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Elessia snarled at her opponent, tail lashing against the ground behind her. Her dark red scales glittered in the light of the several fires burning around her, a stark contrast to her black horns and the spines running down her back. Her heart beating frantically inside her chest, her breathing rate far higher than usual. All culminated in excitement and determination. The excitement of finally having a worthy opponent and determination to not let him win.

Across from her, standing with wings spread and flickers of fire running along ruby red scales was a fire drake. He had a smirk on his snout and eyes that watched her every movement like a snake following prey. Their battles were often close, sparring matches that ended with great effort. She won a fair few, but several times he had managed to come out with his own victories in trickly and creative ways. It kept her moving, constantly preparing for the next attack.

"Ready to give up yet?" he said snarkily.

"Oh Zymre," she said, raising up and forcing a yawn, "If you have only improved that much in the year we've been apart... you are in for a world of hurt."

"Oh, I've learned a lot in the past year," snorted the fire drake, flapping his wings.

The fire burning around her leaped at his command, spiraling toward her from all directions. She let out a growl of surprise, reacting quickly as red energy erupted from her body, making her glow with glorious power. The fire smashed into her, throwing her into the ground, the red energy not able to absorb all the force and power of the attack, but it left her far less damaged and dazed than she would have been. So instead she launched her own attack, opening her mouth and firing a beam of the red energy at Zymre. He reacted, ducking out of the way and throwing a fireball toward her. She staggered to her feet, swiping at the fireball with her talons, and wincing as heat washed over her, causing her to stammer backward at the explosion.

"Stay still!" she roared, taking a step forward to charge at him.

Despite being a month younger than Zymre, she was the bigger of the two and planned to use the size difference to drive him into the ground. She also had the power of chaos energy running through her veins, enhancing her strength, speed, and pain tolerance. She would likely have to get a life dragon to heal some of the burns she had sustained, but for now she was quite happy to make Zymre pay for his insurrection.

The fire drake stopped, facing her with the same sly grin. He was going to face her head-on? He wouldn't stand a chance. With a roar she launched herself forward with a flap of her wings, chaos energy flooding through her as she crashed into him, aiming to force him into the ground. But instead of pitting his strength against hers, he flapped his wings at the direct moment they crashed, throwing them further than Elessia had meant to do so. As they landed, Zymre used his hind legs to kick her in the stomach, her momentum with the kick throwing her off the other dragon, where she landed on her back, dazed and groaning.

Zymre quickly took advantage of her momentary lapse, pouncing onto her and pinning her to the ground with a snarling growl of victory. Elessia only struggled a moment, snapping up at him. She could have escaped if they were fighting for real, but he could have also killed her at that moment, so there was no point in continuing.

"Alright, I yield, now get off me you big oaf," she growled at him.

He chuckled, before doing as she said and letting her get to her feet. The dragoness shook herself out, allowing the red energy in her scales to fade. She felt slightly embarrassed at how easily he had managed to take her down. The move he did was not something he had been capable of the year previously, and while he was able to control his fire, he had never been able to do it so elegantly, at least not without great focus and mental effort.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" she asked.

"The fire thing? Mum finally started training us after our seventh hatchday. All three of us have come quite far," he said triumphantly.

"Good for you," she rumbled, "I suspected that. What I meant was the kick thing you did, where you flipped me onto my back."

"Oh that. Vitto taught me."

"Vitto? You mean your dad?" she asked with a teasing edge.

"You're still going on about that? He's not my dad," snorted Zymre, "But yes, he did teach me. He's amazing at talon-on-talon combat, like, the best. He's even beat my mum, but she wasn't using any of her powers."

"Really? Huh," Elessia thought for a moment, "do you think he could show me?"

"Of course. As part of his secondary job around here, he teachers hatchlings how to fight talon to talon."

"Wow. He really has moved up in the world, especially for one of the fire-starved," Elessia chuckled, "What, he's one of the biggest voices in the fire nation. He's a teacher, a seasoned fighter, and secret mate of the queen!"

"He's not my dad!" roared Zymre, "Mum's like... forty years older than him. When he first came he was only twelve... or thirteen... or something."

