Meeting the Gnome King

The ground below Aurora gave way before she could react. The earth kept shifting, constantly bringing her downwards and at an angle like the most horrific slide ever created. Were it not for the pocket of air that was being maintained around her body, she would have suffocated from the dirt. As it was, she was slipping into a panic, wishing more than anything to come to a stop. Actually, she wished for anything to happen. Anything but this eternal falling.

Finally her descent slowed, and she was able to grab at the dirt and bring herself to a stop as the hole opened up into a wide cavern. Two gnomes, the ones who had been waiting for her to get more than an arm's-length away from her group before abducting her, stood waiting for her at the exit of the tunnel. Regaining her senses, Aurora brushed herself off and called angrily at the little gnomes, "This is how you treat the Empress? You should be ashamed of yourselves!" She hoped that an overt display of dominance might fores