𝓑𝓮𝓪𝓾𝓽𝔂 & 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓽: 𝓐 𝓣𝓪𝓵𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓕𝓲𝓻𝓮 [Becboc x Lockdown]

[Lockdown]

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𝐼𝓃𝒻𝑒𝓇𝓃𝑜𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝓇𝒾𝓂𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝒞𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓉𝓎

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖​

​

The slumbering Dragon twitched while memories from the days of yore flashed across his mind. A time long ago before he conquered this human stronghold built within, and under, the mountain of Vulcan. At least that’s what the humans now called it. The black and charred summit received its new moniker after displaying its master’s wrath when he was displeased. Infernos, the Crimson Calamity, would drown the mountain in a sea of flames casting all below in an inferno. The flames decimated the landscape below as the fire spread. The sky would become suffocated with smoke. But now the mountain lay dormant and hasn’t shepherded the day of judgement for some generations now. Heroes of old have long since abandoned the noble quest of slaying the dragon who lives under the mountain. An arrangement had been reached. Infernos will no longer wreck havoc upon the lands and he in return will receive a mortal woman as tribute every summer solstice. A fine maiden who has the “honor” to serve the dragon. But everyone knew she was more so a sacrificial lamb to appease an angry god who made the sky bleed blazing scarlet.

Infernos nestled deep within his glittering treasure in the massive underground stronghold. He had plundered so much wealth throughout his long life and had amassed an unimaginable amount of wealth and gold. The abandoned underground castle full of his fortune made the mythical city El Dorado, the City of Gold, look like change spared to a beggar. Many people desired to steal pockets’ worth of gold to set themselves, and several of their future descendants, up with a life full of riches. But none had succeeded, and those brave enough to venture to the mountain now decorate the dragon’s kingdom with their ashes and bones.

The sun sauntered its way up in sky. Midday had just been reached right when the chosen would be decided. But for Infernos. The proximity of the sun would awaken him as the celestial fireball beamed its illuminating rays of light and showered all below in magic and warmth. Infernos’s eye twitched before slit optics focused on his gluttonous horde of gold. He huffed which sent gold and silver to frolic down his snout as he took in a few deep breathes. “The Summer Solstice…” he hissed with eagerness. How he longed for this every year. Something to preoccupy himself with for a day or two. Eternity had become dull when none pose a threat or even dare to challenge him anymore. How he longed for the Romans to try and take back their castle. Or even the Englishmen who now rule these lands. History repeats itself. One empire falls and another rises to take its place. But the humans remained the same. Their greed brings them to his gold. The massive fire-breather slowly arose to his full stature. The glittering metal clinked as it fell from his buried body. His long serpentine neck flexed to the heavens and he howled a deafening roar. The calamity had awoken.

The Vulcan mountain had sparked to life with only the top being embraced by the warm flames. The fire burned hot and casted an ominous smog as it continued to burn. The blazing heat casted an impending doom down below to the neighboring human village. A subtle reminder of what would happen to their home if the dragon was displeased with this year’s tribute. The town originally started off as a small camp to rest before brave souls ventured to the mountain only to never return and reclaim their belongings. After a few hundred years it now thrived as a town but was now burdened with fulfilling the tradition of the Summer Solstice Sacrifice.

Infernos slithered out from his home. The burnt dirt and rock crunched like gravel with each step he took as if it was a Herculean labor to bare the weight of the dragon. The fresh smoke-filled air flooded his lungs before he exhaled a stream of smoke. A mischievous grin pursed his lips while slit irises focused on the town below. Infernos unfurled his massive wings and stretched his appendages wide before performing lifting off with his legs. He took to the clouded sky and casted a shuddering shadow below as he flew.

The crimson dread soured in the suffocating sky and slowly became larger and larger. The faint glow within his belly became brighter. While the bellowing reptilian growl whispered in the wind sending a bone chilling spell upon eavesdroppers. He flew close enough to the human settlement before he took a deep breath and began to spew hellfire down below. The trees cried in the native tongue as the snapping of wood could be heard before the vegetation turned to ash.

Napalm painted the trees in red before spontaneously igniting and succumbing to the fire. He had grown fond of making an entrance. He had to keep appearances lest the mongrels grow wary of the tales of old. Remind the fresh-bloods of who once ruled these lands with his sharp claws, sharper teeth, and impervious hide. The outskirts became shrouded in smoke. The leader of this settlement along with a few guards stood ready to offer their tribute. Just outside their walls and behind the stone was their homes. How fragile some of their buildings can be when touched by his flames. Then the thundering boom of his landing shook the ground. Still. He hid behind his flames and was shrouded in the smoke. Then a set of crimson orbs peeked from above the smoke. He stared down at the cage with malicious intent allowing her to digest the dire situation she truly was in.

