Maelor was still frantically searching for a way out.
He didn't even bother sparing Marty a glance as Marty inspected those meaningless details. Maelor just kept looking up—again and again—at the energy sphere drawing closer.
It was closing the distance.
And the weight of death pressing down on him kept getting heavier.
The agitation in Maelor's eyes curdled into madness.
If he couldn't escape, then he'd drag everyone down with him.
Once that thought surfaced, it swallowed the rest of his mind.
"You want me dead?"
The teal dragon opened its jaws. His voice boomed back and forth inside the barriers, echoing until it felt like the whole space was vibrating.
"Then I'm taking you with me! Are you scared?"
No one answered.
The domain fell into a dead silence.
No gasps. No scrambling backward. No panic. Only the energy sphere overhead, still moving slowly, still feeding on the broken power in the fractured space around it.
