It was the middle of the night and the group was sleeping. Well, most of them. Slade was awake and wandering around the town. He was alone. All of the townsmen were asleep. He himself couldn’t sleep, no, in fact he didn’t need to sleep. Sleep was a luxury that really served him no purpose. But the others wouldn’t know this, they couldn’t. Not having to sleep gave him an edge over the rest. As he wandered around he readjusted his bandannas. Had to be careful, couldn’t let anyone see his true self.
He came to the house of the mayor, only recognizable due to a slightly larger size compared to the other homes in the town. He grinned beneath his mask and quickly moved towards a window. He peeked in and saw the resident completely asleep with a small table next to him. On the table was a book. This was perfect. He moved quickly and set out to do what he wanted.
* * *
Morning came early for the group. Thankfully for them they all slept better than they had the previous night. Kaiten was once again the first to be ready and out of the inn. Eisen flapped his wings nearby and screeched. “Are you hungry?” Eisen screeched again. “Here, eat this.” Kaiten reached into a small pouch and pulled out a slug. With a quick flick of his wrist, the slug went flying up into the air only to be devoured a split second later by Eisen. Eisen screeched happily.
“Ah, Kaiten. Again it appears we are the first to be ready.” Iyouboushi stepped out of his room, katana at his side. He brushed a hand through his hair,
“So it would appear.”
“Tell me, Kaiten, what do you think of the leader of this group? What are your thoughts on Shadowmurk?”
“My queen had warned me about the knights of Crim. ‘Dangerous and blood thirsty’ she told me. I am starting to believe her after seeing what occurred two nights ago.” Eisen screeched in agreement.
“I feel the same. However, we cannot dismiss the fact that he did save the Silverstone townspeople that had been taken captive. And he did agree to speak to the king on behalf of the missing food once we finish our task at hand.” Iyouboushi sighed. “I just feel this man could be a danger should his bloodlust get the better of him.”
“Then we must take careful note of him in battle.”
Nearby Slade walked up the path towards the inn. He was feverishly adjusting his bandannas and glancing everywhere, as if to make sure he wasn’t being followed. He stopped when he saw the two standing outside. “Morning” he muttered, and walked past them to his room.
“And that’s another one that I do not trust completely.” Iyouboushi said. “Where does he keep disappearing to? Why does he mask his face and head? What secrets does he hide from us?” His questions would go unanswered as Kurando walked out of his room holding the black helmet.
“Ah, you two. You’re always awake. Do you ever sleep?” He put the helmet on his shoulder.
“Kurando,” Kaiten said, watching him put the helmet up on his shoulder, “why do you always carry this helmet with you?”
“Oh you mean Quaram.” Kurando smiled. “He’s my companion. He’s a little shy though. But I feel once he gets to know you all a little better he’ll start talking for you.”
“Sorry I asked.”
“Ah, good morning gentlemen.” Aolos stepped out of his room, once again with his flawless body glowing in the sun. “The wind speaks to me. It says Silverstone is grateful for our help and that the captives returned safely. We are considered heroes to them.”
“Heroes? Better than Zeros.” Kurando gave a small laugh at his own joke. No one else laughed. “Well I thought it was funny” he added. “Didn’t you think it was funny Quaram?”
Taylen was the next to come out of his room. He strapped his tool belt to his waist and was holding a small thin cylinder object. “Look what I made in the night,” he said. The object lit up like a beacon. “This should help us see in the pitch darkness of the desert should we take longer than the sun stays in the sky.” The light went off as Slade came back out of his room.
Shadowmurk emerged from his room, followed by Tekoja. “Good morning everyone. Tekoja and I have been talking. He has informed me that the worm we are looking for, nicknamed Loud Mouth Willy, only appears during twilight. Several members of the Eyi community have reported to him with the last known location of the worm.”
“One question,” Taylen started, “how do we know that this ‘Loud Mouth Willy’ is the right worm that has swallowed the gemstone? Surely there must be millions of worms in a desert like this.”
