Wurm Queen

Leaning back on Nathan I couldn't help but widen my eyes in horror at the scene. A massive wurm dove into the ground before making its way towards us. I glanced over to see Heyu and Loki looking like ants next to the massive queen.

Pushing myself off Nathan I rose back to my feet my hands shaking as I tried to keep conscious.

" All together now hang in there!" Nathan shouted.

I knew at this moment he was trying to convince himself as much as the rest of us but his voice was enough to help me to stead my breath.

Loki and Heyu were chasing behind it on a golem that Heyu had made. They both looked pretty beat up.

I couldn't help but notice Heyu was holding his arm defensively.

[ Think stupid! ]

As we stood the ground under us shook and became unstable. It had already been difficult to walk but now we had to worry about being swallowed by the sand.

I glanced over at Kibbles who seemed tired but unhurt then at the charred remains of the Wurms.

" That's it!" I said suddenly.

" You have an idea?" Sora said next to me panting.

" Mm you said they hunt by smell right? What if we confused it?" I said suddenly as I thought back to the pants in my inventory.

Rumble

RUMBLE!!

The Wurm was inching closer at a rapid rate.

" if you have an idea you better get on with it or we are dead!" Undine said dismissively.

I closed my eyes and focused on my inventory. There were several plants that could work I just needed to use them together to get the job finished.

Several garbage bags worth of plants fell to the ground with a small thud.

" These are trojan thistles. We need to crush them somehow. Undine you have any water magic left in you? They need to be soaked enough to spew smoke!" I said as placed the thistles on the ground.

" Leave the crushing to me" Sora said before he closed his eyes.

Wind magic surrounded him.He opened his eyes and they too were covered in wind essence. The form of a colourful bird formed behind him.

" Sora's avatar is a Rainbow Egret! " Nathan said shocked.

There wasn't enough time to stare as Sora opened his hands like wings and pushed them toward the pile of thistles. I had to dive out of the way as a miniature tornado of wind blades hurled towards the thistles crushing them into powder.

" Force the powder towards the wurm!" I shouted.

Sora didn't respond he simply moved his arms as if he was flying and directed the tornado to the wurm. Undine using the last of his water magic shot a few weak water balls towards the tornado soaking the powder he fainted when the last one left his hand.

" I know its hard Kibbles.. But the rest relies on you! Follow that powder and give it everything you have got!" I said as I pointed towards the wind whirl.

Kibbles looked at undine in Nathans arms then at me and nodded. He wobbled as he stood firm and growled before chasing the wind.

I ran over to Sora's side and helped brace him. I knew how much magic he was draining as I had just experienced it. Sweat was forming on his forehead.

[ This better work.. For all of our sakes ]

The Wurm came closer and closer to the wind and just before they were about to meet Kibbles produced a flame breath before wobbling of balance and falling to the side.

The tornado spewed smoke as it burned.

[ Come on Heyu!!]

Heyu still mounted had his golem smack the wurm tunnel he and Loki falling off.

BOOM!

The Wurm came up straight into the ball off fire and smoke. It screamed as it writhed in pain.

" Did we get it? Sorry.. I can't hold out any more..." Sora said as his wind magic faded away from his body.

" We got it" I said weakly.

I grabbed on of him and looked over at the storm.

Kibbles grabbed both Heyu and Loki and limped toward the rest of us.

" We have to hide on top of the Wurm corpses" I said in almost a whisper as I dragged Sora in my arms.

My vision at this point was extremely blurry.

Nathan made his way over holding Undine in his seahorse form. Kibbles dragged Loki and Heyu on his back and we prayed this would be enough to stop the wurm from finding us.

The smell of the dead wurms was racid.

I could feel the warm embrace of Loki's magic just barely keeping me lucid enough to watch the fires slowly go out.

" The wurm is smelling the air.. I don't think it can smell anything. Nobody move" Loki said in a quiet voice.

The wurm now severely burned thrashed around bellowing.

We waited with our breathes baited.

[ Go Damn It! ]

My eyes struggled to stay open as I kept praying it would leave. The trojan thistle when powdered and burned not only produced a toxic smoke that would burn the wurms lungs but would also kill its sense of smell.

If we had not spent all of those hours wasting magic on climbing this wouldn't have been so hard.

My exhaustion had finally gotten the better of me.

I shut my eyes unwillingly and passed out cold.

" Yuki … Yuki Wake up!"

"Get up!"

I opened my eyes to see the hot desert sun glaring down on me. My hand covered in Wurm matter.

I shot up into a sitting position and looked around.

" Did we get it? Is anyone hurt?" I said quickly.

" We are alive, although we smell pretty dead right now" Heyu said in disgust.

Everyone was awake and covered in bandages except for Loki who was still asleep. I went to move him awake but Nathan stopped me.

" I think he spent the whole night healing and keeping the wurm at bay" Nathan said as he pointed across to where the wurm was last seen.

My mouth opened wide.

Thick sword cuts covered the body of the now dead wurm queen. Her head had been hacked somehow.

[ I knew he was strong but…]

I looked at Loki and noticed his hands were bloodied and blistered his sword at his side caked in blood.

" Since we had all collapsed It looks like Loki was prepared for a last stand with the wurm to protect us" Kibbles added.

A closer inspection showed that Loki had a bandage covering his chest.

I stood up and brushed myself off.

I looked in my inventory and found a giant leaf seed as well as some vines seeds. I urged the to grow before pointing to Loki.

" Place him on here we better move." I said before I willed some food from my inventory.

I handed out the food and water in the skins before I walked up to Loki who was resting on a giant leaf.

I petted his head gently.

He mumbled incoherently before gently grabbing my hand.

" You did well let me carry you for a while" I said quietly as I moved my hand away.

I attached the vines to the top of the leaf grabbed a snack and swallowed it before taking a swig of water.

" Yuki is right we have to move.. The smell of death with carry with it hungry mouths" Sora added nodding.

Heyu walked up to one of the vines before securing it over his shoulder.

I took the other.

As everyone stepped off the Wurm I willed them into my inventory and we headed toward the queen to do the same.

Dragging Loki behind us we began to take our injured bodies through the desert our chances of making it out alive were becoming slim.

[ We have to make it out of this damned place. I can't die without a bath at least!]