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The constant nagging questions about my current situation with Calamity, Inferno and my Sire started to weigh on my mind. Before I knew it many hours had passed, I'd lost track of time once again while lost in deep thought. A sudden ruckus below pulls my attention; a massive carnivorous plant is reeling in its latest prey, a large squealing boar by the look and sounds of it, the prey wasn't making it easy for the red speckled fuzzy 'tongue' vine of the plant to pull the heavy beast, but the creatures fate was sealed the moment it had made contact with the plants tendril.

My Sire often sent squads of dragons on extraction to harvest these particular plants, their chemistry capable of removing any toxin or poison in the blood, not to mention other healing benefits. The whole point of any extraction, was to gain resources the Dragon Realm lacked, a realm full of caves and mountains didn't really offer much other than the space to home us.

The red sun shone brightly in the distance above, the green sky remained clear. The scenery below however, soon changed from green trees to a garden of yellow sunflowers. The change in scenery was welcoming.

“My Dominion, may we please rest” Calamity calls out. I glance back to see the pair to be wavering, the humid weather was taking its toll. Plus considering the suns position dipping down towards the horizon, I suppose we had been travelling for majority of the day. Checking below I spot an small open area amongst the fields of sunflowers. I gave the usual signal, flicking down my tail and indicating to the others that we were landing. We glide towards a patch of grass and come to a trotting halt. Surrounding us are the giant trunks of the sunflowers, their stems towering high above us, their massive heads blocking a good portion of the sky above. They provided good shade and shelter, although the increased humidity with the crowded stems and large leaves hindered the moisture in the air escaping.

Inferno pants away trying to catch her breath while Calamity places the felines on the ground and begins to unbuckle the water barrels. Just as he unclips the barrels and drops them on the grass there's a soft rumble beneath us, before he can react, the ground crumbles away around his feet and the barrels, leaving him to be swallowed up by the earth, all to similarly to the boar I'd spotted earlier. The barrels and our food follow him as he calls out my name in surprise and desperation, leaping forwards I grab Calamity's tail before he disappears into the dirt, only for the area around us to further begin to give away under my forelegs. Unable to hold on without solid footing, I'm forced to let go of the flailing dragon, allowing both me and Inferno to jump back up into the air, flapping in place and preventing ourselves from sharing the same fate as Calamity as he falls about twenty feet into a tightening ravine, chunks of soil hindering his attempts to spread his wings and plummets straight down into a fast flowing river.

“Calamity!” I roar out, swooping into the ravine to find him. After a few wing flaps I hear a splash and call out. Calamity's head breaks the waters surface further along the stream. He yells out my name in panic but as I try to dive towards him, I see that he's being carried towards a rock formation entwined with roots. The flow of the current pulls him under the rocks and out of sight again. I try to search for a way around, only to see my path is blocked by the thick mass of bulky tangled roots, soil and rocks forming an almost solid wall ahead. I notice the surrounding walls of the ravine seem to comprise mostly of compacted soil, sandstone and larger rocks as I try to find a way through the blockage. As I search around I spot a cavity in the ravines wall and swoop myself into it to land. My heart is racing as I try to find a way to squeeze pass the undergrowth. I will not lose him, not my Calamity, I love him too much to... And there it was, the thought of losing him sharpened my clarity of what I must do once I had rescued him from the current dilemma.

A sudden growing sound of buzzing began to sound behind us, Inferno had been in tow the entire time, glancing back to look for the source of the buzzing I take better notice of her, noting that she looked almost as panicked as I felt when we saw what was producing such sounds. Our heads craning back to the hole up above us, daylight glared through the widened crack in the ceiling though the light dimmed as a cluster of shadows blocked the shaded natural light reaching the further depths of the crack within the world. A swarm of giant wasps seem to have taken notice of the commotion and flown into underground chamber, darting from side to side a little erratically as they swarmed into the depths of the earth.

Six of the yellow jacket wasp broke off from their main group and darted towards us, while the rest of the swarm divided, and spread to the walls of the ravine, some landing, others seeming to disappear from sight into the walls. I widen my stance and prepared my bladed tail, my focus on the six fast approaching us while the familiar 'Shnk' noise of my tail blades slotted together into a spear point resounds from behind me. A growl of rage resonated from my throat. I was neither in the mood for conflict or wasting time fighting here. A wave of flames suddenly burst out, lighting the walls of the ravine as Inferno engulfed four of the giant wasps in her breath, clearing the majority of the group while I swatted the other two with my tail, quickly slicing through their hardened chitinous carapaces, leaving a nasty yellow liquid upon my tail and splattered across the wall. We had made quick work of our assailants as the invading wasps continued to spread out along the walls, occasionally I noticed they'd enter cavities in the ravines walls, much like the one we were stood in, but they didn't seem to reappear.

