...Carla landed lightly on a slanted stone ledge and broke into a quiet sprint, slipping deeper into the tunnels that branched like the hollow chambers of a titanic beehive.
The deeper she went, the more the air changed—thicker, hotter, vibrating with suppressed fury and the scent of ancient beasts.
Dragon nests littered the passages.
So were heaps of molten-gold coins and crystallized mana stones, fused together by dragonfire into glimring mounds. Others were pits of scorched bones, the remnants of als or enemies, the marrow long sucked dry. Many contained younglings, fist-sized or horse-sized, depending on their age and type. They hissed, chattered, or slept in tangled piles, scales glowing faintly like smoldering embers.
Not a single egg.
Carla wasn’t surprised.
All dragons—true dragons—did not breed the mortal way. Their progeny ca from a single, ancient source.
She moved swiftly, soundlessly, weaving through tunnels and crossing rickety stone bridges that wound around massive cavern drops. Her path was certain—a thread of connection tugging at her mind, faint but steady. The bond she shared with her servant brother acted like an inner compass, guiding her through the labyrinth.
And thankfully, every few tunnels confird she had chosen the right ti.
Dragons—young and old—were stampeding upward, shaking the ground as they rushed toward the surface to fight the Sky People. Their absence made the deeper chambers far easier to navigate.
Still, trouble found her.
A whisper of wind, and a flicker of movent.
Carla’s eyes narrowed.
A Sky Person descended silently from a crack in the ceiling, wings folding inward, spear lting into a curved silver blade. He moved like liquid tal, aiming for her head with a killing stroke.
Carla shifted.
Her body twirled under the swipe, her leg snapping up like a whip—
CRACK
—breaking his wing at the joint. Before he scread, she grasped his hair and smashed his skull against the rock wall. Once, twice—
—until the body went limp.
Carla was Demon, and clearly, the sky people were better at dealing with dragons I the air than people on land. This was a flaw of there’s she won’t forget.
She wiped her long fingers on his cloak and kept moving.
Her descent continued for minutes more, until the heat thickened into a choking haze and the walls glowed faintly red. The tunnels opened into a vast underground chamber—so deep it felt like the belly of a slumbering volcano.
Chains thicker than ancient trees spiraled downward.
At their end...
A colossal silhouette breathed.
The Blood-Red Fire Dragon.
It lay coiled in a hollow crater, wings bound, jaws sealed with black rune-iron, scales glowing like molten rubies under a forge.
Carla stepped forward, breath steady.
She had found him.
The Blood-Red Fire Dragon lay bound like a fallen god.
Chains—thick as fortress pillars—coiled around its limbs, torso, wings, and throat. Each link was carved with searing golden runes, symbols of ancient suppression that pulsed like living brands. So chains didn’t only bind; they stabbed directly into its flesh, long iron spikes hamred into muscle and scale, pinning the dragon to the volcanic earth like a crucified beast.
Every breath it exhaled shimred with heat... and pain.
Around the cavern, other dragons were imprisoned as well—blue-scaled, silver-scaled, obsidian-scaled. So unconscious, so snarling weakly, all chained with similar runes.
Carla did not spare them a glance.
She only walked toward him.
The Blood-Red Fire Dragon lifted its head as she approached, runes flickering angrily in response to its movent. His skin glowed like molten ruby, but it was his eyes—deep, bloody, luminous—that shone brightest in the abyss.
When their gazes t, its enormous body trembled. The chains creaked.
Up close, Carla swallowed hard.
Long scars ran across its jaw, chest, and legs—evidence of centuries of torture. The worst wound was at the center of its chest, where its spiritual core—a burning sun of condensed draconic essence—was sealed shut by a cluster of black rune-spikes. The seal flashed painfully whenever it tried to move.
Carla stepped closer and placed her palm gently on the dragon’s scorching scales.
The beast leaned into her touch, its massive body shuddering with relief.
"I’ve missed you, brother," she whispered.
The dragon gave a soft, trembling rumble. Its eyes closed, pressing more of its head into her hand like a grieving child. Carla reached toward the core seal—
ZAAAP!
A violent arc of energy shocked her hand back, burning her skin and sending her sliding a foot across the ground.
The dragon whimpered, ashad, lowering its head as if apologizing.
Carla shook out her hand, crouched by its snout, and stroked it soothingly.
"It’s okay... it’s okay," she murmured, her voice soft. "Master Chiron prepared sothing for this. Let’s get you out."
With a flick of her wrist, a vial appeared.
The liquid inside shimred yellow-gold, swirling like venomous sunlight.
Carla uncorked it.
The sll alone was sharp enough to sting the air.
"This," she explained calmly, "is the poison essence of Manu Madayaki... that annoying King of Poisons. Even the ancient origins of dragons in this world once fears this toxin."
The dragon’s eyes widened in recognition.
Carla began to pour the golden poison onto the chains and sealing runes. The reaction was imdiate—hissing, crackling, the sound of ancient magic recoiling in fear. The runes flickered violently and then—
SSSHHHKKK—CRACK!
One by one, the bindings unraveled, the rune-marks dissolving into smoke. The spikes embedded in its flesh lted away like wax in a furnace. The ground trembled as the dragon pulled itself free, shaking off chains that had held it for hundreds of years.
When it finally stood—
Carla’s breath caught.
He was massive.
More massive than the last ti she had seen him.
Imprisonnt and torture had not broken him—instead, they had forged him.
His body was colossal, thickly muscled, scales glowing like liquid magma. Fire rippled under his skin with every breath. His wings unfolded, stretching wide enough to eclipse the cavern ceiling.
Even sealed, he had grown. Even tortured, he had evolved.
And Carla knew why.
"Master has been feeding you spiritual energy through your bond," she whispered, smiling proudly. "Of course you’ve grown."
The Blood-Red Fire Dragon lowered its head to her, rumbling affectionately, awaiting her next command.
And then it’s nose caught a sll. It’s pupils focused in recognition.
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