Chapter 41: Broken

As soon as I saw it I knew that this knife was the dagger of extraction and wanted nothing more than to get it and get the heck out of here. I was about to take a step forward when I noticed that there were a bunch of holes in the ground and on the walls. They looked like smooth tunnels that I could easily slide into and to my death. I returned my foot to where it was before and suddenly, a deep voice echoed through the temple. "Who... Are... You...?"

I looked around trying to find the source of the voice as I responded. "I am Dedrin. The future king. I am here for the dagger of extraction." Unexpectedly, a large eye opened among the treasure, causing me to step back in shock. The eye was completely blank with no iris or pupil, and it shined like a pearl. The eye belonged to a golden Chinese dragon, whose body twisted around the treasure that it was perfectly camouflaged with. It lifted its head slowly as it turned to me, more of its appearance being revealed to me as it did so.

Its entire body levitated out of the treasure, its snake-like figure twisting around in the air along with its legs with no wings at all. It had long horns that forked and golden hair that swayed as if it were underwater. Its scales shined brightly, and two cords came from either side of its nose as if they were thin tails. Each of his feet carried five long talons, and a line of more golden hair lined his spine all the way to his tail. 

This dragon looked just as powerful as Theodius described and was monstrous in size. I held my sword up to it as I took a step back, and the dragon spoke again. "I didn't ask who you're going to be. I asked who you are." I was already impatient and didn't want to engage in this pointless banter, even though I was shocked enough by the fact that this dragon could talk. "What does it matter? Now, are you going to give me the dagger, or am I going to have to kill you for it?"

The dragon continued to stare into my soul as he responded. "I will give you the dagger." I paused, surprised by his answer. "What?" The dragon nodded slowly. "I will give it to you if you answer a question correctly." I lowered my sword a little, curious as to how this was going to go. "And that would be?" The dragon came closer to me, the size of his head being the size of my whole body. "Who are you?" 

I raised an eyebrow at the lack of difficulty of his question. "I am Dedrin. Prince of Reinthoria." The dragon pulled away with annoyance in his voice. "That isn't who you are. That is a label. You failed." My eyes widened as a wave of gold magic came from off of the dragon's body and pushed me off of my feet. I dropped my sword and the magic pushed me into one of the many holes behind me. "Ahh!!" 

I slid down the tunnel at amazing speed from how steep it was, and barely missed a patch of spiked rock on one side of the tunnel. I saw a gap ahead, and quickly dodged it before I fell through, and I continued to dodge more obstacles until I fell out of the bottom into a pitch-black cave. I made a thud as I hit the ground, and I then pushed myself up to kneel. "Damn it!!" I punched the wall next to me and didn't care how much it hurt. 

I sat there and thought about what to do next when a light appeared from around the corner. I stood up as soon as I saw it and prepared myself to fight. To my surprise, it was May who was carrying a torch. Once she saw me her expression brightened. "Dedrin! There you are! How did you end up here?" I sighed, thinking back to what happened, and walked over to her. "I found that mighty dragon and I failed his stupid test, so he kicked me down here. I'm surprised you didn't assume I was looking for you."

May shrugged as she continued to smile. "I'm positive, not stupid." Once I approached her I noticed a light coming from down a different tunnel in the cave. "Hey, I think that's the way out! Come on!" I started to run but May stopped me before I took two steps. "Um! Wait, I have a problem. I can't exactly go that fast anymore." I turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" 

May smiled nervously and lowered the torch so I could see her legs. I didn't have a clue as to why she did that which made it even more surprising once I saw it. The bone below her right knee was almost completely sticking out of her skin through the side, and blood covered everything below it and was dripping off of her foot that she held slightly above the ground. 

I jumped when I saw it. "Oh my gods!" May nodded, cheerfully. "Yep. When I fell through the ground earlier it was kind of a rough landing." I turned away and held my hand out to cover the sight. "Ugh, that is disgust-! How are you so casual about it?! Doesn't it hurt?!" May nodded again. "Very much so. I just find that the muscles it takes to smile help stop the tears. So, would you mind helping me walk please?" 

I turned back to her and she raised the torch again. "Did you want me to push it back in?" Her face became fearful as I knelt in front of her. "No! Wait! I'll just wait until Theodius can heal me!" I grabbed her knee and she wobbled in panic. "Are you sure? Because I think I'll be able to pop that sucker right back in there in no time flat." She was now screaming. "No!! Stop!! Don't you dare!!" 

I shrugged as I stood up again and lifted May into my arms. "You owe me for this." She was relieved but her voice was still fearful as I carried her out of the cave. "Thank you so much! Thank you for not shoving my bones back into my body! It hurts so bad!" Once we were out of the cave I set May down on her good leg, and she dropped the torch as she grabbed the boulder next to her to prevent herself from falling. 

I turned to see the temple stairs in front of us that led all the way to the top. I had never seen so many stairs in my life. There were miles of them but they were safer than trying to ride another dragon up there. I started to walk towards them as I spoke to May. "Find Saniel with whatever limp you have left and wait with him until I get the dagger." She stopped me before I set foot on the first stair. "But-! I want to help!" 

I turned my head around with an unamused expression on my face. "You are a fairy that can't fly, nor walk. As of right now, you're dead weight. How could you possibly be of use to me?"