“We don't have time for this, we must find Calamity” I roar to Inferno who nods back, spraying another set of wasps with her fire breath. Onlooking wasps seemingly wise up and decide its best to avoid the pair of none wasps striking so easily through their numbers. As the wasps seem to give us berth, I check the wall blocking our way and glance inwards of the cavity we had landed in, realizing it dug deeper into the ravines side. Taking a few steps inwards I notice that it opens into a deeper brown tunnel, curving around back towards the direction the river had been flowing!

I immediately begin to race into the tunnel with Inferno on my tail. I have to find Calamity! I have to make him mine! They were the words driving me forward, fuelling my adrenalin. As I sprinted forward, practically bouncing from wall to wall as the tunnel began to take occasional tighter turns, avoiding hanging and protruding roots, leaping over and squeezing myself past the occasional boulder that had seemingly fallen from the roof of the tunnel into the main path, swatting away an occasional oversized beetle that happened to be traversing the same tunnel and simply found itself in my way. Nothing in the entirety of the Divine Realms was going to stop me from rescuing my Calamity.

As I ran a crack that had naturally formed in the right side wall began to widen slowly and luckily revealed the river I was searching for beyond. I see Calamity trying to grab onto the embankment, trying to pull himself out but the rivers strong current and his obviously weakened state overwhelm his fight against the flow of water thus far, leading him to slip away from the potential reprieve. I lose myself in my rage and slam myself into the side of the cracked wall as I run, the first time I jar my shoulder but it doesn't stop my second attempt with which I break down the compacted soil and burst into an larger cavern.

With Calamity now in my sight a new found enthusiasm launched me across the open chamber, barely registering the space above was full of buzzing insects. The caves surface was a mixture of yellow and brown and either felt smooth and sticky or completely solid. Flames spewed overhead from Inferno, she'd flown up above me, keeping the pests above off my back as I furiously charge towards the river, towards the one I love.

“My Dom-nion!” Calamity calls for me, his head bobs under and over the water, coughing as he resurfaces mid call while he fought to stay afloat. I knew his strength was failing him, he was going to be pulled below at any moment, he was about to drown... No I will not allow that to happen! But I still had a distant to cover as the sticky floor became more slippery hindering my movements, until I realise I am running on honey and my cunning gives me a idea as I open my wings at an angle.

“Inferno, douse the ground ahead me with your flames” I demand frantically.

“What!?” She retorts in dismay.

“DO IT!” I roar with a passion of fury and she complies without any further hesitation. I feel the warmth of Inferno's flames overhead before seeing her brilliant flames carpet the sticky ground ahead. The sticky honey heats quickly and begins to lose its tacky nature, becoming almost slippery. With the heat radiating from behind and now up from the ground, my open wings catch the slight up draft and help push me forward. Ducking down to reduce resistance, I allowing myself to slide along the floor, building the momentum, gaining speed, ordering the crimson dragon to continue immersing the ground with her flames.

Calamity was struggling to remain afloat but I had no intention of giving up, no intention of failing. Before I knew it I hit the embankment and launched myself over the river with such velocity I cleared the widened river but was quick enough to grab the green oaf and pull him free from the water as I flew overhead. Calamity's weight hindered my momentum, pulling me back down and landed us on the opposite side of the river, tumbling into in a dense pool of honey.

From one danger to another, we were now stuck in honey and sinking. Calamity was to busy gasping for air to notice as I try to keep him above the substance to catch his breath. I search and call for Inferno who lands nearby and swings her tail towards us in the pool while facing away and discharging flames to the incoming attacking wasps. Grabbing the tail I try to hoist both myself and Calamity free of the honey but it's too thick and I cannot drag myself and Calamities weight free. We needed to heat this honey too but Calamity was not fireproof, being of the Salve Bloodline they were more immune or resistant of various poisons, venoms, toxins and acids, thus how their tribe had established the role taking responsibility of healing their fellow dragonkin.

I however, was fireproof. With what strength I had left I push my wings through the syrupy honey wrapping them around Calamity and call to Inferno to douse us in her flames. She doesn't question orders this time around and covers us in, well, an inferno of flames. It takes seconds for the gluey honey to transmute into a thinner liquid. With the loosened liquid I was able to pull hard on Inferno's tail and with her pulling forwards we soon find ourselves free from the substance. I drag Calamity over to an solid rock formation nearby and examine him for burn marks. Luckily he had none and momentarily we rest to catch our breath while Inferno defends us from any attacking insects. It's only then I notice for the first time, above us a series of struggling conflicts between giant wasps and bees. The wasps had invaded to steal the bees resources and we were caught in the middle.