Out of Hel

The dragon blocking their path could only be described as… monsterous

And he had no idea what it was

If a Nightfury could be described as the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself then this dragon was something born of the darkness and Hel. It was completely black from claws to teeth, had wings that appeared to be a second pair of arms and a cloak of darkness that looked even thicker than the missed he had escaped.

Around the same size as Snap-pine except that it as one four legs instead of two the Black dragon moved around the cave's front side, thankfully unaware of their existence. Its wings appeared to be flowing unaturaly, draping black and purple smoke where ever it walked, leaving a trail. Looking along its body, Delvin could feel his heart beat harder as he took in the sleek black scales and clearly muscular body, looking at it like a beast about to strike. Looking towards its head Delvin was stopped in his tracks as he realized that the beast had no eyes! Nothing but a black shell covering its skull, horns covering its eyes.

It seemed to walk in a slightly strange manner, like a limping gait, and when it turned around, walking to the left Delvin realized why. It looked as if someone had stitched together two dragons! While one half was sleek, black, and nightmarish the other was different, even more, muscular and smattered with golden scales that seemed to push out from under the black, one of its horns also golden.

There was something very wrong with this dragon… even from a distance it seemed… unhinged

It seemed to constantly twitch and growl as if it were in the midst of rage. And as its black wings flowed, still leaving a trail of mist behind it, it seemed to snarl at the shadows, even at the nearby flora as it hungrily fed upon the mist

Delvin watched, barely breathing and holding a hand to Snap-pines beak as the dragon moved around, its strange and twitchy movements keeping him on edge as it still blocked the path

He stayed quiet, just watching silently as the beast would pace around, occasionally getting violent out of nowhere and clawing at the walls of the cavern with its 2nd pair of winds, revealing the wicked claws that existed on all six of the dragons tensed limbs before carving out chunks of stone.

Devin was completely unsure what to do for a while, the dragon kept moving unpredictably as it constantly shifted and twitched, completely chaotic

"It's the creator of the mist" Delvin realized silently, whispering under his breath as he watched the beast scream at the ceiling, breathing out not normal fire but instead one that was black and purple, spreading that same smoke that he had been coughing out of his lungs, the reason that even now he felt faint

However, something else, a thought, popped up in his head as he looked closer at the mist, the same dark smoke that had blown out of the red death like a geyser!

"Holy shit!" Delvin exclaimed silently as he stared at the pacing dragon in front of him and snap-pine "this thing did something to the queen, made it go insane!" Delvin realized as he thought about how Snap-pine had been acting after breathing in the mist, even while wearing a mask and having been around the mist eating flora!

"The mist causes the Dragons to get aggressive, go into a fight or flight mode?" Devilin began, formulating a theory as he whispered to Snap-pine "it's like a virus… a frenzy virus?" (sorry had to do it)

"But what happens if you breathe in as much as the queen did?" he asked himself

However, his thoughts were interrupted as the Black dragon finally moved, leaving the path open "quikly!" Delvin uttered as he and Snap-pine made a break for it, moving to the open tunnel with as much speed as possible while still staying quiet

Staying low to the ground and watching his step Delvin directed the still restless Snap-pine forwards, keeping as wide a burth from the stitchwork beast as possible.

They had almost made it out, cutting across the path of Smog that the nightmare had created as a shrill roar sounded, deafening them and echoing through the cavern. Turning back, Delvin could see the dragon running towards them, it's one black horn and body glowing with pulsing purple light

"Go! Go!" Delvin shouted, causing him to once again cough painfully as he through himself onto Snap-pines back, barely avoiding the pure ball of virus that the beat launched at them. He had no idea what would happen if he or Snap-pine was hit with it but he had no plans on finding out "we need to get out of here!"

Soon a chase began, Delvin and Snap-trap flew through the mist flied tunnels, dodging narrowly as the monster behind them gave chase, roaring and screaming insanely

Struggling to stay conscious Delvin desperately searched for an exit point or a way to escape the black and cold terror, but every time he gained the lead or tried to hide, there it was, completely aware of his location and charging after him

"How the hell is it finding us!" Delvin shouted as it once again appeared behind him "it's literally blind!". Unsure, panicked and barely conscious Delvin collapsed against Snap-pine back, starting to lose hope, however, it was then that they slammed through another fog wall, eliciting a roar from the beast and they found themselves in another caver that was free of the "frenzy virus".

Immediately flying upwards, Snap-pine clung to the ceiling and a few seconds later the demon appeared roaring out of the fog, Delvin was about to order Snap-pine to start flying but it suddenly stopped, looking around. Delvin watched as it looked around, letting out a scream and unsure where they were but somehow sure that they were nearby

And that was when Delvin realized, there was only one difference between the tunnels and the caverns, a lack of smoke! Due to the flora living within the caverns, there was no mist!

"It sees with the mist!" Delvin realized before releasing a breath "i think we're saf-" he was about to say

However as if to immediately prove him wrong the dragon below let out a shrill scream and began to indiscriminately breathe virus in all directions, filling the cavern faster than the plants could filter it

"Crap!" Delvin swore before looking around for any sign, any way to escape

And then he saw it… salvation, in the form of a little bit of light peaking, threw the ceiling beside them

"We're only a few meters below ground!" Delvin Shouted, drawing the attention of both Snap-pine and the insane dragon below them "Get us out of here!"

Obeying with a roar Snap-pine roared, shredding off his mask and sending a blast of fire and scales upwards, cracking the rock above them.

"Again!" Delvin sounded, looking towards the ceiling and then towards the beast below, that was preparing to pounce

Snap-pine fired again, cracking the ceiling and causing the cavern to shake and shudder, light escaping through the cracks

"One more to-" he tried to yell but was cut off as a ball of virus sped past him, fired at them, and narrowly missed, shattering the roof and bathing them in purple

"GO!" Delvin coughed, as the demon below roared, pouncing at them

And with a final roar, Snap-pine soared into the sky

"Thank god… Delvin breathed raggedly, seeing the dragon below try to follow but unable to keep up with their speed due to its mismatched body being unable to fly properly. All Delvin could do as he coughed up another cloud of black smoke was hold the bag of mist-eating mushrooms closer and whisper to snap-pine "back to berk" before passing out