Draykan leaves the nightclub, adjusting his suit’s buttons. But the dragon stops on the last one, his back stiffening. His gaze goes over his shoulder towards a dark alley, where he asks, “How long have you been there?”
From the darkness emerges the hooded figure of Estrasa. Clasped close to her chest is an orb, faintly glowing. “I’ve been waiting the whole time and didn’t want to interrupt.”
“It would have been quite the crowd,” He says, heading into the alleyway. “Are you alright? What is that?”
Estrasa clutches the orb closer to herself. “It’s a magic item, and it’s locked behind a spell.”
“You didn’t go to the Tower of Darkness to collect it, did you?”
“No, I mean, yes, I went there, but this was somewhere else. A dragon is guarding the tower. Female.”
“I’ll have to file that one for later. Thanks, Strasa!” He chuckles, clapping his hand on her shoulder, but immediately pulls it back. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Estrasa bites her lip, her thumb running over the smooth surface. “I’m trapped.”
“Huh?” the dragon glances around, “I don’t sense anything.”
“It’s you.”
He frowns. “Ah? Resenting me, are you?”
“What are we to you, exactly? A collection of conquered spoils of conquest?”
He rolls his shoulders, standing tall. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing!” She snaps, but then she steps back, shrinking down. “At least, I don’t think. I don’t know. This world can’t accept me for what I am, and you forgave me through service and healing, but I’m stuck with you.”
“Okay, ouch.” Draykan stands with arms akimbo. “You’re free to travel the world and--”
“In service to you!” she snaps. “I was once a powerful sorceress, and I once was queen over many powerful creatures!”
“Creatures you forced into servitude.”
“Does it mean I deserve to remain indentured forever?”
She snaps her crimson eyes at him, her gaze burning.
He closes his eyes and sighs. “You want to be emancipated from me and the bonds of Knights of Love, is that it? That entails I test you to see if you’re worthy.”
She swallows, “Yeah… I need to face a trial you give me, and I need to survive.”
“And I can’t hold back,” Draykan says. “It could kill you, but I must ensure that the Dark Mistress of Transformation is no longer free to do as she pleases.”
The two stare at each other for a long second before she says. “I’m not her anymore, but I want to be free.”
“Well, then, as your officer, I’ll have to ensure that Dark Mistress doesn’t leave my service. Either you, a new woman, can leave, or… you shall be destroyed like many think you should have been on that tower.”
“I understand, and I accept that.”
He places a hand on her back, leading her down the alleyway. “Then, we need to find a place for this.”
“The Arena,” she says.
“For the Tournament of Pleasure?”
“We never got to face one another then; this will be the opportunity.
“You know what I can do if I don’t hold back.”
“No, and neither are you,” she says.”
He stops, nodding. “That’s true. Very well. I’ll see what I can do about this test, but ‘Strasa.”
She walks a few paces ahead of him and then stops, lifting her head slightly.
“In this time we’ve had together. I’d hope to consider you a friend…. With benefits, sure, but a friend nonetheless.”
“If I free myself, maybe we can finally be that. Instead of me being your slave, Oh, Knight of Love.”
—
The arena is dead quiet, even as the time of the test arrives. Draykan steps into the ring, dressed in the armor of the Knights of Love. He adjusts the straps on the armor, ties his tabard tight, and then turns toward the lone witnesses of the event. Sitting in the front row seats is a mousy paladin. Next to her is the dour-faced captain of the Judicators. And beside her is one of the Anteronian nobles.
“The price I have to pay for love,” Draykan snorts, staring at the other side of the arena. He takes a deep breath, letting his lungs fill and all the tension of his build up before he blows out a heavy exhale, envisioning his worries disappearing along with the air particles.
It’s a technique the knights teach, though it doesn’t always work when the meditator wishes to apply it.
With his booming voice, Draykan calls out, “Estrasa. You seek to end your servitude early, and I am here to be that final challenge as proof of your heart, mind, and soul.
Stepping through the opposite side of the arena is the hooded figure, so small in stature compared to the larger-than-life attitude of that Dark Mistress of Transformation. She approaches and stands on the opposite end of the ring as him, saying nothing.
“We’ll apply the rules of the Tournament of Pleasure, with the caveat of following the trials of the Paladins of Love to determine the purity of your soul. Is this acceptable to you?”
He sees her red eyes and nothing else beneath the hood's darkness when she lifts her head. “Do you remember the last time we faced each other?”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “How can I forget? It’s how our friendship started.”
“It wasn’t a friendship to begin. You were punishing an evildoer and one that had done things to people much like what had been done to you.”
“How can I forget?” he growls.
“It feels like you might have,” she says. “But remember everything, Dragon, before you consider me friend.”
And  Draykan remembers a time atop a tower when the unfortunate Tik Tik was in so much danger, and only he and Tybalt were left to save her…