ROAAARRR!
The sound wasn't just loud, it felt like a force slammed into him, rattling his entire body, a shockwave. The ground shuddered, air vibrated, and Axel's ears screamed in pain.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head, teeth clenched as if the sound was drilling through his skull. Wind tore at him, a violent current like a hurricane trying to peel him off the earth.
Then as sudden as it came, the sound went, thick silence reigned, the one before a storm.
Axel dared to look back. And immediately regretted it.
"...Oh, crap."
The creature wasn't just big, it was biblical. A dragon, or something worse. Its massive black wings spread wide, as if announcing its presence.
Black scales, no, obsidian plates caught the faint blue light from the lava streams, shards of clear crystal rising along its spine like a crown of knives.
At least that's what he could tell from the vast distance between them.
As it lowered onto all fours, a deep tremor ran through the ground.
