FSE

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A small crowd stood in the sun outside a bronze temple, cheering on a fight that was occurring. Those stuck in the temple would poke their heads out to see what the fuss was about before returning before what they were doing before. Dragons of fire made up most of the crowd, but a few of the ice and air dragons mingled in.

Standing in the ring made by the crowd as a purple dragon was a bored look on his face. The dragon lacked the muscles that the fire dragons had, but didn't quite have the sleekness of ice or air. Gold eyes watched a muscular dragon step into the ring and point a wing at the purple dragon.

"Yo Barney, you have a lot of nerve hitting on my girl!" he called out. There was some 'oooh's' from the crowd.

"Funny, Barney wasn't the name she was calling last night." the other dragon replied, a cruel grin appeared on his face, "I think she kept saying 'oh Malefor...' over and over again."

Barney, or rather Malefor (his true name), laughed at the reaction his opponent gave. It was a mixture of stupidity and shock and all worth it. Sure, Malefor wasn't as physically strong as this other dragon, but he had a few tricks up his scales. Under his red-purple claws, he could feel the water collected by the dirt start to focus under the jaw of the other dragon.

Two white spikes appeared on his shoulders and foreclaws. A trail of them coated his spine, from his neck to his pointed tail. He had three horns, two growing from the back of his head, and one going back from his forehead. Malefor had many times been called evil, hence his name, but from all the time he had fought against ape invasions...he was starting to get accepted.

"Liar! I doubt she would want to go with some genetic freak like you!" the orange dragon, who was named Gerald, exclaimed. Malefor rolled his eyes at the insult.

"Yes, well you are also stupid enough to call me that. Tell me, did you hear it from one of the guardian's yelling a few years ago?" Malefor knew that acting calm was a surefire way to piss off an opponent. "And she did indeed 'go with'. I think how it ended was...ah...something like this..."

A burst of water struck the dragon in the face. Silence came from the crowd until Malefor stopped the mini-geyser, returning the water to the soil so that the plants wouldn't die. After that, the crowd erupted in laughter. It was incredibly hard to resist a pun at this moment. However, when he was distracted, Gerald tackled Malefor. Due to him not expecting it, he felt one of his spikes on his foreclaws pierce his chest scales.

Reacting out of pure instinct, Malefor stabbed Gerald in the leg and placed his other claw on the ground. A fist of earth rose up and hit the dragon between the legs, granting Malefor the opportunity to kick the dragon off of him. Growing, he tore the spike from his chest. His purple blood oozed to the ground.

"ENOUGH!" a voice that Malefor both dreaded and hoped to hear yelled. Seconds later, a feathered form dropped in between Gerald and Malefor, sending a gust of wind in all directions.

Malefor took in the appearance of the form for the billionth time. It was a light grey feathered dragoness with runes decorated on her form. All of the runes were one of air, allowing her to increase her control over the element. Her horns were straight and had three on each side of her head, each one silver and having a ring on them. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about her was that her wings were not on her back; rather, they were attached to her foreclaws.

The wings would spread out when she took flight and all she needed to do was flap her arms (something Malefor found amusing to no end). The feathers on them were white. Malefor tried to step into the crowd before he was noticed, but before he could, grey-white eyes locked onto him. Contrary to popular belief, she was not blind.

"Oh for...Malefor, what did you do NOW?" he knew she was referring to his chest.

"He started it." Malefor instantly pointed at Gerald, who was on the ground.

"Yeah, and it looks like you finished it quite severely."

Malefor's mouth twitched. Aure was the type to hound after him, and while he knew she was just looking out for him, it annoyed him to no end. It had been like this since they were hatchlings (although she was about four years older). Now, she only got worse.

"Hey, he attacked me. I reacted in self defense. Just because you are a guardian now doesn't mean you have to chase down my every move." Malefor shrugged, meeting her gaze.

Aure was the newest air guardian in this temple. The runes on her body were grafted as a part of the ritual. Whenever she was using her abilities, they would glow with green light. When not, they were a black color. To Malefor, it wasn't very subtle. However, his word was almost null when it came to tradition.

From the look of irritation on her muzzle, he struck a nerve. A small wall of air hit him. It wasn't enough to do anything other than make the grass fall over. "Very unprofessional." he commented.

"You deserved it." Aure checked on Gerald. Why she did that, Malefor had no idea. He would be fine if someone tossed a red crystal at him.

"I did, but still...I'm a student; you're a teacher."

