1 The Tournament

Winona's POV

"Winona, listen to me, you are not allowed to use your dragon power, or we will be doomed. They are going to kill us all once they find out you are a half-breed." My mom reminds me one hundred times.

"Mom, why am I even part of this tournament? Why did they choose me? I am only twelve years old." I said.

"Winona, the King of Thesirea, believes you are the most promising witch among the youth, even though the contest is only for fourteen years old to eighteen years old." She said.

"Am I not going to be disqualified once they found out I am only twelve years old?" I asked.

"No, the ruling emphasizes fourteen because they believe the power of every witch will start to become stronger at the age of fourteen. Still, at the age of six, you look like twelve years old, with your wits and body build, look at you now even you are only twelve years old if you tell a stranger you are fifteen I am sure they will believe you, no one will question you, Winona. I don't care if you will lose this yearly tournament; the primary reason for this tournament is only to please the two Kings of both realms, and I will make sure you will avail the life potion." My mother declared, and I can see the worries on her face.

I am not worried about the tournament, but I am more anxious about my father. The Dragon King is looking for him for how many years now, my mom meets him in the forest of Dasos, and she fell in love with him.

"It is about time Winona, don't be afraid of the dragons because there is also dragon blood in your veins." She said and smiled at me.

"I know you are a brave girl, Winona because I don't see fear in your eyes, but instead, what I saw in your face is excitement. I am so proud of you, my dear." She said, and we get out of our tent. I can see other candidates wearing the same type of clothing as me. I can tell they also wear chemise under their ankle-length brown tunic, and like me, they require us to braid our hair on each side, which I love since my natural curly brown hair will become messy.

They said this yearly tournament happens because the Dragon King wants to search for the prophesied daughter of the golden dragon no other than me, and it makes my mom so worried, but I can control my power. And I didn't shift yet, my dad said, maybe I will experience change on my sixteenth birthday. He said he would be watching over me, and I wish my father will not show himself whatever happens to me. My mother cast some spell on my face so the dragons will not see my actual face, but she said she only put some glamour not to be so obvious.

Ever since they chose me as one of this annual event participants, my mom became so paranoid. She wants to hide me away, but she was afraid the mage king would look for me, and I want to participate because I am not scared of anything. After all, my dad taught me how to be strong. He introduced me to all the tricks about being a dragon, so when it is my time to shift, I can make myself ready.

We assembled on the palace ground, and I can see the beasts flying above the sky. They are the red dragons who are watching us like we are their prey. I can tell they are pure dragons. They can only talk to and listen using their minds to the dragon shifters like King Alexandrix and even to my dad and all dragon shifters in the entire kingdom.

For the first time, I see the Kingdom of Dracousia, and this is the first time my mom brings me to the kingdom because she is so fearful that they will discover my identity. I can see the grandeur of the palace, even if they are dragons, the wall of the court is so high, and I guess they are afraid of the black dragon, but it was only a story; no one has seen the black dragon yet. I am not sure if King Alexandrix is strong, but I heard the Crown Prince of Dracousia is the most powerful dragon ever born. Still, he is always away because he loves adventures, and they said he is the most handsome being all over the Kingdom of dragons and even in our realm, but I don't know I haven't seen him yet.

"Win, this is far as I can go; remember your father, and I love you very much." She declared, and I can see the tears that welled up in her eyes.

"I love you too, mom, and please don't cry. I am not dead yet." I said, and I can see the horrified look on her lovely face.

"Don't ever say something like that, Winona." She said as she tried to wipe her tears away. I am not joking about many participants who died during the event every year because of the hardships they undergo at the dragon's hands.

When the bell rang as a signal of the tournament's start, all the contestants are on their guard. The red dragons' participants started blasting fires on my fellow Thesireans on the ground, and I can see multiple bodies hit the palace ground at once. We can use any magic we can provide to defeat the dragons, while the dragons can use their dragon power to defeat the mages from the Thesirea Kingdom. I can tell that we are now low on numbers, and the dragons are fast and robust.

