The darkness wasn't just an absence of light. It felt heavy, like cold water pressing against my scales.
As I tumbled deeper into the throat of the mountain, the silver chains tightened. They hissed against my obsidian hide, burning through the magic that kept me in my dragon form. I felt the agonizing pull of the "Reversion"—the forced change back into a human shape. My bones snapped and shortened. My wings shriveled into my back. By the time I hit the stone floor at the bottom of the pit, I was just Elara again.
Naked, shivering, and bleeding on the cold, hard rock.
"Silas!" I tried to scream, but my throat was raw from the dragon-fire. Only a dry rasp came out.
I looked up. Far, far above, I could see a tiny pinprick of violet light. It was the hole I had fallen through. It looked m
