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"'Ember Hex Celestial'? Verify if..if that's..you?" A voice so subtle it barely rung out..fearful..yet it echoed, the vibrato mimicked his trembling hand, which was securing his grip on the handle of the gate's control bar.
The arena was set up similar to the entrance of an asylum, or an amusement park. Even an airport could fit the standard for how the guarded booths sat.
Despite there only being one station at the moment, it had similar qualities.
There was a big box that was shiny, dented. It resembled a booth; but if you were to look at it at a first glance it may take a few minutes to process what it's MEAN'T to be.
The wallpaper was so white it could burn holes in your eyes, the big head light at the top that radiated and buzzed in nothing more than silence didn't help that at all. That isn't to say it was as clean as your generic office, at least an office for a Sun.
Stacks of paperwork had been partially burnt, tattered, and discarded around the cheap grey office chair on wheels. At a first glance, this would be any suns worst nightmare, but it was functional, for something so recently built.
It had what was needed,
And what was needed was the control panel.
The only barrier between their protector and the rest of the sanctuary, what remained of it at least. Their protector had been remolded, and what purpose did it have now?
The base that had been built on ashes was now crumbled with the remains of the people.
So few Suns let themselves wallow in the ashes, many had retreated to new dimensions, others let themselves die for a useless cause; perhaps it was stubbornness, or the desperation that kept them in a routine that simply didn't work anymore. So few resources, too advanced for the borderline code of a Sun to sit.
The Sun in the booth himself didn't seem too equipped for this job.
Well- not just unequipped, he looked like a zombie.
He slung over lousily, his hands positioned over the same four gadgets despite all the knobs and buttons and dots along the control panel. His eyes were pale, obviously some form of green prior, faded, but still there. He sat in what looked like a blend of hospital scrubs and a security guard. He had a pinned badge.
"Hi! My name is:
__________"
Wasn't- much information there, really.
The massive coliseum that had once been protected and guarded was now in crumbles, surrounded by prison slates.
The suns head, which wasn't initially facing them at all, subtly shifted over to verify they were willingly entering an undocumented suicide entrance.
"Ember, Hex, Celestial?"
It took a moment, for Ember to answer.
He nodded slowly. "Right." He confirmed shakily, readjusting his grip.
He took a deep breath.
The embodiment clenched the rim of his helmet. Adapted just for his head to slip inside.
Not- no, not his.
It really wasn't his.
He was the fill-in, wasn't he?
It DIDN'T fit his head.
And the dragon wasn't his to train.
Could the title even be his?
"Please step forward.." the security guard instructed. "Be cautious, as there's moving objects, illusions, fires- all that's around you." He spoke in exhaustion, a script he seemed to have memorized and was now paraphrasing for his own pleasure.
Ember sighed, nodded. "Thanks..What door am I supposed to go into..?" He questioned quietly, glancing up and examining over the security guard.
His rays were a green, matched his eyes. The paint was faded. No light seemed to reach either, not in this dump.
The suns mouth opened, as if beginning to laugh. Nothing came out except a wheeze. He seemed to be using anything as a grasp on reality, nothing worth laughing at in havoc. "It's an arena..there is no doors..aren't you supposed to be the trainer?"
Ember shook his head.
"Why are you even going then??" He spoke a bit more attentively now, taking further examination. "Look..I know the- everything, is in pretty bad condition, but the dragon REALLY isn't a sound way to- to go-"
"I'm- I'm not here to kill myself- okay??" Ember's expression shifted, scrunching. It sat in near annoyance, impatiently waiting for the sun to let him in.
"Well ya might as well be?!!! There's better ways, really!!"
"Again- I'm not here to kill myself. I- I need to check on the dragon."
"Where's your certification?? Huh??"
"I was an apprentice of the commander– I NEED to see him."
"..The- dead- trainer?"
"I- Dead trainer..???! Is that really ALL you can pull out of your ass to remember him b-"
The sun gulped loudly, looking away and shaking his head. He took a deep breath.
"I- I'm gonna need to check under his file..to see if you're a legal appliance..Y'know.?"
"It's public property, what legal-..Right." Ember squinted at him impatiently, standing tensely. This Sun seemed- genuinely..stupid.
The sun spun to another computer, his fingers visibly red from the overheating control panel.
Ember's grip got rougher as he continued, over the plated helmet.
Patience is a virtue that poor Ember didn't have the patience to sit through. He growled, his newly grown wings readjusting themselves around his body, almost mimicking a shield that left his armored back bare.