Tekoja answered that question with only two words, “very large.”
“The gemstone is magical,” Shadowmurk explained. “The worm that swallowed it was changed. The villages who have seen it said that this worm is much larger than others. It’s the only explanation and it’s the only lead we have.”
“I see.”
“Now we must move. If we do not reach the area by twilight we will be unable to lure the worm out.”
As the group moved towards the edge of town a woman walked in front of them and offered them all a canteen with water. “Desert hot” she managed to say. She then exchanged some words with Tekoja in her native language before walking off.
“Hot like fire” Kurando added. An audible smack came out of nowhere. Everyone glanced at the sound but only saw Kurando standing with the helmet on his shoulder. “Ow. I was just stating the obvious.” He said sulking.
The group continued on. As they reached the edge of town, the desert opened up to them. Only the feint shadow of the pyramid loomed in the distance with sand being the only visible thing as far as the eye could see.
“We walk. Horses will not survive in such a condition.”
The group walked through the desert. Eventually they reached the pyramid. Here they saw two giant steel doors that lead into the pyramid itself. They seemed to be sealed shut. Aolos gasped heavily and fell to one knee.
“Aolos! Are you all right?” Taylen rushed to his side. Eisen screeched and hid behind Kaiten.
“There is evil here. A very powerful evil.” Aolos took a drink from his canteen and carefully stood back on both feet. “We must leave this area.”
“You know what’s evil?” Kurando said, mostly to himself, “evil is having sand in your shoes. You know that stuff just never comes out.”
The journey continued. The pyramid grew further and further behind them.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Taylen asked. “I knew I should have invented a device to tell us where we are.”
“According to reports, the worm is east of the pyramid we have passed, at a large hill made out of rocks.” They passed a lone cactus.
The sun began its decline towards the earth. The group was running out of time to reach the rocks if they were to meet the worm.
“Blasted heat,” Kurando complained again.
“Please stop complaining” Iyouboushi said. “It’s making everyone uneasy.”
“There! In the distance. We’ve done it.” Shadowmurk pointed. Tekoja nodded. A very feint outline of a hill of rock lay before them. “Quickly, we must reach it.”
They began to pick up their pace, at first sprinting and soon going into a full run. The sun raced them, quickly turning the sky into twilight.
“We made it.” Everyone gasped for breath. “Where is Loud Mouth Willy?” They looked around. The sand where the rocks sat upon was a feint orange color, with the surrounding sand being almost white. The rocks and surrounding area were bare. There was no sign of a life, muchless a worm.
“Great. Just great.” Kurando fumed. “We’ve been led to the middle of nowhere. What’s next, a betrayal?”
“Stop talking.” Aolos said. “I hear something approaching.”
“What? But I don’t hear anything, do you Quaram?”
The rocks began to shake. Some crumbled off and fell down onto the ground before the group. A large sound of the rocks being scrapped together was heard and a three foot worm shot out of the ground. Everyone stood in disbelief.
“That’s it? That’s Loud Mouth Willy?” Kurando laughed.
“It would appear so,” Kaiten said drawing his polearm from his back and swinging it into an attack stance.
“It is a rather large worm, considering.” Iyouboushi drew his katana.
“Let us finish this quickly and get back to Crim.” Shadowmurk drew his blood-stained blade and went into an attack stance.
Slade, Kurando and Tekoja stood back. “I think I’ll let you handle this.” Slade said with Tekoja and Kurando nodding in agreement.
Taylen shrugged and reached to the back of his toolbelt to draw a gun. “I don’t normally like fighting,” he said, “but I agree with Shadowmurk in this case. If we don’t hurry we may consider this desert our grave.”
The worm flailed back and forth, waving in the twilight. It seemed innocent and weak. Iyouboushi was the first to attack. He charged the worm only for the worm to gracefully dodge the attack. In a flash, Iyouboushi felt the back of his knees being hit by the worm, causing him to go flying down over the side of the rock hill.
