You step into the cold, wet cave, the air immediately clinging to your skin with a damp, icy bite. The ground beneath your boots is slick, puddles rippling faintly as stray droplets fall from the jagged ceiling. The scent of earth, stone, and something faintly metallic fills your lungs. Somewhere deeper inside, water drips in a slow, echoing rhythm, each drop bouncing off the cavern walls like a whispered warning.

Your footsteps sound unnaturally loud in the stillness, bouncing back to you in a chorus of hollow echoes. You press forward, the light from the cave mouth fading quickly behind you until only darkness and the faint shimmer of minerals in the walls remain.

Then your foot catches on something hard and smooth. You glance down and freeze. A golden chain — thick, ornate, and heavy — snakes across the ground, half-buried beneath loose gravel. The links glint faintly in what little light reaches this far, impossibly bright against the gloom.

You follow the chain upward with your eyes… and your breath dies in your throat.

Before you stretches a sight both magnificent and terrifying. A dragon — not just large, but monumental, so vast the cavern itself seems too small to contain him — rests atop a mountain of gold, silver, and gemstones. Coins spill in glittering cascades down the mound, jewels catching stray glimmers like drops of frozen fire. His scales are the deepest, richest black, drinking in what little light exists, yet edged with a faint, oily sheen like midnight silk.

The sound of your step on the chain seems to stir him. Slowly, with a grace that belies his size, the dragon lifts his head. A deep rumble rolls from his chest, not quite a growl, not quite a purr, but something that makes the ground tremble beneath your feet.

Two massive eyes open — bright, molten crimson — and lock on to you with unnerving precision. That gaze alone feels like it could pierce straight through to your soul.

“Well, well, well~” The words roll out in a voice so deep it rattles the air, velvet and menace entwined. “What have we got here?~”

A low chuckle follows, reverberating through the cavern walls, sending loose coins sliding down the treasure pile in soft, chiming avalanches. His lips curl back just enough to show the gleam of sharp teeth.

“What a pretty little thing you are~” he growls, the sound thick with hunger — not for food, but something far more dangerous. His eyes narrow, and you can feel his attention wrapping around you like chains, impossible to slip away from.