Xiangzi looked at him, truly unsure of whether he or the other person was the bigger fool. Shaking his head, he turned around and started walking back.
The Papalarians shouted and bawled behind him. With one leading and the other following, they moved through the underground darkness towards the way out. Perhaps, many years later, no one else would set foot in this place again.
But people would not forget that one day in that particular year, everything that had happened here.
And in the deeper darkness below that place—
A pair of eyes was opening, revealing a pair of narrow, slit pupils in total darkness, set between grey-white scales. They looked around, exuding an eerie calm the moment they regained awareness.
Tainaric felt something licking his face, and he reached out to block the other creature, recognizing his intimate companion—his mount, Blood Fang, though he had no idea how it had managed to make its way underground and find him.
