Did He Just Breathe on Me?

As it turned out, Otou-san wasn't lying.

The figure that stepped through the gate wasn't a dragon at all. It was a young man with tattered robes hanging loose from his lean frame. They were singed and torn, as if they'd been through more than one fire.

His hair was what really caught Ria's attention, though: it was long and tied back loosely, but something else hid in that hair. Small, circular shapes embedded close to the skin. Stones, maybe? But why would someone keep stones in their hair?

Ria squinted, trying to focus on the outline in the dragon's hair, but the restless crowd kept stirring the moisture in the air, making it impossible to pick out the finer details.

Even after the gates had fully opened…the Ashen Dragon didn't seem to move? He only seemed to breathe slowly, each exhale creating tiny disturbances in the air that Ria's senses picked up like ripples in water.

But when he finally moved, one moment he was standing at the gate, the next, his outline blurred across the arena floor faster than Ria could track. The water in the air around him scattered in his path, leaving gaps in her vision like someone had punched holes through reality. Within a matter of a second, the blur condensed back into a solid shape directly in front of her.

Ria barely registered the dragon's fist before it crashed into her crossed arms. The impact rattled through her bones, sending her skidding backwards across the dirt despite having her feet planted into the ground earlier.

"Wait!" she gasped, shaking out her arms. "Let's talk it out!"

But the Ashen Dragon was already moving straight to her again, and Ria had to throw herself to the side. His fist carved through the space were her head had been, the displaced air creating a vacuum in her senses again. She stumbled, caught herself, and tried again.

"I'm sure they locked you up too, right? We could work together to get out of here!"

The Ashen Dragon said nothing. His next strike came from below, aimed at her ribs, but Ria sensed the shift in the moisture half a heartbeat before his fist connected and twisted out of the way.

Ria's heart hammered against her ribs. If that punch had connected, she'd definitely would've ended up broken something. Maybe several somethings. Even now, she could still feel the phantom pain of her arms from when she'd blocked earlier.

The Ashen Dragon circled her, his movements creating little disturbances in the moisture that Ria had tried desperately to track, hoping they would warn her of the dragon's next attack. She backed away, keeping her distance, trying to find an opening to talk sense into him, when suddenly-

"STOP DODGING!"

The shout came from somewhere in the crowd, followed by another, then another. Soon the entire arena had picked up on the chant, their voices merging into one.

"STOP DODGING! STOP DODGING! STOP DODGING!"

The Ashen Dragon stopped moving at the chant. Ria's attention snapped back to him just as his chest expanded, pulling in air in amounts that shouldn't been physically possible. The moisture around him rushed inward like he was inhaling the water from the air itself.

Then he exhaled.

When the breath hit her, Ria left the ground, flying backwards. The force was stronger than the initial punch or anything she'd felt before at that. It just kept pushing, driving her across the arena floor until her back slammed into the stone wall.

The impact knocked every bit of air from her lungs. She crumpled forward, gasping, and face-planted on the ground.

The crowd roared its approval.

Ria clutched her side with one hand while the other found the wall behind her, using it to push herself upright on shaking legs.

The Ashen Dragon stood in the center of the arena, perfectly still once again, watching her with an expression Ria couldn't get a read of.

Ria stayed down, face-first in the dirt, and rubbed her cheek back and forth against the cool ground in defeat.

What the hell was that?

She'd felt the air move. It was a massive rush of it, and very forceful at that. But it hadn't looked like fire. Jin had described dragon fire as bright and consuming, something that has the potential to turn entire forests into ash. And it definitely wasn't earth; she would've felt rocks or dirt pelting at her. Neither could it have been water, since she'd have sensed it immediately.

Which left only one option.

Did he just... breathe on me?

She pressed one of her cheeks harder into the dirt, which was actually quite pleasant against her skin at the moment. The ground had this nice, cool temperature to it, and the moisture content was perfect - not too dry and not too damp. It was just right for lying down and maybe taking a quick nap.

"Ahhh," Ria sighed, her voice muffled by the dirt, "I don't really want to deal with this."

The crowd's chanting had died down into confused murmurs. Someone shouted something about getting up, but Ria was completely ignoring. The cage she had been put in was awful, all hard stone and no cushion to it whatsoever.

This dirt though? This was good, comfy dirt.

Maybe if she just stayed here long enough, everyone would forget about the fight and she could slip away to find Tyrant. That seemed like a solid plan. A very solid, very comfortable plan that involved not moving at all.

Unfortunately for Ria, the Ashen dragon didn't seem interested in letting her carry on with her comfy plan. His footsteps stopped directly in front of her. Ria sensed how the water in the air parted as the dragon raised his fist, pulling back for what the crowd clearly expected to be the finishing blow.

Then his outline turned to the side, and a gasp, louder than any of the cheering had been, tore through the arena.

Ria lifted her head just enough to sense what had happened. The Ashen Dragon had face-planted into the dirt beside her, his arms spread out at awkward angles. One leg was twisted behind him at an unnatural position, and his foot-

His foot was being held by something small and round?

The water slime had latched onto the Ashen Dragon's big right toe with both its stubby arms, pulling with all the strength its tiny body could summon. Meanwhile, the Ashen Dragon pushed himself up onto his elbows, trying to see what had taken his foot captive with what Ria could only describe as profound confusion.

Ria stared at the slime. The slime stared back (or the slime equivalent of staring back) before redoubling its efforts, shaking the Ashen Dragon's foot back and forth.

Ah, right.

She pushed herself up from the ground, brushing dirt off her robes. Her ribs still ached from being slammed into the wall, and her arms felt like they'd been hit by a falling tree, but the water slime was trying. The stupid, semi-useless water slime that spent most of his time stealing undergarments was actually trying to help.

A smile formed on Ria's lips.

Alright, alright. If you're trying, I guess I should too!

Ria raised her hand, gathering what little moisture hung in the arena's stale air. It wasn't much - the air was still so thick with dust and sweat it was hard to separate - but she pulled it together anyway, forming thin water pins that dropped onto the ground around the Ashen Dragon.

The water then wrapped around his ankles and his wrists before pinning him flat against the dirt. He struggled, muscle tensing under his tattered robes, but the water held on.

Now what?

Ria scanned the arena. Her senses detected something long and narrow - a stick, maybe? She reached out with her magic, pulling it through the air toward her before it smacked into her palm.

She gripped it, testing the weight.

Surprisingly just like Tyrant's favorite perch!

She turned back toward the Ashen Dragon, perch in hand, and crossed the arena. The crowd's noise faded to the background as she stopped beside him pinned-down. Ria raised the bamboo stick above her head, angling it the way Otou-san used to- not hard enough to hurt, but enough to make a point.

Then she heard it - a sound so quiet she almost missed it because of the crowd's rowdiness. 

"I just want to see my sister again..."

Sister.

Ria thought of Tyrant. Stupid, lazy, demanding Tyrant who was probably getting plucked and seasoned right now. She got kidnapped, thrown in a cage, and now she was standing in an arena with a stick raised over someone who just wanted what she wanted: to see someone they cared about again.

"This isn't right," Ria muttered.

The crowd's noise grew around her, but she ignored it. She flicked her wrist, and the water restraints dissolved, seeping back into the dirt.

The trembling in the dragon's shoulders stopped, and his breathing slowed. For a moment, Ria thought they might've reached some sort of peace between them.

Then the dragon moved. The air around him exploded outward as wind gathered beneath his feet, launching him forward. Ria's senses caught him moving too late again - one moment he was on the ground, the next his shoulder drove into her stomach with the enough force to make her feet leave the ground, again.

Ria's back slammed into opposite end of the arena, the impact rattling her surprisingly existent spine and collapsing her senses.

Ah, that was stupid.

Her legs gave out, and then everything went dark.