Chapter 352: Alive?
The tunnel’s cave lay deep beneath the earth, yet its ceiling stretched higher than any watchtower. Long, ancient stalagmites stretched down and hovered over the barren chasm. The air was cold, a chill that made one’s breath a wispy smoke. The dark rock beneath Stryg’s bare feet was damp, droplets of icy water dripping from the stalagmites above.
Tauri would have complained of the cold conditions, advising the group to leave the chasm and return to the surface’s warm woodlands. Plum would have wanted to leave as soon as possible, sickened by the mangled lamia corpses Stryg had left behind. Stryg would have opted to leave as well, right after he disemboweled the last living lamia, Agee. If it wasn’t for the strange unseen magic, Agee would have already run from her captors. But she could do no such thing, none of them did. All anyone could do was stare in silence at the draconic skeleton that lay before them.
The bones of the beast were large, larger than the scarlet dragon Tauri and Stryg had encountered at the edge of Glimmer Grove weeks ago. The skeleton occupied the majority of the room, save for a small pond of water at the edge. The pond was larger than most, yet it seemed so tiny next to the skeletal remains. The rib cage alone spanned over 20 ft long and 15 ft tall. The skull was almost half the size and its fangs were as large and sharp as blades.
In life, the creature would have easily swallowed entire centaurs whole, or so Plum thought grimly. She wondered if the dragon would have killed its victims first –perhaps with fire or some other magic– before crushing their bones with its vast array of deadly fangs. She had spent years studying the old tomes and records of every dragon encounter she could find in the libraries of Hollow Shade and Undergrowth. She had even dedicated her final academic project to the endeavor. Yet in all her time spent studying the majestic creatures she had never once imagined seeing one dead.
“Is this real…?” Plum muttered, breaking the silence.
“The Great One was already here before we found the cavern and made it our home,” Agee said quietly.
“Was it alive?” Stryg asked.
Agee shook her head, “The Great One was like this when we found it. My brood never changed a thing in this chamber, we left it as it was.”
“Why?” Tauri asked curiously.