Darkness Grows Ch. 3

Darkness Grows

Ch. 3

Elena felt a warm breeze on her back and slowly opened her eyes looking up and seeing stone walls surrounding her with a barred metal door in front of her.
Where am I? She wondered trying to stand up and falling down
Ugh, why am I so tired? She wondered looking at herself and leaping back in surprise at what she saw as her memory suddenly flooded back
Oh no, no, no She thought tears flowing from her eyes and not noticing the shadow that materialized right outside of her cell.

“I j-just want to leave,” She said to herself not expecting a response.

“You will never be able to leave” The voice echoed and the wall behind her was suddenly enveloped in black mist and the temperature in the room skyrocketed as jets of gas blasted out of the stone and it started to turn red.

“W-what are you going to do to me,” She asked backing up against the bars with the creature behind her as she looked at the far wall in fear.

"I'll destroy you if you don't provide me with the crystal in your neck," It said with a menacing tone in its voice.

"What? That crystal?" She asked in fear feeling her neck with a talon as she felt one scale low on it that seemed different.

"Yes, right there, give it to me, now!" It said darkly

She took a step back almost tripping over herself not yet used to her body as she tried to pull it off feeling a slight jolt as her Talon was almost forcibly pushed away "I... I can't remove it" She said in fear about what the creature would do.

“If you won't give me what I want then I will destroy you!” It said

“No please don't hurt me,” She said collapsing and feeling the heat rise in the room causing her to pant uncontrollably as she tried harder to escape the gas smelling sulfur as it restricted her ability to breathe.

Why is this happening to me? She asked herself trying her best to push through the bars but to no avail.
Please just let me get out! She begged silently suddenly feeling a cool feeling spread from her chest and cool the air around her.

“No! What type of magic is this!” The creature said causing the floor under her to vibrate with the volume of its voice

“I-I d-don't know, I just want to go home,” She said tearing up the tears evaporating as soon as they hit the floor

“Fine if I can't torture you then I will just crush you,” The creature said as she heard the ceiling creak and stones start to fall from it as she was desperately trying to push through the bars suddenly feeling them give way and falling out into the corridor the red hot bars collapsing around her.
She then stood up as quickly as she could and looking both ways she started moving as fast as she could in the direction that seemed to have a cooler breeze coming from it, and then as she heard a loud explosion behind her she doubled her speed trying to escape and running down the passage at high velocity.
As she ran she turned her head looking behind her and seeing a molten red substance seeping out of the cell she had been in.
Is that lava? She wondered in panic fleeing down the passage as fast as she could trying to escape it and not looking in front of her suddenly feeling pain as she struck a wall and fell to the ground.

“I knew you wouldn't get far,” The creature said behind her as she tried to ignore the pain in her shoulder and stand up.

“Please just stop doing this to me” She yelped as another wave of pain hit her.

“I am not going to do that, I have already removed countless threat’s and you are just a temporary inconvenience for my plans that I shall remove as I have the others” It said as Elena managed to stand and once again tried to escape from it, looking behind herself she saw a dark form suspended in midair moving towards her from over the flow of lava and a huge cloud of smoke and gas billowing from the cell she had been in.
I can’t let the gas reach me, if I do I will never wake up Elena thought feeling the air getting harder to breathe and taking gulping breaths of the little oxygen there was as she staggered down the passage seeing it continue on as far as she could see.

“You will not be able to move for long and then your body will be burned into nothing!” The creature said as she continued staggering down the passage feeling the oxygen content in the air drop.

Please don’t let me die like this, please She silently begged continuing to push on seeing her vision grow blurry No, No She thought desperately trying to prevent herself from collapsing I must keep going if I collapse that will be the end of me She thought looking behind herself and seeing the shadow moving closer then realizing a strange tingling that seemed to vibrate through her whole body, and made it become easier to breathe despite the lack of oxygen in the air.
She then realized that she ended up stopping taking gasping breaths as she was suddenly able to breathe and jumped back in alarm as she saw a dark cloud in front of her face collapsing back to the ground as pain shot up her leg.
I’m done for there is nothing I can do now to protect myself from this She thought as she felt the temperature rise around her as the lava moved closer.

“I knew you wouldn't be able to run forever,” The creature said as it appeared next to her looking down at her with glowing red eyes as her panic continued to grow.

