I’m writing a fantasy novel and I could really use some help with a specific concept

I have been working on this book for years and I have this idea for certain characters that I would like to keep, but the more I work on it, the more I worry that it will be problematic. <br><br>• TL;DR at bottom • <br><br>I’m writing a high fantasies novel with gods, monsters, magic, and war. <br><br>The world’s premise is that a group of gods arrived to the world, and their presence (or lack thereof) is what decides the climate of an area. There are more than 100 gods, each with their own domain (healing, war, harvest, etc).These domains are the reasons humans worship them. There are ten locations on the planet called El’gorin, which are places where the gods can physically interact with the world, and these locations are the only places where people can pray directly to the gods. For the rest of the planet, it’s all about faith, offerings, and rituals. <br><br>Now, I divided the gods into four categories: Those who are closer to humans, those who are indifferent, those who resent humans, and those that are just…different. Some gods do not care about worship, some others want humans to live in absolute misery, and then there are those gods who are more like forces of nature.<br><br>Some humans have figured out that every 20 years, gods alternate between which El’gorin they can interact with. This isn’t a perfect rotation, more of a loose, ever-changing thing that strongly correlates to the 20 years periods. So, humans have learned to prepare for a certain god to be present at a certain location during a specific time period. As some gods are more benevolent than others, humans can prepare to either beg for their favor, or deal with their wrath.<br><br>There are certain humans who have the ability to wield magic to some degree. Some humans are exceptionally gifted, and they learn to wield magic starting from a very young age. However, for the more advanced magic stuff, there is only so much a person can teach. The only way humans can unlock to the higher tiers of magic is by getting a god to directly teach them. The thing is, gods are not the greatest teachers, and most of them are not interested in such a commitment. Most will either do it as a form of entertainment (trick their pupils into doing something they didn’t mean to), or will just go for the most straightforward option: trial by combat.<br><br>Some gods are monstrous, and their trials by combat are not that different from letting a wild animal loose into a city. Some of them will just ask for two, three, ten warriors to go at each other’s throats while the god watches. When one is left standing, the god will then teach them magic. This event is public, so the winner will be obligated to do a certain amount of public service, so the people can benefit from their newfound powers. <br><br>The issue arises with the gods that are more animalistic. Some are simplistically referred to as “dragons from another world”. One, in particular, is the issue. This has been a puzzle to me for years. They are a dragon god that gets bored after the first few kills. This god’s domain is sickness, contagion, and infection, so the battles it organizes are somewhat different. <br><br>The dragon organizes battles between 10 warriors simultaneously. The dragon attacks the warriors with its breath, but instead of setting them on fire, it infects them with a disease that will kill them in about 15 minutes. Some of these diseases are brutal, causing hallucinations, others cause extreme pain, some cause vomiting blood and diarrhea, and others will cause their skin to rot away. <br><br>They then give their warriors weapons, and instructs them to either kill each other, or find an exit to the arena. The dragon knows that warriors will not be able to find an exit in time, but if they do, it gives them the magic knowledge as a reward. However, as the person is sick, the dragon must first cure them, which it does not want to do. So, the dragon will only teach the person how to cure themselves, which means they won’t have the bandwidth to also learn their magic. It effectively means that if someone finds their way out, they will become the dragon’s student, unlocking magic little by little, while they get to live in the dragon’s palace. <br><br>This is the point where I start to worry. I’m going to add some more information, and then get to my issue. <br><br>There is a great character that will be the dragon’s pupil. He is a great person with a strong sense of honor, and he finds an exit. Even though he is sick, he them goes back into the arena to stay with his friends who are still fighting. He goes back to the dragon, and asks for the cure in exchange for his loyalty and labor. The dragon, who wasn’t expecting someone to go back into the fight, is pleased with the man’s courage. So, he gives him the cure under one condition, which is that the man will become his student, which is something the man is more than happy to accept. <br><br>As I said, this is a war book, and the dragon god knows war is on the horizon. So it wants its pupil to get strong as soon as possible, just in case things get interesting. The dragon knows that the man is strong, but he also knows that his pupil will need to get stronger much faster than he would get if he learned magic in a typical fashion. So, the dragon puts its pupil in a series of battles against stronger and stronger opponents. Every time the man wins a battle, he gets a bit stronger (similar to leveling up), and the dragon would also infuse more magic into him. By the end of the book, the man will have become an incredible warrior, and will have become a very close friend to the dragon, who will genuinely mourn his death (which is not a spoiler, it’s in the prologue). <br><br>Now for the problem: The dragon is a very powerful being with extremely broad magic capabilities. He can do pretty much anything he wants. However, he can’t cure diseases that he himself has created. That’s his domain’s limitation. The man will get his magic by killing people in combat, and the dragon will give him a disease before every fight, and then cure it afterwards. The only thing I worry about is that the disease is just an excuse for the dragon to abuse its pupil. I want the dragon to truly care for its pupil deep down, and while the pupil will initially hate the dragon, he will eventually see the good in the dragon, and he will be happy to stay by its side. <br><br>My issue is that I’m not sure if the dragon’s abuse can be balanced with its display of love and care. The dragon will infuse its pupil with magic sickness after sickness, and the man will hate him for it. Even if the dragon gives its pupil the cure after every battle, the student will live through excruciating pain every time he has to fight, and I worry that it will still come off as abuse that cannot be reconciled. I want the dragon to have reasons for doing what it does, and for these reasons to make sense deep down in the dragon’s heart. Ideally, the dragon would not be able to change its behavior, but the pupil should be able to have a loving relationship with the dragon nonetheless. <br><br>Any thoughts?<br><br>**TL;DR:** A dragon god, capable of curing any disease, deliberately infuses its pupil with painful diseases before sending them to fight in battles that the dragon itself organized to become stronger, but it cures them afterwards. I am worried that this behavior is irredeemable, and I’m looking for ways to make it so that the relationship can be positive, or for suggestions on how to do it.<br><br>**EDIT:**<br><br>I want to sincerely thank everyone who’s commented so far. I cannot respond to everyone, but I really appreciate all the help I’ve received.<br><br>I can’t believe I didn’t think about PTSD. I have been so hyper focused on the relationship that I didn’t stop to think about how the student would deal with stress. I think I’m going to go for a combination of addictions and coping mechanisms. As for the dragon, I can’t believe I didn’t think of Stockholm Syndrome. I’m going to have the dragon genuinely care for the student, but also make it impossible for the student to leave the dragon’s side. I will also add some sort of mutation to the student so that the dragon can’t cure them completely. I think the student will develop a form of narcolepsy. <br><br>Thank you all so much.