I am falling.

My gut sinks and the wind slaps my body.

The force of gravity yanks me down below.

Despair creeps into the corners of my thoughts.

Is this it?

No. Throw a portal out. Follow my thoughts.

I cast a portal and we are falling through a different space that looks like a blur of blue and white.

Where I do not know.

But what I slide down feels soft and cold like snow.

Let my thoughts shape your formation I can land us safely back at the catacombs.

I feel Leokan pressing into my stream of thoughts and I accept it.

Like tying two loops together we create a spell in unison.

It is a combination of my spell work and his knowledge of where the bottom of the drop is.

Quickly!

A swirl of blue light that my mana gives off and his black form open up a second portal that I fall through.

I land upright.

Sharp, overwhelming pain shoots through my legs and I crumble to the ground.

My legs shake.

I breathe deeply.

"That hurt." I gasp.

I walk but hiss as the pain from my right ankle.

Feel it.

I touch my ankle, It feels lumpier and bigger than usual.

Swollen, a sprain most likely.

Is it the bone?

Try walking again

I place weight on the foot and pain shoots up my leg.

No, but you won't be walking as usual until it gets healed.

Shit, why am I here? Instead of attacking the clearly powerful Magi, I knew I should have waited.

Calm down. You did fine and we are alive. That is what matters.

Calm down, I'll be calm when we leave. Calm down, fuck you. Let's just leave. I have enough mana left for the portal.

The rank stench of decaying flesh fills my senses.

I gag and feel tears in my eyes.

I look up.

A dragon looms over. A criss cross cut of black scales and white bone. Eyeless sockets seem to peer searching for something or someone.

A lich dragon!

"I smell flesh. Near, so very near and fresh. Welcome, my delicious dinner. I've never known fresh meat in Undeath. Come here, come closer, so I may learn the delights you have come to share." gravels the Dragon.

The pain in my ankle flashes with renewed intensity. A terrible form of fear that rises higher. The near certainty of death, had it ever been closer?

And yet, a cold fury settles.

I scowl.

Not to one of the undead, no, I will not die, not today. I won't let that damn Noelle have the satisfaction. I won't let this... this... monstrosity. Yes, some monster of what was a noble being have me for dinner.

I bare my teeth as my fists clench.

"No, I should think not. Oh, baby the nameless dragon. Pet of the dead Magi Noelle." I scorn. "I did not come here to be eaten. I only wished to take your head for it may decorate the roof of my house. Had I known you would be so puny and pathetic I would not have bothered."

What are you doing?

The dragon huffs and black gas seeps out of its mouth. The thick, dark gas also flows forth from the patches of open flesh that dot its dead body.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Baby! Puny and pathetic! I am the terror that shook the earth. I've swallowed entire mortal villages. If not for that damn Archmage I would have feasted for a thousand nights."

Do you think angering it will help us?

"Truly, the Archmage slew you, I had not heard. Were so insignificant that there are no tales about your story? Whatever would the Archmage want from dregs like you."

"Dregs! I am supreme. Hunted unjustly by my inferior. She wanted my scales, my beautiful scales. Now I am ugly. I wait and wait, for the moment to strike."

"Timid mouse, do you even know your name?"

"I... I am..."

"Baby." I mock. "A little, bitty baby."

You rash idiot.

"You ask many questions, dinner." it says with a tone of finality. "Who are you and from whence do you come?

"I come from the city above seeking a prize. A trophy from Athfens to the darkest pits to make undead will tremble before the Demon August!"

"Only one may collect their prize."

"Fortunately for you, your head is no prize. I will make my exit."

I cast portal.

"NO!" roars Baby the Lich Dragon.

The spell shatters with a crackle of red magic that sprouts from the earth and flickers out.

Now you've done it.

"No more magic, I won't allow it." declares the undead monstrosity.

Red crackling light flashes in a wide circle encompassing the entirety of the dragon's pit

Grey steam rises.

I try to cast a portal again but nothing happens.

"No more tricks..."

The dragon's head lowers.

It's blind.

You sure?

Sure enough.

Fuck.

The dragon breathes.

It exhales a billowing black gas that spews from its open, toothy maw.

I step back but the gas kisses my left arm.

The flesh on my arm peels away.

I feel nothing at first. I stare with curiosity at the expanding wound. I am almost numb with shock.

