She took a step back, and another, till she tripped and fell backwards.
Her hand moved along the floor for anything that could help her, just desperate to not be so defenseless, while she mumbled a word she didn't even think would slip past her lips.
"Alaris?"
"I know. Just stay still and maybe it will go away." He sounded like he had moved, like he was in front of her instead, standing between her and the dragon.
It gave her an odd sense of relief that he was still here and standing as a sought of shield for her too. But the fact that he was the one that brought her into this situation in the first place didn't make her appreciate that.
Besides, his presence was practically useless. The dragon didn't seem to have observed him and that intense beastly gaze was still directed at her.
Yet the thing that grinded her gears the most in this situation was the word he had used in his word of assurance.
Maybe.
Maybe?!
What kind of mess was this that she had only a 'maybe' to hold unto and hope upon.
What nonsense!
She still needed that sort of defence she had been seeking, so her hands continued her quick search.
Her hand latched onto something but it was round, her gaze was quickly drawn to it to see if it would be of any use.
It was a gem.
Too smooth to make a sharp impact but heavy enough to leave a dent if thrown across the room with the right amount of force.
The gem had it in, flecks of red and blue. It was beautiful and Belladonna felt lured by it. It almost felt like they were singing a song, a song that aligned with her soul and put her very being into an undefinable ease.
The gem started turning red, like fire was burning in it, but it didn't feel like that against her palm that was pressed against it.
Infact, it didn't even feel hot at all, yet the gem started cracking from the heat, white smoke emerging slowly from the gem. Just as sudden as that had happened, the fire died, the cracks sealed right back together and the gem because an electrifying shade of blue once again, with the specks of white and red falling in it like snow.
"We don't want to do this." The Bride Thief's voice echoed to her from a distance away.
It didn't snap her our of her daze of gazing at the wonder the gem in her hand was, but the rumbling of the dragon distracted her and she looked back.
For a second there, she could have sworn to have seen anger in the beast's eyes.
Then it was gone.
What just happened?
"You were supposed to stay still!"
What did it matter? The creature was gone.
A smile tugged at Belladonna's lips, maybe she was saved again.
By pure luck!
Wow!
She was more fascinated by the gem though and she wished she could take it back with her. It was changing colors. Maybe Kestra could help her figure out what it was.
She had never seen something like it in her entire life. She was certain.
But she couldn't celebrate her victory all that soon.
The whole door frame crashed to the ground, the floor rumbling, the gem almost rolling out of her grip, shaky under her fingertips.
It turned out that the dragon didn't go away. In fact, it had come back for her.
"No! Leave her alone. We don't want to hurt her."
But the Dragon didn't seem to have heard the Bride Thief.
It kept crashing the walls to the ground, leaving her more and more to his dangerous mercy.
Finally, there were no doors, there were hardly even walls, and cracks could be heard from above.
An angry snap came from the Bride Thief, Belladonna couldn't decide if it was just her ears that were ringing from all the chaos or he had just spoken in a language she couldn't understand.
A language that was foreign.
His words clashed with the dragon's growls and Belladonna's throat tightened, her body aching from how frozen with fear she was.
The dragon poked it's mouth through the open space, stones were dropping from above from the falling ceiling, Belladonna's eyes watered as she backed away, pushing the gem further behind her, not letting the rumbling floor allow it to roll away.
The dragon pushed forward again and the floors cracked.
Belladonna's heart jumped and her lips whispered inaudible words, tears rained down her cheeks, her mouth filled with the saltiness of the liquid.
"Save me." Her voice was choked with fear, the pain from all the glass that had dug into her before, finally coming into full force and wreaking her.
Her breathing was heavy, hard and painful. It felt like a grinding stone had been dropped on her chest without care.
"Save me." Her plead wasn't to anything in particular or to anyone, but she knew that she no longer had power in herself to do anything, and she hoped with all her being that if there was a higher power out there, it would hear her, listen to her and save her.
"Save...." An instinctive need to swallow made her gulp, leaving her with no choice but to taste her blood as she swallowed.
Her fingertips trembled on the gem from how weak she was.
"Sa--"
The growl of the dragon drowned out her weak cry for help, even overshadowed the shouting of the Bride Thief that had been reduced to nothing but a mere background noise, compared to the growl of the mighty beast.
Belladonna felt heat bash her face, the air from the dragon's mouth an unpleasant one to breath in.
It felt choking and she gasped for breath like air had suddenly been seized, her body aching upward with a need for survival.
Till the growl stopped and she sucked in a deep, desperate breath, her body collapsing to the ground.
The dragon poked its head through the hole and Belladonna held the fierce gaze of the angry creature with an unmatched helplessness.
Then he opened its teeth vessael once again, latching out red flames from the depth of its throat.
The heat that slammed into her was unlike anything she had ever felt.
So was the beam that engulfed her from behind.
The light unlike anything she had ever seen.