Infernos eventually lowered his head and unveiled himself from the cloak of smoke. His red scales shimmered with the flames and his head dwarfed the cage itself. His massive jaw was lined up with razor sharp teeth and looked big enough to eat a whole horse or a dozen men in one gulp. His massive eye peeked behind the bars. As if he were an appreciator assessing livestock. He tilted his snout to the maiden and sniffed once and twice before bellowing a growl. “She will suffice,” he huffed. His massive claws tore through the top of her confines as if it were tin foil. The metal groaned as it buckled under the strength of the dragon before being torn right off. Then his scaled digits from his hind leg scooped her up gingerly, “One more year of tranquility. Lest you dare trek upon my castle,” he said before a devilish smirk pursed his lips, “but I welcome the challenge,” he expressed interest having grown accustomed to the higher limits of boredom.

Then he stretched his wings open before taking to the sky with a couple beats. The gust of wind from his wings sent dust and dirt up into the air before he finally departed with his sacrifice. Just as quickly as the flames burned they also snuffed out into a whimper once the draconian conjurer departed. Infernos flew as fast as the wind and as high as a bird. In the distance the blanket of warmth and illumination from the sun slowly fell upon the land once again as it followed the dragon back to his castle. It was on his tail as the smoke dissipated and no longer shrouded the heavens in darkness.

Once inside Infernos flew around the massive and hollowed out space before dropping his sacrifice onto a pile of coins. He landed onto his treasure and turned to look at this year’s sacrifice. Venomous slits stared down at her as if she were prey and he was waiting for her to run. But yet he didn’t go for the kill. He simply stood silently observing her before a sonorous tone huffed, “Your name. Make it acquaint,” he commanded with an impatient growl.

Regardless of how she answered. Now came his favorite part, “Violet…I bestow upon you three choices. Strength, luck, or wit. You can best me in combat and regain your freedom. But know this. None have ever pierced my hide besides one man many centuries ago,” he gestured to the many scars across his face, “And I don’t smell his blood coursing through your veins,” he hissed as if cackling at her bloodline. “Or you could try your luck and make haste while grabbing anything you desire from my glutinous gold mounds. Whatever you have I’ll let you keep if you make it to the entrance before I can catch you,” his claws brushed along the gold they stood upon making it shimmer and causing a wave to crash against her feet.

“Last but not least. Best me in a set of riddles. Should your answers satisfy and your puzzles perplex me; you will live another day,” he said with bemusement. No one ever chose the final option. Why fight when you’re not even guaranteed your freedom? Most chose to run and fewer chose to fight. But none felt the confidence to stand against a dragon in an intellectual jousting match just to live another day. It was suicide.

“You have until three…” his belly began to glow red, “two…” the color flowed up along his neck. His massive jaw slowly opened as the portal to the nether began to open and was on the verge of being unleashed, "one…"

@Becboc

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅​

 

[Becboc]

Violet Harrow

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖
​

This was a day that Violet had never thought would come. Not for her.

She was the youngest of three, daughter to a father and a mother who had given her life to bring Violet into the world. In so many cases, whatever happened to women in their family, often happened to her sisters first. Love, marriage, childbirth; such was the way of tradition in their town, their world. Perhaps it had been naive of her then, to think that she would not be chosen as the summer sacrifice, that there were others in place before her. Violet was a smart girl, the quickest of her family. Her mind was sharp, her mouth sometimes sharper and she had chosen to live her life as though she wasn't at risk with each day that she grew older.

Until the time came, when she could no longer ignore it.

With the Crimson Calamity demanding yearly sacrifices, their home was under constant pressure to provide, maiden after maiden and despite the more obvious consequences, there were others that made the deal between creature and man all the more problematic. Girls of age were not guaranteed each year and women did not want to fall pregnant, lest their child be chosen for death before their time. Each cycle became more and more complex, more and more trite. Some years a lottery was used, in others there was only one who could be chosen. Even a council had been formed and last year that same council had decided that the maiden who had settled in their town, rather than been born into it, should be the one to gift her life.

This year however, this year…Violet was an obvious choice. At least to everyone but herself.

The guards had arrived early that morning, as dawn split across the sky that already seemed to mourn in grey for a loss not yet felt. It was a morning in which the town fell silent, as some families huddled together in prayer, as some went about their daily business, as some cherished what could be their last moments together. It was as though the world held a collective breath until the choice was made, and only then could grieving begin.

The knock upon their door had been sharp, urgent. Final. Violet's pale grey eyes had drifted to where her father sat at the dining table, but he had not returned her gaze. He had remained, still and stiff, forefinger covering his mouth.

