Chapter 54

Nobody had really seen Atlas the rest of the weekend, even Monday and the entire morning of Tuesday, she didn’t attend her lessons. However, when asked, the professors would say she was completing it elsewhere while getting ready for the first task. Professor McGonagall was the only one remaining silent on the matter, staring out of the window most of the lesson in a sort of solemn trance. Not once but many times had she messed up in her own class, accidentally turning Neville’s toad – Trevor – into a slimy doll rather than a fluffy teddy in one lesson and ended up blowing up a spell when she’d tried to transfigure a piece of parchment in some third years class.

It was clear something was up. Not even Harry and Hermione had seen her and that had been worrying. It seemed she’d just up and left, without a trace, like a ghost but, funnily enough, not even they had seen the girl.

That was because she was home, sat in her dimly lit room with Kalo and Little Robin sat on her windowsill, singing sweetly to each other while the girl busied herself on her bed, reading through copious amounts of books so she was ready for the task in just a few hours. She shifted, sending a large stack of tomes to the floor but she didn’t even flinch, didn’t even seem to notice as she wrote down more spells she could potentially learn in what little time she had.

Dragons were practically impenetrable, their scales so thick the spells were absorbed — some could even deflect spells completely so they bounced right off like a rubber dart to the strongest steel. An Albanian Agoniser for example, which, if it came down to it, she would face. She had the piece of shedding in her hand, thumbing over the smooth scale to memorize how it felt, just so she could avoid it if, indeed, the champions were to choose their foe blindly. Or, if it came down to it, she’d know exactly what to choose if Harry or Fleur were the last to take their pick beside her.

She flicked another page, eyes drifting down the words carefully, her mind completely engrossed in the spells and hexes she knew — deep down — she could not hope to replicate. She was so absorbed, so focused she didn’t even notice, a few hours later, the woman that had appeared in her doorway, clad in her regular everyday clothing with a face etched in concern. Kalo hooted and flew over to Bella, landing on her shoulder as Little Robin clumsily did the same, though not knowing just who he was landing on.

“So this is where you were, Hogwarts is in an uproar.”

“Hi, Bella…” Atlas mumbled, tickling her nose with her quill feather idly before the voice really clocked on and her head shot up to stare at her long time friend. “Bella…”

“Hey, hot stuff,” She smiled weakly and Atlas shot up, more books tumbling from her bed as she ran and plucked the woman from the floor, hugging her fiercely. “You idiot…just who did you make your enemy, huh? Why are you a champion?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be…it’s not your fault. But when I do find out whose fault it is, I’ll ruin them,” Bella said in a soothing voice and despite the threat of her words, Atlas felt comforted, setting the woman back down on the floor and pulling away to look at her. “Mind telling me why you’re not in school.”

Atlas gestured to her room, motioning to how it had basically turned into a classroom in the past two days.

“I mean, why are you not at Hogwarts?”

“Champion privileges, Fleur does all her work in the carriage, Krum does the same in the ship if he wants to. Harry is staying at Hogwarts, he has nowhere else to go nor does he want to, I suspect,” Atlas told as she bent down to clean her room, Little Robin jumping from Bella and over to his known friend. 

“What’s the real reason, Atlas?”

The girl remained silent a moment, slowly slotting her books back onto their shelves before sighing and resting her head against one of the frames. Bella remained silent, sensing the girl needed a moment to gather her words and thoughts. It had certainly been a surprise when she saw her, she looked haggard, messy hair, messy room, messy everything. There were light marks of red in her otherwise glowing golden eyes and her shirt had permanent crease marks around her heart, seemingly from where the girl had been clutching her chest. Bella didn’t need to ask to know why, she remembered the day Atlas manifested her magic clear enough.

“I didn’t want…anyone to worry…”

“Think you’ve made it worse by not showing your face anywhere,” Bella said cooly and Atlas bit her lip. The dragon keeper sighed and pulled out a rolled Daily Prophet from her pocket, tossing it onto Atlas’s bed. “Skeeters had a field day with it, they say you’ve run away.”

