across the room. It felt like it would crumble beneath me at any moment.
The dragon-kin turned and retreated towards me. His face held no readable emotion, though my own, I could tell, was horror-stricken. In one swift movement, he grabbed me around the middle, hoisted me over his shoulder, and dashed toward the exit. It was an embarrassing position – to be in someone’s arms – running butt-first. I smacked his back with my fists.
“What are you doing? Let me go, dragon!” I continued to hit him, uselessly.
“Levent,” he barked. “My name is Levent Itzallion. Not ‘dragon’ or anything else you’d like to call me.” I could almost tell he was grinning, throwing my words from earlier back at me like that. I would have protested more, were it not for what I had seen next.
“Oh ancient spirits,” I gasped. “Something’s coming up from the floor in there!” The floor we had just been standing on collapsed completely, and I could see movement in the darkness. An abrupt burst of pressure from beneath the floor sent Levent and I tumbling into the water in the next room.
I spluttered and wiped my eyes, sitting in the shallow pool before he gripped the back of my coat and pulled me to my feet. I had a second to notice that the wisps, which had floated upon the air before, had vanished.
Before I could manage my own balance, I had been flung over the dragon-kin’s shoulder again. This time I was a little too dazed to complain.
As I was carried out of the structure, I watched in horror at what was happening in our wake. Everything was shaking and making terrible noises, and I could tell that all the history and beauty that I had witnessed a few moments ago were gone. Really, the dragon-kin’s breaking of the stone door paled in comparison.
Levent might have said something as we exited the building, but I could not hear him as a strange cry broke out from the inner room. He put me down somewhat gently, but I ended up landing neatly on my rump anyway. I got to my feet quickly, and ignored the indignity of the last few seconds.
“What is it?” I yelled at him. The ground was not shaking out here, but the noise could still be heard. My voice was barely audible to myself. “What is that thing?”
He simply stated, “It is here.” And indeed it was.
The structure seemed to explode in front of us as the thing tore itself from it. The creature was positively gigantic! It looked like a plant merged with a beast, all