"You know the older a dragon gets the less the age means right?" Elessia continued to tease as she began to lead the way out of their small sparring arena.

They were in the depths of the fire queen's palace, with scorched black stone walls surrounding them. The sparring arena had a floor of brown sand, and surrounding it was a pathway of the same black stone. Elessia had never really like the castle. It always had looked bleak to her, like a place of death and pain, but she couldn't help but admire the strength it represented. Its fortitude and size was far greater than any building she had seen before.

"I know... but he's not my dad. He would have told us alright," replied Zymre, hopping onto the stone pathway.

"I'm just saying, it makes a lot of sense," the dragoness continued, "I mean, he obviously admires the queen. He's gone to a great effort to take care of you, and your brother and sister. If anything, I'd say he's a better father than my own."

"He's not my dad alright," muttered the drake, "And Agonel doesn't seem like a bad father."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Mr. Denial," she smirked, "And I didn't say my dad was bad... he's just... I don't know. He pushes us hard. I think he's trying to make us keep up with you. I heard him telling Kialdor that he wanted him to become the next king once."

"Hah! Good luck with that," snorted Zymre, "Mum is the most powerful dragon in the world. No one is gonna defeat her. You should have seen what she did to the dragon that last challenged her to the throne."

"Yeah I head about that," Elessia shivered, "Apparently your mum... exploded his head or something."

"Yeah. It was in the blink of an eye. His head just... boom! There haven't been any challenges since then."

"I don't blame them."

"But anyway, to be king wouldn't Kialdor have to kill your dad?" asked Zymre.

"Only defeat him. More likely though dad will just step down from his position and host a tournament or something for his replacement."

"I guess. But Kialdor doesn't even have equilibrium."

"That's true as well, though like us he was hatched under the influence of element stones. And from what your mum has shown one doesn't need to use equilibrium to be incredibly powerful."

"It certainly helps."

The two dragons left the arena, padding down one of the many corridors within the castle. Flickering torchlight led their way, lending a stuffy heat into the castle. That was another thing. The way the castle was built lead to very little ventilation. Elessia had always felt slightly constricted whenever she had visited. She thought the feeling would have disappeared as she got older, but it never had.

"Why isn't Agonel training you to be stronger as well? There is not that much difference between you and Kialdor," Zymre asked.

Elessia let out a grumbling sigh, "Kialdor has a lot more control over his chaos energy than I do mine. Dad says I'm too stubborn to allow the energy to flow through me. Too headstrong. I thought that would be a benefit."

"It might be because you rely too much on physical overpowering than you do on control. Whenever we spar you do kind of just... throw yourself at me."

"It works."

"Sometimes. Didn't today. Maybe I can help you though. Ever since mum began training me I have improved a lot with control over my flames. I can even do this!"

He stopped in the corridor, sitting down on his haunches. He raised his paw, palm facing upward. Elessia stopped, looking in curiosity as several sparks jumped up from his palm, before suddenly igniting into a swirling fireball that danced backward and forwards. She could see the concentration in his eyes as he put his paw back on the ground, the fireball still floating in front of him like a phantom flame.

"Okay... that's kinda cool."

"Now you try! I'm sure you could do the same with chaos energy," Zymre encouraged, looking over at her, the fireball bobbing and weaving between them.

"Maybe... but I'll try some other time," said Elessia, distrusting her own ability, "I kind of want to find Vitto and learn about fighting with talons."

In truth, she had never been that good at controlling her energy. She could create enormous amounts of it, far more than the average chaos dragon. Once she had managed to gather enough to blow a hole through a mountain, a large one as well, but when it came to the finer points of control she had never been able to grasp them. It always left her with headaches, and the energy never seemed to want to do exactly what she wanted to do. Not like her calm, level-headed brother who always seemed to perfect everything with a pinch of effort.

But fighting with her claws and teeth, that was something she could do. If she learned how to use her body as much as her element then maybe she would be able to stand a chance against her brother. Maybe her father would decide that she was the one that was meant to stand at the forefront of the fire nation and teach her the secrets to the most dangerous chaotic abilities.

