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"374...375...376..."

The man murmured to himself with each movement, touching his head to his knees before allowing his back to fall to the ground. With each count, he repeated the action, a constant drizzle of numbers that showed no sign of stopping. His abdominals were burning slightly in protest, and small beads of sweat trickled down the sides of his forehead. His hands were drenched from their placement against the back of his head, his fingers curled into the lengthy mess of brown hair that nearly touched his shoulders. Deep breaths fell from his mouth, tickling the long whiskers of an unkept beard, and his eyes were closed in focused meditation, listening to the crackling of a bonfire and the muted conversations nearly drowned out by it.

Much of the brown sand his back fell upon had been worn away by the movements, giving way to dark brown, nearly black, stone. To his right was a plain wooden table and chair with several pieces of some kind of game. To his left was a small bed made of straw, accompanied by a leathery blanket and a pillow of the same substance. Smooth rocky walls surrounded him on all sides except for the front, where glowing steel bars were embedded in the rock and a locked door kept him trapped.

Outside the cell was a large cavern lit up by a central bonfire, with cells in a single line surrounding it. Many of the cells were empty, with none of the ones around him having anyone at all. There were several larger cages on the other side occupied by far bigger occupants, ones with four legs, wings, and glittering red scales. The three guards pacing the prison also were the same species, and the man could feel their piercing yellow eyes pass by him as they did their rounds, their clawed paws digging into the sandy ground with each step.

He wasn't quite sure how long he had been there now. It felt like an eternity, but anything did when the sun wasn't visible. In reality, he reasoned that it had been likely around a year, and it didn't seem he would be let out any time soon. Not that he was surprised. He fully expected that the rest of his life would be spent in the cage, but just in case it didn't, he wanted to be ready for an escape. So, he continued his exercise, breathing the numbers out as he reached the 400 mark.

There was a slight commotion as the guards greeted someone entering the dungeon, but the man paid them no heed, continuing his curls with a slow but strong method. The soft pats of a dragon's paws approached his cage, stopping just outside the bars, accompanied by a presence greater than any bonfire. He ignored the presence for the moment, focusing on the count in his head.

"What are you doing?" the words succeeded in breaking his concentration.

He sighed, laying back against the ground and opening his eyes, seeing the red dragoness on sitting on the other side of the bars. Her red scales glittered with unnatural beauty, with two large leathery wings folded loosely at her side, and a long tail rested against the ground behind her. She sat down on her haunches, holding herself with an air of authority and dangerous elegance.

The man sat back up, before pushing himself to his feet, gently brushing the dirt from his dull brown tunic, "Your majesty. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

The man turned his chair to face her before sitting down, studying the dragon with curious eyes. She snorted, the tip of her tail flicking in agitation.

"Dragonslayer," she responded in her own version of a greeting, "You didn't answer my question."

The Dragonslayer shrugged dismissively, "It's an exercise. Designed to strengthen core muscles."

The queen snorted, "Seems rather pointless in your current predicament."

"Quite the contrary. Keeps me active, healthy, and away from the dangers of boredom."

She narrowed her eyes, "So you say..."

The Dragonslayer nodded, gripping one of the game pieces on the table and running it through his fingers, "Anyway, to what do I owe this visit? I see the wing I cut off has grown back rather vibrantly."

"I see a year in prison hasn't mellowed you at all," the queen grunted in response.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"I have actually been looking for a reason to let you go," she rose to her feet, pacing across the prison bars as she looked at the human inside, "I do not like having beings in my prison for extended periods of time. It is a rather dismal place."

"Let me go?"

"That's right."

"I'd be happy to be out of this place," the Dragonslayer leaned back against the chair.

"I do no doubt that. But I feel that the moment I do you will be plotting another assassination attempt if you aren't already, and I do not wish to go through that again," the queen said, glancing at her right wing, before looking at him.

The man allowed a smile to cross his face, "That is a reasonable worry."

"So you see my predicament."

"Killing me is always an option."

"That it is," she sat back down, rustling her wings, "But I do not consider you my enemy, Slayer. At the very least, I do not wish to."

"I didn't know you were the merciful type."

"I'm not. All others that have stood against me burned for their failings. But they were hateful, corrupted, misguided individuals that needed to be cleansed. You, as misguided as your ideas are, at least have an understandable reason to want me gone. One born of fear and desperation. So you take what you believe to be the only option available, an impossible task that you wouldn't do otherwise. In that way, you are like me."

"You are correct, though you, Athaer, are the misguided one," the Dragonslayer responded easily.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, "I am not going to destroy the world, Slayer. Even I do not have that power."

A sigh escaped the man, "You severely underestimate your abilities, and your will."

"I know them better than you do."

"You are a dragon with the power an element, Athaer. The same power that created the sun. I saw what you did to the mental nation. I felt what you did. That was just you. With the... what... thousands of element stones under your command, how much more damage could you do?"

"Even if you are right here, the effort required would be enormous. It is not something I want to do, nor have any plans to do so."

"So what you did to the mental nation... you are not going to do that to the others?"

Athaer went silent for a moment, glaring at him, "That is hardly destroying the world."

"Not until the entire land is desolated by your 'cleansing' fire, everything is ash, and the very continent is scarred."

"You say it like I plan to destroy everything."

"You will. Plan or not, it is inevitable."

"Do not pretend to know the future Dragonslayer."

"I don't. I do know that those with power always end with using it to the fullest extent."

"Aargh!" Athaer suddenly roared in frustration, a flicker of flames running down her body, "What can I do, Slayer? What can I do that will prove to you that I am not the monster you think I am? That I won't destroy the world?"

The Dragonslayer was silenced for a moment as he studied her, "Die."

