For years, ever since Lord Evant became the dungeon’s sole leader, Drakons had taken the place of soldiers in taking care of the prisoners. The soldiers were understandably disgruntled with their jobs being replaced be mere animals, but no one was more disgruntled than the leader of the Drakons, Fali. He hated humans more than anything, and viewed them as inferior, so working for them, in his eyes, was practically slavery.

But he did it anyway, for the survival of his species.

“Erid! Erid, there’s a problem!” The elderly Drakon looked up.

“What is it now, Fenrar?”

“Another prisoner.”

“Feli help us,” Erid murmured. Feli had passed away a year ago, and he was prayed to the way humans prayed to a God.

Erid heard the screaming even before the prisoner was dumped in front of him. Fenrar averted his eyes. As a young dragon, he found it hard to watch. Some days, Erid found it hard to watch, but he looked on with a stone cold glare anyway. He had to. For the survival of his species.

“Subject A225300, you are here because of treason against the Lord Evant.” Erid winced inwardly. Treason against Evant was worse than treason against the king. 225300. Since the Drakons had been employed, two hundred twenty five thousand, three hundred prisoners had been... dealt with.

“Have you anything to say in defense?” The prisoner raised her head in open defiance, and spat at the ground. The guard slapped her across the face and toppled her over. She rolled to a stop at Erid’s feet. Mortal eyes looked up at him, not with fear, but with respect.

“I did this.. for you, Erid.” He looked away for a minute, disguising his emotions behind a mask, then looks back down at the girl.

“You did wrong.” A blast of fiery lightning comes from the old Drakon’s eyes and travels into her bones. She screams. Erid squeezes his eyes shut, but the wails travel past his defenses and into his bloodstream.

Another one down.

Erid sighed as the guard dragged the girl away. In his heart, he was no killer. Some days, he wished for death. He just didn’t want another species destroyed by humans. History was repeating itself, and all the Drakons should have seen it coming. Thousands of years before, Dragons had been the Drakons. But humans had killed them all, enslaved them, forced them to play villan, and they all died.

So continues the cycle of life. It’s a cycle Erid is beginning to hate.

“Come on, Fenrar,” he says quietly. “Let’s go.” Fenrar looks at the dusty floor. In some places, the floor is charred black.

In others, it’s dark red.

“I hate this!” Fenrar screeches as soon as they were alone. Erid says nothing. “Why do we let this continue, Erid?”

“Because if we don’t, we’ll die, and our species will just be another name on the list of species humans have killed,” Erid snaps. “We have to deal with it.”

“I’m going to run away,” states Fenrar matter-of-factly. Erid looks up in alarm.

“You can’t! They’ll catch you, and kill you, and then feed your entrails to the king!”

“I’ll be better off dead than here,” mutters Fenrar darkly. Erid sighs. If this damned dragon got him caught...

But what if he didn’t? What if they made it out? What if they became free?

Free.

“Tonight,” Erid says to a drakon near him. The drakon nods, and relays the message down the line of them, shackled together by iron chains. The word will sound innocent enough to the guards, who are planning a gladiatorial event between the drakons tonight, but what it really means is escape.

This is what our world has come to, thinks Erid. Drakons against Drakons. Fenrar leans on his shoulder.

“I hate this,” he whispers. Erid nods, too scared to say words of encouragement. He was throwing away his life of safety for the possibility of freedom.

Freedom would be wonderful, if it didn’t kill him.

The air was thick with cold and dense anticipation. Fifty pairs of drakon eyes stared at Erid. He, in turn, stared at Fenrar, wondering why on earth he had agreed to go along with this plan. Who nominated him as leader? Fenrar was the one who had suggested it.

Damn. Now they expected him to lead. But Erid didn’t know how to lead. He only knew how to follow. Follow along with the other enslaved Drakons, ordered around by the Guards.

“Okay, guys,” he finally said. All eyes fixed on him. “Does anyone have any ideas? Because I don’t.” He realized that he was the oldest dragon here by maybe a hundred years. Everyone here had been born into slavery. None of them knew freedom like he did.

Fenrar stepped up, glad for the opportunity to lead.

“I’ve got one.”

“Okay.” Now Fenrar commanded all the attention, which Erid was more than happy about giving away. "First things first: are there any of you who don't want to come? Back out now. This plan is going to take all of us, working together with all of our strength. If you don't want to come... the plan will fail." Erid looked into the eyes of his young friend. He was surprised by how confident Fenrar sounded.

No one showed any intention of backing out. Dozens of determined faces made eye contact with Fenrar and nodded. They were ready. Erid wished he could be as ready as the rest of them seemed. But he couldn't back out on his friend.

"I am going to cause a distraction. While all of the guards are distracted, run."

A few grumbles from the crowd.

"When I say 'modeerf', that's when all of you need to wait for my signal."

"Why modeerf?" asks Edre, a drakon at the lead of the crowd.

"It's freedom backwards."

Erid had a sick feeling in his stomach. This plan was going to go horribly wrong. He could feel it.

The plan is in action. Erid still has a bad feeling, no, not even that. A horrible feeling, the kind you get when someone’s about to die. Erid has never questioned his instincts before, but he couldn’t back out now. Not now.

“Modeerf!” Fenrar screams. He attracts the attention of the guards. Every drakon’s ears perk up, waiting for the code word. The guards surround Fenrar. Erid shudders. The sick feeling makes him want to scream. But if he screams, the whole plan will be ruined.

“For Fali!” Fenrar screams. Drakons launch into the sky, flying away. Erid hesitates for a moment.

How will Fenrar escape?

Erid finally took off, but not before looking back at Fenrar. Fenrar met his eyes with a steely gaze. As Erid flew away, he knew what was going to happen, even before he heard the gunshot. As he flew, tears streamed down his face like rain, falling on the land below.

Drakons are fast creatures. Within minutes, the herd was far from the castle dungeon, but not quite out of the kingdom yet. Erid would not rest until he was out of the kingdom, free from Lord Evant, free from the king, free from the carnage, free from the place where his best friend had died.

He knew he might die, but dying didn't bother him so much anymore.