Silver ducked passed a shower of acid, narrowly avoiding the deadly liquid, before leaping forward. The end of her tail transformed into a hammer and before her opponent had a chance to react she bashed the acid dragoness over the head, knocking her to the floor. She groaned once, before lying still, and just like that Silver won. She took a deep breath and looked up at the crowd, who were now cheering excitedly, her name even being called from a few of the their mouths.

With a snort she looked down at the acid dragon with somewhat pity. That had been the easiest fight she had had in the tournament so far, and for the last one she was pretty unimpressed. She had at least been expecting half a challenge, but then again she had a feeling that she would win. Ever since Rock her fights had been getting progressively easier, until this one, against an acid dragon who could barely hold her own. How she had gotten this far was a mystery.

Sighing the Silver dragon turned and made her way back out of the arena and into the cage she had come from, where she knew other dragons would get her and take her back to Cinder Prison. They had moved her cage since last time, to be situated next to the three other dragons she had beaten. Rocky, who was still recovering, a lightning drake with a name that escaped her, and a water dragoness called Clear. Now there was that acid dragon she had just recently knocked unconscious.

Apparently the acid dragon had defeated Retrix in the previous round, but after that fight Silver didn't think so. Maybe the void dragon had purposefully lost, though for what reason she didn't know. She knew Zepos had forfeited his first fight, he had told her, saying that if anyone should go free it should be her. It made her smile but she felt a little guilty at the same time. She knew the lightning dragon would easily be able to defeat almost everyone, but she couldn't change that now.

Before long the dragons that were supposed to take her back to the prison arrived. One was a mind dragon, thankfully not Thylo, and the other was an ice dragon. They opened the cage. Silver resisted the urge to attack, knowing the dragon she really was afraid of would likely stop her. So, she calmly walked out and let the dragons transport her back.

As they came to a fork in the road, instead of taking a left toward the prison they took a right. Silver's heart jumped and she hesitated. The dragon behind her growled and she took a breath and continued forward. They were going somewhere different, and there was only one reason for the sudden change in routine. She glanced at the two dragons around her as her thoughts turned to escape. But, before she could do anything the ice dragon behind her breathed a stream of ice in front of her, making her stop in surprise.

"You are not going to escape," he growled.

She glanced back at the drake, eyes narrowed. Suddenly a dull throb raptured her scull and she snarled, shaking her head and taking a step backwards from the two dragons. The throb disappeared, leaving Silver with a ragged breath and a thumping heart. Her escorts looked at her strangely, before the mind dragon growled at her to 'keep moving'. Not having the heart to fight anymore, Silver followed.

They led her through the icy tunnels, went up a slope and turned through numerous other corridors. They didn't meet any other dragons on the way, much to Silver's surprise, and the two dragons she was with were completely silent, and it made her nervous. Did they know what they were doing? Was the mind dragon even seeing the thoughts racing through her head?

Eventually they went up a familiar slope and stopped at the large double set of ice doors. There were the same two guards as usual, another ice dragon and a water dragon. They both looked warily at the dragoness, probably having watched the fights she had been in. They glanced at each other, before nodding.

"You may go through, only Silver," said the ice dragon guard.

"But... we are supposed to make sure she doesn't escape," said the mind dragon, "And those thoughts are on her mind."

"I know, but it is Zoralth's order," replied the guard.

Silver's escort snorted before stepping back, "Then on you go."

The dragoness glanced between them before letting out a quite sigh and walking forward. The doors opened before her and once again she entered the throne room of Eldawin's Syndicate. It was exactly the same as before, and she couldn't help but glance around to see if she could find any humans, or one especially. There were none however and she let out a small sigh of relief.

A growl escaped her however as her gaze came to Zoralth, the telekinetic dragon. He was regarding her solemnly as she walked in, before letting a smile cross his face. She mentally shivered. She was completely at this dragons mercy, and there would be no way that she could fight back, at least not while Thylo was around. The mind dragon was sitting near one of pillars, with his constant sinister expression.

"What do you want?" growled Silver.

"Now, now, young dragoness, is that a way to treat your superiors, especially those who, basically, have your life in their paws," the telekinetic king tilted his head, looking expectantly at her.

