blaze of glory

How long have you been going down this damn hole? It has to have been at least an hour now. You've been going deeper and deeper without really knowing why, with only the light of your torch showing the way. Your grip on the plastic tightens and your heart pounds. You shine your light to the ceiling and see that the shaft is reinforced, but not very securely. Occasionally the hole rattles, sending debris raining down onto your head. Your pulse and breathing lurch forward when this happens, and moments afterwards you realize just how much being down here is exhausting you. As you progress, your lungs desperately try to cling to whatever oxygen they can pull from the increasingly thin air. Your mind fixates on how helpless you are, flicking back upwards at the thousands of  tonnes of earth above you. If it were to come down, there would be nothing you could do. Your heart beats on, desperately trying to keep you moving even though it too is struggling to continue.

Another feeling starts to seep into you. The others had been close enough to simple exhaustion to at least be familiar, but this one is new. It's not long before the cool of the underground starts to give way to warmth. It's hardly a comfort, because the warmth quickly turns into a sickening heat, clinging to your skin and worming its way inside. It penetrates deeper, making your whole body feel corrupted and ill, and soon nausea starts to creep up through you. You retch, body desperately trying to purge itself of this sick, but it's in vain. Nothing comes up because there is nothing to expel.

You really do feel like you're going to die down here in this dark, deep hole. Every part of you is begging to just curl up on the floor and let the heat and earth swallow you. But you keep going. You don't even know why.

The shaft eventually leads to an end, opening up to a cavern. It's not massive but compared to the tight, claustrophobic shaft it feels like you just stepped outside. Dull green light dots the walls, pulsing with that same grotesque warmth that's been permeating the mine. More importantly, there's nothing here. You shine your torch in every direction, but it's perfectly empty.

Well, that's just great, you think. You're not even angry. There isn't enough energy left for that kind of emotion. Only thing to do now is sit down and stare up at the pretty lights, wait for your torch to die and then for you to follow suit.

Before you get the chance to shift, though, a blistering heat bursts through the cavern, this time like a roaring fire. Adrenaline spikes through your body and your heart bursts back to life as finally you remember that you are still alive, and would really rather stay that way. Your eyes dart around, finally refocusing and trying to find the source of the heat.

From a small hole on the other side of the cavern something emerges, and your eyes are forced closed again from its blinding brightness. When you can finally stand to look at it, you still can't believe what you're seeing. It can really only be described as a dragon, its long serpentine body made entirely of flames. No, there must be something underneath that, you think, because in several places its body is cinched by thick iron shackles. It pauses for a moment and you get a look at its grey, ashen face, pressing out from the swept-back flame. It's not a very good look, though, as moments later it thrashes and roars, smashing against the walls as if desperately trying to break out. You try to escape back through the tunnel you came in before the whole damn place comes down, but you freeze when you see that the beast has noticed you.

It snakes close at impossible speed and seems to stare right into your eyes. It's only now that you notice that its own eyes, that looked like glowing coals from a distance, are marked with two tiny slits. It hesitates, its maw twisting up into a sick grin. It's almost as if it recognizes you, but it's no help as you can feel the ends of your hair being singed by the sheer heat of the monster. It's only a second of time, but the tension of the moment makes it feel like the longest moment of your life.

The only thing that saves you from losing your head is when you see its grin twitch into a snarl, the soft growling it'd been making sharply raising into a pained howl. It gives you just enough time to leap back into the shaft as the beast slams into the wall, and you run for dear life, ignoring the sickness and exhaustion because with every step you can still feel and hear the dragon snapping at you. Even as your body starts to slow, it still doesn't leave your trail.

You don't know how you're going to accomplish it, but the only option now is to fight. Or die. At this point, both are viable options. You turn and stare on as the beast finally advances.