The Sun seemed to take that as a signal to actually speed up, refusing eye contact.
"Just- just give me a moment.." he whispered, tinkering with the keys.
He glanced at the artificial stars as he waited, his faith in this guard running thin. The surroundings seemed to morph as time passed.
"Alright- your name isn't listed under here.." he mumbled.
A dissociated Ember glanced back.
"Repeat that??"
"There's no ember on the list, sir."
"..Is- my last name, on there??"
"Celestial..? Twice, but it's a decently common last-"
"Sunrise Hex Celestial- is it- on there-"
"I'm not allowed to discuss that inform-"
"My teacher DIED and he was training THIS dragon! What's gonna happen if I really do get into it, huh?!!! What're you going to do if I don't!!?" He stomped one foot. "You already FOUND me systematically, can't you just- LET ME IN?? He's probably just gonna- Work off the sanctuary anyway!!"
"Look..I'm just- scared, it's gonna get frightened, and eventually maul yo-"
"Call it a suicide mission just let me in-" he demanded, hugging the helmet.
The sun took a deep breath, then he sighed.
He pulled the crank and the door began opening.
"THANK you."
"You said it..it's public, and the commander did a lot, don't need to swear on his-"
"Oh suck a dick will you??" He sneered, the helmet tight under his voided claws.
Ember began blocking out his responses after that.
There seemed to be no point in listening to someone who already considered you dead,
Who already considered them dead-
As- as if they never were-
How much of this sanctuary mattered if it would all crumble in the end?
His hooves echoed beneath the ground as he walked. The torn up tiles and dense dirt made a loud clacking every few steps. Ember examined cautiously, rubbing against the helmet and the dagger that rimmed where the facial cover was.
He stood stiff at the doorway.
It was like a gladiator game.
Except now it was just him,
And the dragon Dark had so much pride in was now sitting in fear, chains attached to every limb and open joint.
The dragon was harsh, well trained.
Ember remembered how playful it had been before Dahlia had worked the dragon to its limit.
-
"I- dahlia, wasn't- this- dark Suns- dragon..?"
"If we want a chance at having an advantage against the haven, Sol ordered all vantage points. Their primary power supply is the Withershards. Becoming more in-tune with our primary protector who eats their power supply can't do us any harm."
"Dahlia it's a WITHERSTORM-"
"An impressionable Witherstorm. If we start now we might have a chance.."
"Against what-?? Carme?? Moon???"
"They shouldn't be involved in the moons side of this..they attacked us, we need defenses."
"Carmes in the council!! And defenses by the-"
"Yes, Sun. Defenses by the dragon."
He could recall the same irritation in Dahlia's voice that Ember felt. Maybe that was just his irritation speaking for Dahlia.
-
Ember felt nauseous looking at it.
It growled, as Ember approached hollowly.
One of its own, its kind, and his scent.
It laced along the armor he was attired in head to toe-
To ankle, actually.
Most of it sat in plated layers, all of which seemed to be scraping together with each movement. What poor ember was given as replacement and recompense for their leaders passing.
The dragon lifted its head, staring down at the other. It felt something off about him, he couldn't quite place what, in particular.
–
He couldn't quite recall when the motive had shifted in spite of their own leader instead of theirs.
–
Ember felt waves of nausea attacking him at the head, shooting through his body as if he was an arrow on a target.
–
When the names had changed. Sun to Ember, Sol to Tyrant.
–
He reached out a trembling hand to the massive beast. It growled, its muzzle restrained with barbed chains that sat as discard from prisoner Moons who had ended up with the mercy of trial some time between when Sol's orders began involving children in their missions, or when they began hinting at slaughtering any who still held their Moon close.
–
That wasn't true. He could remember Ember, why, ember. When Ember.
–
The dragon growled, stomping his burnt claws and dragging himself down.
–
Dahlia assigned it to him, not everyone could be Sun, and Sun was the holy grail of dead leaders.
He remembered complaining.
–
The model flinched, taking a weary step back. "Down." He demanded tightly, his hand lifting in some sort of symbol he'd seen Dahlia do for the dragon to get it down. Couldn't tell if it was training or magic at the time, he assumed a mix of both.
–
"Ember. Your new name shall be ember." Dahlia assigned, having a tendril of a cactus take notes for him.
"Wh- why can't I just keep Sun???"
"There is about 20 Suns all waiting for the same purpose you have."
"But I LIKE Sun." He tried persuading.
"Those Suns probably think the same, yet they're still getting different names until this ends. I'd consider yours lucky that I know you personally, many of those ones will be at random."
