Chương 43: Drake

Emile turned and ran as fast as he could, he could now clearly hear the whistle of the air ricocheting off the drake. He turned back and looked at the falling duo, calculating in his head if he'd be able to make it to the exit.

Emile didn't think he could. He sidestepped and stopped behind one of the columns. Plugging his ears, he waited.

Another crash resounded throughout the cavern. The columns shook just like before, but the impact was nowhere near the proportions of the first one.

The dust settled and the world turned still, Emile carefully looked around the column at the place of impact. A new hole appeared in the floor, a mirror of the hole just above it, but the drake was gone.

"Spright!" Blood called out.

Emile ran to the crater and found Blood hanging from its edge, a sliver of blood piercing the stone, barely strong enough to keep Blood up.

Emile pulled him up and cast Breath of Life, healing whatever wounds the idiotic boy gathered.

"What happened? Where's the drake?!" Emile asked.

"When my crystal pierced its nape the drake suddenly exploded and launched into the sky, its horn caught the rest of the blood I was using to stay up there." Blood said.

In the midst of their conversation, a shadow ascended through the holes in the cavern and a blood-curdling roar clutched Emile's heart. Looking back at the hole, the drake appeared in the air, halfway between the ceiling and the floor, like it was floating.

The creature's empty eyes locked onto Blood, then it raised its tail high into the air and crashed down. The sheer force of the swing propelled the drake across the cavern and it smashed into the wall across the room.

The wall buckled and cracked like glass, the beast pushed itself out of its stone casing and dropped to the ground. It shook its head and narrowed its attention towards Blood, another roar proceeding.

"Back in the hole! Back in the hole!" Blood screamed.

Emile followed the blood prince and jumped into the crater. Luckily, hitting the ground the first time greatly reduced their descent and they only broke through one layer.

Emile and Blood fell a story or two and rolled onto the peculiarly soft rock. Pushing themselves up, they found themselves in a much darker cave system. The only visible light coming from the river of lava that flowed through.

The pulsating, almost alive glow of light filled the dark space and warmed the two boys. A rumble quaked below, Emile looked back and the drake had arrived.

It sunk into the ground, the overgrown size of the creature put immense pressure on the rocky sludge.

Blood pulled Emile along and the two broke out into a sprint.

"Where are we going?!" Emile yelled.

"I don't know!" Blood yelled back, "Away from the drake!"

The drake raised its sledge hammer like tail and smashed the ground again, sending the beast overhead and crashing into another wall.

Meanwhile, a geyser of lava erupted where the drake slammed its tail. A seismic wave rippled outward as a result.

Blood veered to the right since the drake was stuck in the wall ahead of them.

"Hey!" Blood called out.

"Yeah?" Emile replied.

"Do you see that light?" Blood pointed forward.

Far in the distance, a faint green light flickered on and off. It wasn't high like a star, but instead glowed just above the ground.

Another roar penetrated the walls of the underground world, reminding the two criminals of the monster chasing them.

Stones from the ceiling fell as a result of the violent roar and attacked them. Some of the falling spires landed in the river of lava causing the scorching sludge to overflow near Emile and Blood.

Emile and Blood weaved between the falling debris and continued running towards the light. Suddenly, another loud crash echoed in the hellscape and Emile felt a strong pull to his right.

Out of the corner of his eye, Emile saw the drake fly past them one again, but unlike the other instances, this time the drake landed on its feet.

The drake slid far back, its nails plunged into the soft stone, dragging it to a gentle stop. The beast stood just before the green light and lowered its body, readying to intercept the duo.

Its lips peeled back and revealed an ocean of teeth. Two insurmountable fangs grew up past its cheeks, falling in line with its horns.

Emile and Blood had frozen the moment the drake landed in their path, now the three stood still and watched each other, each waiting for a particularly generous opportunity to reveal itself.

And then Emile heard it, a weird suction of air. It sounded behind all the chaos, the gurgling of the lava pools, the growls of the drake, just beyond those sounds existed an out of place silence.

It gave Emile the same feeling as when the world grew uncomfortably quiet and he was forced to hear the beat of his heart or the ringing of his ears.

The faint drowning sound disappeared but was quickly replaced by an ear shattering bang. A sudden burst of light ricocheted off the drakes back and a wall far in the distance exploded.

Something had attacked the drake, but it bounced off its scales, unable to pierce the quadrupedal calamity. Another burst of light illuminated their surroundings, but the ground beneath the drake imploded this time.

The drakes hind legs buckled and sunk into the ground, waves of lava flowed out from the depths beneath. The drake slowly pulled its legs out of the lava.

The scales on the drakes legs began to emit an orange glow like they absorbed some of the lava. The drake turned around and faced the green light, ignoring Emile and Blood who continued to stand still behind it.

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