“I have.”

“From the tasks, idiot.”

“Feel like doing that, to be honest,” Atlas murmured, rubbing her chest with a grimace. “Save me an awful lot of…this.”

“Then you’ll be cursed for breaking the binding contract,” Bella huffed, taking a seat on the girl’s bed. “Look…I would be more than happy for you to just…not do the tournament, honestly. You have no idea. But…this is something you have to do now.”

“Don’t I know it…” Atlas sighed, sitting beside her and looking into her hands, they were just as rough as ever, it didn’t matter if she wore those gloves Hermione had given her, the scars still remained. “Do you know what the task is?”

“You know I can’t tell you,” Bella whispered and Atlas nodded, not at all hurt as she already knew what she would be facing. Even if she didn’t she wouldn’t have reacted negatively, it’s not like she had enough time to prepare anyway, she suspected the trial was beginning soon. “I’ve got your uniform in the living room.”

“For?”

“The first task. I’m escorting you,” Bella said, pushing herself to her feet. Atlas glanced up at her before doing the same, following her out into the living area where a pile of clothes, similar to the ones she’d wear in Quidditch, lay, showing off her house colours with the Hogwarts logo embezzled in metal on her shoulder pads.

She quickly took off her pyjamas, Bella busying herself in the kitchen as she strapped the gear to her form, shuffling the padded bits around so they protected what they were supposed to. It was light-weighted, surprisingly so considering how heavy it all looked, but Atlas figured they’d been charmed that way and didn’t outwardly voice her shock, remaining stoic and silent as the claustrophobic feeling came back to nip at her heart.

Quickly, she took in a steadying breath, forcing the fear and panic down so only the warning tug remained, telling her of danger to come. She would have thought her body prepared considering she knew what she was facing but apparently not, instead, it felt like it was threatening her of something else, something in the future, far more detrimental than the dragons.

“They’ve healed nicely,” Bella suddenly said as Atlas pulled down the rest of her shirt, donning the cloak that came with it. It was decorated with her name on the back, a majority of the colour scheme being red and black with a lion’s face on each arm. She flipped up the hood and tucked her wand in the holster that was built into the belt. “Your scars I mean, kind of look like gills.”

“Funny,” Atlas remarked. “But yes, they’ve healed nicely, haven’t had anything to cut back on their process…maybe this’ll be the end of that.”

“Now you’re the one being funny,” Bella huffed, leaving the conjoined kitchen and hooking an arm over Atlas’s shoulder. “Come on, we should go. You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be…” Atlas mumbled, walking forward and out from under the woman’s arm. Bella watched her walk ahead a moment before rolling her eyes and jogging to catch up with her. She pulled a chocolate bar from her pocket and held it out to the champion, Atlas eyeing the offering quietly before taking it from her palm with a nod of thanks.

Soon, the grounds where the trial would be held came into view and Atlas clenched her jaw, dodging through mumbling and whispering crowds with Bella hot on their trail. There was a tent pitched up in the middle of it all, the words ‘CHAMPIONS TENT’ plastered on its front. She stopped in front of it, gathering her nerves. Everybody would be watching, no, everybody already was watching, she could feel their gazes upon the name embroidered on her back and heard the quiet words exchanged between them.

It was to be expected, no one had seen her in the past few days, though it didn’t mean she had to be happy about the attention. A reassuring hand clapped her shoulder and she turned to Bella, smiling for the first time she had done since isolating herself. Then, when Bella urged her to go inside, she did, having no real choice in the matter. It was bigger than it looked on the outside, spacious in every sense of the word, large enough to pace around if she needed.

Everybody stopped and looked up as she lowered her hood. Fleur from where she sat in the corner on a wooden stool, looking green. Krum from where he stood, looking surly than ever and Harry from where he paced, pale and anxious. Though when he saw her he lit up the slightest bit and hurried over, pulling her into a strong embrace as Bella excused herself to talk to Bagman.

“Where have you been!?”