“It’s fast” Kaiten observed. “But I’m faster.” Kaiten rushed to the worm and swung his polearm around. The worm suffered major cuts from the polearm. Kaiten jumped backwards to avoid being hit by the worm as it swung, trying to defend itself.
BANG! The sound of Taylen’s gun echoed in the ears of all present. The worm had been pierced completely through by a small bullet. It was bleeding profusely and was not waving as wildly. Shadowmurk took this opportunity to finish the worm off. With a mighty swipe of his blade, the worm was cleaved completely in two. The motion stopped and it fell against the rocks with an audible thud.
“Well that wasn’t so hard” Kurando admitted. Tekoja smiled. Iyouboushi stood up on the other side of the rock hill and groaned.
“Now to retrieve the gemstone and get out of here.” Shadowmurk reached down to dig through the remains of the worm. After a moment he moved his hand back out and shook off gunk. “It’s not here.”
“What do you mean it’s not here? It has to be here. We killed the worm.” Taylen sounded worried. “That’s where they said it was, right?”
“I don’t understand.” Shadowmurk stepped back, down to the group. Kaiten joined him.
Aolos put his hand up to silence everyone. “I sense there is another worm nearby.” He waited, then pointed behind the group. “There.”
Another worm, just as the first, sprung up out of the ground and began to wave wildly. Sand began to be carried up around the worm, causing a small tornado of sand to form.
“What’s going on? Quaram, save me!” Kurando held the helmet out in front of him as if he was trying to hide behind it.
“So be it.” Shadowmurk swung his sword back into an attack position and ran towards the worm. When he reached the tornado of sand it lifted him off the ground and threw him several feet backwards. His sword left his hand and flew back further behind him.
The sand tornado grew larger, threatening to encompass the whole group.
“We have to do something” Taylen said, aiming his gun. With another audible bang, a bullet flew towards the worm but never reached the target. The tornado grabbed the small bullet and flung it elsewhere, out of sight. “No good.”
Kuroando sighed and put the helmet down on the ground. His eyes began to glow red as he held both hands out in front of him. “Ignis tilin” he said. Suddenly a huge spark of fire encompassed the worm. It gave off a loud screech before falling over lifeless. The tornado disappeared. “Burn, burn, burn!” Kurando gave off a maniacal laugh.
Shadowmurk forced himself back up to his feet and went for his sword. “Someone check that worm.”
“Not me” Slade said, stepping back further. Before anyone else could object, Tekoja ran forward to the cooked worm and withdrew a knife.
Iyouboushi finally climbed his way back over the rocky hill and returned to the group. “Is something burning?”
Kurando continued to laugh. “I set the worm on the most burning fire.”
Tekoja sliced into the worm, spilling its innards to the outside. He began to sift through them but did not see a gemstone. “No here.”
“Is this some sort of sick game?” Kaiten began to grow angry.
The ground began to shake. Kurando stopped laughing and quickly grabbed the helmet off the ground. “Is this an earthquake?”
“What now?” Taylen reloaded his gun.
“Another worm?” Slade asked.
“Do you know of any worms that can cause earthquakes?” Kurando asked.
“Everyone calm down.” Shadowmurk moved towards Aolos. “Aolos, what do your elvaan ears tell you?”
“The black wind howls.”
“What does that mean” Taylen asked, worried now. The tremors were getting worse. It was a struggle just to stay standing.
The ground began to crack beneath Tekoja. A huge fissure in the earth opened up and a massive object shot out of the ground. Tekoja gave a bloodcurdling scream then was silent, disappearing into the object. The last light of twilight revealed a giant thirty foot worm with two broken antennae completely out of the ground.
“I..I don’t want to play anymore.” Kurando ran behind Slade.
“That’s Loud Mouth Willy?” Kaiten asked, in disbelief.
