Chapter 12: The Fall
January 18, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Flora hit the ground hard.
Air rushed from her lungs as she rolled across rough stone, her body aching from the impact. She groaned, pushing herself upright. The world around her slowly came into focus.
She was in a cavern — vast, echoing, lit by glowing crystals embedded in the walls. Water dripped steadily from the ceiling, forming small pools that shimmered with an eerie blue light.
A figure lay crumpled nearby.
“Aestus!”
Flora scrambled to his side, shaking him gently. He groaned, eyelids fluttering open.
“You’re alive,” she breathed.
“Barely,” he muttered. “What happened?”
“We fell through the void,” Flora said. “But we’re out now.”
Aestus sat up slowly, wincing. “The dragon?”
Flora’s chest tightened. “I don’t know.”
A distant roar echoed through the cavern — faint, pained, but unmistakably draconic.
Aestus met her gaze. “We have to find him.”
Flora nodded. “And then we find Tenebris.”
“And then,” Aestus added, “we find the Sword of Vengeance.”
Flora rose to her feet, fire flickering faintly around her hands.
“Then let’s move.”
The cavern stretched before them like the throat of some ancient beast.
And they stepped into its depths.
