I Guess I'm a Dragon Now (Part 1)

Escape, Day Two

As the sun rose over the forest, Ergen awoke from his slumber before slowly raising his head out of the water so that he could see the shoreline, though the situation he was in still seemed dire. All of the insects that had chased him to this pond were still swarming around it, squeaking loudly as they waited for him to come out. It had already been two days since he'd been trapped in the pond, and Ergen didn't know why the creatures were wasting so much effort on him seeing as he was so much smaller than the colossal cat that they'd taken before. Though it was a fact that they were, and soon he would have to make a run for the river.

After eating his last fish, Ergen continued waiting for the bugs to leave, sticking his head above the water like a crocodile would so that he could view the insects. He waited and waited, though they never left, even for a moment. They hadn't moved at all the entire time that they'd been there, though that changed when about at noon, the bugs all suddenly stopped their squeaking before climbing over the top of each other and making a ring around the pond. They obviously knew that Ergen was still there, but as to what they were doing he didn't know until the bugs closest to the pond started secreting some kind of fluid from their mouths.

Judging from how slimy the substance was, Ergen first thought that it was drool. Though when the plant life nearest to the pond started dying instantly from the liquid, Ergen instantly knew that it was poison, and a highly acidic one at that. After realizing that these creatures were smart enough to apparently form strategies, Ergen started thinking furiously about what he should do as the insects were obviously attempting to poison the water that he was hiding in.

It was now or never, Ergen knew, and he dived into the water again before swimming as fast as he could towards the shoreline that was closest to the river. In an eruption of water and surprised insects, Ergen left the pond while climbing up and jumping off of the bug's backs before sprinting as fast as he could towards the river. Several of the insects attempted to intercept him, and Ergen used this frost breath to freeze most of them before a few finally landed a few bites on his back. The bites weren't that painful thanks to his hard scales that covered his body, though already he could feel the poison begin to spread through his body before he finally broke through and ran towards the river. Thankfully, there were no bugs on his path before he dived into the river and was immediately swept away by the current.

Opening his mouth as he let the current take him to safety, Ergen let out a silent scream as the acid in the insect's poison burned his back. Soon, it had traveled through most of his body, causing a massive amount of burning pain as he limply followed the river. In just moments, his body became paralyzed and Ergen found himself completely powerless as he entered some rapids and his body was beaten against several rocks. His body was spun and twisted along with the raging water until he eventually felt as if he was in free fall, forcing his once closed eyes open to see that he'd fallen from the top of a massive waterfall before his hearing became muffled as he entered the water below.

Slowly drifting now, Ergen seemed to be in another pond below the waterfall. His limbs were completely stiff, almost as if the poison inside of his body had turned into stone as he didn't seem to be able to move at all. He struggled, but it was pointless as Ergen closed his eyes once more, sure that he'd lost his struggle for survival. He was as still as a statue as he was caught in the current again, only this current seemed to be even faster than the rapids from before as all light was lost from around him. He didn't know what was happening, but soon the water started slowing, and Ergen almost thought it was night time already as the sun's light disappeared from behind his eyelids. Eventually, the water started to slow as Ergen felt his back break the surface, though he was still completely paralyzed as he moved. Wherever he was now didn't seem to have any predatory fish in the water with him, though that didn't mean that the water was completely without population as there were several different kinds of fish swimming around Ergen, almost as if they were hoping that he was dead so that they could have a free meal. However, he wasn't about to let them have it as he struggled to move.

Feeling as if the inside of his body were on fire, Ergen was honestly surprised that he was still alive after taking in the poisonous bite of the insects from before, though he guessed that he had his dragon body to thank for that as he was fairly sure that he would be dead if he was a human. But that thought raised another question in his mind, being that he was now wondering why he was comparing himself to a human? As he thought about it, his head started to hurt just as much as his body, so he shelved the idea for now as he tried with all of his might to move. And ever so slowly, he was rewarded for his effort by his front feet beginning to twitch. He fought and fought against the poison, attempting to move every part of his body including his head, tail and wings.  And eventually they started working again, albeit they were still stiff, though Ergen wasn't complaining as it was progress from what it had been before.

Finally able to raise his head, Ergen managed to break the surface of the water and look around for the first time in what he thought must have been hours. He was floating on the side of what looked like an underground river with gigantic underground ravine above him. In seeing it, Ergen also saw multiple wooden rope bridges that connected each of the sides as well as multiple pathways that traveled along the edges. Even now, he could see humans with torches patrolling the pathways, and he immediately dove back down into the water as he didn't want to be seen by them. However, as he did this, he finally realized why the water had been so calm where he'd washed up.

All around Ergen, the water level was rising rapidly as the river flooded the bottom of the ravine. Apparently, it's flow had been halted by what looked like a massive iron door below him in which thousands of small bubbles were pouring from it's gaps. A series of ancient, moss covered gears turned beside it, slowly moving until the water level reached it's peak and the door automatically opened. In something like a whirlpool, the water was rapidly drained from the ravine, flushing everything down with it along with both Ergen and the fish.

Rapidly, Ergen found himself being sucked through the open door and rushed through a man-made canal that appeared beyond it.He seemed to be in the innermost part of some type of facility given the stone brick walls, ceilings and bridges that he passed under, though all of them passed by in a flash as Ergen was carried by the rushing water. He passed through over ten large rooms in the blink of an eye, surprising the humans that saw him on the way before he eventually reached the end of his predicament. And he also possibly reached the end of his life as well, for as soon as Ergen was past the rooms, he found himself free-falling from a massive cliff along with the water, falling into what looked like a bottomless ravine before he looked up to see something unexpected. Just beyond the ravine that he was about to fall into was a massive desert, though even now Ergen could tell that it was a better place than what he'd left as there no giant monsters. The desert seemed to offer safety, so now, he just had to reach it...