"Why not? There is no way you can make my life any worse," she snarled, "You have me trapped in some hell hole, with no way to escape. I can't even speak my mind without being tortured, you know my every thought, and to top it off you're going to send me straight to A.O.D.H within the next week or so."

"I can think of a way," Zoralth said, causing Silver to growl again, "I recently heard of a young ice drake, Frost, who you surely remember. He wanted to mate with you, and you refused, but I can make his wish a reality, IF YOU DON'T START SHOWING ME SOME RESPECT!"

The dragoness took a slight step back, her heart beating rapidly once again as his words sunk in. A seething rage ran through her, and she yearned to lash out. To put a metal spike through the dragon's skull, to freeze him in solid elronium, but Thylo was there, and he would know exactly what she had planned. She hated them, hated them both, but Zoralth was right. There was nothing she could do against them at the moment.

"Now try again," snorted the king of Eldawin's Syndicate.

Silver struggled with herself for a moment, before swallowing her pride and bowing her head, "You wanted to see me... sir?"

"That's better. Wasn't so bad now was it?" sighed Zoralth, before rising from where he was sitting, "Yes, I did. I make an effort to see and talk to the victors of these tournaments, and because you have defeated every and any enemy sent before you, with the utmost ease, it makes you a victor. I must say, I didn't expect so much from you. Sure, I knew you were a reasonable fighter with a good assortment of skills and a strong will, but what I saw was something spectacular."

She frowned, glancing up at the king, but didn't say anything.

"If this were under normal circumstances I would, gladly free you, and even offer you a top position in my army, but as you know, this is hardly a normal circumstance. No, you Silver, are very important to A.O.D.H, so I can't just let you go. That is part of the reason why I put Firefly as the dragon you need to beat. She's my fail safe. The most powerful dragon in the Syndicate, by far. She is more powerful then both me and Thylo combined, and I doubt you could defeat either of us."

"You wanna' bet on that," muttered Silver, more to herself then him.

"But I want to let you know, your friends will be safe and let free after A.O.D.H has taken you," said Zoralth, "Even Merene."

Her head perked up at that and she looked at Zoralth in surprise. He knew where Merene was. Apart of her was relieved that the mind dragoness was still alive, but another was worried at hearing Merene's name from him. What had he done to her?

"Is she okay?" asked Silver worried.

"Yes, she is alive and very much okay. A bit angry, but that happens when you're trapped," said Zoralth, "She was snooping around too much, so we captured her. She is a rather powerful mind dragon if I might say."

"She is," the dragoness sighed.

"Good. Again, congratulations Silver. I hope to see more of you in the future," he said, "That is all."

The metal dragon slowly turned and began to walk slowly back to the door, before a question came to her mind. She looked back to the Zoralth and stopped.

"May I ask something sir?" she enquired.

The king's eyes narrowed slightly, "Yes."

"If I defeat Firefly, you'll let me and my friends go?"

Zoralth laughed, "Silver, if you defeat Firefly, I will give you control of the Syndicate."

Her eyes widened slightly at that, but inside she stood a little taller. If she did beat Firefly, then not only would she be able to escape, she would be able to bring the whole Syndicate with her to help fight against A.O.D.H. Her mission would be a success. Taking a deep breath she nodded and trotted out of the ice doors with a new resolve. She could do this; all she needed to do was defeat a dragon of equilibrium.

* * *

"Did he really say that?" Zepos asked, seemingly surprised.

"Yes," Silver grinned slightly.

"Wow. That's... that's... wow. You need to win," the lightning dragon grinned.

"I know, but he seemed pretty confident that I couldn't. Very confident in fact," the dragoness sighed.

"Well, you've been underestimated before, and you haven't shown them everything you can do yet," he replied excitedly.

"I know, but Firefly is a dragon of equilibrium remember. A very powerful dragon," she replied, thinking carefully. She glanced at Retrix, who was in the cage opposite to hers, "What do you think Retrix?"

The void dragon looked up at them, "I don't know. What ever this equilibrium thing is, it is very dangerous. Have you two actually seen it in action before?"