She flinched at the word, staring at him with open shock, "I am not evil."

"I never said you were. You are merely a mortal cursed with power far greater than what ought to be had."

"Power is a tool," she snapped back, "It is not a curse."

"You say that, but you have used yours to kill millions."

"I kill millions to stop evil."

"And the killing isn't evil?"

"Ha! If you truly believe that then you are a greater hypocrite than I previously thought. You are known as the Dragonslayer for a reason, human."

"I kill those who threaten humanity's freedom. Only them. You kill those who merely defend their homes and have used your power to wipe out entire nations of dragons to the point of near extinction. Even after completing your goal, you are so blinded by your hatred and paranoia that you continue, slaughtering any who get in your way as though they are flies on a wall."

"I will not allow corruption to continue in this world," growled Athaer, "The only way to do that is to take control of it by force."

"And there is your own hypocrisy, dragon. You are so concerned with the corruption of others that you do not recognise it within yourself."

"And what would you do, Slayer? If you were in my position, with the power and opportunity to fix the world, how would you do it?"

"I wouldn't."

"What?"

"The world is not ours to fix. None are perfect, so no one should have governance of the entire world. In attempting to do so you are merely enforcing your own imperfection on an already imperfect world."

"Maybe the world is imperfect. Maybe I am imperfect. It doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make the world a better place."

"Or instead, maybe we focus on trying to create a world where we all can come together and help improve the other."

"That's an impossible world."

"It's more probably than making the world 'a better place' through imposing your will on all those that live within it."

"You are naïve."

"And you are power-hungry and disillusioned."

Athaer flicked her tail again, the dragon's eyes narrowing with anger at his words, "You are making it very difficult for me to let you go."

The Dragonslayer grunted, "I respect you too much to lie to you. The truth is important, even if it hurts."

"On that we agree."

"Yet you are unconvinced of my words."

Athaer took a deep breath, shaking her head, seeming to force herself to calm down, "Someone needs to make the hard decisions Dragonslayer. Someone needs to make the decision to force the world into a better tomorrow. If the world won't do it itself, someone needs to push it. I have that right. I earned the power to accomplish it. I have seen the horrors of those that controlled the world. I have the respect of entire nations to back me, and I am so close. Maybe what I have done is evil. Maybe I have gone far further than what I ought. But someone needs to. Someone needs to make that sacrifice, and if by the death of millions, the world becomes better for the billions to follow then I will do what I must."

The Dragonslayer sighed, leaning back into his chair as he gripped the piece in his hand a little tighter, "And that conviction, Athaer, is why the world will fall before you. Unless someone stops you."

"I want you to believe me, Dragonslayer. My intentions are just. You will see. The world will be better."

He shook his head, "No, it won't."

Athaer snorted at his response, flicking her tail with a soft sigh. She looked at the fire burning behind her with contemplation.

"Why is it so important that I believe you Athaer?" the Dragonslayer asked suddenly.

She turned back to him, frowning slightly, "What do you mean?"

"Why is it so important that I trust that what you are going to do will be the best thing for the world? I would think that the word of your would-be murderer wouldn't amount to much."

"It isn't. I merely thought you would be a welcomed ally to this fight."

"It is rather evident that I don't agree, yet you are putting in an incredible effort to convince me otherwise."

Athaer narrowed her eyes, "I just don't want to have to kill you."

"But why? It's not like me being here is of any use to you. And even if I did join your crusade, my involvement would be of minimal benefit."

The queen didn't answer, though her head tilted as she stared back, her yellow eyes trying to dissect the question.

"May I offer my own answer, seeing as you obviously don't know?" The Dragonslayer said, before continuing before she had a chance to answer, "I think, somewhere deep inside, you fear I am right. You fear that you have gone too far, and you need me to say that you haven't. You need me to confirm that you are doing the right thing."

Athaer snarled, flames flickering from her bared teeth, "I don't need your affirmation Dragonslayer. I don't need anything from you! I know I am right!"

"If you truly believe that, then I will not try to convince you otherwise, but just know this, the entire world sits on the precipice of whatever you decide. What you do from here on will govern the course of history itself, and from what we have seen I can tell you one thing. When we make judgements on the world that should be reserved for God, the world suffers the consequence."

The dragon snorted, "Well if God doesn't like my decisions, He is free to try and stop me."

Athaer got up from her haunches, shaking herself, and turned away, "We'll see how you feel after another year in my cells."

With that she paced away, walking back through the cavern to the exit. The Dragonslayer watched her go, gripping the piece in his hand tightly. As her form disappeared behind the fire he let out a breath, shaking his head. The conversation had revealed much of her to him. It gave him a slight hope that maybe she would see the danger in her actions, in her mere existence. He would just have to wait until he had another chance to talk. He knew she would be back.

He smiled a little at that, before getting up and sitting back down on the floor. He went through his head, remembering the number he had been up to before, and allowed himself to fall back against the ground. With a grunt he hauled his head back up to touch his head against his knees, returning to his count. His sore muscles protested slightly, but he ignored them, getting back into the meditative state, the numbers tumbling from his mouth.

"417...418...419..."

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Hey guys! New Chronicle for you all. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. This was a shorter Chronicle, but a difficult one to write. I hope you were able to follow the conversation, and I hope that it revealed a bit more about both Athaer and the Dragonslayer. As always, vote on the next Chronicle you want, and I'll see you next week!

Haunting Words: Eledior, Spirit Dragoness - 5Yrs BTA

Of Desperate Faith: Ember, Fire Dragoness - 9 Months BTA

A New Purpose: Aegis, Lightning drake - 43Yrs BTA

The No-one Hero: Nuella, Telekinetic dragoness - 10Yrs BTA

See Ya!

Pennator^^