*** 

Dod looked around. He was forced to admit that he no longer had control of his body. Around his right eye, the rest of his body materialized little by little. Dod got goosebumps, remembering the turbo-transporter at Goliath. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Princess Evangeline near him; she was having a similar experience.  

THE SCENE STARTS IN 5 SECONDS  

The first second seemed to last for an eternity, and Evangeline and Dod were thrown into the middle of the scene. The place was slightly dim for a grotto; the darkness was not master of a place where it should be. The princess Evangeline's ornaments and hair had a pale luster compared to the treasure that appeared before their eyes.  

Dod was dazzled; a glittering treasure lay at his feet. It was gold, a vivid and pure gold as he had never seen before. The treasure stretched across the entire grotto, with mountains of gold coins, enough to start several intercontinental wars for decades.  

The 2nd second was fatal; Evangeline slipped and fell into a pile of gold coins. She didn't have time to get up; a claw three times her size impaled her.  

"Evangeline!!!"  

During the third second, Dod's voice could no longer reach Princess Evangeline. The creature that had attacked her withdrew its claw in one swift motion, and a shower of gold coins rained down on her. Evangeline spat blood and barely had time to see the entirety of her entrails spread on the floor of the cave. Evangeline collapsed before passing her last breath.  

The fourth second passed. Dod thought the scene was over now that Evangeline was dead. Yet they were not sent back to the first floor.  

"Apparently, the scene isn't over," thought Dod. 

During the fifth and sixth seconds, Dod tried to take cover. He moved away from the princess as much as possible. He slid, dodging the gold pieces around him, and hid in a pile.  

The seventh second was the fateful one for Dod. Hidden under a pile of gold coins, he felt his skin melting, literally. The gold around him began to flow like magma. Dod had lost half of his face on the right side. The red under his skin now gave way to his bare face. Then it was his flesh and bones that melted, intertwining, leaving only a mixture of boiled human flesh.  

At the eighth second, and then at the beginning of the ninth, Dod released his last breath.  

*** 

The boy woke up in a panic, lying on the marshy ground of the first floor. 

"Are you awake? We have to find a plan quickly.”  

Evangeline held out her hand. The countdown had already begun during her absence.   

"Wait, the minute has already started. That's really not good!" Dod exclaimed in distress.   

 "All the more reason to hurry up and find a plan!" 

"No, you don't understand. If the countdown starts while one of us is still in the middle of a scene, what scene will that person be sent to when the countdown is over, and no one has joined them? If we continue to die separately, we'll end up in two completely different scenes. That would reduce our chances of survival very quickly.  

“Okay, what do you propose then?”  

"Let's consider the first attempts as reconnaissance. We need to know as much as possible about our environment to survive this ordeal. The moment one of us dies, we’ll meet up as quickly as possible, capiche? We'll think of a plan once we have more information.”  

 “Copy!”  

Evangeline blinked and found herself in the middle of the scene. Dod was standing next to her. She took Dod's right hand in her left and didn't let go. This way, she made sure they wouldn't be separated. Both of them tried to take in as much of their surroundings as possible before inevitably dying.   

 Five seconds passed without anything happening.  

 "The thing that attacked us is hiding," Dod murmured.   

Although the sixth second was the last, it turned out to be the most informative. The action took place in a fraction of a second; however, the nervous information delegated from his eyes to his brain arrived a fraction of a second before their death.   

A veritable inferno rained down on them, a breath of fire obliterating everything in its path. Only smoke and ash remained. Like a bat clinging to the cavernous ceiling of the grotto, the dark mass revealed itself, reflecting the light from the flames. The creature was enormous, with beige and gray skin. Its surface was rocky, and between its crevices, one could see thousands of pieces of gold, stuck everywhere between the folds of its skin. This gave it an even more flamboyant appearance. His tail was wide, thick, and several meters long, and its tip was as thin as a needle. Its four short legs held it to the ceiling, its claws still dripping with the blood of Dod and Evangeline, embedded in the rock.   

His head, extended, revealed his enormous neck. His gaping mouth was filled with sharp teeth as long and imposing as his claws, and he was breathing fire. Lines of rock appeared naturally on his face, fragmenting it. Rocky spikes crowned his face and ended in two huge, imposing horns at the top of his skull. It was a true...  

"Dragon! You saw it too, right, Dod? I'm not crazy?" The princess exclaimed, still in shock.  

"Yes, princess, unfortunately, I saw the same thing you did," Dod replied calmly. "Let's stay calm. We don't need to kill him yet. All we have to do is survive for ten seconds.”