As I feel the air rushing towards me from below, I momentarily ask myself which is scarier: the dragon behind me who's about to eat me, or jumping these freaking stairs all the way down to the ground floor, which is freaking high.
Thankfully, it's a curved staircase, so I quickly throw my front hooves down to grab the railing, stopping my fall.
And then I continue running for dear life as I hear and feel that loud thud of a clawstep.
And then another clawstep, and another, and another.
And then a roar that sounds a bit ... annoyed?
Reaching the end of the stairs, I stupidly look up and do a double-take.
The dragon's attempt at shaking Reykan off of its face is making me think that either it's just slow or is still groggy. It's letting out groans of annoyance as it slowly shaking its head left and right.
“YEAH!” Moon Gaze—who's on my head—suddenly yells, startling me. “Get him, Reykan!”
Something pinches my ear and starts dragging me away from the scene. “Ow ow ow ow—!”
It's Seri, and she's pulling me by the ear with her beak—
A mighty roar. The ground shakes. Seri and I slip. The gemstones around us are rattling.
We look up and see the dragon slam its snout on the second floor, creating a huge dust cloud, covering the entire second floor balcony thing.
“Well,” Moon Gaze says. “He's dead. Now let's—”
There's a flash of red from the dust cloud, and then a torrent of fire blasts from it.
I duck and cover my head with both hooves, Moon Gaze cowering beside my head.
“The entrance!” Seri gasps.
The flamethrower is gone. I look back and see the entrance is burning, the flames almost reaching the ceiling.
Another roar.
We turn and see the dragon's head emerging from the dust cloud, its large, piercing eyes glaring at us.
I quickly stand up and run towards the hole on the wall, hearing Seri's flapping wings close behind...
...and hearing a loud thud behind as well, rattling the gems.
“We're gonna die we're gonna die we're gonna die!!!” Moon Gaze chants, clinging to my mane as I jump through the hole. Gritting my teeth, I kick my hooves on the grassy ground, heading towards the bordering trees.
“Eep—!” I hear Seri gasp as a strong gust of wind whips at us.
I yelp as I feel my tail is being yanked. I take a quick glance and see Seri clinging onto my tail, and the freaking dragon bursting through the hole, it's large jaw aflame. It lets out another roar to the thunderous sky before looking back at us and giving chase!
Holy shiet, we're definitely gonna die!
“Tree!” Moon Gaze squeaks.
I whip my gaze ahead and quickly fix my path. I run in between two large trees ... which the dragon easily breaks as it continues chasing after us!
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! “I can't see a damn thing!”
And suddenly, a faint white light shines a few inches of my path ahead. Must be Seri pulling the gem out.
But never mind that! “Seri!” I holler as I continue running, ignoring the painful scrapes from the blurring branches of the blurring trees I run by. “Go! Fly!” It's getting brighter for some reason. “Find the book—!”
“FIRE!”
SHIT!
I take a chance and quickly jump left—
“OOF—!”
—slamming my head into a thick branch, almost making me black out.
“Were you trying to kill me?!” I hear Moon Gaze's angry squeak who is shuffling on my back. “Whoa—! Run run run!”
I shake my head, unaware of the fierce torrent of flames mere inches behind us.
And then I now feel how freaking hot my bum is.
“Gah!” I yelp as I continue running, Seri now running beside me, shining the pathway even further.
The earth shakes with each step the dragon rapidly takes, it's mighty roar echoing all around.
“Seri!” I holler. “Find the book! I'll...”
I gulp. Here I go again, acting like a hero...
I shake the hesitation off. “I-I'll distract it!”
“A-are you sure?!” Seri asks in surprise.
Thunder, roar, and trees being broken out of the way.
I gulp yet again. “J-just go!”
Moon Gaze quickly jumps off of me, landing on Seri's back. “Well, it's been nice knowing you, Jay.”
“Fuck you, too,” I growl as Seri runs toward a different direction.
Aaand it's suddenly too dark to see anything!
Gah! These branches are gonna kill me before the dragon could!
And wouldn't you know it, the freaking dragon is following me.
Fuck!
When Seri finds that book, things will be fixed!
I wish!
I hope!
An exit is up ahead! Yes!
...the darkness is awash with red. Freaking hell—!
I jump out of the way, thankful that I didn't slam into a tree or a branch. I feel the air becoming hot as a torrent of blazing-hot fire scorches through the trees behind me.
Using the light provided by the flames, I continue running towards the exit.
...Aaand I can no longer see the damn thing except for that exit! I grit my teeth as I blindly run through the forest of sharp branches.
Getting closer—!
Getting closer—!!!
Alllllllmost there—!