The knock sounded for a second time and still, neither of the household moved. Violet could feel her heart thudding, her ears beginning to ring; sure signs of realisation, of impending pain yet stubborn as she was, if this is what was to be her fate, if her father had known… he should be the one to answer the door, he should be the one to accept the guards into their home, to allow them to take her. Violet had believed that one of her sisters may be chosen before herself; they were both beauties in their own rights but Poppy, the eldest, was married and would most likely soon be with child, while Sera, the other, was engaged. They had prospects, futures, while she? In her own mind her future was filled with plants, medicines, discoveries but to the council she supposed that she was not a commodity who could further help their cause in any way other than pacifying the Calamity for one cycle.

As the door was hammered upon for a third time, Violet finally spoke. "Well?" She asked, her voice sharp but not quite disguising the tremor that lay beneath. "Aren't you going to get that?"

There was a pause before her father looked at her and when he did his eyes seemed to change; steely resolve melting into sorrow, helplessness. The emotions threatened to overwhelm Violet herself, her bottom lip trembling, but as the older man went to speak, a voice at the door cut him off.

"By order of the council, we bid you to open the door, Sir Harrow, else we must break our entrance."

Another beat of silence passed, this time guilt populating Harrow's features as he looked down again at the table and away from his daughter, a moment that Violet was sure would haunt her for the rest of her now very short life.

The rest of the morning passed by in a blur. The townsfolk cried as they emerged from their homes to find the chosen maiden being escorted through the streets, her sisters weeping and being held back by their own families. Her father did not follow but stood, stoic by their front door, watching while others looked on, some even throwing flowers in Violet's path, as if a fucking rose was going to make her impending death feel any better.

She had been led to a seamstress, as was the custom, who fitted her into a plain, snow white dress with matching pumps, and her dark hair was tied into a braid down the length of her back and fitted with white daisies and baby blue forget-me-nots. All pointless, ridiculous accessories that would no doubt be singed to smithereens in a matter of hours. Violet did not protest it though, did not protest any of it. While bitterness began to settle in her heart amongst the fear and nausea, she would allow her neighbours, her family to ease their guilt in whatever way they saw fit. Because after all, they were the living and she? She would soon join the dead.

The tip of the Vulcan Mountain was already blazing by the time that Violet was helped into the wrought iron cage. She watched as it was locked, her expression strangely emotionless; it was her eyes however, that gave away her fear, the way they darted this way and that, the way that they shuttered as heat curled around her skin, already shining with a thin sheen of panic-induced sweat. Nobody truly knew what happened once the sacrifices were accepted, but what they did know was that they were never seen again. A small, strange part of Violet couldn't help but wonder if she may be the first to be rejected, to doom their village to the death it so often narrowly escaped, and a bubble of laughter threatened to escape her at the thought, no doubt brought on by the swirl of emotions currently beginning to tremble through her body. It would be quite the feat to achieve in certain death.

In the end, any sound that did leave the girl was smothered by a tremor rumbling through the ground beneath her feet. A tremor followed by another, and then another. The guards around her tensed, their grips tightening upon their weapons as though they could ever consider defending themselves against the beast that they would soon face.

A brief silence washed over the settlement in the wake of the shaken earth, one that counted and counted until… a shape, a large, engulfing shadow exploded into the sky. A heavy beat of wings disturbed the dust upon the rocks around them and for the first time this year, Violet looked up to see the mighty shape of the dragon leaving the mountain, his growl of emergence echoing through the skies. He covered the ground in little to no time at all, his body surprisingly graceful as he opened his jaws and poured fourth a torrent of hellfire, the heat and smoke consuming the small group of pitiful humans, causing one of the guards to scream and run from his station. Violet couldn't blame him; if she hadn't been trapped in a cage, she would have probably screamed and ran too.

When the Calamity finally landed, there were seconds before he emerged from between the plumes of grey smoke and ash, his glowing amber eyes like jewels in a storm-warped sky. It was his monstrous nose that followed first, puffing steam and heat along the rippling scales that gave way to a ginormous jaw, an elegant head and a reptilian body that could devour or crush its enemies with a single movement. Violet could do nothing more than stare at the sharp claws, the rows and rows of knife-like teeth that she had no doubt she would become incredibly well acquainted with. Any colour that had remained drained from her face, her skin and her knees beginning to buckle as the dragon grew closer to her, his head dipping to seek her out through the bars that were doing very little to keep them apart. Violet was not aware that she had taken steps back at the same time, until she stumbled and fell back onto the floor against the furthest part of the cage. The Crimson Calamity's deep inhales ruffled her hair while her heart, her mind, her breath, all froze in terror and remained that way when a deep, bellowing voice began to tear into the space around her. A deep bellowing voice that did not reject her sacrifice… but accepted it. Accepted it as claws tore through the top of the cage as if tearing through paper, and then dipped in to scoop her into them.