"You think your mum, my dad, and Elder Joy'el are done with their meeting yet?" asked Elessia, trying to change the subject.

"I doubt it. But it means Vitto will be free. Mum doesn't allow him to attend such meetings, as much as he wants to," said Zymre with a chuckle.

"Probably for the best. I mean... a leaders' meeting should only be for the leaders," replied the dragoness as the two continued to walk down the corridor.

They continued to talk as they made their way back to the main areas of the castle. They passed several humans on the way, servants scurrying back and forth with their daily duties. Several dragons were walking along the corridors as well, each giving the pair a friendly nod of respect, though Elessia thought she saw a few more suspicious and curious glances thrown back at them. The two of them had reached their eighth hatchday these past couple of months after all, and everyone knew they had been friends long before that. It wasn't unusual for two young dragons to take things a bit too far... not that she would consider doing anything like that with Zymre going too far.

She shook her head, feeling the heat rise in her body at the thought. Even as a youngling she had considered choosing Zymre for her mate. He was a smart, mischievous dragon with an unusual charm. She was actually planning to ask what he thought of the idea during this time. But she had yet to find the time and place to bring it up. Then there was the matter of her father. While it wasn't unheard of for two dragons of different species to get together, it was considered unusual, and while a chaos dragon and a fire dragon wasn't that unusual, it was still something she doubted her father would be extremely happy about.

"So where would Vitto be at this time?" asked Elessia.

Zymre shrugged his wings, "I don't know. He might be with Ember and Yova down at the outside sparring grounds. When he's not with mum, or out on one of his trips, that's where he usually is."

They made their way to the exit of the castle, before taking into the air with a flap of their wings. Fire City was, much like its castle, a bleak-looking place, though according to her father, it looked far better than it had done years previously. The castle itself was seated on a cliff that fell into a violent cascading ocean of dark blue. Dark grey clouds were broken up by patches of sunlight falling out over the landscape. Below them were thousands of buildings made from the ashen rock that occupied much of the ground and living within these buildings were the many hundreds of thousands that called Fire City their home. Tens of thousands of dragons were flying through the air, going about their own daily tasks with mixtures of enthusiasm. Every so often Elessia was able to spot the occasional darker and spikier chaos dragon, or the light electric yellow of a lightning dragon.

In the distance Elessia could see the large lone mountain that was the home of an active volcano, constantly spewing ash and soot into the air. They were far enough away that it wasn't too harmful, but they still felt the effects of the daily eruptions were strong enough. Near that very volcano was a massive structure, larger even than the castle. It was the challenge arena, large enough to house the battle between even two dragons of equilibrium, supposably. Elessia had yet to even see an equilibrium be used, though she knew her father had the ability.

"This way!" called Zymre as he spiraled down toward a large open section of the city near the castle.

There were several fields of sand, each with a number of dragons inside, either sparring, watching, or learning. It was a popular place within the city, as it was important for every dragon to understanding how to defend themselves. Besides, everyone enjoyed a good scuffle every now and then. There was even a trio of life dragons standing near the edge of the arenas, watching over those within like a protective mother. Their light green scales were quite the contrast to the reds and yellows of the other dragons within the city.

Zymre lead her down to the edge of the arenas, where three fire dragons occupied a small sandpit. Two were sparring each other, without using their flames, while an older larger dragon watched, calling out pointers as he did.

"Vitto!" called Zymre as he landed at the edge of the arena, Elessia only a moment behind him.

The older dragon looked toward them, a smile appearing on his snout, "Hello Zymre... and Elessia wasn't it."

Elessia bobbed her head with acknowledgment, watching the other two dragons spar closely. The dragoness was Ember, Zymre's sister, and the other was Yova, his brother. While they were capable of using their flames, they didn't seem in a hurry to do so as they scuffled along the ground, growling, biting, and scratching, trying to stave off the other from getting the advantage.

"Where did you two disappear to?" Vitto asked with a hinting smirk.