“Training…” Atlas murmured, as he pulled back.

“Cedric’s been driving himself crazy, Ginny’s insisted she was told where you were, I’ve been pacing trails in my floor and Hermione’s a nervous wreck, she almost hexed Colin Creevey for asking where you’ve been!”

“Sorry.”

“Is that really all you have to say? I needed you here, we both did, you…tosser,” Harry breathed, pulling her in for another hug. Atlas hugged back, sighing slightly.

“Maybe I didn’t think it through…”

“You think?” Harry beamed brightly, letting out an airy chuckle as they separated. Fleur stood up and advanced on them also, squeezing Atlas fearfully before pulling away and kissing both of her cheeks shakily. Atlas could tell in the way her hands trembled in her own.

“Where ‘ave you been!? Oh dear, I ‘ave been worried! When I ‘eard you were missing from class, I zought of ze worst!” Fleur rushed, still looking as green as she had been but with a hint of relief behind her eyes. “Zat ‘Ermione is unpleasant when she’s upset! I tried to ask ‘er but she ignored me and ran away!”

“She can get like that,” Atlas smiled slightly at the thought of the girl. She sure was in for a scolding.

“Well!” A cheery voice called, clapping his large hands together as he beamed. Bagman ushered the Champions closer as Bella waved her hand in farewell and slipped out of the tent, probably going to check on the dragons for the task. “now we’re all here – time to fill you in!” Bagman said brightly. “When the audience has assembled, I’m going to be offering each of you this bag” – he held up a small sack of purple silk and shook it at them – “from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different – er – varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too…ah, yes…your task is to collect the golden egg!”

Without a second thought, Atlas nodded. So it was what she had expected, now all she needed to do was avoid the silky scales of the Albanian Agoniser and she reckoned she’d be ok. That was all, she knew enough medium spells that would stagger a regular dragon enough to give her a chance at grabbing the Golden Egg, wherever it may be. Really was no wonder they chose nesting mothers if a bit cruel and inhumane.

More steps moved past their tent and Atlas blocked them out, not wanting to feel any sort of resentment before she entered the arena beyond the tent flap on the other side of the room, she didn’t want to think about how that could never be her, that she would never be able to just sit on the sidelines, next to Harry and Hermione — Ron too, as they watched some unlucky sod battle the dragons in her and Harry’s stead. Luckily, she didn’t have to think that way any longer because Bagman had put the purple bag forward, a large smile still plastered across his face.

“Miss Delacour, you first…” he invited, holding the bag to her.

Fleur glanced at both Atlas and Harry, the two of them giving her reassuring smiles as she dug her shaking hand into the bag and drew out a small, living replica of a Welsh Green with the number two around its neck. It belched a small flame into Fleur’s face and Atlas watched it, awestruck at the Transfiguration mastery needed to create such a thing. Fortunately, by the look on her face, Fleur wasn’t at all surprised a dragon was what she would be facing and so Atlas reasoned Madame Maxime had told her.

She hoped the same held true for Krum as, though she had thought about telling him, she hadn’t gotten a chance to let him know about the task after going incognito for the past few days. She was happy to see that when he pulled out the scarlet Chinese Fireball, with a number one sat at its chest, he looked just the same as Fleur and simply held it up, watching it curiously.

That left the Hungarian Horntail and Albanian Agoniser, which was not ideal. Either way, her and Harry had pulled the short end of the stick, however, she knew which would be shorter and went to put her hand in the bag, only, Bagman pulled it away and over to Harry, setting a hint of panic in her gut.

“Harry,” she rushed grabbing his shoulder as he dipped his hand in. She glanced at Bagman and then went closer to the boy’s ear. “If you…” she thought about it a moment, if she told the boy the truth there was a chance he’d pick up the dragon anyway, just to save her from having to face the greater threat out of the two remaining dragons. “If you feel cold and slick scales…choose that one. I’ll take the Agoniser.”

