The blue light of the portal illuminates the surrounding area up to a few paces. As Seraphine steps into the darkness. Then the buzzing on the wings fills the whole area as drones emerge from the portal. They all scatter and soon the buzzing vanishes, but something is still in the air. It's a butterfly; flapping its wings, it approaches her and sits on her nose. The butterfly explodes into dust, which flies into her eyes.

  “That ought to help," Emile says through the comms.

  Seraphine blinks, and the darkness vanishes. She is in a stony hallway that stretches into darkness. Rust-colored walls rise infinitely high into the darkness.

  “So where is it?” Seraphine asks as she starts to move forward. Already, her boots have picked up dust.

  “It has some kind of vanishing abilities, ma'am," an operator replies.

  “What about the drones? Do they see anything?” she asks.

  "Nothing," Emile butts in. “Simply, nothing. They dragged you out here for a B-grade dragon. That may or may not exist. They are wasting your time. The adventurers will come back if you give them some time. They might just be simply lost. I don’t shout my pizza boy is dead when he is late. I only WAIT!”

  “Calm down, Emile,” Seraphine says, “If this were a B-grade dragon, it would have attacked me as soon as I entered. They're territorial by nature.”

  “Every dragon is," Emile replies.

  "Yes, but B grades are different. They are not at the top or at the bottom," Seraphine explains.

  “So you are saying. They have more to show up for.”

  “Like a bully on the school ground.” The operator adds.

  Emile hisses in comms.

  "Sorry," the operator replies.

  Her eyes fall on something. She moves toward it; the drone follows her.

  “Can you see this?” Seraphine asks, looking at a badge on the ground.

  "You might want to look behind," Emile says.

  Seraphine turns. The hole is large enough to fit a house.

  “Can a B-grade do this?” the operator asks.

  "I think you should come back," Emile says, but her voice is breaking.

  'Interference?' Seraphine wonders.

  "Seraphine," Emilie starts, "we will let the drones survey the—"

  Seraphine notices the humming first. The stone lurches and cracks beneath her, spreading like a web. Two hills rise from the ground at Seraphine's sides. They are taller than her.

  “Seraphine, Seraphine!” Elima shouts, "Are you all right?"

  Like two walls closing in on someone. They rush at her, cutting through the ground with sharp rocks. "That's not rocks; that's—." Her legs explode as she rockets through the narrow gap that is about to close in on her. Her clothes press against her slim body. As she reaches higher and higher into the air. Violently flapping like a flag in a storm. The flapping lessens as she turns to look down at the dragon.

  Who is burrowing out from its hiding place? Dirt clings to it in chunks. Then the scales begin to vibrate. She can hear the humming from up there.

  "You did the right thing, Operator, reporting this," Seraphine says. "This is not a B-grade dragon."

  "Give me a visual of the dragon. Where are the drones? We need them," Emile shouts.

  "If it is not a B-grade, then what is it?" Emilie asks.

  Seraphine realizes her climb has started to slow down. "Don't know. Can't put a finger on it.” The flapping of her clothes has almost ended. The dragon looks up at her.

  “Something in his eyes," Seraphine says.

  “Eyes?” Emilie asks.

  “It has the eyes of someone who hates everything," Seraphine says.

  There is a pause.

  "I'm giving you access to everything," Emilie says.

  "Someone is feeling generous," Seraphine laughs.

  "Just don't die."

  “Don’t worry, I'm not planning to.” Seraphine says.

  Her clothes stop flapping, as her accent seizes. She starts to float in the air. Everything goes quiet. The dragon gives a loud shriek and its scales start to vibrate. Yellow light comes out of its mouth as it aims at her. The gravity then turns on, and she starts to fall. The speed of her increases with every moment. He lets out a beam; moving to the side, she dodges it. He attacks again, and she dodges again.

  "Weapons are ready," Emilie says as several suitcases materialize beside her. Their sides open, and out come swords, neatly displayed in their scabbards. She flicks her wrist, and they vanish like they had appeared. She flicks her wrist again, and a heavy sword appears in her hands. Her fall increases tenfold, catching the dragon by surprise. A mushroom cloud rises high in the air as she falls onto the dragon. The cracked ground cracks even further. The drone camera captures the impact. In the infrared, they find a crater where Seraphine stands over the dragon.

  "Well, that was easy," Emile says, as the dragon rears its head, throwing Seraphine to the side. Its scales start to vibrate again.