Zymre entirely missed what the other fire drake was suggesting, "We were sparring in the private sparring room in the castle. I managed to use that move you taught me, the one where, when you get tackled you kick them to throw them off. Elessia was wondering if you could teach her."

"Ah yes, the old bait and flip. One of my favourites, though it is easier to use when your opponent is bigger than you," Vitto said thoughtfully.

Elessia let out a growl of surprise as Ember whipped her tail forward, wrapping it around Yova's foreleg, and pulling it toward her, forcing the drake to stumble off guard. She took the opportunity to lash with a punch of her wing, hitting the side of his head and knocking him to the ground, still with her tail wrapped around her paw as to keep him off balance. He hit the ground with a thud and a groan.

"Are! Well done Ember. Nicely executed. Yova, you should have been more ready for that. You know how quick your sister can move," Vitto called out at the end of the match.

"Hello Elessia!" called Ember, padding over to them with a smile, "Did you win your sparring match this time?"

"Nah, your brother used some trick he said he learned from Vitto. I'm just here to find out what this is all about," Elessia responded with a smile, "Aah... does Yova need a healer? He hasn't got back up yet."

Yova lay on the ground, seeming rather dazed and unmoving.

"Nah," Ember responded, "He'll shake it off. Though I may have hit him a bit hard. My wing hurts a bit where I hit him."

Sure enough, after another minute or so, Yova was able to get to his feet, though he staggered, seeming rather dizzy, before walking off to the side of the arena and collapsing on the path. He gave a nod to Elessia but didn't say anything, still rather dazed.

"Well," said Vitto, "Elessia, if you want to know about the power of talons then I'd be happy to teach you if you think you're up for it."

"I reckon I can handle it. Just avoid Ember's wing punches right?" Elessia joked.

Zymre snickered, "Yeah. She hits hard."

Ember snorted, "And you know it."

"Too well," her brother responded.

"Haha, but before I put you through that, I would like to know how you fight unrestricted. It'll help me understand your fighting style," said Vitto.

"Easy. I could just spar Zymre again?" she said with a shake of her wings, ready to drive the fire drake into the ground for beating her before.

"Actually, I would like you to spar against me," Vitto responded, "Should be rather interesting."

"You... fighting unrestricted? Isn't that... a bit unfair?" asked Elessia.

"I call it leveling the playing field," smirked Vitto, "Don't worry about me young one. Just fight like I'm a normal dragon, or else you may find yourself surprised at what I can do."

The chaos dragoness regarded him for a moment, before shrugging her wings. If he believed he could face her when she was using her element, and he couldn't, then that was up to him. She still felt it drastically unfair, especially considering she had the special connection to her element granted to her through element stones. But she would just have to show him just how powerful she really was.

"Alright. I'll take your word for it," she said, pacing out into the centre of the small arena, flicking her tail from side to side.

Zymre and Ember sat on their haunches, chatting quietly to each other as Vitto walked out into the centre of the arena to face her. She studied him curiously. He wasn't a bad looking dragon, with a lean muscular build, nice wings, and tail. The scars along his snout were certainly interesting. She would have to ask Zymre how he got them. He was larger than her, as he was much older, but she knew she would eventually catch up to him. The average chaos dragon was larger than the average fire dragon, and Vitto didn't seem especially large for his age.

"Ready?" asked the fire drake.

"Oh yeah," she smirked, lowering herself to the ground and spreading her wings, ready to blast him with chaos energy.

"I'll count you down!" called Zymre, "One! Two... and fight!"

Elessia opened her maw, calling forth a beam of bright red energy that lanced out across the arena. She snapped her mouth shut to see if she had hit him, but he had been ready for the attack, dodging into the air with a flap of his wings, and was already plummeting down toward her. She didn't even have time to dodge as he crashed into her, driving her into the ground. She quickly tried to shove him off, gathering chaos energy into the body to give her extra strength, but she stopped as a talon pressed against her throat, causing her to gulp.

"Nice initiative with the quick attack, but when you open your mouth to breathe your power then you blind yourself to your opponent for a second or two. Especially us energy type dragons. Next time do a shorter blast. It might not be as powerful, but it will leave you blinded for half a second, rather than two or three whole ones," he said, before getting off her, leaving her rather shaken at the ease and speed in which he had moved.