There are eighty participants in each realm, and I wonder how they came up with this kind of competition because this is crazy. They call this a friendly game, but it is not easy to die and drink the life potion. In our world, we are only allowed to drink the life potion once, so if we die during this stupid tournament, it means if we perish again, we don't have another chance to live. But the dragon king only wants twenty participants who died during the event to drink the life potion. The only rule in this game is to survive, and for me, it was cruel and unfair because dragons always have the advantage because of their size and power.

Still, my dad said it would be hard for them to kill me, but I don't know if he was only talking about something like that to boost my confidence.

I materialized my witch power on my hand. When two red dragons tried to blow their fire on me, I shouted water, and right then and there, a vast source of water came out from my hand. I almost laugh that their blows didn't reach me, and I think I made them angry, and before they can attack, I can see all my fellow participants from the Thesirea Kingdom are on the ground. Many of them are yelling because of intolerable pain, and the dragons continue releasing their fire and use their tails to hit them.

I can see the motionless bodies on the ground, and I can tell they are all dead. I can feel my hate towards King Alexandrix, even though some of my fellow candidates will live again once they can have a drop of the life potion. But the life potion is only limited to twenty participants who the Dragon King himself will choose. The unbearable pain they feel is too much to overcome. And what is the price of this game? One Thousand coins of gold and the purple ring symbolize honor and bravery.

I can hear the outcry of the Thesireans, and I hate King Alexandrix for having this kind of fun. Then they encircled me now since I am the only one left from the Thesirea Kingdom, and then all of them blow their fire on me. They use their body to hit me, and my body suddenly on fire, and I can see the looked of surprise on their faces because even though flames engulf my entire frame, I am not burning at all.

I suddenly felt so angry that I use my mind power to manipulate the minds of the dragons. I told them to go down on their knees and now down their heads, and they all followed what I told them to do, and I heard the Dragon King shouted.

"She is the dragon witch; capture her!" King Alexandrix yelled, and it made me realized my mistake. I talked with the dragon participants using my mind, and they all listened. I can feel the pounding of my heart as I looked around to search for my mom because one thing is playing on my mind, I failed my parents. Then the king shifted to his dragon form; he is indeed a mighty King. His red scales look so vibrant that I can't stop myself from admiring his magnificent dragon form that I almost forgot he is going to kill me.

He gets closer to me as I can see more dragons, even knights are coming into my way, and I became so confused about what to do with my current situation. The Dragon King used his power on me, but my mother shields her body for me, and King Alexandrix hit my mother on her chest using his fireball power. She fell to the ground, but she tried to crawl and raised her head, and looked at me in the eyes, and begged me to leave immediately, and before I know it, my father appears on the palace ground, and they all focused their attention on my dad, and me.

"Winona, please go now, don't worry, I will save your mom." My father said, and I can feel that he used his mind power over me to make me follow his command, that no matter how much I wanted to stay, I can't stop myself from running away from them. I don't have a choice but to navigate as far away from the palace, and as I flee, I can hear the snickering of horses behind me. I can tell the knights of the court are chasing after me, and before I will lose my chance to escape, I abruptly stop, and I raised my hands on them, and I shouted.

"Air!" And I can hear the howling of solid winds come to them like a tornado, and I can listen to their shouts, and I run as far away from the kingdom, and I know for now I am safe.

My father is the last of his kind since the Red Dragon King killed all the ancient golden dragons in the Dragon realm because only the ancient golden dragon possessed more power. My grandfather King Sullivan Brakaros was the original king of the dragon world. Still, the father of King Alexandrix Drakonar usurped the kingdom, and since then, his family ruled the dragon realm.

I know my father is the actual heir of the throne, but his supporters turn blind because of King Alexandrix wicked ways. Relationships between dragon shifters and witches are prohibited because, for them, it is dangerous to have half-bloods like me. Still, my mother fell in love with the wrong person, my father, Emeric Brakaros, the last golden dragon, and I am his only child, which means I am his sole heir and the only female golden dragon left in this realm, and the Dragon King wants to wipe out our kind.