The heat from the dragon's body was almost unbearable, but Violet could do nothing, say nothing before he launched them both into the air, carrying her away from her home, her family… and all that she had ever known.

The journey was short, too short as the rushing air whipped at her braid, pulling strands and flowers until both were no more. The dragon took no time in circling the mountain, in sliding into the hollowed-out space within it and dropping his prize upon a pile of golden coins. Violet gasped for air when the cool metal met her skin, but try as might she could not stand when her legs would not allow her to and the surface beneath her rippled with movement, caused by both herself and the creature that had landed, sending items that shone tickling in droves from around its feet. Perhaps in any other circumstance, she may have been in awe of the cavern, the treasure that she now stood amongst; but how could she be, when gold meant little to those on borrowed time?

Instinct saw the small woman looking about herself as if searching for an exit, an escape route but that voice… that deep booming voice was what kept her in place. She could hardly take in the words for the roaring in her mind, and even when she managed to speak, her voice hoarse, tight; she seemed distracted, as though she was not quite within her own body.

"V-Violet," she sputtered out. "My n-name is… Violet."

Words. There were more words that followed yet she couldn't focus, damn it, she needed to focus—

It was the countdown in the end, that actually managed cut into her attention. Violet's breath caught and she finally, finally looked up into the creature's smirking features, if a dragon could even… smirk?

"W-Wait, wait…" Violet tried to say - she just needed time, some more time to filter through what he had said to her, for her mind to catch up with itself.

Come on, Vi, come on… Combat, that's what he had said. And luck. Wit.

"One…"

The dragon's belly began to glow, his jaws slowly stretching and Violet's grey eyes widened as she scrambled to her feet, actually managing to find purchase this time so that she could hold up her hands and shout, "Wit! Wit! I choose wit!" It was an effort not to scrunch up her eyes, to pretend that none of this was happening because in reality? There was no way in hell she was going to best a fucking dragon. Though she sure as hell wasn't going to die to indecision or panic either.

"The set of riddles," she declared breathlessly. "That is my choice."

 

[Lockdown]

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𝐼𝓃𝒻𝑒𝓇𝓃𝑜𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝓇𝒾𝓂𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝒞𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓉𝓎

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖​

​

Violet knew the wrath of annihilation was imminent as the belly of the beast began to glow a vibrant color of warmth. She announced her trial of choice right when Infernos was ready to unleash his breath of flames. He stopped just short and simply stared at the young lady before breathing out slowly. A gust of stardust laced with the aroma of ash and brimstone escaped past his lips. Like butterflies it trickled down below and onto Violet as if welcoming a new guest. Enveloping her in a warmth that just moments ago would have singed her skin.

“A set of riddles?” he echoed her answer before lowering his colossal head to her. The large reptilian slit studied her once again. Except this time she didn’t have the feeble cage to protect her. “How interesting~” he murmured in amusement before regaining his posture. “You don’t strike me as a scholar. Your sun-kissed skin and the lingering scent of the outdoors betray you,” he said with a beastly tone. His pride wouldn’t allow him to take this seriously. Instead he would derive pleasure by seeing her squirm for an answer. This would be his downfall.

“I’ll begin this little game. Try not to die on the first riddle,” he advised. Infernos began to circle around Violet. The silver and coins would shift with each step he took. His tail would slither along the treasure as if deriving pleasure from swimming in it. Making it even further disheveled as it bent to his will, “I'm a color worn by kings and queens, I’m spotted after it rains with deep rich gleams. What am I?” he asked before suddenly stopping right in front of her. His head just within arms length from her.

So began the mind games. A trick answer if you will. I mean, when does anyone suspect their name to be the key?

“You have…sixty seconds,” he licked his razor sharp teeth. A subtle reminder of what awaited her

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅​

 

[Becboc]

Violet Harrow

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖​

In preparation for what she believed could be her end, Violet had instinctively held up her hands, her eyes scrunching to block out the sight of the glowing belly, the rumbling fire, the impending death... the one that never actually came.

As a brief silence fell over the cavern, the human girl dared crack open her gaze, one eye and then the other as she realised with panicked breaths that she had not been turned to ash - at least not yet. Instead, she was greeted by the large, reptilian head of the dragon, tilting to one side while he pushed dust and specks of gold from his lips, his mouth close enough to her to sprinkle his breath over the top of her like a shower of sparkling rain. Violet might have marvelled at the beauty if she hadn't been shaking so violently, she wasn't sure if her knees were about to give out from beneath her.

In the end, it was all she could do to stare at the beast now looking back at her, his words a dangerous, growled rumble, his closeness to her even more alarming without iron to separate them. He could end her life with one snap of his jaws, one gust of fire and she could do nothing, nothing other than stand there and live whatever fate he saw fit to bestow. It wasn't as if she could outrun Infernos, and she certainly wouldn't be able to hide from him. No, instead... she was going to have to war with words in an attempt to save her life.