Then I notice the pain.

"No, no, no, no!" I start screaming.

I stumble away with tears in my eyes.

The dragon chuckles. It sounds like a throaty rumble of stone grinding against metal.

Keeping going, it is not over yet. You idiot.

I am limping. The situation is like a deer with a broken leg being stalked by a bear.

But I am also being mocked by a voice only I can hear.

"You are not boasting now, are you Demon August."

It has a point.

"Shut up!"

"I've never had a demon before. How do you taste? Are you like humans?"

"I hope not." I quip and laugh at my joke.

Tears drip down my face, and death laps at my heels. I feel an indescribable joy. My face distorts into a shit-eating grin as my eyes form into slits. My pupils dilate and my heart pounds faster and faster.

It chuckles its eyeless gaze intent upon the sound of my voice and the smell of my flesh.

"They are filling but bland. No flavour at all. I do hope not."

"I'll let you in on the truth, I taste like shit on a warm summer's day."

The dragon's laugh is like clashing blades.

"You are still holding your nerve."

"It is a boon of my failings, Undead. I always bounce back." I retort.

"This is our tomb. Here Demon August is where you will die. I see it clear as the open sky." it promises.

"Not today."

"Good, break slowly."

Another blast of dragon breath blasts out from its rotten maw.

A sharp pain hits my lower back. My flesh lits up with burning pain as my skin decays with every breath.

"It is fitting that in undeath I devour a Demon. The ancient enemy of false rebirth."

I gasp, in breathless agony.

"I'm going to eat you now, Demon."

No, please.

"You are all alone, Demon Outcast. Runt."

How much mana is left?

Not enough.

That's okay. Just listen and you will survive.

"No."

"For I am here."

The Dragon lunges. Its mouth opens wide like an all-consuming shadow. Ready to devour me in one bite.

We leap around the dragon's bite.

I feel an excruciating strain of agony.

Leokan pushes my body beyond its limits. The black rocks of Leokan's reduced form that are embedded beneath my skin, move my body faster than what mere muscle can achieve.

We land out of its reach.

"Did you know that your tomb has structural weaknesses caused by erosion?"

"What nonsense are you blathering about?" rages the Dragon as it swipes furiously.

We narrowly dodge between its claws.

"It seems to be artificial like a paranoid Magi left it behind as a fail-safe." Leokan chuckles.

"I'll rip you limb from limb and chew on your bones!"

We may not have the power to activate the trap, but perhaps the dragon can be lured?

Will we live long enough?

We dodge again. Narrowly escape the fangs of the dead dragon.

I will. It is you that I am trying to keep you alive.

He states in my thoughts as if it is the most obvious truth in the world.

The dragon swipes, slams and bites to no avail.

Though my body gets weaker with each intense movement, it makes no difference. The dragon is failing to sup on the meal that dances before it.

"How shameful it must be to have dinner waiting before you, but unable to see or eat it. How weak you are."

Leokan claims. His tone of voice sounds bored.

"If you will not stay still, then I will leave you no room to run." the Dragon warns.

The Undead Dragon soars up high, higher and higher till I have to strain my neck to keep it in sight.

Where do I need to stand?

Follow my thoughts.

I dash to the pit's edge precisely where Leokan directs.

Then the Undead Lich Dragon comes falling like a raging comet.

Wait how do we dodge?

We don't.

The sightless dragon misses my frail body.

The Dragon crashes through stone that crumbles upon impact. The stone had been weakened as Leokan had observed.

For the second time of the night, I hang in the air before being pulled by gravity's embrace down closer to the centre of the planet.

Below us is a large metal net easily wide enough to capture the dragon.

I fall onto its back.

I clutch the back of the dragon. I grip its rotting flesh.

It lands in the metal net.

I leap off, falling through the gaps.

The net buckles and wraps around the Dragon and it falls above me.

It is a shorter fall this time.

I land with a thud, a wail and I impale myself on a narrow albiet jaggedly sharp piece of rock.

The dragon crashes nearby. The impact throws up a cloud of dust.

"I'll find you Demon! The ends of the sky will not be far enough to escape my claws!"

The Dragon rages as I crawl away.

I am bleeding, missing flesh on my arm and back, and my ankle is sprained.

It had been a really stupid idea to go into the catacombs without Gareth.