She carefully got to her feet, shaking herself out, "How did you move so fast?"

"Training and hard work," grinned Vitto, "When you're element starved you learn to make the most of the body you have, and I have honed this one to the highest degree a dragon can."

"I... I guess that makes sense," Elessia responded, "Do... do we go again?"

"No... I think I can work with what I learned in that small exchange. You are a dragon that likes to rush in headfirst, clawing and biting. Not surprising, considering you're a chaos dragon, but if you want to learn to fight with your talons sometimes it involves waiting for the right moment. Usually, you will find that, when against an opponent, you will have an advantage over them in some area of another. It could be wit, power, skill, tenacity, knowledge. The trick is using your skill to the highest potential in order to beat your opponent. You may be far more powerful than I am, and likely more tenacious, but I have high skill, and also understand a lot about chaos dragons. That's what allowed me to defeat you."

"Okay," Elessia thought for a moment, "Surely there are some dragons with a high degree of... well all of them."

"They are very rare, and usually even they are better at some of those things than others," he smiled, "But enough about that, let's talk about what you need to do. You like to fight head-on, but when it comes to talons that can be difficult to put together, but if you mix in what you learn with your abilities it should be possible. The trick will be grounding yourself, stabilizing yourself so that you can't be knocked over... or knocked out of that air."

"Yep," she understood the basic principle, a strong stance on the ground was important.

She widened her stance, lashing her tail from side to side, "Like this?"

"Actually... no. You see, when you station yourself like that you are very tense, and while if a dragon is weaker than you it might be a bit difficult, a stronger dragon would easily be able to take you down," said Vitto, "Like this."

He lashed forward with his tail, gripping her leg much like what Ember had done, and pulling backward. She let out a yelp as she was thrown off balance, nearly falling on her face. If she had been prepared and was able to use her chaos energy she might have been strong enough to withstand it, but the point of this exercise was to fight without her power.

"Instead, keep your body loose and relaxed," he continued, "Try to do the same to me."

She wasn't quite as skillful with her tail as Vitto, but she was still able to curl it around his forepaw and pull it forward. It was surprisingly easy to do so, as though he wanted to be pulled, jumping with his hind legs as she pulled him.

"The trick to fighting head-on is meeting every attack with your own," he said, "Every dodge a counterstrike, and your defense an attack. It's a very risky fighting style, but hugely rewarding if mastered."

He took a step backward from her as she let go of his paw.

"That makes sense," she said, "but it seems very difficult to react as you did in the middle of a fight when you don't know what is going to happen next."

"Aah yes. Unfortunately, that skill only comes with experience and practice. As you get older and find yourself in more battles you will get a feel for battle, to the point where your body can react almost without thinking," he explained, "Then it becomes almost a dance. Constantly moving, slashing and blocking, ducking and weaving, and no one can hit you, and when they do they will regret it."

She smiled, "Thanks Vitto, I only wish there were more time for me to learn all this."

"I mean... aren't you Agonel's daughter. I'm sure there would be plenty of dragons willing to help you train back in Chaos city."

"Yeah... that's true."

"Just remember, it's a matter of keeping yourself loose and ready. You may get your tail whipped multiple times before you get it, but once you master the skill... well... you'll be surprised at how far it will get you."

"Thanks," she smiled.

"Now, let's see if you can put this into practice. Zymre! Come here, you can be Elessia's practice buddy. I'm sure she wants to have some payback after that trick you did to her before."

Zymre laughed, jumping into the pit to join them, "All too happy to."

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Hey guys! New story for you all! Hope you enjoyed it. This ended up being far longer than I thought it would be. Hope it gives you some insight into the fire nation, as well as the life of a chaos dragon. What did you think of Elessia? And what do you think of what you have seen so far of Athaer's children? Also, vote on the next story below.

Binding Souls: Yivian, Mind Drake - 47Yrs BTA

Clashing Powers: Ingun, Ice Drake - 3Yrs BTA

See ya!

Pennator^^