What the fuck was she thinking?

The dragon's surprise at her choice, and perhaps even the lilt of amusement in his tone provided little comfort. He was right, of course. She was no scholar; she did spend most of her time outdoors, amongst plants and insects, animals and seasons. That was where Violet was most comfortable, where she had always excelled... but that didn't help her now. Not here, not like this.

There was no time though, for her to truly second-guess herself as the creature began to move, the silver beneath his gigantic claws rippling in waves that were enough to stumble her small form, her arms stretching out for balance like she was riding a sea of treasure. For a moment, the jostling movement distracted Violet from his words, from the riddle he had given her but then he stopped, drawling closer again in expectancy, with a reminder of how long of her life she could have left.

Her mind began to scramble, trying to repeat the puzzle and in the end, she was unable to withhold her thoughts, her panic. "Okay, alright," her gaze dropped, as if searching for inspiration, an answer. "Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic." The words murmured across her lips like a mantra, a sign that she was indeed already panicking, her mind racing with thoughts of everything but what she needed. "Come on Violet, focus." The girl took a breath, trying to steady herself.

"A colour... kings and queens," she repeated. "Red, golds. No, no that's not..." She shook her head. "After rain, deep, rich... grey. Blue. No..." The seconds ticked by as she tried to picture her garden after a summer shower, or the cobbled streets of the village during a storm. "Think Violet, thi--"

Though it was those simple words in the end that widened her eyes in realisation, or what she hoped was a realisation; a potential happy coincidence that was perhaps shortlived, but an opportunity all the same. A trick. One that she was smart enough to know meant that had landed upon her answer. The dragon was confident. Sneaky. Of course he would try to catch her out, of course--

"Violet," she eventually whispered, her wide eyes finally lifting to meet the expectant slit of Infernos once more, her following declaration breathy with uncertainty yet hopeful, teetering on the edges of relief... and maybe even a little surprise at her own ability. "You are... Violet."

 

[Lockdown]

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𝐼𝓃𝒻𝑒𝓇𝓃𝑜𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝓇𝒾𝓂𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝒞𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓉𝓎

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖​

​

“Five…” Infernos’s lips pursed into a wicked smile. “Four…” Violet squirmed for an answer to his amusement. “Three…” his deep voice echoed through the long abandoned kingdom filled like a safe with riches. “Two…” his belly glowed a passionate scarlet with yellow highlights as he raised his head. “One…” he announced before readying himself to turn her into ash.

Then his ears twitched. The light vanished from his chest and he lowered his head till one giant reptilian orb stared down at her, “Say it again,” he commanded in case she had misspoken and he was simply imagining the correct answer. She reiterated with supplying the right answer again for him to hear clearly. He narrowed his eyes as if studying her expression for deceit.

Infernos efforts bore no fruit and so he abandoned the idea that she had cheated. “Very good. Yes. That is what I am,” he congratulated her as his head rose. She was completely dwarfed by him. He found it comical. A cat playing riddles with a little mouse. But…she was interesting. The fact she chose riddles and was able to answer his brain teaser intrigued him. His pride wouldn’t admit it, but he was enjoying himself with this sacrifice.

“ 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝓊𝓇𝒶 𝓈𝓊𝒷𝒸𝒾𝓃𝒸𝓉𝓊𝓈 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓈,” he spoke in an ancient mystical tongue to the heavens which instantly engulfed him in fire. The swirling cyclone of furious fire shrouded him and only allowed his shadow to be seen. Slowly the figure shrunk and morphed into a more humanoid form. The blazing inferno also followed him until it was closer to a foot taller than Violet. On the other side stood a masculine figure still hidden behind the blaze.

“You saw right through my trick,” a deep and charming tone spawned from past the flames as they suddenly sizzled away like fireworks as if introducing his majesty of the mountain. A large and overbearing dragon no longer stood in front of her. It was but a man with draconic horns. He had a red button up and black vest with intricate cursive-like silver lines along his vest. The scars across his face carried over onto his eyebrow and cheek. He still dwarfed her in size by a large margin. Hell, he even outsized fully grown men. His gold gauntlets clinked as he crossed his arms, “It’ll be more fun to best you in a form matching your race,” he bemused with a smirk.

“Now it’s your turn.”

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅​

 

[Becboc]

Violet Harrow

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖​

Her relief was so intense that for a moment, Violet couldn't help but smile in short-lived jubilation. She was by no means out of the woods yet but at the very least she had just bought herself a minute or so more of life and that... had to count for something, right?