"I- isn't- ember a bit- feminine??"
"Not inherently, no."
"I- whatever-"
"Drop the attitude, will you?"
–
The dragon pressed its body to the ground, the growling stopped, it stared, waiting for further orders.
Ember held it there, his body tense, his fist held firmly.
He wasn't sure what to do..
This was dahlias routine, and it was much more extensive than Sun had planned for what he'd do.
Tyrant was gone, so was the sanctuary.
He stared for a moment, he felt dizzy.
The dragon huffed in quiet rebellion.
"I know I'm not..him..Dahlia's-" he stopped, he felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes, all four of them.
God, he was mutated..
The dragon seemed to take note of that, the scent of a direct competitor and his guide throughout all of this discourse combating into an uneasy trust that it couldn't take in.
Ember glanced at the door uneasily for a second, before placing the helmet down and pocketing the dagger into the seam of his armor and pant swiftly. He slowly began removing the metallic gloves, to his forearms, to his shoulders. He removed the chest plates, the back plates, the torso—
All of it began forming as a pile somewhere closer to the dragon, somewhere within reach that wasn't a technical danger zone for him.
Tears with purple hints began flowing from his eyes and down to his cheeks, his jaw. His jaw was now uncomfortably contorted, trained silence and fear settling in to what really happened.
Dahlia was dead.
Gone, as if he never existed,
As if he meant nothing.
Ember stared at the ground.
Dahlia was an organic veteran that had to redirect a peaceful sanctuary into a war against their own kin.
No one would admire that..
He really was just another casualty to whoever was left. They all had priorities on themselves, their families.
No one seemed to remember.
He began taking deep breaths to slow it, except he wasn't sure if he was ready to calm down.
He remained tense.
It took a growl from the dragon that warned Ember he was getting too close, despite not moving from the time he'd requested.
He nodded slowly, taking a step back. His wings readjusted themselves.
Ember found his body going weak on him.
He couldn't tell why, he wasn't really- trained, for this kind of stuff.
God, but Dahlia was- Dahlia would've known why he felt so weak-
The dragon eyed him, not necessarily as food, but not as a companion either.
Ember watched him, slow blinking.
"Dahlia's gone, bud..like your dad..Dark Sun..and- and Joy- and everyone who had been taking care of you- they- they're all gone-" his voice became pressured. "Th-they- either left- or- or..or- they- were-" he stopped suddenly, his voice breaking off.
The dragon let out a low grumble, he didn't quite understand, he was just an animal with orders- how could he??
His wings were propped upwards, glancing between the armor and the pitiful remains of the soldiers in the militia.
It smelt iron on the armor. Organic..
It also smelt lilac.
It stared, continued to.
She slowly lowered her head.
Her muzzle pressed to the large stack of armor, pulling it closer to everything.
She had been free roam, before all of this.
Before she was a threat to them without Dahlia as conductor.
Sol's orders, to chain her as it was Sol's property.
The republic really wasn't too acclimated to absolute monarchy.
No- it was Dictatorship.
Silly Ember, really falling for that propaganda?
The baby dragon continued sniffing, it slowed, as she continued searching for an answer to search for the why.
Why everything had crumbled, why she was chained as the beast she was instead of the royalty she had been treated as.
And eventually she slowed.
Ember watched her, the tears that fell were now silent, on steady breathing. He couldn't stop, he really couldn't.
Suddenly her head lunged at him.
Her extended neck forced itself full speed at Ember, his hand instinctively found the dagger, which he extended out- exactly how dahlia had-
The chain stopped her from going any further.
He tensed, before sitting up.
"You are- muzzled..you can't do anything." He processed in a whisper.
The dragon let out a low growl, an uncomfortable whine that Ember couldn't tell if was for the chains that poked into her neck or for the realization that this is all that she had left to work with from both her dad and her protector.
Really, a blend right in the middle.
She lowered her head again, releasing another whine.
Ember sat tense, and motionless.
He took a deep breath, his undergarments staining with purple.
"I know.." he whispered to her.
A higher whine echoed through the arena.
"..Stay down for me, okay?" He requested, standing up hesitantly. He walked slowly, not suddenly.
He sat down again, slightly closer.
The long-necked dragon looped her neck over, pressing it into Embers chest.
Ember let out a quiet exhale, closing his eyes and beginning to soothe under her chin.
"I'm here..I've gotcha.."
Patience was a virtue Ember could tolerate for a dragon cub.