"And I could report this whole incident to the guardians. They won't like that." Aure whistled.

From the looks on the other student's muzzles before they started to disperse, they didn't understand why they were being so cold with each other. It was a weird form of trust that neither really understood but did it anyway. Malefor guessed that since they were very close friends, they knew that they never meant any of it.

"When you're done checking on dumbass here, I'll be on top of the temple," Malefor announced. She nodded in response.

Malefor took off, not even bothering to grab a red crystal. Aure, being a guardian and having it be her duty to protect the students, would bring him one. This wasn't the worst injury he had suffered; hell, a strike to his stomach nearly crippled him. The air against his wound stung but, at the same time, felt refreshing.

Landing on a pole, Malefor perched like a gargoyle. The pole was on top of the main dome and was his favorite place to be. This was a real mystery; he, for some reason, loved this pole like a hatchling would a ball. From this spot, he can overhear the guardians at night and had a perfect view of everything. Off in the distance, a large city could be seen being built.

This city was called Warfang. It was a pretty dumb name, but there was no denying that it was gorgeous. From what he had seen, he would have loved to be there. Supposedly, it is supposed to be a capital city and where all the guardians and leaders would meet to agree on subjects such as Malefor and the apes. While Malefor had gotten used to everyone looking at him oddly (especially the guardians), it was a repetitive subject.

The only guardians that accepted him were Terra and Josiah, who adopted him at a young age. They never outright told him until two years ago, but Malefor had figured it out long before that. Another major hint was that his first element was ice rather than fire or earth. As such, he had to go study under Dante, the ice guardian. From him, Malefor sort of molded his personality.

Purple dragons could use any element if they absorb it into their body. For example, Malefor learned fire because he was caught in a blaze that the apes had caused. What really threw him out of the loop was that he was told that purple dragons could never exist. Yet, here he was.

"Are you really acting tough by not grabbing a crystal?" Aure landed on the roof below him.

"No, I just know that you are obligated to treat a student's wounds." Malefor smiled down on her. She swatted him with her tail. Unlike Malefor, she did not have a spike; she had fur there. From what he understood, it was lighter than a weapon and since air dragons needed to be swift...

"Yes, well, in a week, you will be on your own." Aure reminded.

Malefor knew what she meant. In a week, he would be graduating from the temple and read to take a test to see if he wants to be a guardian. It was Malefor's dream to be a guardian; he could control all of the five basic elements, and could learn the others. The only downside is that if he is to absorb an element, he was vulnerable.

"You're right about that..." Malefor laughed, "But you wouldn't let me die, would you?"

Aure tossed him a glowing red gem, which he caught and absorbed into his body. The wound vanished. "I suppose not. You are my widdle brother, after all."

Malefor swiped at her. He despised being talked to like that, but he wouldn't actually attack unless it was someone like Gerald. Malefor had the tendency to get into a lot of fights, but most of the time he provoked them. Granted, he got yelled at and even seriously injured at times, but they were minor compared to the thrill he felt fighting.

"So what's this about seducing another female? Gerald woke up and complained." Aure narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hey, I actually didn't bring it up this time. She came to ME!" Malefor pointed his wings to his chest in a comical manner.

"I'm sure she did."

"Speaking of which, do you wanna-?" he started to ask, already knowing the answer. Multiple times he had asked Aure out on a date or more, but each time she refused. Each time it was because her guardian duties got in the way or some other reason.

Aure cut him off with a wave of her claw. Malefor sighed, but then he saw her wink at him, "Perhaps if you pass your test to be a guardian. Think of it as incentive."

Malefor blinked before smirking. "Fair enough."

For a few moments, they sat in silence. The sun started to set and soon Malefor would have to go home. Still, he wanted to go exploring through the abandoned mines near Warfang once more. There was always something in there to practice his skills on. On some occasions, Aure would join him. Once, they found an old adamantine pickaxe; it was hanged in his quarters and when they were younger, they would trade each night.

"We should really go back to the mine sometime," Malefor said almost unconsciously.

"If you don't try and pull anything on me down there, I wouldn't mind. I want a treasure of my own." Aure smiled.

"How's about after your meeting tomorrow?"

"Hmm...yeah, it's a deal."

Y'know...I wish I was as motivated to work on my book as I am here....but yeah, I've done three writing things in the past week. Wtf. I guess I am motivated to DO something again. Reviews/comments are appreciated and not ignored. (Although I despise it when people say 'good job, can't wait for more' cuz that doesn't tell me what I am doing right...)