**********
The giantess wandered purposefully through the cavern. The dragon had been awakened, and its anger was deafening. She knew nothing else about her own life, but she knew that she had to put distance between herself and the monster that lived in the belly of the cave. She was tall enough to reach the moist stalactites that dripped water down onto the cavern floor, and she had to duck down in a squat position to keep from hitting her head on the sharp points.
“I am not moving fast enough,” she told herself as she stumbled through the endless darkness, and she leaned against the wall of the cave to rest. Then a quake rumbled through the mountain, and she could hear the cracking of rock in the ceiling above. Pebbles fell on her shoulders, and she gritted her teeth and ran along the cave wall, hoping that her head would not come into contact with the stalactites that hovered over her head.
A dim change came in the scenery ahead, and she could see a noticeable change from darkness to perhaps nighttime in the open sky. With an extra burst of speed, she ran in her boots toward the mouth of the cave as the ceiling tumbled in behind her.
“Nothing could have survived this,” she said as rubble crashed down on the outside of the cave. She kept her eyes focused on the exit, and a figure formed in the night.