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Chanyeol rubs his sore wrists to soothe the phantom tightness of the metal cuffs away. His fingers tingle numbly. The two guards that lead him here step back through the door they'd entered and Chanyeol turns around to watch it close, listens to it lock.
He thinks that maybe this is his torture. They'll leave him alone in this closed up, white room until he goes crazy; he thinks it's already beginning to work.
Suddenly there's a loud sound. The sound of heavy metal shifting and, at first, he thinks someone is coming to retrieve him from this room, but the wall across from the door begins to raise up. He backs away from it, presses himself up against the far wall, fearing some fierce animal will be on the other side.
First Chanyeol can see the floor, can tell that it's made of metal. And, as the wall raises more, he can see that the entire room is made of metal, that the ceiling is a rounded dome, that across from him there's another opening and a tall man walks forward from it.
The other man is wearing all white clothes like Chanyeol's, looking around the big room curiously.
"Please, enter the arena." Wide eyed and startled, Chanyeol looks around, trying to find the source of the voice, but he can't. He enters anyway, afraid of what might happen if he doesn't. "You are to spar with one another so we can evaluate your abilities. Please, refrain from killing your opponent."
The last line is jarring and strikes cold dread down low in Chanyeol. Eyes impossibly wider, he looks ahead, wondering with a great fear what this man's ability is. His opponent looks determined as he walks closer to the center of the arena and Chanyeol tries to put on the same face, tries not to trip over his own feet as he follows.
They watch one another, not moving, just looking up and down. Chanyeol is trying to figure out what to do, he can't just start slinging fire at this man. Can he? The man takes a step forward, Chanyeol takes one back.
Chanyeol feels it in welling up from deep inside him, feels a warmth in his chest that surges quickly up and then out and he throws the fire out in front of himself. It doesn't go far enough to burn the other man, Chanyeol hadn't intended for it to, but the other man sneers. He jumps up.
Chanyeol blinks. The air ripples around him. It seems like time has slowed dramatically, like it's happening in slow motion as the tall man is, suddenly, no longer a man but a dark grey dragon, wings stretching from his sides. He stares stupidly, wondering exactly what had happened.
The dragon advances on him though, walks closer until Chanyeol's pressed up against the wall and rears up to look at him. He shivers, tremors, rattles with fear. He's sure he's about to die looking into the dragon's big, dark eyes.
But the dragon backs off and as quickly as he'd turned dragon, the man is back--- naked, but Chanyeol hardly notices ---and he turns away from Chanyeol, walks back toward the wide door that's opening again.
When his mind finally catches up, he pushes himself away from the wall and tries to hurry to his own door. He stumbles past the doorway and into the white room, panting and shaking still, shocked and scared beyond belief.
The dragon pins him down, feet on either side of his head, he snarls and shows off sharp teeth. Claws push into his sternum, curl around his heart and squeeze, tug.
Chanyeol sits up quickly, throat sore and he realizes it's because he's screaming, a hand pressed against his chest, over his heart. Panic shakes him and he falls back against the bed, panting heavily, still holding his chest like his heart might just fly up out of him like the dragon.
By now, this is Chanyeol's fourth spar in the arena and he's ready to sling around some fire to merely scare his opponent until they surrender. He'd tried to actually use his power against one, but seeing the burn marks up their arm scared him and he'd hurried forward to look at it, apologizing, insisting he hadn't meant to really burn them.
He's not expecting the tall man from his first spar, the man that turns into a dragon, to meet him in the arena though.
There's a crackle, the sound of the intercom coming on, and they both look up as a woman speaks, "We are curious about the two of you, we would like to see you spar again. Please, refrain from killing your opponent."
Another crackle and it's gone.
They share a look of confusion, but the man steps closer to Chanyeol without fear.
"I can't be burned by fire," he states and Chanyeol just stares at him, eyes wide. "Can you talk?"
"Yes. I can't be burned either. Your dragon won't be able to burn me."
The man laughs at him, but he doesn't say anything else, just steps back and jumps into the air, twisting as his body changes. Tatters of white material fall to the ground and Chanyeol feels the fire under his skin burn stronger, allows it to build up before throwing it up into the air.
It's the first time Chanyeol's ever felt it this strong, the first time he's ever watched his fire take shape. A bird swoops low, tail brushing over the back of the dragon, but it doesn't burn and the dragon watches as it fades into the air.
The dragon sighs pitifully, looking at Chanyeol and sighing again.
"You liked that?"
The dragon looks at him, blinking, and then it lowers itself close the ground. It begins to shrink and Chanyeol gasps. The man stands up from kneeling position and he looks Chanyeol up and down, his brows furrowed, "The dragon likes you."
Chanyeol's about to ask why that's so strange, but the doors open and they know not to linger too long there in the arena.
That changed something and they don't meet in the arena again.