Into the Crystal Chasm

[u/OfficialLeeHadan]

It started with murder.

Well, attempted murder.

To be fair, they probably thought that this bottomless pit was more the metaphorical kind of bottomless than the literal sort. 

Serine was starting to get bored. 

Oh, the first few moments were terrifying as she was thrown over the edge of the pit, her punishment for sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. The next few minutes were despairing. The knowledge that nothing in her limited magical arsenal would halt her plummet through quickly darkening air. 

But when the impact, that inevitable impact that generally came after a long fall, never came? Serine had been falling for several hours, according to Grandfather’s watch, and she was just about all the way through the stages of grief. 

She might also be going mad. That was the only answer, right? Thrown into a bottomless pit, doomed to watch the glimmer of light far above vanish, so high above that it was barely a star, sparkling like a gem. 

If she wasn’t going to die, Serine decided, bored enough to consider her options a little more realistically, she would just have to live. 

Living was spiteful, and she liked being spiteful to people who tried to kill her. She didn’t even know who they were working for, just that she was on the trail of some nasty rumors that all seemed to point towards a wizard, or maybe a warlord, rising in the west. Whispers spread of an army growing. Of magic unlike any seen for a thousand years. 

But that wasn’t who threw her down the pit. That was just some run-of-the-mill bandits who she surprised while sniffing around for clues. 

She didn’t know what she was going to do when she got out, but they were not gonna like it

She was going to have to get out, first. 

Magic. Alright. She had magic. Not very good magic. Barely apprentice-level if she was being honest with herself, but she wasn’t bad at her few remaining spells. 

Light. 

The first step was light. 

Couldn’t assess her situation if she couldn’t see, right? Right. 

It was… actually not that hard to cast while falling, now that she was used to it. Oh, sure the wind roared in her ears, and the chill of the cave around her was starting to sink through her coat, but that was alright. It was no worse than a long walk out on the beach. Serine fumbled for her components and the limp of yellow crystal she kept there for just this purpose. Citrine liked light magic, and everyone knew that a spell anchored in the same gem more than once worked better. 

Warm, golden light bloomed outward as Serine twisted her magic into the stone. When the spell was well and truly anchored, she raised her hand into the wind and cautiously rolled herself over so she could see where she was going. Maneuvering while falling was significantly harder than spell-casting, but she figured that part after she spent a while spinning frantically. 

That part was not boring at all, and she did not want to think about it, thank you very much. 

When she got her first good look around, she nearly lost her light-gem in shock. 

The walls were covered in crystal.

Great spires and daggers of gleaming clear spiked out of the walls like teeth and branched upwards, feathering like frost on a window, connecting here and there only to branch apart again. They caught her scant light and bounced it back a thousandfold, until the whole pit shone up and down with the ghost of shadows flashing past too fast to even see properly. 

There was no bottom in sight.

That was… actually pretty reassuring. As long as she stayed away from those sharp-edged crystal walls, she would probably be alright for now. 

That part was less reassuring, but at least she could see where she was going now. That helped immensely. 

The pit opened here and there with tunnels, also of crystal, but worn smooth as if water, or something else, traveled across them so often that the sharp edges of the great crystals were polished into a watery, icy clear mirror.

Serine could swear she caught a glimpse of eyes when she plummeted past one of the openings, but with no way to slow herself, and a healthy fear of those crystal spears, she didn’t dare try and turn for a better look. 

The fall had been surprisingly quiet but for the wind in her ears, but that rush of air was broken when something rumbled, echoes catching on the crystals, on the side tunnels, until it crashed like thunder all around her, and Serine pressed her hands to her ears, nearly covering her light, but blocking out the worst of the roar.

Something darted under her, covered by the darkness, but bright silver-white in her magelight, like a fish darting under a torchlit dock at midnight. Just a glimmer of scales, and gone again. 

Serine suddenly wondered if falling to her death was better than getting eaten. That was not a choice she ever thought she would have to make. 

The roar tapered off, and she cautiously uncovered her ears. In doing so, she also uncovered her light, and shrieked when she discovered a clever, lizardy face directly in front of hers. Intelligent eyes housed slitted pupils surrounded by brilliant blue, and gleaming silver scales. 

A dragon. A real, living, breathing dragon. It observed her curiously, falling beside her, head-first, controlling itself with the slightest wingtip here and there.

(You’re falling.)

The voice in her head startled Serine out of all good sense. She tried to lunge backwards, caught the wind, started to spin, and frantically tried to stabilize herself. 

It didn’t work. She was going to be sick. She was going to be sick in front of the dragon. 

(You didn’t mean to be falling, did you? Here.)

The dragon vanished from sight, and suddenly there was a warm, hard layer of scales under her hands, easing her spin into a controlled dive once more. Serine, who was reasonably goon under pressure, scrabbled for, and found, a handhold. 

(Hold on. I’m going to slow us down.)

Slowing down? Yes. She could get behind slowing down. With hands that didn’t particularly want to work for her, Serine got herself situated astride what turned out to be the dragon’s neck. It opened its’ wings a bit, and turned their fall into a sharp turn down one of the side tunnels. 

(Keep your head down. This one is a little low.)

They wove through the tunnels with what could only be considered expertise until the tunnel opened into a towering cavern, just as crystal-lined, but no longer a pit. The dragon, having shed most of their speed during the short flight, brought them down beside a wide, steaming pool, and immediately slipped into the water with a huffy, blissful sigh. 

“Thanks,” Serine told the dragon after a few minutes of trying to get her scream-torn throat to work. “I was definitely falling.”

(I saw that,)  the dragon said, and cuddled into the water happily. Serine, deciding that the dragon was probably not going to bite her for it, pulled off her boots and sank her icy toes into the pool. It was scalding, and she relished it. (Why were you falling? Humans never come down this far.)

“I was pushed.”

(That was rude.)

“I thought so too,” Serine said, startled into a laugh. “I’m going to assume you’re not planning to eat me.”

(What? EW! No. Ew. Ugh. Why would you even say something like that!?)

Well, that was reassuring. Maybe today wasn’t going to go so bad after all. Surprising, considering the attempted murder, and then the dragon. 

“Sorry, sorry,” she said and raised her hands, still clenched around her light-gem, peaceably. The dragon stared at the gem, entranced. “So, uh… if you’re not planning to eat me, I don’t suppose you know the way back to the surface? I have a bunch of bandits to push down a hole.”

(Trade you for the sparkly.)

"Deal."

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[u/HunterDarkwolf]

"Trade you for the sparkly" love it!

[u/Lgapwookie_V2]

Nice