There was a moment of silence between them before Harry nodded, his hand going further in and making contact with one of the two small writhing reptiles. Atlas watched his hand, noticing how he touched and then, when a flash of recognition flashed behind his eyes, he looked at Atlas and chose the other one, pulling it out.

“The Hungarian Horntail,” Bagman announced and Harry looked over at Atlas, mouth slightly wide as she smiled and dove her hand inside, feeling the silky scales of the Agoniser at her fingertips. She plucked the little thing from the depths of the bag and held it in her open palm, the same garnet red scales, same black freckles, same horns and eyes she had seen in the forest, meeting her gaze.

Fleur gasped, Harry, going slightly pale as Krum startled in surprise.

“An…Albanian Agoniser,” Bagman murmured as Atlas let the little thing bite at her fingers, a look of defeat in her eye. “Well, there you are!” he coughed. “You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I’m going to have to leave you in a moment, because I’m commentating. Mr Krum, you’re first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now, I’ve got to run!”

He exited the tent and Atlas moved over to sit in one of the seats offered, letting her dragon climb all over her. Harry immediately advanced on her, face pale but furious as he slumped down in the seat opposite. 

“You lied.”

“I knew you’d take the Agoniser.”

“Of course I would have!”

“Which is why I did it. I’ve had years more experience with Magic, Harry. I’m better equipped to handle this than you. Besides, it’s not like yours is any better, you’ve got a Horntail,” Atlas quipped.

“Yes well, it’s much better than a dragon that isn’t – at all! – affected by stunners! Do you even have a plan!?” Harry argued and Atlas remained quiet. No, she hadn’t thought of a solid plan if she got the Agoniser, she’d just been thinking of all the possible spells she could have used against the others. She hadn’t thought, at all, that this would be her luck again.

A whistle had blown somewhere and Krum finished his jumping jacks, walking out of the tent and into the enclosure. Atlas remained silent the entire time, Harry eventually shaking his head as he got up and started pacing around, occasionally glancing her way as she occupied herself with the Albanian Agoniser replica she held in her palm.

She needed to think of a plan but all that came to her was random trivia facts she knew off by heart. The only weakness of an Albanian Agoniser was the inside of its mouth, not even its eyes could be tampered with thanks to its crystal-like structure and it’s not like its mouth was any easier to hurt, for the only times it was open was when it was spewing flames from its gut.

Harry tried talking to her a few times but after getting no response from the girl, he stopped trying, instead, engaging in quiet anxious chatter with Fleur and when it was her turn he simply wandered around the tent aimlessly. Atlas stared at the floor, unblinking and unmoving, playing with her hands tensely as her heart started to cramp again.

“It’s my turn.”

She finally looked up, seeing Harry at the tent flap looking worse than ever. How long had she been in her trance? Worrying and worrying, with no real thoughts besides worry flitting through her. She reckoned it wouldn’t be any better when Harry stepped out and she was left alone, worrying and worrying over whether he’d be alright.

“G-good luck, Potter,” she managed, biting the inside of her cheek, hoping Harry hadn’t caught her stutter.

“You too, Black,” was all he said and ducked outside, leaving her alone with all the little dragons from the pouch. 

They flew over to her, nuzzling into her knuckles, into her cheek, anywhere they could. She was just a magnet for some mythical beasts, most of them liked her. If they were Unicorns, Manticores, Hippogriffs, they’d adore her after some time but, if they were Dementors, Grindylows, Hinkypunks any creatures born with inherently nasty quirks, they’d treat her like any other. Atlas lost herself in thought again, eventually standing up to pace, the little mini dragons flapping after her and comically changing course in the air when she turned.

What could she do?

The mini Albanian Agoniser landed on her forehead, tilting its head to look in each eye while it chittered merrily. Atlas felt her mouth fall slightly open as she held out her cupped hands, the little drakes settling in them. That’s right. That was the answer. Mythical beasts adored her and it seemed dragons did too, all she needed to do was get the larger, much more dangerous and temperamental Albanian Agoniser to like her just as much as its miniature version did.

