Bel couldn't stop, so she ran straight into the glowing red circle that Rhyss had been trying to avoid.
It was warm, and now that she had stopped long enough to actually breathe she could smell the decay, not nearly as strong as the chamber where it originated from, but it reeked enough that she couldn't believe that she had missed it until that moment. She could see every facet of the gem that had been used to create the power core, see the flaws in it, though she couldn't say that had always been there or formed over the ages. She thought she saw movement, deep within it, but it was gone before she could really process what she was seeing.
She needed to move.
Somehow, she backed up a step, and another, not even sure how she was alive. At any minute, she expected claws or teeth to descend upon her. In less than a moment, she would be dead and it would all be over.
"Bel." Heln's voice was directly behind her. He lifted his light stick, the golden light highlighting every curve of the plating around the power core. The dragon's head rose far, far above her, its horns brushing the ceiling as it swayed from side to side. The loop of metal was still around its neck, but the chains ended somewhere down in the dark, rattling when it moved.
Bel scrambled back up to where Heln and Rhyss were standing. The dragon took up the entire staircase, whereas she hadn't even thought that in some places it would be wide enough for it to get through. It had new scrapes and tears on its wings and forearms.
It regarded them and for just a moment she thought he saw intelligence in its dead, white eyes. Then it was gone and it threw its head back. A moment later the click, click, click began and its throat lit up. This close up she could see the chest cavity expand, could feel the heat from the hot air that escaped through the tears in the dragon's plating blowing her hair back off of her forehead.
There was nowhere to go, even if it shot the fire above them the tunnel was so narrow that they would suffocate on the heat.
Heln grabbed her hand and held it too tightly. She squeezed back.
As the dragon snapped its head back, the light construct crashed into its desiccated neck. It had changed again, becoming something that was all teeth and powerful front claws, the wings had shrunk to be almost nonexistent. It whipped around to the dragon’s shoulders, tearing at the plating at the nape of its neck. The dragon's body was thrust towards them and they barely got up the steps in time before it turned and smashed the construct against the wall.
"Up!" Rhyss yelled. "Up up up up!"
The entire tunnel was shaking, cracks spider webbing all the way across the ceiling and down the other wall. More deep, endless chasms opened up. One of them would have swallowed Rhyss up if Bel hadn't caught her ruined cloak and snapped her back from it. Their momentum nearly sent them both tumbling down the stairs.
The dragon barely fit behind them, its wings rasping against the top of the tunnel when it righted itself and twisted its head around. The construct seemed fainter, smaller, and it didn't have time to move before a stream of fire splashed over it.
That was all Bel saw before she was racing up the stairs after Rhyss and Heln, trying to recall how to create a temporary barrier behind her, but her mind slipped and slid across the knowledge. Heat hit them a moment later, like a wall pushing her forward.
She glanced back when they got to the landing, the light construct had grabbed the dragon's head and was attempting to yank it from the rest of its body. Parts of the its body looked melted and it had a scorch mark across its head, but it didn't seem to be deterring it. The melted parts were already reforming.
Then they were charging up the last set of steps. Bel had to stop and breathe, just for a moment, but when the light construct slammed into the wall right below where she was resting it forced her to keep going, even though every step felt like she was lifting stones on her back and every breath stabbed at her, dry and rasping in her throat. The scrape across her ribs felt worse than fire. She staggered up the last few steps and into the chamber, leaning against the wall.
The rest of the constructs were still half formed in the white stone. The black framing felt like a cage, wrapping around the room and offering no escape. Bel honestly couldn't tell if the dragon would fit in the room.
"Bel, we need a barrier." Rhyss was telling her. It sounded like she was hearing her from underwater. "Bel. Bel! Dammit. Heln, how is your pendant?"
"Fried, it might be able to produce a shield for about a second, but after that, well, we'll be about as fried."
Bel crawled to her feet, feeling every inch of effort. "Was that a joke? Terrible. Terrible timing. I got it. The doorway, right? I think. I think that I can, it won't last without a real anchor but…"
Heln tossed his pendant to her. "Use that."
Bel fumbled it and had to pick it up off of the ground. She stared at it for a little longer than she really had time for. It was a very plain one, a leather strap attached to a tag of silver with a small white crystal set at the base. The script for protection and barriers were carved into the back of it.
When he found out they wanted to go to the Festival alone, their father had insisted on it, just in