The brief rest bite from fear distracted her enough that she didn't initially process the strange language the dragon had just spoken, or at least not until a burst of flame gushed down from the heavens and engulfed his form into something... smaller. The human girl stumbled in shock during the process, backwards and into the mounds of gold beneath her so that coins tinkled and treasures fell. Her body instinctively grappled for balance and when she was finally at least in a sitting position, she raised her grey-green eyes, not to be met with Infernos the dragon this time but rather... a much more human-like form. Even his voice when he spoke... it was deep, low and charming, as if the sound itself swept away the last of the flames in a gush of air that gently ruffled Violet's dark waves into her delicate features.

There was not one part of her that could look away from what now stood before her, staring down at her with an intensity that any normal human might have shrank away from. Violet however, was too awestruck to do anything other than stare straight back, as if she couldn't quite believe what she had just seen, what or who she was looking at. "You..." She tried, pulling herself shakily onto her knees. "You look... human."

Talk about stating the obvious, but Violet seemed not to care how she sounded as she once more wobbled to her feet, her eyes still round and wide, a question tumbling from her lips before she could fully think about what it meant, or even how ridiculous it was to ask. "Can you... can you still breathe fire like that? I-I mean, can you still..." Burn me into oblivion? The words, in the end, failed her though, her throat closing up around them at the still very real possibility of sudden death. No matter how stupid her question may have been, to her it seemed important enough, at least from where she was currently standing - a whole few heads lower than her captor, despite his now apparent lack of scales.

In truth, she couldn't understand the transformation; how a dragon could look so close to human (despite his height and horns), or even why he had chosen to. He wanted to best her in this form but... why? What was there to gain from that? Merely entertainment? Violet considered that Infernos no doubt wished to disarm her at the very least and it was clear that he had succeeded as he turned his attention back to the trial and therefore back to her before she ever had a chance to recover from staring at the dark hair, the scars upon an chiselled, angular face, the intricate detail of his perfect clothing. At least this time there weren't rows of sharp teeth being shoved in her face, she supposed, although she wasn't naive enough to believe that meant she was in any less danger.

With that very sobering thought in mind, Violet took in a breath and closed her eyes as if trying to focus, to recall information through her cloud of fear and panic... and then turn it into a riddle that might best an otherworldly being. It was her turn and she had no doubt that he would give her little time to think of something. And so, she forced her mind to first focus upon her home, her house, her family, the kinds of things she wasn't sure a dragon might know of or understand. But in the end it was a strange memory of her mother that brought forth something she could use, a memory she was sure she had not considered since it had happened all of the many years before her parent had passed. It was strange, she thought to herself briefly, what the mind could conjure when it believed that this could be its penultimate moments alive.

"Okay, alright," Violet finally breathed, reopening her eyes to meet those of the one who stood waiting. Her hands balled into fists by her side, as if that could anchor her somehow, as if the movement might make her appear steadier than she felt. "My turn." Another breath, an inhale and an exhale in preparation.

"I... I have an eye but I cannot see. What... what am I?"

 

[Lockdown]

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𝐼𝓃𝒻𝑒𝓇𝓃𝑜𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝓇𝒾𝓂𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝒞𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓉𝓎

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖​

​

The hand of a man reached for Violet’s wrist before he helped her ascent back to her feet. Even though her foundation was of silver and gold she managed to find time to tremor. He tilted his now human head while his scared brow furrowed as if announcing his new look was almost comical, “And you’re as sharp as ever,” he huffed in a vexing tone before explaining how delicious victory will be when he beat her in none other than a humanoid form. How hilarious. She couldn’t claim his overwhelming presence drowned her in a sea of fear making it so she couldn’t even chirp out an answer or riddle. The playing field was leveled and he wished to be entertained.

Infernos crossed his arms and looked down at her as she asked another wide eyed question, “Are you intrigued to find out first hand?” he inquired while a charming smirk pursed his lips as if she was flirting with the concept of death itself to satisfy her curiosity. His crimson eyes got a better look at her from this angle. It was adorable how tongue tied she was. Or maybe he was being affected by this form more so than he remembered.

His strong forearms were practically bursting at the seams. Pushing the buttons on his sleeves to the limits. His ebony black hair was an alluring highlight to his red hues and tanned skin. He paid little mind to his scars or did little as so much as to hide them. They served as a subtle reminder and hope for her that even an overwhelming force such as himself can be taken by surprise. But the effort would prove to be a Herculean labor. To conquer this mountain of a man would need wit Violet had never conjured from the depths of her mind before. Or…to trip him in his pride so then he may fall.

He was a colossus compared to her. But a frozen one at that. He couldn’t help but look at her more thoroughly. Her sun-kissed skin made for a beautiful complexion as if she bathed in the warm embrace of the sun. Her hair was similar to his. Dark but with shimmers of dark bronze. And just like said statues made of bronze she sported a healthy hour-glass figure he couldn’t help but notice. As if purposefully carved to an experienced artisans perfection. He could tell by her arms that she was toned and wondered how might her legs look if there weren’t concealed by her formal sacrificial snow white dress. Then there were her eyes. Perhaps a devious attempt from humans because he could’ve sworn he felt a charm hexing him when looking into them. Past her fear he saw stunning emeralds fused with a soft moonstone. So valuable and appreciated to the value akin to his other gemstones within his tomb of treasures. Making her more than suitable to be among his horde of wealth.

