Too Far Gone

Chapter 2

After gathering enough strength to sit up, and passing out more than a few times, I pondered the surroundings.
None of it was familiar.
A great, abandoned stone hall devastated in ruins. Marvellous carved stonework in every corner, somehow, it made my oblivious mind ease.

A sword covered in black ash lay on the ground a few feet away. I picked up every ounce of strength I had and forced myself onto my knees. The pain in my leg gave me a limited ability to rest upon it.
My mind raced. I tried to cut it off, stop the blank thoughts. The blank thoughts still sent my mind a blur. I thought nothing, yet my head was stubborn to the point of thinking nothing, but that nothing hurt.
Because I could think nothing.

I dragged myself to grab the sword.
Just as I got a hold of it by the blade, a loud shift shook the halls. More stone fell from the ceiling, crashing down to the ground all around. I clutched the blade tightly with fright. It spilt my hand in two places, dark blood drew from them and down to my sleeve.
I covered my head with my arms. More pain shot. Pain that I didn't know was there. I shot my arms back down, flinching from the pain.
The shift stopped abruptly.
That, was a Dragon.

My heartbeat sped up and my breaths became a job.
I fell back onto my hands, the one hand still bled fiercely, dripping off steadily.
I wasn't staying here any longer. I grabbed the sword and shot up, ignoring the pain.
Not a brilliant idea.
Blood rushed to my head, I felt it like an army of Goblins barreling through. The dizziness was too much to bear.
My attempt failed as I fell back onto the stone.

I brought my hand up to my head and felt it. My cold hand offered a second of relief until it was warmed by my fuming head.
Everything doubled.
Double columns. Double walls. Double hands.

I tried again, this time driving the sword into the stone ground to offer support. I placed my weight on it and reached success as I stood. I worked through the dizziness and excruciating aches and pains.
But in my own way, I nearly began sprinting up the blood-covered stairs.
Not even a few steps up I stumbled and fell back onto my hands and knees, dropping the sword.
I picked it up and tried again. Only walking.

I made it up, with the pounding of my head at every step. There was a set of enormous doors straight ahead of me.
I walked to them, stumbling every few steps.
The doors were damaged and sealed shut. Damaged with fire, Dragon fire nonetheless.
I lifted the sword and dug it in between the two doors. It winded me quickly.
It was no use, they were sealed shut. There was no way out.

I collapsed again, only this time for lack of hope.
A rain of grief washed over me as I sat against the doors.
My breaths were heavy and laboured, my head spun again in all different directions.

"I will not suffer this fate. Not this day." I assured myself.

I grabbed the sword and began walking towards the right. A long pathway lay ahead.
I followed it around a corner.
And another.
And a number more.

I was lost.
Clueless as to where I stood. Oblivious to the world as it now was.
I sauntered ungracefully down, through, up, and around the great stone halls.
Then it hits me.
There is a live Dragon in here.
I stopped dead in my clueless tracks and drop the sword.
It clings and makes a loud echo. I tense up, squeezing every inch of my body that I possibly can, hoping the Dragon did not notice.
Nothing.

I walked more.
And more.
Going up and down countless amounts of stairs.
I came up a set of stairs and reached a small hallway, it lead out to what appeared to be an enormous room. Columns holding it up all around. I could have gone up another flight of escalating steps, but I knew wit would not benefit me.
I walked out of the small hallway and into the large room.
I was wrong, it wasn't a room, it was an enormous valley rich with gold and treasure in every corner. Jewels of great beauty scattered in the mounds of wealth.
It was unbelievable. My jaw dropped and so did my sword again.
I bent down to retrieve it when a loud sound echoed and shook the room. The treasure shifted and a large tail exited it.
I gasped, throwing my hand over my mouth to avoid yelping.
A live Dragon.
I picked up the sword and quickly ran back towards the hallway. I ran up the stairs, not back the way I came.

I ran up and reached another small hallway. I didn't look back, I was too shocked to even contemplate that I could run let alone that there was a live Dragon in the next room.
I kept running. The halls seemed to get smaller and smaller with every corner I turned. No longer were they perfectly carved, but more of an unfinished carve.
Or a carve to way out.
I ran up one last flight of stairs and a few more corners.

There was a dead end. With old Dwarvish runes just below the low ceiling.
A picture of a door.
It was a hidden door.
I felt around it. A crack on the side. I drove the sword into it and forced it open.
It opened slightly. It stopped. I had no choice but to grab it and force it open with my hands.
I pulled it towards me and it opened. The sun came through brightly and shone on my face. I soaked it up for a second, relived.

But that was only the start of another lengthy battle in time.