Then she remembered Bella’s words. The dragon was a nightmare when she wasn’t around, so maybe the dragon would be too preoccupied looking for its favourite keeper to take any real notice of her, it’d be just her luck if so.

“Look at that!” Bagman’s yell pulled her from her thoughts and she knew she was next. “Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is the quickest to get his egg so far! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr Potter! We’ll have to see if Miss Black can beat his time!”

There was only one way she’d find out. She set the little drake down, muttering a command they stay where they were as she pulled on a pair of gloves from her pocket, tying her hair up in its signature half tail as she unclasped the lock she had to keep her wand in place. The cheers on the other side died down only for the whistle to pick them up again and, with a heavy gut she walked outside.

Hundreds and hundreds of faces greeted her, some students while others belonged to visitors who’d come along to watch the show. She didn’t dwell too much on them though, her gaze flickering to the giant mound of garnet scales at the other end of the enclosure, curled around a clutch of eggs and looking at her menacingly. 

And then, without warning, it charged at her, catching her off guard as she ran and jumped to the side, rolling behind a rock. She hadn’t been expecting that, usually, nesting mothers remained by their eggs no matter what but it seemed, when Charlie said she was feisty, he wasn’t kidding. How Bella had even managed to get under the dragons good graces without being burned to a crisp, Atlas would never know.

It let out a shriek of rage, something Atlas’s incredibly sensitive ears did not appreciate as she clasped her hands over them, doing zilch to stop the pure sound that attacked her drums. When it was over, she blinked a few tears from her eyes, hearing nothing but static as she then ducked out of cover, running to another boulder in the cage. She couldn’t hear, not as well as she should be able to anyway, she caught the muffled cheers of the crowd, the bone clattering thumps of the Agonisers footsteps and then her own rapid heart. That was all and it frightened her, having one of her most reliable senses suddenly disabled like that. Poppy would be able to heal them but in the meantime, she was at a great disadvantage.

She glanced over the rocky mound and went a little wide-eyed. It was gone, the massive garnet scaled dragon was gone, nowhere in sight. That’s when a strange tug pulled at her chest and she swivelled around, flipping out of the way as a blast of black flame attacked where she had just been. Atlas cursed under her breath and raised her wand as it turned to her, pearlescent eyes disturbingly welcoming.

“Protego!” A purely white dome settled over her, the flames assaulting the field she had created around herself like a cacoon, completely encompassing her shield. A slither of fire broke through and burnt a small portion of her arm, only to rapidly spread up its length and to her shoulder. She grimaced, tears pricking at her eyes as she jumped out of the way, letting the dome drop as she sought solace in the furthest corner of the enclosure.

Atlas and the Agoniser locked in an intense and heated gaze, neither one of them making a move as the Agoniser moved back to its clutch and Atlas put out the flames marring her arm, she noticed – in the corner of her eye – how the Dragon-Keepers from Romania remained on stand-by, Charlie at their head, glancing furtively between Atlas and the dragon. A flash of blonde hair revealed Bella just behind him, gaze firmly set on her, worried, imploring but most notably, terrified.

They shuffled forward, seemingly on Bella’s command as she had caught sight of the remnants of black flame encompassing Atlas’s fist but the champion shook her head solidly. Atlas may not have wanted to partake in the tasks, dreaded them really and would do anything to release herself of the burden the Goblet of Fire had laden across her shoulders but there was just something about the tasks themselves, something that left her no choice but to compete. And it wasn’t just the binding contract, or well, perhaps it was and perhaps because of Atlas’s abilities in connecting with magical beings and objects, the pull was that much stronger.

She’d seen it before — it had happened before, injuries and hexes affected her much more than they did anybody else, and — as some sort of equivalent exchange — her magic was that much stronger.