Infernos banished these intrusive thoughts before he could be distracted once more. It had been some time and he’d forgotten why he abandoned this form in the first place. He informed Violet of her needing to summon her best riddle lest she forfeit the game. He turned to face away from her so then her allure could no longer sway him into paralysis. His eerily supernatural encyclopedic knowledge of his treasure trove granted him practically pin point accuracy of where any of his particular prizes may be hiding within the sea of gold and silver.

Violet had fastened herself to imaginary anchors by the time he left her. So when he came back dusting off a bracelet she had found a riddle for him to make short work of. He nonchalantly listened while examining the status of the bracelet. As if she were a secretary listing off his schedule for today. It was when she finished her riddle that those soul peircings crimson orbs with venomous slits in the middle looked down at her. “I’m insulted you chose such an elementary brain teaser,” he hissed with discontent. “Just this once,” his large and firm hand gingerly took a hold of her wrist.

“I’ll forgive you,” he said with a mischievous tone as if he was slightly starting to enjoy this cat and mouse game. He slipped on the silver bracelet with an emerald gemstone in the middle beautifully carved. The bracelet reminded him of her eyes, “As a reward for your first answer,” he said while still holding onto her for a few more seconds until he ultimately let Violet go when he was once again being swallowed by her eyes.

“As for what you are, you’re a hurricane,” he confidently disclosed the answer. “Come now, Violet. Must you pick an answer so obvious? I only fight one every few centuries,” he nonchalantly brushed off the fact that he fights a literal force of nature. Something trivial in the life of a dragon but insurmountable to the likes of common-folk.

“My turn,” he cooed before his strong legs began to slowly saunter around her just like when he was a dragon, “I have a head, a tail, but no legs or arms. I am made of valuable metal which shines like charms,” he stopped right in front of her where the coins below jingled as if announcing his presence. Except this time he leaned down to her ear to whisper. “What am I?” He asked while his warm breath tickled her exposed skin.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅​

 

[Becboc]

Violet Harrow

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖​

So deep within her own concentration had Violet become, that she hardly noticed Infernos begin to move around the gold and silver beneath them, as if searching for something of his own. In fact, it was only when he returned and she had spoken her riddle did she look up at him again, her expression bleakly hopeful, if not a little confused when he expressed his dissatisfaction. As he stepped towards her, light grey eyes remained upon him and while her body screamed at her to take a step back and away, out of danger… this time, she stood her ground, finding a thread of courage now that it was a man before her rather than a beast. Lest she forgot that the two were forever intertwined.

For a moment, Violet considered if he might finish their game early now that he was disappointed, and she had been about to violently protest that his enjoyment of the riddle had not been set as a rule. However, just as she opened her mouth to speak he reached for her wrist and she pulled it away from him instinctively, raising her eyes to look up at the handsome face that stared down at her. For a few moments she simply blinked up at him, needing to tilt her head back a little to actually meet his gaze. She took in the angular lines of his features, the deep red rubies that bore into her own moonstones and then the scars that traversed his brow. What on earth kind of creature could do such a thing to a dragon, she wondered, her features softening for a moment and then another, before his hand finally took her wrist into his grasp.

Violet let him this time, as if she ever had any kind of choice, and her gaze remained on him for a few moments longer until she felt the cool of metal and a weight against her skin. She looked down to the bracelet adorned with the vibrant green of an emerald and frowned. "I would much rather you gift me my life than jewellery." The quip came without thought before she realised her tone and snapped back up to check his reaction. Because what she could really do with right now was pissing off the dragon that was keeping her alive.

That thought however, was not enough for her to take it back because what was the point, when he would know that she didn't mean it?

The brief tension resolved itself when Infernos guessed the answer to her riddle without so much as a thought and Violet deflated slightly in defeat. It hadn't been difficult, she knew that, but right now it felt as though it was the extent to which her mind was capable of. She was traumatised, fearful – and this wasn't just a game to her as it was to him. This was her attempt at trying to save her own life, which was enough of a consideration to leave her bristling slightly in the face of the dragon's nonchalance.

"I am not sure what you were expecting of me," she lifted her chin slightly in defiance, "when my life hangs in the balance. The pressure is rather off-putting." The last part of her protest was muttered under her breath, but the words quickly cut off when she was sobered by the very real declaration that Infernos was capable of fighting actual hurricanes.

