches, with a new fearful anger.

"Who...who are you? Where am I?" he stuttered.

She tilted her head, "Do you not remember me?"

A rumble escaped him, "I've never seen you before in my life."

A strange aura radiated from her, one that felt familiar to other dragons that he had come across over the course of his life. Though it was different all the same. It was like a cold presence of power that delved into his very being, causing his soul to shiver like a hatchling in the midst of a storm. His tail curled around his back legs as he slowly slunk backward, reaching for his element, his electricity now buzzing through his scales.

"I wouldn't try that young dragon," the dragoness said, "Those that disobey me suffer... grave consequences."

Vyt'all let out a growl at that, "Where am I? What is going on?"

The dragoness huffed in agitation, getting to her feet with a rather menacing gaze, "This... Vyt'all wasn't it... is your new home."

"New home?" He looked around at the darkness with greater fear, "Wh... what?"

"You are now my property," the white dragoness continued, taking a step toward him, "And will stay down here until I decide I have a need for you."

That caused another growl to flood the lightning drake, "I am no one's property. Let me out of here... now."

A laugh escaped the dragoness as she took another step toward him, "Or what? Who is going to come looking for you? Your mate? Oh... wait... no. Maybe... hmm... maybe your parents? But oh! That's right! They're gone as well. Maybe... any siblings? When was the last time you spoke to your sisters again?"

With each word, the drake felt himself shrinking further and further into despair. He curled back from the dragoness's approach, lowering his head while looking around in a desperate attempt to find help from any of the dragons looking at him within the shadows. None stepped forward. In a desperate attempt to do something, he opened his mouth, charging himself with a bolt of lightning. But before he even attempted the attack, the white dragon once again dissipated into an ethereal mist. The bolt careened through it harmlessly. Thinking he had a moment, he leaped into the air with a flap of his wings.

But was quickly stopped as the mist swarmed forward, solidifying again, but this time into a massive green earth dragon, easily three times his size. A yelp escaped him as he was slammed into a non-existent wall by a single forepaw.

"Try that again," hissed a very different and decidedly male voice, "And I will cut off your wings, and when they grow back, I will cut them off again, and again, until I decide you have gained enough of my favour to have them back again."

Vyt'all was dazed but had enough consciousness left to understand the threat. He gave a muffled nod of his head, showing his submission.

"Good," the drake said, before letting the lighting dragon go.

Vyt'all fell to the ground with a grunt, laying there for a moment before staggering to his feet. The earth drake dissipated into mist, transforming back into the white dragoness from before. For some reason, despite the far smaller size of the white dragon's current form, her ethereal beauty and cold aura were somehow far more intimidating than her earth dragon form.

"You will know me from now on as Elder Eledior," said the dragoness with a rumble, "And you should consider this a gift. I have saved you from the sorry life you lived before. Now you will serve a greater purpose."

With that she flapped her wings, ascending into the darkness above her. The drake watched her go, before laying his head down on the ground, trying to stop the tears from dripping from his eyes. He didn't understand. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his home within the lightning city, feeling rather comfortable and warn out. He had met a lovely lightning dragoness, the first being to give him any attention in what felt like years. They had fallen asleep together... and when he had woken up he was here. A drop of terror leached through him. The white dragon could transform it seemed... did she transform into that lightning dragoness that he had spent the night with? A bolt of revulsion thudded through him. One full of dark hatred and sorrowful depression. More tears sprouted from his eyes.

"Hey... hey... you're alright," said a voice.

He looked up, giving a soft whimper, "Who are you?"

A dark coloured dragon stood before him, one he originally thought to be a shadow dragon, but when he saw purple scales glinting from the darkness he realised that was not the case.

"My name is Haggen," the other dragon bowed his head.

"I...I'm Vyt'all," stuttered the lightning drake.

"I heard," there was a sigh from the dragon, "I guess... I should welcome you to the Dark."

"The... Dark?"

"It's what we call this place."

"Wh... where is this place?" Vyt'all decided to ask, this dragon seeming far friendlier than the other one.

"No one knows. All we know is that Eledior dumps us here after controlling our bodies."

"Wh...what!?"

