Chapter 2
When the dragon's claw came at me, there wasn't a place to escape to.
Magma churned beneath my feet; cliffs towered thousands of feet overhead; the air was so hot that it hurt my lungs with every breath.
The claw was covered in black scales, each one shrouded in a sinister purple curse.
I didn't try to dodge because I couldn't.
The sacrificial rune on my fingertip still glowed faintly, casting a red light. I stared up at the descending dragon claw that could easily smash a level-2 mage.
And then it stopped. The claw hovered three inches above my head, the gust it stirred up blowing my hood back.
The Abyss fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the distant gurgling of magma.
The massive dragon's head moved closer. Its slit pupils focused on me and widened. A wave of scorching breath slammed into me, carrying the smell of sulfur and rust and blowing my hair backward.
"Your blood," the dragon said. His voice was deep and rough. So that was what a voice sounded like after thousands of years without speaking.
His snout nearly pressed against my face; those golden-red slit eyes were only inches away. "Why does it smell like this?" he asked.
I lowered my head. The wound on my fingertip was still oozing blood.
A drop of blood landed on the scale at the tip of his claw, but it didn't slide down the lines of the scales.
The instant it seeped in, a soft, golden glow spread across the pitch-black scale.
The black dragon's body trembled. From the tip of his tail to the horns on his head, every single scale stood on end, clinking together like metal plates.
"Mate." This word rumbled out in an unbelievable tone.
For a whole second, the Abyss was silent. Then, the dragon's violent aura exploded like an invisible bomb, blasting out from his body and slamming into everything around him.
The walls of the Abyss trembled violently, showers of rock crashing down, while the magma below suddenly surged more frequently.
"Who gave you permission to come down here?" he yelled. It was so loud that it made my ears ring.
"Get lost, before I rip you apart." His voice eventually turned into a roar as cursed black mist surged up his scales, crawling from his claws to his shoulders, and then to his horns.
Wherever the black mist passed, his scales turned from deep black to ghostly white, cracked, and split apart.
Agony wracked his body and drove him past the brink of sanity. He slammed his head into the nearby cliff, shattering the entire rock face and burying half the magma lake under a landslide of debris.
Then he turned back to me; his eyes were half bloodshot; their golden-red color was swallowed by crimson; his sanity was fading with every heartbeat.
I met his gaze. Back in my previous life, when Arthur sucked every bit of Magical Energy from me, I had the same feeling.
I had been uncontrollably drained of energy; the pain had been so overwhelming that I couldn't cry out. All I could have done was curl up under the blankets.
I knew all too well what it was like when Magical Energy spiraled out of control.
Almost like I was possessed, I raised my hand and placed it on the dragon's nose.
The moment my palm touched his scales, something that had been sleeping inside me for twenty years suddenly stirred to life.
It was the Power of Purification. It was soft and light, like a gentle stream flowing from my palm, slipping into his scales.
Wherever the power went, the black mist melted away, vanishing like ice meeting the warmth of spring.
The dragon paused his breath, his whole body went rigid and then slowly relaxed. The crimson in his bloodshot eyes gradually receded.
His golden-red slit eyes cleared, locking onto me with a steady gaze.
"Don't move," I said, my voice a little hoarse, my palm burning up. "I'll help you keep it under control. In exchange, don't eat me."
He didn't answer, but his breathing slowed, the wild bursts calming into long, deep breaths. The hot air tousled my hair, making loose strands fall around me.