Particles of earth and trees, pushed by soft wind, floated around Yvain as he went to wake Selt up.
With the small earthquake and Nora's subsequent ominous words, he expected something with a bit more impact. Yet the current peaceful deconstruction of their environment didn't quite match his expectations. It was a bit jarring to see the ground sometimes disintegrate on a spot he was about to step on, but it was something easily evaded.
Yvain was quite calm as he reached Selt who was slumbering in the fetal position. Then some annoyance crept in when he saw how blissfully unaware the kid was.
Maybe I should let him go down with the dungeon,
he thought. He squatted next to Selt and pushed his shoulder a few times.
"Just a bit longer," Selt mumbled and shifted his body to lie face up, continuing to sleep.
Even if there wasn't any rush to get out of the dungeon it wouldn't do to waste time, so he slapped the kid across the face. Selt released a small painful scream and rolled out of Yvain's range of attack while holding his reddening cheek.
"We have to go, the whole dungeon is falling on us," Yvain said.
Selt sat up with blurry eyes and looked around the now disappearing surroundings, his hand trying to rub the pain away.
"I'll let the slap go this time," he said worriedly as the tear in the sky grew wider.
"I'm so grateful," Yvain said and stood.
"Damn, you really killed him. He was a nice person you know." Yvain glanced at the kid who had a wry smile and then at the decapitated body.
"Nice or not he was about to kill Nora, and I wasn't going to let that happen." Yvain went over to where the body lay and ripped off the remaining pieces of armor, fully revealing the chainmail underneath. It was falling into pieces too, but he was tired of being naked and it would at least cover the important parts.
Yvain tried to remove the upper section first but the clothing soon met with the man's horns. His tail offered the same obstacle when he tried to remove the pants. How was he supposed to get the clothing off with the dragon-like appendages in the way?
Nora suddenly appeared next to him, holding onto his shoulder for support as he held her by the waist. He gave her a sad smile, acknowledging that she really was hopping on one leg.
"Tap on his chest twice, then do the same on his left thigh," Nora said.
After helping her sit down, Yvain followed her advice. The chest immediately unlinked itself right by the middle, but when he tapped the pants they remained chained together. He looked at Nora, the question on his face obvious, and she spun her finger in the air. Yvain nodded and turned the body over. The tail was coming out of a purposeful-made hole in the pants. Above that hole, the garment had split just like the top, creating enough space for the tail to pass.
"I've never seen clothes like these," Yvain said as he rid the cadaver of its attire.
"It's not something humans need to think about after all," Nora said, patting the part where a tail would be growing out of Yvain if he was part of the dragon race.
"You have a point," Yvain said. "It's intriguing, but it'd be a waste of effort." He gathered the clothing and was about to stand up and put them on, but Nora hadn't withdrawn her hand--choosing instead to rub his bare rear to her heart's content. He raised an eyebrow in question but she just grinned at him.
"This is gross," Selt, who had been watching the couple with disgust, said.
"What's your problem?" Yvain asked, mildly irritated at the kid's outburst.
"I'll say it again, you killed a good man," Selt said. His eyes bore into Nora, "and all for a woman you don't even know. I thought you and I were similar, but I was wrong." He then stood and left for the exit at a steady jog.
"And you knew him!?" Yvain yelled at Selt's retreating figure in defense, but he was secretly stunned at the kid's words; more at their bite than their content. It was the first time Selt had expressed actual anger.
Nora didn't miss Yvain's change in mood and got closer to him, laying her head on his back.
"Is he going to be alright?" she asked.
"I don't know. This is the first time I've seen him act like that," Yvain said. He got up and put on the tattered chainmail. Following the logic behind their traits, he tapped them as he had before and the clothing sealed itself once more.
Was the man he just killed really innocent? He wanted to fault Selt's judgement; how long could he have possibly known him for? Half an hour at most. But considering Nora, Yvain wasn't really in a position to adjudicate.
Yvain offered Nora a hand which she took gratefully, lifting herself up with her good leg. She then half fell half moved forward and laid her head on his chest with natural ease.
"What in the stars happened when you put him in front of our attacker?" Nora asked.
She was of course referring to when Yvain used the kid as a makeshift shield. It was an unorthodox move to say the least, with no modicum of planning.
"Selt can't die," Yvain said. "No matter the danger he's in, or how sure a death blow might seem, he'll live."
