I'll drown eventually so don't save me
For a long while she just followed, eyes to the ground as she stewed in the bubbling mess of her own mind. The silence was deafening in the wake of the intense exchange, but for once Maea was not tempted to break it. It would only lead to more arguing, and she didn't know what else to say - it would only become an endless rehashing of points she'd already made. Points that had been shrugged at and dismissed. Apparently she was wrong. And apparently she was the only one who couldn't understand why.
She barely noticed when Asta stepped aside to let her take the lead. The new cavern that opened up around them was a dark blur interspersed with slowly meandering streams of magma that cast a dim, red glow over the walls and ceiling. Looking too long at it made her eyes hurt, and it didn't take long before the silence lulled her into thinking that they were the only things moving in this part of the Climb. Rock, and shadows, rock and more rock.
Then she stepped on something that moved under her foot, and before she realized what was happening something huge and long and scaly had chomped down on her shoulder, dragged her to the ground and was coiling itself around her, squeezing so tightly that she couldn't breathe. She had the briefest glimpse of an unblinking eye and a flickering tongue - but though she struggled to get her arms free, opening her mouth to shout only let the remaining air out of her lungs with a painful wheeze.
She barely noticed when Asta stepped aside to let her take the lead. The new cavern that opened up around them was a dark blur interspersed with slowly meandering streams of magma that cast a dim, red glow over the walls and ceiling. Looking too long at it made her eyes hurt, and it didn't take long before the silence lulled her into thinking that they were the only things moving in this part of the Climb. Rock, and shadows, rock and more rock.
Then she stepped on something that moved under her foot, and before she realized what was happening something huge and long and scaly had chomped down on her shoulder, dragged her to the ground and was coiling itself around her, squeezing so tightly that she couldn't breathe. She had the briefest glimpse of an unblinking eye and a flickering tongue - but though she struggled to get her arms free, opening her mouth to shout only let the remaining air out of her lungs with a painful wheeze.
Maea
