𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎.

𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞.

CHAPTER V
hot & cold.

How long has it been? A week? Two? Time was lost, the morning sun never visible beside mid-day. The tip of the mountain seemingly carved out in an small opening, not big enough for the beast to fly out of, a mere skylight you supposed.

Noon light leaks through in beams, the piles of precious metals shimmering and glistening like a mermaids scales. At the suns pique, you would sit under the warm light in the middle of the cave. The comfortable warmth barely lasting a few minutes before the sun sets too far.

Over the multiple days you've spent trapped in a hungry lion's cage, small details seemed to show themselves slowly. You noticed the small carved out edges on the walls, melted rock & ash-covered stone, and frost & ice bitten stalagmites. Even the blood stains in one specific spot, and loose scales the size of carriage wheels.

The great protector mostly laid in a small nest of sorts. Completely charred rock resting on his underbelly, the giant silhouette surrounded by his riches. Never moving from his spot, instead summoning you like a dog. How condescending...

This would've been no different than being sent off to work under a lord. His means of 'entertainment' were humiliating. Scrubbing his scales, cleaning his teeth, counting his gold, you were basically a slave! Except your 'master' was a man-eating, fire-breathing, giant predatory reptile!

Every time you flinched or squirmed under his gaze, he'd laugh as though you were a jester. Especially the time you cleaned the blood and gunk out of his razor edged teeth, purposely snapping his jaw or snarling lightly.

Fortunately, he provided essentials. Clean water, clean cloths and food. Water he would boil with his fiery breath, clothes offered up from years prior, and food he'd been given the last couple of days. Hygiene wise, you were asked to bathe in the ink lake. Which was no doubt below freezing temperatures.

Luckily you weren't sweating excessively or covered in ash but, a bath in the icy lake is inevitable. You were forced into the corner filled with the oddly placed furniture. The dragon providing an undying flame that kept you warm. You piled blankets onto the bed at night when the flame no longer burned as bright.

Most days, you spent scavenging the mountains of materials when the beast didn't torment you. Finding all sorts of oddities and trinkets, admiring the riches like a showcase of sorts from a merchants vast travels across the lands.

You were specifically looking for an item in particular. The book you offered, days prior. Surely, it must be somewhere among the towering piles and piles. Hopefully not buried under gold & silver. Wondering around the shining metals, you see it! The edge of the cover just barely visibly however, it rests at the very top of a tower of gold.

Frustration causes you to pull on your hair as you think of ways to climb up. The loose coins couldn't hold your weight and you would simple slide down the sides you even tried such a pathetic idea, there wasn't exactly a ladder laying around let alone tall enough either.

Idea after idea in your head, none particularly very clever unsurprising falling short. Out of irritation, you pick up a stray chunk of gold and toss it at the pile. The chunk hitting the bottom of the pile bouncing off the stone and clattering in a corner. Before you could process what was happening, the pile began to fall. An avalanche of heavy metallics fall onto your body.