Chapter 2 Dragon's cave

Nyx

I have been running for three days straight and the destination still feels impossibly far away. My legs burn with an ache that goes deeper than muscle. My lungs scream for air that doesn’t seem to come no matter how hard I pull it in. 

The fae speed that usually makes me feel weightless now feels like dragging myself through mud. I am one of the fastest runners in the fae kingdom but even I have limits and I think I found them two days ago.

The forest blurs around me. Trees and shadows and the streams I leap across without breaking stride. I don’t stop except to check the map and even then I keep moving. 

Prince Theron said to follow the route exactly and I will. I have to because my sister’s life depends on it. By day five I finally cross into vampire territory.

I know because the air changes and everything here tastes different. It was darker somehow. The magic that hums through the fae lands is bright and wild but this magic feels cold and ancient. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. 

Every instinct I have screams at me to turn around and run back home but I push forward anyway. Fear is useless right now.

The map leads me to a mountain that rises black against the sky. At its base there is a cave entrance exactly where Prince Theron marked it. I stop at the tree line and stare at it. 

The dragon is inside that cave. The creature everyone in the Lore is terrified of and don’t like talking anout. The being that was worshipped like a god before the kingdoms divided.

And there are no guards!

No vampires standing watch or wards that I can sense. The entrance is just open like an invitation and it should be the first sign to me that something is wrong. Yeah a dragon can protect itself but still. 

Something is wrong because it feels too easy. Why would they leave something so powerful unguarded? But I don’t have time to second guess this. I came all this way and my sister is dying and I need that blood. I move fast before I lose my nerve.

The cave is darker than anything I have ever experienced. I pull a small light crystal from my pocket. The tunnel slopes downward and the air gets colder with every step. I wrap my arms around myself but it doesn’t help. This cold isn’t natural at all. It sinks into my bones.

Then the tunnel opens into a massive cavern and I stop breathing entirely.

The dragon.

He is real! and he is the most magnificent thing I have ever seen.

Black scales that gleam like obsidian cover his massive body. He is easily the size of the castle back home or bigger. His wings are folded against his sides and even at rest they look powerful enough to level cities. His head is lowered and his eyes are closed like he is sleeping. 

They said he has been dormant for centuries. That he hasn’t moved or woken since before the great wars because he was betrayed by its vessel. 

He was terrifyingly beautiful. That is the only way to describe him. 

I understand now why people worshipped him. Why they built temples in his name. He looks like he existed before the world began and will exist long after it ends.

I stand frozen for a moment just staring in wonder. Being in his presence feels like standing at the edge of a cliff and one wrong move and you fall forever. But I didn’t come this far to turn back now.

I force my legs to move. My hands shake as I pull out one of the crystal vials. I just need a drop of blood. One tiny scale will do the work. Then I can leave and never come back and save my sister and marry the prince and forget this ever happened.

I reach out slowly. My fingers barely brush against one of his scales and the world explodes.

Something slams into my chest with the force that knocked down my breath. It was not pain exactly but recognition. Like a lock clicking into place and something that was always meant to happen was finally happening. 

The dragon’s eyes snap open and they are a pure molten gold. Old and burning and magnificent like the rest of him. They look directly at me and it felt like he held me there with just his eyes. 

He doesn’t move but I feel him looking into me. Like he can see every part of my soul laid bare just then my body floods with heat.

It is nothing like fever or the feeling of standing too close to a fire. This heat comes from inside. It burns through my veins. 

Something so huge and consuming I cannot hold it. I gasp and stumble backward but the heat only grows stronger amd hotter. It is eating me alive from the inside out! 

Suddenly light floods the cave. Guards pouring in from tunnels I didn’t see. At least a dozen of them surrounding me with their red eyes glowing in the darkness. Vampires!

I stumble further back from the dragon but my legs refuse to work properly. They feel weak and unsteady like they belong to someone else. Something is wrong with my body. The heat is spreading and with it comes a presence inside my head. 

It was the dragon. I can feel him like he is a part of me. 

The presence in my head grows stronger. I swear I hear a voice that is not mine. It’s by far the deepest voice I have ever heard and ancient and a little amused as it grunted.

“Found you.”

I am losing my mind. I have to be because it sounds like a dragon’s voice in my head.