7.
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I couldn't see. It was way too dark. The second thing I noticed was that my head hurt like hell. It was weird, my gems always glowed, so why was it so dark now? A door opened on one of the walls, letting bright light into the darkness around me. I squinted against the painful glare. Prepared to attack whatever it was, even if I couldn't see well, I jumped up and tried to summon fire in my hand. Nothing happened. I tried to make a sword. Again, nothing.
"Having trouble?" asked a mocking voice.
"Maybe…" I growled warily. I couldn't see who it was, but I felt a little of my power return, fuelled by the light and my rage. My body was heating up to about one hundred degrees – my norm. But I still couldn't strike a spark. Instead, I kept my captor talking.
"Who are you?" I snapped, though I feared I already knew.
"Cole, I'm wounded," pined the sultry voice, "You don't remember me?"
I was right. There was no mistaking that voice. It was Darkstar.
"How did you find me?" I demanded, shielding my eyes. As my eyes slowly adjusted, I could vaguely make out the image of a shadowy dragon in front of me.
"You're amazingly easy to track," Darkstar smirked. I bristled.
"You here to kill me?" I growled. I already knew the answer.
"Yes," she said simply, turning her back on me, "Now, come to the arena."
"What?" I stammered, but she was already gone. I figured that my best chance out of here, wherever here was, was through her. I heard a click and suddenly I was in the middle of an arena. I blinked and stared around the arena, surrounded by what looked like a giant circular obsidian wall.
I heard Darkstar's voice boom around the arena, "Now, for the next round, an old friend of mine is here to fight!"
I winced when she called me her friend. Then I noticed what I had thought was a black wall was a seething mass of black dragons. They filled the stands all around the arena. I felt chills run up my spine.
"Now my brothers and sisters," Darkstar shrieked, "ROUND ONE!"
I was instantly nailed by a bolt of white lightning. It sent shockwaves of agony through my body, but at least it charged my gems. I formed my sword out of the particles in the air and charged my armour. Six apes appeared out of nowhere. I let out a roar filled with bloodlust. Maybe it was my imagination, but it made the apes flinch for about a second. I charged them and caught one of them with a horizontal slash of my sword. Its head went rolling.
Suddenly, I felt a club hit my helmet. It rung like a bell, causing me to stagger. I reached out blindly, grabbing the ape's wrist, and squeezed as hard as I could. I heard something shatter and I sent a wave of ice through the ape, freezing it solid. A massive ball of lightning, charged with thousands of volts, formed in my hand and I smashed it into the ground. I could see the remaining four apes light up and saw their skeletons as though through an x-ray machine.
As soon as the last ape fell, Darkstar yelled, "WINNER! Round two!"
"Oh, come on! Fight me yourself!" I yelled at her angrily.
"Is that a challenge?" she snapped back, flaring her wings.
"Yes," I snarled, tightening my grip on my sword.
She turned her gaze to the crowd, "Should I?"
The crowd roared as one, "YES!"
Darkstar paled. Clearly, she hadn't expected that answer. She knew she had just signed her death warrant. But she couldn't lose face in front of the crowd by backing down.
"Well, come on," She growled and jumped into the arena. Her eyes fixed on me and I knew the battle had already started.
Knowing she was a shadow dragon, I made a white hot fireball in my hand and willed it brighter and brighter. If there was anything shadow dragons didn't like, it was excessive amounts of bright light. But the next thing I knew, I was in the air and surrounded by a dark cloud of shadow. I felt her tail club strike me multiple times, creating great dents in my armour and painful bruises in my skin. Her razor sharp claws tore through the metal of my armour, biting into my flesh and drawing blood.
It was agony, but I couldn't do a thing. Then, suddenly, I was released. I fell about twenty feet and landed on my back, where I lay winded for several moments. I was bleeding and bruised, but I could still fight. A shriek sounded above me as something black dropped from the sky towards me. I only had seconds to act.
I swept my sword in an arcing motion, rolling to the side as I did so. It bit through scale and flesh, tearing Darkstar's wings from her body in a spray of blood. It was barbaric, but as far as I was concerned, she deserved it. She landed beside me in a crumpled heap, gasping for air, her eyes wide and filled with agony. Her scales were slick with blood. I'd never seen her look so pathetic.
"Please…" she whimpered, tears rolling from her eyes as blood poured from her severed wings.
I only glared and hissed, "No."
After everything she'd done, it was time I ended this. It was time I ended her. And there was nothing she could do to fight back. I laid my hand on her forehead, staring once more into her pleading, tear-filled gaze, and released my power. Waves of scorching fire engulfed her body, incinerating her on the spot. When the fire died, nothing except a single spirit gem was left of the black dragoness that had once tormented me.
I took the gem as a trophy of my victory.
"ANYONE ELSE!" I yelled at the unusually silent crowd. No one answered. I was finished here.
Super-heating the air around my feet, I floated out of the arena and towards Warfang. But I was exhausted and this had not been a good idea. I was out of energy and was about one hundred and fifty feet above the ground. My strength failed and I fell. I heard a scream before my world went black.