"Hey, hey, don't freak out. I know it's scary... but... well... there isn't much you can do about it."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" growled the lightning drake as sudden anger flooded through him, allowing him to stand to his feet, "You had the perfect chance to kill her you know! You could have... you could have... jumped on her and clawed her eyes out or zapped her with your element!"

"It's not that simple," muttered the dragon.

"Not that simple? Seems pretty simple to me."

"No, it isn't. You don't know what she's like. She... she..." Haggen shuddered, before narrowing his eyes, "Look, I'm just trying to help you understand."

"Help me... help me understand what? That I'm trapped down here with no hope of escape!"

"Yes."

The bluntness of the response caused Vyt'all to fall back on his haunches, staring at the ground with an newfound despair. Haggen rumbled, taking a step so he was at Vyt'all's side, and gently putting his wing around the slightly smaller drake in an attempt of comfort.

"Don't bother with him Haggen. He'll get used to it," grunted a voice from the darkness.

"Hey, you know what it was like to first come here. Be at least somewhat sympathetic Uron."

A snort was the only response. Vyt'all sniffed, whipping the edge of his snout with the elbow of his wing to clear some of the tears that were silently falling. He took a shuddering breath and looked at the purple dragon with a grateful expression.

"Thanks."

"It's all good. It may be helpless, but that doesn't mean we should act less civil now, should we?"

Vyt'all nodded his head, looking around his surroundings again. His eyes were slowly adjusting, and more than shapes, he could now begin to make out colours and species of the dragons around him. There were eighteen, including himself, each one representing a different species of dragon. The only one not there, which he now recognised was likely the species of dragon Eledior was, was a spirit dragon. Though he had never seen one before, their pure white scales were a defining factor most dragons knew. Though he didn't know that they could transform their bodies and take control of other dragons.

Finding himself a little calmer now, he looked at Haggen, and he couldn't help but ask his next question, though he already knew there would be some reason why they were still trapped, "You're a rift dragon... right? Can't you just teleport us all out?"

A sigh escaped the rift drake, "Unfortunately my friend, I am one of if not the only element starved rift dragon alive. I think that's why Eledior targeted me. She needed a rift dragon for her collection, but they could all quite easily escape."

"Do you know why she is doing this?"

Haggen shrugged his wings, "No."

Vyt'all lowered his head, feeling a weight settle across his heart. It was all another hit he was forced to take. His mate had died three years prior, then his parents, and now this. It was all feeling like a little too much for the drake. He lay on the ground with a huff. Maybe what Eledior said was right. There was basically nothing left for him back home. At least here he was needed for something. He snorted at the thought, wondering where it had come from.

Haggen hesitated a moment, before sighing and stepping back, allowing Vyt'all to recover from the shock. Now that Eledior was gone, a general buzz of conversation was beginning to run through the cave. It was a soft, dystopian noise. Any laughter was forced. Any hope gone. Those that didn't talk curled up in the corners much like Vyt'all was, and he caught the distinct scent of scale rot from more than one of the dragons. Many were thin and disheveled, the only two not were a large shadow dragon and Haggen himself. Everyone had given up.

A boiling frustration filled the drake as he realised that he was already close to giving up as well. Just because of the words Haggen had said, and while he enjoyed the friendliness of the rift dragon he couldn't just let the hopelessness take him. Not yet. With that thought in mind he quickly got to his feet, stomping over to the other drake, who was having silent words with a water dragoness and a life drake. They looked over as he came, and Haggen even gave a smile as though happy to see him on his feet.

"Don't tell me that it is hopeless," growled Vyt'all, ignoring the other two at that moment, "I'm not gonna give up getting out of here. There has to be away."

Haggen seemed slightly shocked by his sudden hostility, "Look... I know it may be hard to accept... but..."

"Surely there must be some way!" exclaimed the lightning dragon, "I refuse to live the rest of my life down here!"

A sigh escaped him, and he didn't answer for several moments. The other two dragons looked at each other before the water dragoness spoke.

"There was a fire dragon that escaped a while back."

"We don't know he escaped... and if he did it was because he had outside help," Haggen replied, "And you know what they did to Uron after that..."

"Wait, someone escaped?"

"We aren't sure. A young fire drake... a good... oh I don't know... over half a century ago... had a dragoness come rescue him. Or at least attempt to. We don't know what happened to them," said Haggen.

