"Micha? Micha, we need to go! C'mon man, we need to find those eggs before the festival ends!"

I barely hear him. The doors are fully open now. A sweeping blast hits me, melting the tips of my nose. Beyond the doors lie rocks; Piles and piles of rocks, engrossing everything as the road slants downwards. It's a cave. They're sending us into a cave. A cave filled with a mama dragon and who else knows what.

I need to find Vivvy.

"Vivvy and I need to go in together," I say. "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought."

"It's too late for that."

We both turn to see Niko. His arms are crossed. I haven't seen him look so determined, so serious, in so long.

"Too late for what?" I ask.

"She's already inside. I saw her and her friends towards the front. We just need to move on by ourselves. There's about a hundred of us and twenty-five baby dragons. We need to get going."

"Don't worry," adds Fraze. "She can take care of herself."

I say nothing. Without so much as a snort, I turn and plunge into the river of tenth years headed towards the cave. The drafts stink of sulfur and ash. Niko, Fraze and I step lively, bypassing the hesitant in a matter of no time. I'm going to get a dragon. I'm going to get a dragon, or I will die trying.

We head deeper and deeper into the cave. For a while, the descent is simple. Gravity tugs at our toes as we move at an angle. The class is forced to huddle shoulder to shoulder, naturally slowing us down. I gag. The smell of sweat is overpowering. I can't tell if I should blame the heat or the nerves. The fragrance does little to distract from the suffocating darkness. A candle is positioned high up every five feet or so. Still, it does little to quench the shadow's thirst, and we're left struggling. I can barely make out the broken frames on Niko's face, and he's right behind me.

Eventually, the cave begins to diverge. At first, it's just a few offshoot directions. After a few hesitant moments, people pick a direction, dividing us into two. Honestly, it does little to ease the claustrophobia. And for goodness sake, have these people heard of breath mints before? Or bathing? Sometimes I get jealous of the people of Edrian. Samuel tells tales of them having a machine that produces a warm summer's rain-- Right in the comfort of their homes! And basically, all of them had one!

The five-way fork in the road knocks me out of my thoughts.

"Which way are we going to go?" asks Fraze.

"Let's think this through," says Niko. "A few moments of planning ahead may save us some time. Look at everyone else; They're just picking a random direction and following it!"

He keeps his voice (relatively) quiet, using gestures to carry most of his meaning. My eyes follow his fingers trail. Sure enough, small groups of our classmates give no thought, simply letting the shadows of a random path consume them. They move quickly, eyes bent forward. Before long we're the only ones left in the passageway.

"How are we going to decide?" asks Fraze.

"I hate to say it," says Niko. "But we might want to go towards the second to the left; It's the hottest."

"And if it's the hottest," I say. "Then mama dragon is probably down there. And who knows what else."

"Dragon mama must be guarding her babies..." Fraze mutters.

"Then it's decided," says Niko. "We'll go down there. C'mon, we need to get a move on."