Wait, how am I able to breathe? She wondered looking back towards the dark cloud over her mouth and focusing on the feeling she felt flowing through her body, What is this feeling that I can feel flowing through me? It’s almost as if I drew it forth and created a field that is allowing me to breathe, if I was able to do that with it can I draw on it to allow me to get rid of the lava?
Regaining her breath she slowly stood drawing on the energy she felt flowing through her watching a dark cloud form around her body and a strange darkness flowing through her form almost as if it was masking her own life and found it be a very strange feeling.

“Oh, so you have been changed, that is good,” The creature said looking down on her

Changed? I've not changed any more than I was a few seconds ago, I’m still me, does this thing think that I have been changed? Maybe I will be able to find out what happened to my friends if I act like I have.
Turning towards it, she then tried to adopt a blank stare as it looked at her then suddenly turned and drifted down the passage and she followed it trying to hide her limp as she felt the heat recede and she continued to follow it and used the strange energy she felt within her to sustain the dark aura around herself.
Am I infiltrating an evil fortress? She gazed around at the walls finding there wasn't a single light How can I see like it is daylight if there are no lights around me? She looked down the passage they were following seeing stone walls surrounding her as the passage continued on.
I guess I’m going to find out where I am soon She thought and spotted a turn following the creature as it went left and the path started sloping downward.
Okay so if I need to escape I can follow that passage She thought taking a quick glance at the right path seeing an upward slope but hiding her glance as well as she could following the creature as it traveled the left path, and looking at it she saw that it seemed to have four legs but its form was almost invisible with the cloud of darkness that surrounded it.
What is this thing? She wondered looking at the creature and barely noticing as the walls of the tunnel turned from a gray into a solid black.
I was just trying to escape from this creature and now I am willingly following it, what a strange change, I hope my friends are okay and we will be able to get out of here.
Elena walked down the passage looking at the walls and seeing almost black obsidian in them.
The walls look almost like this is a lava tube. Wait, a lava tube, is that why there was lava earlier, am I in a volcano? She looked at the walls with a little bit of panic.
I guess even if this is a volcano I can’t do anything about it unless I want to be killed by this creature... She looked back at the form of the creature that floated in the passage in front of her doing her best to push her panic and fear out of her mind and just continue walking as she followed it.
As she continued on she watched the light around her increase suddenly as she stepped out into a warm chamber and quickly gazed around as her eyes adjusted to the difference in light, her eyes then widened in surprise as she gazed across a circular chamber with a pool of lava in the center. Then as she looked over at one of the sides, she saw that it was covered in small caves that seemed to have a strange black glitter within them as she looked at them, she realized looking in surprise that it was the same black glitter as was generated by her own scales as they reflected the light.
That’s incredible! She thought in awe almost unable to fathom how many dragons there must be there suddenly looking back at the dark creature as she spotted it’s gaze on her.

“Now go find somewhere, I don’t care where but if you cause trouble you will be burning very quickly,” It said in almost a growl before it suddenly vanished in a dark cloud which faded away.

Elena breathed a sigh of relief as it fully vanished looking back over towards the caves, I guess I should go over and find an empty cave… Maybe I’ll be able to find Della and Sarah! She thought feeling excited for a moment before worry crossed over her mind But if they have been changed like I have how will I ever find them? She gazed across the cave sadly as she suddenly spotted a single dragon walking down below around the lava pool on the flat platform, she was about to look away until she noticed something odd about the dragon being that it had grey scales instead of having solid black ones.
Hmm, that’s strange… I wonder why that dragon has grey scales… She gazed down at the dragon until it vanished out of sight behind the slope below her as the chamber was terraced with about three layers before it leveled off into the lava pool.
Elena continued her gazing before deciding she should just head over to one of the caves below and started walking towards them as she realized that they just seemed to get larger and larger some of them seeming to be as big as a small mountain. Why are they so big? Are there dragons of that size? She wondered looking in awe.
Returning her gaze in front of her she looked at the caves that were at the same level as her walking a distance from the larger ones, then looking into one that seemed to be roomy enough for her to be comfortable but not cramped she stepped towards it looking at it as it didn’t seem to have any marks of habitation she stepped inside her face dropping as she saw that it was only stone and nothing else.
It won’t be a penthouse suite but it’s better than nothing I guess… She thought as she moved over to the corner and curled up in an attempt to get comfortable finding her scales helped to make the stone feel less uncomfortable on her body gently setting her head down and releasing a yawn before she instantly drifted into a deep sleep.