Bella looked at her, pleading and mouthing words of begging but Atlas didn’t budge, instead, she tore her gaze from her’s and settled her eyes on the Agoniser’s swallowing loudly as a large cloud of smoke expelled from the beast’s nostrils. That’s when it moved forward once more, charging again at her. Atlas stood her ground, however, fingers tapping the wood of her wand anxiously as — just at the last second — she leapt and rolled out of the way, watching as the Agoniser crashed into the arena walls. It seemed to cry out in frustration and Atlas hurried to stand, tripping over some uneven rock as she scrambled to shelter under the overhang of the rocky shelf that held the nest.

More thuds rattled through her body, telling her it was now stood again and growing closer. She didn’t need her hearing to know that, its weight was revealing enough, not to mention the glistening of its scales in the daylight created a slight glare that reflected off of the metal posts surrounding them.

Atlas took in a breath, thinking through her plan again. She was going to try and befriend it, but how? Little beasts, like the transfigured replicas of the dragons, could just somehow sense she wasn’t a threat. However, big beasts, like the Agoniser that was still hunting her, required some sort of proof, her magic was usually enough but in this case, it hadn’t been. Her Animagus would be another seller but it’s not like she could shift in front of hundreds of people, especially considering one of those viewers was Rita Skeeter.

Or could she?

She cycled through spells in her head, simultaneously closing her eyes to calm her wild heart and cramped chest. It was getting hard to breath and that was bad, not to mention the agonising pain her arm was in. The witches and wizards who named the dragon behind her really weren’t kidding when they called it the Albanian Agoniser. 

A few dust particles and rocks came loose, landing on her head as the thumps stopped. Atlas froze, swallowing down a lump in her throat as she slowly and silently took off her enforced cloak, peeling back the fabric that had stuck to her gruesomely burnt arm as she grabbed a rock from the floor, placing it in the hood of the cloak and tossed it, with as much strength as she could in the opposite direction. The Agoniser took the bait and she ducked the other way, clambering on top of the stone shelf where the nest was.

The Golden Egg was just within her reach, she could just grab it and call it a day but one wrong move and she could unintentionally damage the real eggs, by spurring the Agoniser into accidentally trampling its own clutch if she spooked it by diving forward. So she refrained, hearing, faintly, how the Bagman urged her on, how the crowd chanted her name, how everyone just wanted her to grab the Golden Egg. But she couldn’t, she wouldn’t. She found the whole task quite twisted anyway, putting a nesting mother in such a stressful situation, Agonisers only nest once in their lifetime as well, she couldn’t live with herself if something did happen to them.

A heavy force struck her in the side and sent her tumbling across the rocks, the Agoniser’s tail whipping and cutting through the air as it retracted from where it had smashed into her ribs. Atlas struggled for breath, gasping as she fruitlessly tried to find where her wand had gone, it had flown from her grasp in the attack, she came up empty and had to roll out of the way to dodge another great column of flame.

“Merlin’s fucking beard!” She shouted through gritted teeth as she stood — staggard backward — and pulled her fist back, her glove still burning and coated in a black fire as she then threw it forward, striking the Agoniser right across its snout, the remaining flame extinguishing with the mighty attack. She froze after the assault, eyes going wide as the Agoniser slowly turned to face her, pearlescent eyes firey in a way that could only be felt, never seen. “Sorry…”

She just punched a fucking dragon.

Before it could bite her in half she threw herself to her behind, doing a backward tumble to her feet as she then raised her hand to her side, focusing to the best of her ability. Doing a spell she’d never attempted wandlessly was not something she’d ever done before, and doing it in a situation as critical as this was just a piss-take really. Just her luck though, hey? “Fumos Maxima!”

A gigantic cloud of dust encased them, leaving them obscured from the view of those surrounding them. Everyone except Atlas and the Agoniser, the two of them were locked in an intense stare, Atlas’s eyes glowing golden through the fog as she advanced on paws, her form as Frog coming to a stop before the dragon as it let out a harsh cloud of black smoke from its snout. They remained quiet, Ludo commenting in the background, trying to gauge and guess what was happening behind the screen.