“It’s gigantic.” Iyouboushi held his katana with both hands, his hands shaking slightly with fear.
“How can we fight such a beast?” Taylen aimed his gun slowly, having trouble keeping his arms still.
“Don’t think about how, just do.” Shadowmurk swung his blade around and charged the beast.
Without a word, Kaiten ran towards the worm and leaped high into the sky, disappearing from sight.
“Whe, where’d he go?” Kurando asked Slade who shrugged.
Aolos touched Kurando on the shoulder, causing him to jump slightly. “Focus on the worm and help them.”
“Why don’t you?”
“My skills are not suited for battle.”
“Come on Quaram, I guess we have to help.”
Shadowmurk sliced into the worm with all his strength. The attack did very little damage to the worm and instead caused it to swing its massive tail over in an attempt to hit Shadowmurk. Seeing this, Shadowmurk ran back just in time to dodge the tail. Loud Mouth Willy gave a large roar, unlike anything any of them had heard before.
“I think I know why they call him Loud Mouth Willy now” Iyouboushi said. His katana began to glow with a feint black energy. “And now to silence that worm.” He raised his katana up and swung it. A circular blur of black energy shot out of the katana and flew into the worm, slicing its tail completely off.
BANG! Taylen’s gun fired again. The tiny bullet hit the massive, thrashing worm, but did not seem to do anything. “If I had known we were going to fight a giant I would have brought a cannon.”
The worm thrashed all around, violently, causing the earth to shake. Everyone in the group fell to the ground, unable to stand.
Kaiten began his descent from the air. His polearm was aimed straight down and he was falling directly over the thrashing worm’s head. With a loud crashing sound, the worm fell over lifeless. Kaiten stood on the ground after having cleaved the worm’s head completely in two.
The earth stopped shaking and everyone returned to their feet. Kaiten swung blood off his polearm and walked towards the group, calm and silent.
“That was amazing Kaiten. Iyouboushi. Both of you.” Shadowmurk took off his helmet and looked at both. “I see why Alus wanted to recruit you both.”
“Oh that’s rude Tori, be quiet.” Taylen whispered to himself and paced away from the group for a moment.
“Right, so how are we going to get the gemstone from this massive body?” Iyouboushi turned and looked at the group.
“Don’t look at me.” Slade said. “I’m not going in there to try and get the gemstone.”
Kurando chanted and suddenly the entire body of the worm caught fire. The skin began to melt. “Hahaha, burn burn burn! Most burning fire!” A whiff of the burning flesh carried by the wind flew over the group and Kurando suddenly stopped laughing, turned and threw up. “Disgusting.”
Finally after what seemed like forever, the body of the worm had melted completely leaving only the partially digested remains of Tekoja, some green goo and a small, pulsing, glowing red ruby.
“Right then.” Shadowmurk walked over and picked the ruby up. Slade’s eyes narrowed and shifted between the members. He readjusted his bandannas, feeling that they had shifted slightly during the battle. “It’s over. We should head back to town.” The group wandered back towards Eyi in the darkened sky using Taylen’s light as a beacon.
The arrival at Eyi at dawn could only come soon enough. The heroes were sun-burned, hungry and downright exhausted. They wanted nothing more than to sleep and relax. When they arrived at inn of Eyi, Shadowmurk stopped and addressed the group.
“I know you are all very tired and hungry. Rest now, for half a day before we press on. We must reach Crim as soon as possible with this gem. It is of vital importance that we are not stalled for any longer than we must be.” He sighed. “I must go visit with the elder of Eyi and let them know the fate of Tekoja. His family will want to know. I shall meet you all here when the sun is highest in the sky and we shall ride.”
The others nodded and entered their rooms. Their soft cots brought on dreams and brought relief for their aching bodies. But it did not seem long enough. It felt as though the moment they fell asleep it was already time to awaken. A loud knocking on their doors brought them out of their slumber and onto their steeds.
It was time to return to Crim.
