Snippet #2251263

Domieen’s hulking form came forward into the light, hunched low, his throat muscles sinuous and plated within dark scales. Its huge limbs, locked at the knees, strained to support the titanic bulk of his reptilian head and body. Tiny fierce eyes glowed in the recesses of each side of Domieen’s head, as if peering out off some great abyss. The entire room creaked and cracked away under the immense pressure of his growth, tearing like wet paper and sending an avalanche of boulders hurtling into the ground. The sound alone was deafening, like the earth was being torn asunder. Domieen’s transformation left the palace a crumbling wreck as he glowered over the party.

His vast lower jaw distended, under biting long, sinister teeth as he bellowed, "If you've no fear before... you should know fear now." The old dragon’s voice was like smoke lost to the wind, emitting animalistic sounds from his inhuman voice box. The words, if they could be called that, where almost prophetic.

Claws ripped the assassin free from her hold, thrusting Jennifer violently towards the ground, her body making a sickening crunch as it collided with onyx stone. The mage cried out as she slumped haphazardly across the floor, right arm broken. More rocks crushed painfully against her tiny frame as Domieen’s claws closed around her, distorting her limbs in unnatural ways as she lay helplessly prone. Domieen was right. Every single cell in her body shivered and quaked with fear. Jennifer was terrified, but not terrified of death. With her one working arm she struggled to reach out between his razor jail. She needed to get up, to heal Talon, to save the only one she loved. She couldn’t die here.

"I'll crush you slowly, little mage."

Jennifer could barely hear his voice past the searing agony of her own arm and she doubted he could hear her, but she cursed at the old dragon in any event, “It’s too bad you’re so fat now that you’ll no longer be able perform your favorite choke hold.” Vainly, she twisted and kicked in what little room she had to manoeuvre, like an ant caught between a thumb and a finger, desperate to escape.

With a roar that sounded like thunder, Vy emerged from the clouds like a sky rocket, ready to tear Domieen limb from limb. The sound of his distinct growls was like sweet relief to her ears. Clear, unfiltered sunlight bathed her entire body in warmth as Domieen claws lost their foothold over the palace floor. Each movement was like a miniature earthquake as two great beasts fought for control, Vy striking the old dragon’s neck with ferocious snaps of his maw. Heart pounding and high on adrenaline, Jennifer scrambled away, evading the giant, flailing limbs of Domieen as she rushed back towards Talon. The slightest hit would’ve likely killed the fragile mage, but miraculously she avoided them all. Where Locien or the others had gone, she did not know for the chaos was greatest then.

Upon reaching Talon’s unconscious body, she tugged at his clothes with both arms. It took her a precious second to realise the futility of the act as one of her arms was still crippled with mind numbing pain. Adjusting her methods, she swapped to using her left arm, gripping the nape at the back of his head and hauling him clear of the falling debris. Jennifer’s legs strained with the effort of dragging him, but she refused to stop until Domieen and Vy took off.

“I know I wished for the destruction of civilisation, but this isn’t anywhere near as fun as I thought it’d be,” she stammered through gritting teeth.

Covered in dust and grime, Jennifer crouched over Talon and yanked out the knife impaling his shoulder. After thrusting it to the side, she rested her left palm over the bloody wound. Urgently, the mage began re-knitting his damaged flesh back together, working like a surgeon dealing with an emergency patient. Jennifer could still feel his heartbeat beneath his shirt, faint and slightly erratic, but nonetheless there. It reassured her more than anything else in the world, rekindling her hopes. “Common Talon, wake up!” she hissed, her voice thick with emotion.