Then Atlas shifted back, holding out her hand to the beast, eyes still glowing as she panted. “I apologise for hitting you, truly. But look, they’ve deceived you…” she began slowly, thankful it wasn’t trying to kill her anymore. “And I’m sorry for that…you’re a mother, aren’t you? You could say I am one too, to many animals really. I know how you feel, if someone came waltzing into my home, attempting to take one of them away I’d be angered, scared even.”

It huffed out another cloud, this time of air, that slicked back Atlas’s hair and dried her eyes. She inched closer as she blinked for more moisture, backing off immediately when the Agoniser bore its teeth.

“Alright, alright…” she eased. “That golden one…you saw it didn’t you…it looks different from the rest, right? Of course, as a mother you don’t really care about that, do you?” she chuckled nervously, feeling a cold sweat build at the back of her neck. “They’re your drakes, I know, but that gold one…it isn’t real, do you understand? And…if you let me get that one, I’ll leave and you can go back to Bella…”

The Agoniser sniffed at her form, perhaps testing something as it continued to stare at her sceptically.

“You can sense it right? All the other creatures do…see, I don’t know what it is you can smell but I’m not going to try and hurt you or your young,” Atlas tried and then, after a tense moment, it just…bowed, nodding its head in understanding as Atlas held back her laugh of relief, keeping her eyes on the dragon’s snout as she inched backwards toward the nest and scooped up the Golden Egg in her good arm. “I did it…”

With one giant flap of its wings, the Agoniser blew away the fog, revealing the scene to the crowd who watched with bated breaths and wide eyes. The judges were just as shocked, Ludo practically bursting with the need to commentate as Moody held the man’s wand away from him. The mother came closer and sniffed at Atlas again, moving to test the truth of her claim that the egg in her arm was, indeed, fake.

“See? I didn’t lie…” Atlas breathed, a little winded at the fact that it had worked. She blinked a few times to make sure her eyes had shifted back before carefully backing away, but, of course, she would not be let off so easily. The Agoniser followed her movements, neck and body moving in a way that was entirely snake-like, it advanced on her and curled its wing behind her back, stopping her escape and also pulling her closer, guiding her toward its eggs.

Atlas swallowed anxiously, hugging the Golden Egg to her chest as she numbly followed the Agoniser’s will, her gaze flickering over to the Dragon Keepers who were slowly entering the arena. Bella was no longer terrified, only calm in a way that was reassuring and smiling in a way that hurried Atlas’s steps that bit more. She now turned back to the Agoniser and glanced to meet its cloud-like eyes as it looked at her and motioned to its pearly white clutch.

It was inviting her to meet its unborn young.

All Atlas could do was nod, sort of in a state of shock as she crouched down, eyes still on the Agoniser as it seemed to urge her on further. So Atlas raised her hand, noticing how everything had gone silent, how she couldn’t even hear the faint buzz of the crowd anymore. Everyone was quiet and all eyes were on her as she reached forward and placed her palm against the egg closest, her touch feather-light.

That was all it took. The Agoniser retracted its wing and allowed Atlas her freedom, but she remained still for a moment longer, her eyes now drifting to the eggs that she softly itched, softly stroked as if they were already born, already tumbling over themselves and belching their first flames. Then she smiled softly and slowly stood, casting one last furtive glance to the Agnosier as she then descended the rocky shelf, meeting Bella at the bottom, the woman greeting her with open arms.

“If you’re talking to me, I can’t really hear you,” Atlas said shakily, when she felt the woman’s jaw moving against her shoulder. Bella pulled away with a look of concern, cupping Atlas’s face as she tilted it from side to side, inspecting the blood that had pooled from the girl’s ears. She frowned tightly and kissed the girls cheek, turning to do the same to the other as she mouthed something congratulatory. Atlas smiled and kissed her forehead in return, squeezing her hand as she then watched Bella run past her and over to the Agoniser.

It was only then that Atlas left the enclosure and practically collapsed under the pressure of it all, her knees giving out from beneath her and the egg falling from her arms. She gasped for a breath and leant up against a tent post, hiding her face in her hands as the adrenaline faded and agony overtook her left arm and side.

“Fucking fab…”