The Dragon Bride

First Contact - Part 4

Lucina walked with a hurried pace through the dark, seemingly never ending tunnels she had dove into headfirst. Every step she took was one step further from the safety and the warmth of the castle and yet it did not feel like she was inching any closer to her goal. As if the physical exhaustion and the claustrophobia weren't enough, her mind was worried about her most recent interaction with Jade. Worry filled her head as she didn't know where this left them. Would she forgive her if she came back alive? If she was successful? Or would that breach of her trust be too great, too early into the new relationship? Lucina shook her head. One worry at a time She told herself as she continued onward.

The walls that surrounded her were soft, clearly worked on by the creature she was chasing down. Lucina was impressed that a goblin could create such a complex system, especially without her or anyone else noticing it. Whether that was because of the goblin's stealth or the speed at which it worked was something she intended to find out.

The first change she noticed as she delved deeper into the underground passage was the smell. After what seemed like an eternity of walking, a pungent, sweet smell started to leak into her helmet. The odor reminded Lucina of her time training for her quest, when she would go days without washing herself, causing her cheeks to blush under her helmet.

The second thing that changed was the sound. The tunnels had an eerie constant drone caused by the echoes of noises she couldn't hope to decipher, but then, a rhythmic scraping made its way to her ears. It would start, crescendo and then stop, over and over again. The increasing intensity of the noise could only mean she was getting closer. Preemptively, she placed a hand upon Devilsbane's hilt. Although the arcane weapon's main purpose was destroying creatures of the deepest circles of hell, it was as sharp as any other blade, and it would certainly get the job done against the impish being.

Finally, her vision picked up the final indicator she needed to find. After hours of traversing below the earth with nothing more than a lantern to keep her from complete and utter darkness, she saw another lightsource. It came from a hole in the ground, which led directly below her. Lucina did not even think possible that she could go any deeper and yet, here she was, peeking through a well inside of a cave. She quietly observed the newfound entrance, trying to get her first look at the creature. Scraping reverberated through the well, followed by silence and then the faintest of jingling, no doubt coming from the stolen property.

Lucina did not see the goblin, only catching a glimpse of the light it was using. It glowed with a faint mint color and every few seconds, it would disappear, only to return shortly thereafter. The knight deduced that the glow was coming from something the creature was wearing, most likely pointing to wherever it was looking at. That was her opening. When the light went away, she'd drop down and surprise it.

She let a few cycles go by, timing how long she would have to strike. Her movements would have to be precise, Lucina was already risking far too much for this to be an unsuccessful endeavor. She would have around 12 seconds at most. Without hesitating, the next time the light went away, she threw herself down the well.

1... She fell into a patch of soft dirt, surely worked on recently by the goblin. The scraping noise of its tool covering the quiet sound of her shrunken self's landing.

2... Lucina lifted her head to meet the silhouette of the creature. It had long and thick hair cascading out of a helmet, and a head much larger than its stubby body. She was taken aback, she expected a creature more similar to Dweller.

3... She shook her head and took her first step towards it.

4... She unsheathed Devilsbane. Whilst it was loud enough to reverberate through the room, its sound rhymed with the tool's scraping, which Lucina could now see was a complex drill the goblin was controlling.