Author Becomes Character (Revised version)

I honestly had no clue how long I'd been stuck here. It felt like an eternity, like time didn't even exist anymore. But on the plus side (I guess?), all that infinite time had given me plenty of room to get better at my skills—so much so that I started wondering if I was still even human anymore.

"I believe the day when you will beat me is approaching near," the Dragon said, in his huge, terrifying Dragon form, casually tossing the words out like he wasn't an overgrown lizard that could probably swallow me whole.

I didn't say anything. I didn't need to. I knew it was coming. I could feel it—those countless sparring sessions, the three ties in a row, my growing power. It was only a matter of time.

Then, totally out of the blue, I decided to ask, "What will you do when we leave?"

He looked at me for a moment before responding with a voice that made it sound like he was talking about a walk in the park. "Well, I'll find my kin."

"Wow, not even a 'hey, what about you?'" I shot back, already smirking. "Won't you ask me what I'm going to do once I'm out of here?"

He shrugged. "What difference does it make?"

I dramatically placed my hand over my heart. "So, after all this time together, you don't even feel one tiny little bit of affection for me? What a heartless Dragon," I whined, trying to make it sound dramatic and hurt when, honestly, I was secretly laughing inside at how absurd this whole situation was.

He didn't respond. He just stared at me, all calm and collected—probably wondering why I was making such a big deal out of nothing. But here's the thing: despite all my sarcasm, I couldn't shake the feeling that this might be the last time we were going to have a conversation like this.

A weird lump formed in my throat, and I couldn't quite put my finger on why that thought stung more than it should.

I started pacing, trying to shake the weird feeling off, when I noticed the Dragon suddenly shift, and before I even had time to blink, he was on the move.

I instinctively leapt backwards, landing gracefully on my feet. The guy didn't even wait for me to catch my breath before launching a barrage of ice darts in my direction. I barely had time to react, sidestepping a couple, but one grazed my arm, sending a sharp pain through my body.

"Are you really so excited to leave already?!?" I yelled, half-joking, half-exasperated. I mean, could he not be a little more sensitive? Not everyone is as cool-headed as he is. (Not that I'd admit that out loud.)

He didn't answer. Of course. Instead, he just kept throwing spells at me—ice, fire, wind, whatever he felt like. I quickly built a barrier to defend myself, but it wasn't strong enough to block all of it. A few spells still slipped through, hitting me with an icy chill that made me hiss in pain.

"Ugh, this thoughtless Dragon!" I grumbled, annoyed at how casually he was wrecking me.

I was barely hanging on, but despite the pain, I couldn't help but laugh a little. It was as if he was treating this like a regular sparring match when I was over here, trying to process all these complicated feelings about our... friendship?

And, you know, the fact that I might never see him again.

But hey, if there's one thing I've learned from all this—aside from the fact that he's way stronger than me and probably enjoys seeing me struggle—it's that I needed to stop overthinking things. Maybe it was just the situation, the tension, or the strange bond we'd formed in this weird, trapped place. Either way, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to this... weird dragon.