There was no outrunning the monsters that came after them and Alaris flames did nothing to them either.
The snakes hit the floor with such force that it broke, exposing the sea of lava beneath. Alaris had to be quick in his calculations for them to avoid it.
Belladonna was filled with fear, not just the fear of the attacks from snakes as enormous and as repellent against fire as this but because they were also running out of time.
If these snakes didn't kill them then the hourglass on her arm definitely would.
Also the snakes had blocked the exit out of the cave and now they had no choice but to go deeper.
This must be Gaya.
By Ignas, once again, they were being played.
“Go without me!” Belladonna yelled as they ran. “The fire cannot hurt you. You are a dragon. Go without me!” She knew of his struggle with his abilities lately but that was something about him that couldn't possibly change.
He was a dragon.
His grip around her wrist tightened as he threw her over his shoulder once again. He had been doing that at intervals to run at a faster pace, and putting her down whenever his weakness kicked in again.
“Shut up.”
“I am only slowing you down!” She yelled back, slightly dizzy from the speed as she watched the snakes slithering quickly to catch up with them.
“Your sacrifice will be useless, we have to get there together, so shut up!”
A moment passed and he was putting her down again.
She opened her mouth to say something but the floor parted, forcing Alaris grip to slip away from her, as he tried to stabilize himself. Belladonna rushed away from the crack, her eyes filled with confusion as she looked around in the darkness. The light from active wasn't enough to see things properly, neither was the red light that emitted from the lava beneath.
She needed Alaris and now her connection with him had been cut off. Alaris tried to jump over to her side, but the reason the floor has parted protruded out of the crack and he was faced with a black snake that towered over him, venom dripping from its teeth, but that wasn't all, the snakes they had been running away from earlier had now surrounded him.
“Alaris?” Belladonna whispered. As dark as the cave was, the trouble Alaris was in was too mighty for even the darkness to conceal.
From Alaris' perspective, all he could see were the snakes towering over him, hissing. He could see Belladonna struggling to find something to help him out of the situation he was in, he observed how the snakes had absolutely ignored her like she didn't exist despite her stupid choice of trying to draw their attention to her, but then he also observed something.
The darkness behind Belladonna was different from the one that filled the rest of the cave. Although there was no movement behind her while she jumped and yelled for the attention of the snakes.
Alaris’ eyes widened when the darkness moved slightly.
He yelled to warn her of the presence behind her but the snakes drove down upon him at that moment, attacking him. A second later, he could hear Belladonna screaming and from the corner of his eyes, he could see someone in a black cloak strangling her with a chain around her neck; killing her!
“Let her—go!” He yelled, latching on one of the snakes to escape from this place and save Belladonna. He knew there was no way he could kill these snakes but he had to save Belladonna.
She was there on the floor, with the attacker over her. She had one hand trying to pry the chain away from her neck, one hand outstretched to him for help while she gasped for breath and her eyes begging with tears, her cries silent.
For a second, it felt like time had frozen. It felt like something in the time, space and atmosphere shifted.
Something changed.
Belladonna's pupils changed to something he had never seen before. The blue color vanished and the Tree of life flashed in her eyes, right before her eyelids slipped shut and her body became limp.
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