Silver and Zepos shook their heads.

"I didn't think so," Retrix sighed, "We are going into this blind. We have only heard rumours of what equilibrium is. There are two types of rumours, those that overestimate and those that underestimate. An Equilibrium could very well be nothing special, maybe a sudden increase in power in a short burst or something, or it could be something massive, something we would never see coming."

"We have an idea of what it is," replied the dragoness, "It's when a dragon and their element basically become one. What that means I have no idea."

"You three are fools, 'ey" came the broken voice of Rocky, who was lying in the cage next to Silver's.

The earth dragon had been healed and was going to survive, much to Silver's relief, but he hadn't spoken to them until now. If anything, he had seemed fearful, and withdrawn, like he was disappointed in himself. The few times they had tried to speak with him he simply turned away and refused.

"What do you mean? Rocky?" asked Retrix.

"You can't beat a dragon of equilibrium. It's simply impossible."

"I take it you've seen one in action?" asked Silver.

"Ha! I have. Everyone that has lived in the Syndicate for over five years has, and I didn't just see it, 'ey, I felt it, I tasted it. That power, it's the stuff of nightmares. It isn't something a single dragons should have, yet they do."

"What happened?" Zepos frowned.

"Firefly happened. Some stupid dragons tried to rape her, a dragoness that was already close to equilibrium, and she lost it. Her power erupted, and those poor souls died like that, but that was only the beginning, 'ey. You see, when a dragon first reaches that point of unfathomable power, they loose themselves to it. They loose control. Nearly three thousand dragons died to her power that day, and a further thousand badly injured. Thankfully Zoralth managed to get most of us out before too much of us were killed, but everything inside the Syndicate was destroyed. We found Firefly the next day in her normal form, unconscious in the midst of it."

The three of them were silent, shocked. Three thousand dragons. That was more then the number of dragons at Sky Mountain, and it was all on accident. Silver couldn't imagine Firefly doing something like that. She wasn't cruel, but if she really had lost control then there really wasn't something that she could have done to stop it.

"What did it look like?" asked Retrix.

Rocky glanced at the void dragon, "Fire. A seething mass of fire. Living fire. How do you beat fire? What would you do against something like that? Blast it with earth? Ha! Earth doesn't damage fire. Neither will metal, or lightning, or anything of the type. If Silver were a water dragon, or ice dragon, or even a wind dragon, she may have a miniscule chance. But as she is metal... impossible."

"But there must be something I can do!" growled Silver.

The earth dragon laughed slightly, "Don't let Firefly delve into that power. She can control it now, so the only one that will be in danger is you. When she does reach for it, that will leave her vulnerable for a second or so. That will be your chance to strike."

"What if I reach equilibrium?" snorted Silver, thinking that was a real possibility.

Rocky's eyes narrowed dangerously, "If you reach equilibrium, everyone will die. All the dragons watching, Zoralth, Thylo, us down here, including your boyfriend, and everyone else. Everyone."

Silver gulped, her mind flashing back to when she had fought Rocky in the arena. She had lost control then, and had very nearly taken a life. If what the earth dragon said was true, then attempting to reach her own pinnacle of power was something she had to avoid at all costs. Getting free would be useless if everyone was dead.

"Do you understand?" said the earth dragon, very seriously.

She nodded her head and let out a deep breath, "I understand."

"Good," he sighed, before turning around and laying back down on the cold ice floor and closing his eyes.

Silver glanced back at her two friends, and they seemed distinctly worried. Even Retrix, who was usually quite good at keeping his emotions hidden. With a sigh Silver lay down herself, wanting to get some rest, or at least what little she could. Her mind was whirling, and she felt unsure. There were three ways this could go, she could beat Firefly before the fire dragon reached equilibrium, she could loose, or she could win through her own equilibrium. That would be something devastating however, and something she wanted to avoid.

The next day came and the two dragons that escorted her too the fights opened her cage. She looked up at them, knowing it was time.

"Let's go," said the mind dragon, and together they walked to the arena.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. The next chapter will be out as soon as I can get at. It's one that I'm sure you are all looking forward to :) See Ya!

Pennator^^