BOOM!
The stone ceiling of the keep shattered, slabs of rock collapsing inward as something swift tore through them. Whatever it was did not stop at the floor, it continued downward, pulverizing stone and earth, crashing through layer after layer until it finally came to rest deep within the catacombs of the Black Citadel.
It was Asher.
Asher surged forward in a single step, the ground rupturing beneath his feet. Midway through, a wall of flame roared toward him. He thrust his hand out instinctively, and the inferno split apart, forced to his left and right, scorching the walls as it rushed past.
Without slowing, he plunged deeper, breaking through the last barrier of stone and landing in a vast cavern.
The space was enormous, wider than any hall he had ever seen, its ceiling lost in darkness. At its center lay a dragon larger than anything Asher could have imagined. Mountains of bones surrounded it, fused together by old heat and time.