"I'm pretty sure they did," replied the dragoness, "They wouldn't have killed Uron's daughter if they didn't."

"Wait... what?" Vyt'all felt he was missing a vital part of information.

"Uron is that big shadow dragon. He's a dragon of equilibrium and is the reason this place is so dark. But they keep him here with the threat of his family, saying if he doesn't keep us all in check then they'll kill them," Haggen said softly.

Vyt'all looked around in surprise, seeing the shadow dragon curled up against the corner of some wall cloaked in darkness, one glowing yellow eye staring at him full of malice and hopelessness. A cold shiver ran down Vyt'all's spine.

"Any dragon that tries to escaped is stopped by him, and then punished by one of the three spirit elders," Haggen continued.

"Three?"

"Yes, Eledior is the leader as far as we can tell. The other two are Halden and Phari. All three are dragons of equilibrium. Occasionally they come down and take us out for a bit. Often our bodies are quite exhausted afterward, but none of us know what they do."

That caused another shudder to run down Vyt'all's spine. He looked up, unable to pierce the darkness even with his adjusted eyes. He wondered how high their prison went, and if there was some exit at the top. There must be, or else how would the spirit dragons be able to get them in or out.

As if reading his mind, the life drake spoke for the first time, "There is a tunnel up there, quite a large one actually. But good luck getting through it. I tried once and they caught me. I just want to say, Eledior's threat of tearing off your wings is not an idle one."

Vyt'all gulped, before shaking himself, "What if we all tried to escape at once. Surely they wouldn't be able to stop us all if we made a run for it. And if we die... well... it's better than living here."

Haggen shook his head, "Many of us are rather weak. It wouldn't be difficult to take us out. And besides, even those of us that are killed in the attempt.. it wouldn't change much. Whenever a dragon dies down here, a couple weeks later another appears to replace them. The only reason I've strived to survive for so long is because I don't want this to happen to any more of my species."

The lightning drake huffed, "Then... what if we kill Eledior. Take her by surprise."

"No one escapes," the growled could be heard from throughout the cavern, "No one. Any that tries to even touch the spirit dragon will face my fury."

A small yelp left Vyt'all as he turned to see the dark dragon standing not three dragon lengths from him, glowing yellow eyes boring into him. Only now that they were so close could the lightning drake feel the presence aura of equilibrium weaving out from Uron. The very darkness around them seemed to curl and twist with his every movement. Vyt'all gritted his teeth, taking several steps away from him.

"You will stay," Uron growled threateningly, "And if you keep talking off escape, I will make sure you know how impossible it is."

For a moment Vyt'all sat in terrified silence, but some part of him knew that he couldn't give up, "If you think I'm going to just sit here and wallow like the rest of you, you're wrong! I'm not going to just give up my life to be a slave for some evil... snake."

"Then you are more selfish than the rest of us," snorted the shadow dragon.

That stunned Vyt'all, "It's not selfish to want freedom."

"It is if it's at the cost of others."

"I'm not looking to hurt anyone! Not unless they deserve it."

"Maybe not. But at your death, another lightning dragon will be brought here, and if you do escape it'll be at the cost of my family. And they'll still bring another lightning dragon here."

"B... but... if I warn everyone of what's happening, then they will stop the spirit dragons. They'll come and stop this from happening, and rescue anyone else left here."

"It was that belief that got my daughter slain," growled the shadow drake, "And still nothing has come from the one that did escape."

Vyt'all looked to his paws, scratching against the stone in frustration, "I can't just sit here and do nothing."

Uron snorted, "If you have any semblance of courage in your body, you will."

With that he turned around, stalking back into the shadows and falling back to the ground, nearly disappearing with the darkness. Vyt'all stared at his paws for several moments longer, before letting out a cry of frustration that echoed through the cavern. He turned and walked to his own corner, the amount of anger, frustration, and hopelessness running through his body coming back in the form of tears. He curled up and closed his eyes, trying to drown the hopeless whimpers out with his wings. 

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Hello everyone! Sorry for a bit of a dismal story. Despite that I hope it was interesting. There is a lot going on in this story if you look close enough at what's happening. Either way, I hope you enjoyed. Vote, commend, all that. It was very close between this story and The Hidden Side, which will be next week's story. 

See Ya!

Pennator^^