Nora lifted her head from his chest and looked into his eyes. She searched for any falsehoods in them, but the evidence was clear.
"We should probably still catch up before we lose sight of him, just in case," Nora said.
Yvain cocked his head in doubt, "He'll be alright though."
"No, what I mean is that we'll both need you to get us out of here. The dungeon will fully collapse in about two minutes and no amount of death defying abilities will help with being buried alive." Nora spoke with such nonchalance that it took some time for the gravity of her words to hit Yvain. The dungeon's elusively slow speed of decay had taken away any sense of urgency.
"Why didn't you say so before?!" Yvain said. He picked up Nora in his arms and ran after Selt at his fastest speed.
He could still easily see the castle, but its size hid how truly far it was. Two minutes would never be enough for the kid to reach the exit. He wasn't even sure it would be enough for him.
Yvain pushed himself to his limits, but soon a small whimper slowed his speed. Nora was roughly grabbing on to him with pressed lips, her brow furrowing every time he took a step. He came to a complete stop.
Nora looked at him apologetically. "We don't have the luxury to worry over my leg, just let me complain while you run."
The idea that he was hurting her, even if unintentionally, made Yvain sick. But she was right, they couldn't slow down. He still wanted to somehow negate the pain he caused, so he gave her a brief apologetic kiss she happily returned.
"Grab on to my neck," Yvain said. Nora did as told and he quickly reached his top speed, now having a free arm. It didn't take long before Selt came into view going at his leisure.
Without any warning, Yvain grabbed the kid under his arm like a sack and kept running.
"Let me go!" Selt tried to break the hold on him.
"Stop you idiot! This place is about to break apart on us!" Yvain yelled. Particles still flew through the air, but out of the corner of his eye he could see that some parts of the ground were covered in holes that only showed an infinite blackness.
"It's a bit more than that I'm afraid," Nora said calmly, "this dungeon is inside a different space than the one containing our reality. If it collapses with us in it we'll just keep floating in a void until we die of old age, hunger, or dehydration. Our senses won't work at least, so it'll be painless. But we'll be fully conscious."
Selt stopped trashing and spoke with a fearful voice, "You can make it right?"
"Maybe if you wouldn't mess around so much we would already be outside," Yvain said in a somber tone. The mask of fear on Selt mirrored how Yvain felt, but Nora's serenity in face of their impending oblivion gave him the strength to keep himself steady.
At the speed Yvain was going, it didn't take long for them to reach the stairs. He quickly took the steps three or four at a time, but with the black holes from before now showing up on his path he was forced to sometimes jump in a zig-zag shape. Whatever light was illuminating the forest flickered like dying embers until it completely went out just as he jumped through the exit.
Yvain was flooded with massive relief when he entered the great hall and its entrance was finally open.
"Wait! Wait! Grab the gold!" Selt screamed.
"There's no time for that," Yvain said but the kid wouldn't calm down, attempting to free himself.
Nora closed in and whispered in Yvain's ear, "Let him grab a handful."
Ignoring the goosebumps her voice sent cascading down his back, Yvain easily gave in, "Grab some of it on the way out, but we aren't stopping." Selt reluctantly nodded and Yvain moved to the pile of gold closest to the dungeons exit.
"You can let me go you know," Selt said, but Yvain shook his head.
"Not until we're in the clear." He wasn't too sure the kid wouldn't just stay in the great hall trying to grab as much gold as possible while space collapsed around him.
After Selt grabbed whatever his hands could carry, Yvain took them all outside. The doors instantly shut behind them.
The castle was already completely destroyed with only the double doors standing, but a few moments later they crumbled down too. Every piece of metal and rock turned to dust and the wind carried them away. In its place, all that remained was the same rocky ground that formed Great Divider.
Yvain released Selt with a sigh of relief and the kid hit the ground hard, some of his coins scattering on the ground with the impact.
"Sorry," Yvain said as Selt threw him a dirty look and picked up his loot. He then set Nora down carefully.
"Thanks," she said. Yvain wanted to do nothing more than kiss her as she smiled at him, but the exhaustion that followed the adrenaline rush had him throwing himself on the ground next to her instead. He was done for the day. When his friends arrived they could just carry him down.
The night ether was as beautiful as ever, filled to the brim with lights of all shapes and sizes. Lunaris was in the middle sending down its soft glow. But the crimson light Yvain wanted to see the most was not showing up.
"Selt send the signal already," he said, but no answer came.
