There are many ways to win

The red light of the unique sun struck on the black tiles in the court. Dante was already sweating as he had no idea who would come. "Maybe he was just drunk and forgot what he said," he whispered in a vain attempt to reassure himself. It was already a few hours that he was waiting to see if the young lad would come and more exactly, how he would come. It was a question of minutes before he finally would know who this young man was. 

Dante was rubbing his hands together without realizing it in stress when he heard the sweet delicate voice of the queen in his back.

"Is your man ready, dead Captain?" She said playfully, "It has been a long time since we didn't have such a passionate challenge, I have to admit that my brother is very excited."

"I don't see him, when will he…" The captain had no time to end his sentence when a powerful roar was heard in the wind. 

It was something making the world tremble, even the dead heart of Dante skipped a beat to hear it and he did a little jump in surprise. The tremendous red dragon landed in front of him in the court and roared once again. Now, Dante understood why the architecture of the place was so strange, he had wondered about the size of the internal court of the castle. Seeing the massive dragon being able to move freely without restriction was explained a lot. 

The buildings were made in a way to not obstruct in any way the dragons. The beast was turning like a predator in a cage, waiting for his prey. Talim chuckled, "My brother is very excited, I must thank you, Captain, you have brought us a lot of entertainment."

Dante swallowed discreetly, "My, my pleasure."

It didn't need much more time before the young lad presented himself to the castle door. Dante facepalmed his head, he couldn't believe the situation.

A grand red dragon was facing a little young zombie boy freshly recruited as a pirate. Even if Dante doubted his identity, he could not accept the vision of the scene unfolding in front of him and, in the doubt that the boy was simply an unconscious lad, he went to him quickly with concern for his man.

"It could be good to tell me who you are now, we still can stop everything," He said in worry for the boy.

The young one raised his head and a dark glow passed through his eyes while he had a vicious smile, "Don't worry for me," he simply answered. 

Dante froze, he didn't know what would happen but he knew he was not ready for it. He came back to the queen. She gave him a sign to follow her, and together, they went to the top of a tower where were placed two richly decorated chairs. The captain sat next to her as he had an impeccable view of the court from where they were. 

Talim raised her hand and a war prisoner blew a horn, officially the beginning of the fight between the young boy and the dragon. 

"It will be a massacre," Dante gasped.

Immediately, the floor trembled and the dragon ran in the direction of the boy with an open mouth. Dante had never seen a beast with so many teeth, the breath of the dragon was so hot that the temperature, even far from the top of the tower, rose from a few degrees. The boy didn't move and Dante clutched his armrest in panic. He could see everything from the tongue of the dragon, to the fire starting to appear in the deep of his throat. 

It was a true vision of horror to see this young boy being immobile in front of the beast. Dante thought he was petrified by the fear and he closed his eyes, not standing to see this execution, but then he heard the dragon groan in pain. Talim stood up in shock and Dante opened his eyes. 

The dragon didn't eat the boy, the young one escaped, nobody knew how, and instead, Tarim had bitten the obsidian floor and broke a piece of one of his teeth. His fury was at his climax, he turned and saw the young one in his back playing with the piece of tooth.

"You lost something," he teased him. 

Tarim didn't wait and blew his fire at the boy, inundating the full court with his ardent breath. When he stopped, as he was sure he could not have missed the boy since he had burned absolutely everything around, he heard a laugh on his back. The boy was here, safely, riding him. 

Talim laughed out loud, it was the first time someone would dare to ride a dragon. This was a privilege reserved for the twin brothers or sisters. Since they were born, only Talim would have been on the back of Tarim. Nobody would ever dare to just think of it. 

Tarim was furious and entered in a rage his sister rarely saw. The dragon took flight with the boy on his back before turning and letting himself fall. Talim and Dante had a gasp at the same time. She tried to scream, "Tarim! This is too much!"

The impact would be so violent that the floor would break and potentially the tower on which they were. Tarim was putting Talim in danger with his action but he didn't seem to care much as his pride was a far more important thing to him. Dante was ready to catch her in case they would fall.

Tarim threw himself to the floor, and surprisingly, there was no impact at all. He landed in a dark cocoon of shadows and bounced back on his legs. Everybody paused, including Tarim who didn't know what just happened to him. The boy was suddenly standing on the floor, not even sweating. The dragon tilted his head and sniffed him curiously. This little creature had dodged every bite, every shock, and somehow prevented Tarim from breaking everything around. 

When he was close enough, obviously curious, Tarim decided to go down in front of the boy in submission. The young boy started to laugh, he took a step towards the dragon and placed his hand on his nose as a symbol of power and victory. Yet, Talim laughed and stood up, claiming, "My brother won."

The boy raised an eyebrow and Dante opened his mouth in shock. The captain opposed, "What is the meaning of that? My man had the superior hand all along the fight. Your brother could not touch him even once, he didn't hurt him and the boy controlled him perfectly."

Talim laughed while Tarim didn't move an inch, "The deal was for Tarim to touch your man, not to hurt him. Tarim is touching your boy right now."

The young man dropped his jaw to the floor as he understood he lost the challenge due to the manipulation of the dragon. By simulating being submissive, he pushed the young one to be arrogant and show off, but since Tarim was slightly pressing against his hand as well, he was technically "touching the boy". 

Tarim stood up and puffed out his chest with pride, Talim smiled with arrogance as well.

"I told you, a man without culture can't compete with my brother, he is smart and full of culture. We studied the great battles of the masters and we know that sometimes, victory can be obtained by stepping back first."

The young boy applauded and bowed his head, "I accept my defeat, I admit your strength."

Talim and Dante exited the tower and took the direction of the court. She was overjoyed and her eyes were sparkling like shining stars in the midnight even if she tried very hard to contain herself, she just failed. 

"Now that my brother proved himself to be strong enough to win you, tell us what was what you proposed. What was the thing to keep for you and how could you make us immortal?" 

The boy smirked amused, "I need your brother to take my place."

Dante had a cold chill as he started to understand the situation. The young boy continued, 

"I want Tarim to become my other half and to become the prince of the Ombrae."

"This is impossible, Jäwell, how do you want to do that?!" Exclaimed Dante while Talim and Tarim were not understanding if it was a joke or if the boy was a fool. 

The young man looked at the dragon directly, ignoring everyone else, "I want to share my powers with you and for us to become one."

Of course that was not all, the real reason behind was horrifying Dante. He knew Jäwell wanted to participate in wars in the light worlds and that his tremendous powers were an obstacle to his search for a thrilling experience but planning to use a dragon as a receptacle for all his powers while he leaves the throne from time to time to disappear was very extreme. Even for him. 

The dragon looked at Talim, Jäwell smirked amused, "Talim will be made like me. She will join my family and be an heir to the throne of the ombrae and become a SIlverclaw. She will be immortal."

Talim and Tarim exchanged a long look, not believing truly this crazy story. They were hesitant, but Talim took the decision.

"We will follow you to your kingdom if you speak the truth, we want to see the Ombrae before making a final decision."

And in the red sun of the third world, on the top of the largest volcano of this world, surrounded by dragons spitting fire, Dante saw a smile on Jäwell's lips that turned the air cold.