My people's creation myths say that at the centre of the world there is a dragon, the child of the Great Dragon, and that the earth we walk upon is nothing but the shell of his egg. Someday, the tales say, the egg will crack and the dragon will be born, having us for his first meal.

In the sixth century, group of young, heretical mages appeared, disputing these tales, declaring that their research proved otherwise. According to them, at the core of the world there is nothing but raw, roiling magic, pure and formless. Four centuries later, I am a member of this group, and we still struggle against this pervasive and, we thought, foolish myth.

Finally, the day came when the magics our ancestors had begun refining centuries ago reached a level where we could potentially show the world far more proof than complex equations and obscure charts and measurements. The day came when our goal of sending an expedition to the heart of the world seemed a real possibility.

As the best Imager in the group, I was chosen to accompany the team on their mission and to record our findings. I, like everyone else who took on this dangerous and exciting task, fully expected to finally be able to prove, beyond any doubt, that we were right and the priests were wrong.

Turns out, we were both right, in a way.

There is a dragon at the core of the world, and he is feeding off us. He has been, for longer than we've known how to record time. He's been devouring our energy, storing it, forming the core of raw magic that our tests detected so long ago. He's draining the very life from us and from our planet.

And I can't tell anyone, even if they would believe the Images I've spun. The dragon discovered our intrusion. I'm the only one left, and I'm lost in a cave system so vast I can't sense the edges. It's hot in here. The core of magic is close enough that I can tap it, feed my body enough to survive, but I can't cast the spell of transportation alone. If someone finds this record someday, I hope that maybe they can find a way to stop the decay of our world.