----- Chapter 4 : Growl, From the Depths of the Earth -----
Distraction over, she finally reached the Central Dome to find that it was as devoid of life as it was of damage. Rico had begun to despair at the whole situation. Just when she thought that she might be completely alone, she heard a faint sound, almost like someone crying out for help. It took her many minutes to locate the source, ventilation shafts leading down into the bowels of the Dome. Here was hope for her at last. Maybe the others had learned of the impending disaster and had sought refuge below. With the Dome's security doors firmly in place and with all computer systems inoperable, the only way down was the hard way, via the shafts.
It turned out that practice was exceedingly more difficult than theory and after many minutes of laboured descent she lost her footing and slid rapidly in the darkness towards the bottom. Breaking out of the narrow pipe she had found herself inside a gigantic cavern seemingly located directly beneath the Central Dome, but with no way of judging the depth she had plummeted during her fall. Strangely there was another set of security doors set some way into the wall. This meant that the architects had known of this place and had accounted for it during construction.
This confused her, the cavern was empty, so what had been the source of the noise? Had she fallen too far? Those thoughts were interrupted by an mighty crash followed by a low guttural roar. She had encountered her first dragon. It was unlike anything she had seen before, well over thirty metres in length and belching fire like in the stories told to her as a little girl.
The curtains of flame that filled the air had made any kind of close combat impossible and wisely she had chose to flee into one of the caves leading away into the mountain rather than face such a beast unnecessarily.