With that thought lingering, Violet tensed again when he began to move in preparation for his own turn. He circled her like a predator sizing up its prey and she finally dropped her wrist back down to her side, her eyes following the built figure whenever he came into view. When he stepped in front of her though and leaned in closer, the warmth of his breath grazing against her ear, her own hitched at the heat rolling from him that warmed her face, her cheeks. The overwhelming closeness of him made it difficult to think as she tried to comprehend the words, the riddle. This was no doubt his ploy to throw her off and she once more closed her eyes and tried her best to ignore him and focus.
To focus on her breath, to focus on the new weight upon her wrist, to ground herself in the present; the scent of metal in the air, the tinkling of coins beneath…

Violet's eyes flew open. "A coin," she breathed in realisation. "You are a coin."

The words lingered for a moment and Violet couldn't help the shine in her eyes, the quirk of her lips and the rather cheeky question that followed as she looked up at Infernos once more… perhaps this time in challenge. A rather smug sounding challenge.

Perhaps she could do this. It was the first time she had thought it, but the possibility now floated between them nonetheless.

"Come now, dragon," she dared repeat. "Must you pick an answer so obvious?"

 

[Lockdown]

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𝐼𝓃𝒻𝑒𝓇𝓃𝑜𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝓇𝒾𝓂𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝒞𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓉𝓎

❖ ── ✦ ──『』── ✦ ── ❖​

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The sudden silver barely missed his jugular. A quip he should’ve expected when she exhibited resistance to his touch. Still. He was able to retort back thanks to him still retaining his voice once her silver tongue missed its mark. He chastised her for picking such an easy riddle. He swiftly answered correctly before brushing off her insolence and humbly bragging of his escapades. Violet was roused at attention. Perhaps one day she would find out his many quarrels with the Thunderer of the North.

The tide was beginning to turn. From her vexing rebellious courage to murmur what she truly thought from under her breath, and pull away when he so reached for his sacrifice’s wrist, was beginning to outstay its welcome. He upped the ante by choosing a riddle which killed a King when he offered the same game in return for the human’s gold. Infernos enveloped Violet in a cage of claustrophobia. Although human sized he was still able to make the vast abandoned kingdom feel so small by how close he dared to tread into her personal space. Not for a lack of social etiquette but to subtly inform Violet that she was his sacrifice.

His lips whispered in her ear and his warm breath tickled her skin as if finger nails raked across sun-kissed epidermis. He stood inches away from her face after teasing her. Letting Violet know there was no freedom from him. Only through him. His cocksure grin practically jeered at the young maiden. To simply resign herself to the inevitable and give in to desolation.

But he only found a shimmer and hope in her eyes.

Infernos cocked a brow and rose to his full posture before Violet, at first, chirped the answer and then proclaimed the answer again. She rejoiced and reveled in her perceptive acuity. Her smug tone conjured a miffed expression before he crossed his arms and combed his facial hair a few times. He pondered if the riddle was simply child’s play or she truly was adept at brain teasers.

Violet then called to the dragon once more which earned her an audience comprised of his attention. His scarred face turned to look back down at her with his clawed hand falling to his thick forearm practically bursting at the rolled up seams. His unamused and blank stare solely fixed onto Violet as she flung his prideful manners back at his face. As if confronting the dragon and letting him know she wasn’t outclassed. They were in fact rivals.

Infernos just looked down at her with silence filling the void between the two. He allowed it to settle for an uncomfortable amount of time.

Then without skipping a beat his massive hand closed the distance and fastened onto her neck. His fingers slithered tightly around her throat before squeezing like a constrictor squeezing the life out of his prey. He then brought Violet off her feet till she was at eye level. Granting her the ludicrous idea to fruition of being equals. “Bite your tongue, human. Lest you forget you are a toy. A distraction. So that I don’t wipe out everyone you love down below and lay waste to that village,” he growled in a cavernous tone befitting a man of his gargantuan stature.

His optics blazed with a ferocious inferno practically making his blood boil at her utter disrespect to the king under the mountain. “Unless I need to remind you of such an obvious fact,” he hissed before letting go and dropping her to the sea of treasure which made up for the floor.

He huffed before turning away from her and folding his arms behind his back. His gaze falling upon the shiny sea of wealth. A glorious display of his trials and tribulations. “Don’t you forget who sent you here. You were brought to me in a cage. Your own people ousted you. Abandoned you,” he said with intent to shatter her foundation of resolve. Evident of Violet striking a nerve in Infernos and perhaps clouding his inferno vision by the ash rising to his irises to see and think clearly for this next riddle.

“Spit out your next riddle. For my next one will finally put an end to this mockery of entertainment,” he glanced from over his shoulder and his reptilian slit for a pupil was sharp as if ready to strike with a fatal dose of venom.

“Make my day,” he dared.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅​