Chapter 4

"Amira, knock her! Now!" Hearing Hasham's word in her head, she quickly eyes her father who is swaying the flag in the air. Her chance is over, Alianah can now transform to her dragon form.

She panics as she diverts her gaze back to her sister, she has already begun transforming into the dragon she is. With so much energy and friction, Amira fails to attack any longer.

Everyone gawks at the huge gold dragon in front of them. She's by far one of the fascinating female dragons they have ever seen. Her scales are illuminated by the sun's rays and her roar causes everyone to hold tightly in their seats. Her pointed spikes, huge body, and long tail are but a threat to the vulnerable and unable to shift princess. 

Amira pulls back, knowing that she can't defeat a dragon as huge as her sister. Someone from the crowd growls and demands, "What are you waiting for, princess Amira? Show us your dragon form!"

She just stands there, stiff and still. She does everything she can to unleash the dragon inside her, but something, more likely a strong force, is hindering her from fully transforming into one.

To everyone's dismay, one strong wiggle of the dragon princess's tail caught princess Amira off guard. She falls to the ground and bleeds harshly. With a heavy head, she stands on her feet but fails miserably.

"Once a frail will forever be a frail!" Princess Alianah speaks in her head.

She can feel the intensity of the approaching dragon, so she forces herself to stand on her feet. She can't let her sister win, not if Hasham is the prize.

Amira gathers all her strength and prepares to attack. She may be small compares to her opponent, but she can use it to her advantage. She continuously changes her position, intentionally draining the energy of her huge enemy, until she slashes one of its legs.

The dragon becomes more aggressive. She flaps her wings in the air, dashing forward, and firing Amira with such a huge amount of fire.

Aba Mandel and Hasham grips on the handle. They know Amira is in great danger. The draconians too are on the edge of their seats, waiting for Amira to show them a true fight.

When the fire runs out on Alianah's throat, she flies upward, collecting more energy, and plunges downward. This time, she hits Amira with her powerful wings, causing her to fall helplessly on the ground. The dragon lands on her feet.

Before Amira can even regain her strength, Alianah has collected the fire in her throat and aims it toward her sister, showing no sign of remorse or mercy.

With languid eyes, dizzy head and an unsteady stunt, poor Amira waits for the fire to hit her hard and burn her alive.

Back when everyone expects it to be the end of the youngest princess's life, it did not.

Silence reigns in the battlefield for seconds as a splash of eye-blinding light defies the nature of it. What chance has given the spectators to see is a glimpse of the fire blasting back to the source like a fuming ball bouncing backward upon hitting a hard wall. It's as if something suddenly shields Amira and reciprocates the fire to the source.

An unknown energy is streaming through Amira's entirety; she's half conscious but she can feel it in her veins. She is floating like a serene feather in the air, too light-weighted to even command herself to descend. 

A quite luminous light is covering her and the audience can't help but shields their eyes. Then, the next thing they see are the limp bodies of the two princesses in the Arena. 

~~~

"The sovereigns are asking for an explanation about what happened this morning. How will you explain this to them?" Alpha Douman asks as he brushes his hands by the skull and bone collections in the dark corner of his father's room.

"We can't give them an answer we don't know about."

"But you're aware that Amira is capable of doing it! You've fooled me and risked Alianah's life! How dare you?" He speaks up in rage.

"I might have. But it's for the better," Mandel replies spookily while looking at the full moon, attracting his eyes from the top window of his arch building.

"For the better? You've embraced a traitor's child in our lair and now she got my daughter paralyzed. Is that what you call for the better? You should have let her rot somewhere long ago."

"You should use your head more than your emotion, Douman. That's the big difference between you and Argon."

Douman's forehead crinkles at the assertion of his father and at the mere mention of his brother's name. He clinches his fists, restraining his anger from coming out.

"Amira was born weak and frail, but she has transcended that stage. She's not an ordinary draconian. She will be our asset soon."

"Asset? How can that be possible when she can't even shift?"

"She's way powerful than what we see and think. Once we succeeded in helping her shift, we can use her against the mortal and in maintaining our status in this realm. The glory will forever be ours, and Argon must not know about this."

"News flies faster than we think. How do you know that it hasn't reached her real father's ears yet?"

~~~

Amira wakes to the soft touches and kisses on her palm.

"Amira," she hears a voice mumbling her name. Her eyes adjusted to the light first before acknowledging the presence beside her. The familiar smell of burning tar lingers in her nose. She knows him before he even speaks. "I'm glad you're okay now."

She sniffs and smiles, seeing the face of her very own Hasham.

"What happened?" she inquires.

"You can't remember? You spewed an eye-blinding light that neutralizes Alianah's fire."

Confusion draws on her face. "I spewed what? H—how is that possible?"

"I don't know too. But consider it a blessing, Amira. It saved you," Hasham utters while brushing his lover's silky, straight hair.

A smile crosses Amira's lips. "I didn't lose you." Her doubts are replaced with happiness, realizing that she hasn't failed him.

Hasham leans to plant kisses on her lips and says, "You didn't. I'm still yours and forever yours, my precious."

His lips are warm like a sunbeam infiltrating her soul and it's causing her heart to go wild. A tear of joy flees from her left eye. She misses him that much, feeling like it has been decades since they last kiss or better yet, the last day they'll ever meet.

Their sweet moments are interrupted when Amira's siblings bustle their way inside her humble, sky-colored room. Amira loves everything that is blue, every shade of it which can be noticed from the curtained window of her patio, paintings, figurines, rugs, and other simple ornaments. Except that her wooden cabinets, tables, and chairs are all mahogany. It's been there since she was a little.

Winona raises an eyebrow, seeing Amira, the sibling she despises the most, happy with the draconian she's attracted to. She can't quite hide the disgust on her face. Her high cheekbones, curved lips that curl into a ball, and piercing eyes say it all. Vanessa, on the other hand, sweetly flashes her sister a smile. She is the second youngest and stands just below Winona's shoulder.

"Pardon our disturbance, prince Hasham, but we would like to speak with our sister," Yeshua, the firstborn, speaks. With round, golden eyes, a pointed nose, and strong jawlines, he resembles the face of his father a lot.

"Of course," Hasham responds. Before leaving, he kisses Amira's forehead and whispers, "I'll see you later." He gives way to them, gradually sliding his hand away from his lover.

"How are you, Amira?" Yeshua asks.

"She's obviously okay. In fact, she's happy that she didn't lose Hasham. She doesn't even worry about Alianah who is still unconscious because of her," Winona butts in.

Amira throws her a look of disbelief. "Aliana is w-what?"

"Oh, come one, Amira! Stop this nonsense pretense! You meant to harm her, didn't you?"

Disgruntled at the accusation of Winona, Amira pulls herself up and explains her side but her sister is just too caught up with her emotion and hatred towards Amira, ending up slamming the door before her siblings' eyes.

The poor princess doesn't understand why they hate her so much when she hasn't done anything wrong with them.

"Amira, we're glad that you're okay. But where did your power come from?" Yeshua sits on the edge of the bed and inquires instinctively.

"I—I don't know," she responds. She's confused too. Never has she felt that kind of energy before.

As she tries to analyze how it happens, a sharp ring bells in her head and the shadow of a woman who covers her before Alianah's attack flashes in her memory. An intense pain hits her head.

"Amira, are you okay?" Yeshua and Vanessa's worried voices fill her room, but she fails to respond as she starts losing her vigor.