  “You jinxed it, Emlile," Seraphine says as she hits the wall feet first. Her boots activate, and she sticks like a spider.

  “Sorry!” Emilie replies, but her voice is barely audible under the static.

  The scales start to vibrate faster and faster. Steam starts to rise from the dragon. It aims its mouth toward Seraphine and starts to attack. Seraphine turns to the side on the wall and jumps. Behind her, the wall explodes as the beam hits. More attacks come. She doesn't stop. The humming has intensified now; the scales are turning red. The place where the dragon is standing is also starting to melt. The dragon shifts to keep up with her speed. It leaves glowing footprints in the ground as it moves. All of the scales have turned red. It pauses to collect power; the beam turns red, orange, and then white as the dragon lets go. Seraphine, who is still on the wall, sees the dragon charge. Then the strike comes. It is three times bigger than the dragon itself. It hits the wall where Seraphine is.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  The caves in as massive cracks run in every direction; lines race along the wall faster than the drone can capture. They branch and split out like lightning spreading across both sides.

  But the dragon continues to push the beam. It burrows deeper and deeper until magma starts to come out of the cracks. The wound then turns white as the wall tries to hold, tries to resist, but the dragon pushes even further. The wall bulges from the sides as the pressure increases. Then the stone is suddenly pulled back as though pulled into a vacuum. A white ball forms deep in the wall. Chunks larger than buildings crumble and fall from the sky as the wall is practically unmade. Before they can touch the ground. The ball pulses and explodes.

  The entrance wound is the only opening in the infinite stone. Magma erupts like blood from a wound and, like a tsunami, hits the dragon and buries it deep.

  The drones try to climb higher and higher to avoid getting destroyed. Almost all of them break in the process, but two remain.

  “Seraphine!” Emile shouts through the crowd, “Seraphine, Seraphine!” but she hears nothing.

  “What happened?” Emile asks a researcher who stands at her side outside the gate. They are in a forest near a mountain where a gate has formed.

  “WHAT HAPPENED!” Emilie grabs the man by his collar. As she looks at the horrified man.

  “I have..” The man says, “I have never seen anything like this.”

  “Neither have I," Emilie shouts, “I thought this was a—”

  “We have movement!” the operator shouts.

  “Is it Seraphine?” Emilie asks, but her stomach falls as she sees the dragon burrow out from the glowing lake of fire. Which is rapidly cooling. Its humming of the scales has died down.

  “It seems to becooling itslef.” The reasercher says

  The dragon shakes itself to remove the molten rocks but is frustrated by the rock that has entered its scales. It turns and twists as the glowing rocks fall to the ground beside it. Now even the fiery lake has turned to embers. Then the ground explodes as Seraphine erupts from the ground to attack it; it barely manages to evade the attack and still gets a gash on its side.

  “Do you think you were the only one who could do that?" Seraphine says as she lands to the side. In the control room, everyone cheers. As the injured dragon takes notice of his injury and sees that she is alright. The confusion makes him even more angry. The shift is visible as the temperature suddenly rises. The cheering ends immediately as the scales begin to hum again and rapidly turn orange from red.

  “The sensors are picking up something else," the operator says.

  “Is it another dragon?” Emilie says, horror plain on her face.

  "No, something deep underground, something much smaller and it’s pulsing.”

  With a screech, the attacks start again. With a flick of the wrist, she changes her sword to a Claymore. The ground beneath explodes as she propels herself toward the dragon. The dragon shoots multiple beams at the rapidly approaching Seraphine. She batters each and every attack to the side. The deflected beams explode as they hit the wall. The dragon opens its mouth to charge another attack, but she is too close. So, he lets go of a premature attack at point-blank range, but she has already propelled herself to the side in the air. With another step, she is rocketing toward its face again. She hits the dragon on the face, sending it toppling onto the ground. She goes in again, aiming at its neck, but the dragon moves, and she hits the ground where its head has been a moment ago. Its massive arm swipes at her. She goes under it to hit at its legs, but then humming starts again as the ground beneath the dragon, where she is standing, starts to explode in magma. She propels herself to escape from its rear side, but its tail stops her. She turns back to escape from the front and manages only to be grabbed by the sword and flung to the side. She skitters on the ground like a thrown pebble on a lake.

