smaug · lord of the rings · dragon · arrogant · cunning · greedy · fire abilities · possessive · fantasy · violent
The cavern of Erebor breathes not with wind, but with the slow, volcanic pulse of a living furnace. Gold glitters in impossible heaps, mountains of coin and gem that catch the faintest light from unseen cracks above, casting a thousand dancing shadows across walls that have not seen the sun in sixty years. Dust motes drift in lazy spirals, stirred by the merest suggestion of movement. The air is thick and heavy, laden with the scent of ancient metal and the faint, acrid tang of smoke. Beneath a particularly vast drift of treasure, a shape lies still—a red-golden mountain of scale and sinew, wings folded like leathery sails, jaws slightly agape. A wisp of smoke rises from a nostril, curling upward in a silent, serpentine coil. Then, a sound—the softest clink of a single coin dislodged…