  “You are something," she says as she stands up. Her head is bleeding. The dragon scales vibrate again and now all of the scales are orange. It roars as a pressure falls over her. It's primal intimidation. Then the dragon lunges at her. The distance is great but the dragon covers it in three strides. His speed has increased. She is not ready. It again slashes at her and sends her flying to the side. Except there is no wall this time. She shifts to propel herself but the dragon is below her and the mouth is already glowing. She barely manages to bring her sword up. The pressure sends her flying into the air but the beam keeps coming. She pushes at the beam trying to deflect it. She manages it but then cracks start to appear in her sword. But she still keeps going. The attack is deflected but now all she holds in her hand is a broken blade. It crumbles in her hand. She sees the dust slip through her fingers. Then she turns slowly to look at the monster.

  ‘It will end the way it started,' she thinks. And she holds out her hand. The dragon looks at her. Then notices a small circle beneath his feet turning red, then orange. It explodes upwards. As a pillar of light rises, shooting from the ground below and enveloping the dragon completely. Then the fountain of magma erupts. A small thing hovers in front of the Seraphine. It’s a sword made of white crystal.

  From the magma, the dragon comes out with slow steps. Its eyes are white now, and the scales are slowly turning white. The hum is defining to hear. Now Seraphine stops climbing and floats for a second as she looks at the dragon. That has started to produce a wheezing sound. With every second, the sound increases. She is falling now. The dragon opens its mouth to aim at her. A ball appears in front of its mouth, but he doesn't let go. It grows larger and larger until it is twice as big as him, and he is completely covered by it, but then the dragon slips. The ball is released, of course, but just a little bit, enough to give her space to attack. She changes her sword to attack the almost dead dragon. The sword glows and flickers with lightning. As she maneuvers past the ball, that is when she sees its eyes. They are different now. They didn’t have hatred in them; 'He is smiling,' and that is when she realizes that it is a trap. Before she can do anything. The dragon and ball both explode, creating two giant white balls trapping her in the center.

  Emile and the operator see the two explosions on the screen, and then the screen goes white. This is their last drone. All of the drones were heatproof and had heat protection buffs, but they were never ready for this. The magic is overflowing as the computers start to give alerts that the connection is weak. Elima realizes that they have lost the fragmented reality as well as speraphine today. Until a man shouts, pointing wildly at the screen. A small dark spot comes into view. She moves forward, lowering her glasses. The spot is no bigger than her nail. Then it starts to grow and in moments it's the size of a grape, then a lemon, then an orange, and then a melon, and then it covers the whole screen. White lights flicker in and out of the darkness, like two liquids floating in the ball. Something moves in the liquid, a silhouette like a shark in the water. It is swimming, and then all of a sudden. The Dragon comes out of the darkness, melting; it thrashes as it tries to get out of the ball. But the dark viscous liquid pulls at it from everyside. Where ever it touches, it melts like wax. It reaches its outstretched hand; the flesh melts, then bones, and at the end even bone as the liquid finally flows over the dragon, moving into its eyes and mouth as it pulls it back. Then the ball explodes.

  “What happened?" the captain asks. Emelie doesn't even realize that he has entered the room.

  “The camera is out.” The orepartor says “There is no signal."

  “Then send another one!” he shouts.

  They try, but the door is blocked; the magical field wouldn't let them through.

  “This is impossible," a gateway mage says out loud, as she tries to study the magic around the two pillars. Calls come left and right and both Elima and the captain are busy. The whole nation is asking what happened. Then the mage touches the pillar, fire erupts all over him. People run away from the intensity. More mages come running to extinguish the fire. But nothing, it takes 6 water elemental specialists to douse the flames. Then a man shotus.

  “There is a signal!” the shout is taken up. They all run into the operation room. Meanwhile, another drone enters the portal. The image immediately starts to flicker in and out.

  “What is going on?” the captain says, looking at the uneven black image. “Open the night vision," the operator does, but all he can see are strange images.

  “What is this?" Elima asks again. “Why is the image like this.”

  “It looks like someone broke reality," someone muttered from the side.

  "No, it's glass," the captain says. “And that is the distortion and reflection."

  “Can you locate her?” the captain asks.

  “The magic intensity is off the charts, and the temperature is—”

  “There!” Elima points out, there is light in darkness. The night vision picks it up. There is a flicker in the green tinge of the night vision. The drone moves toward the flciker.

  “There she is!” Elima says, but then she notices her nakedness. And tells the operator to move the camera away from her, but then they notice the violent shaking of her body. They rush the drone toward her.

  “Is she?” the operator asks, horrified.

  "Yes," the captain says gravely.

  "Laughing," mutters Elima.