91 The Great Boneyard — Life and Death
Yun stared down the jaws of the massive, iridescent, Immortal Wyrm as it barreled down on her. Thinking of finding any way she could to survive she pulled out two Volvaka spears and stabbed out with them at the joints of the mandibles, trying to jam them and stop it from crushing her.
Holding the spears tightly, Yun was lifted off the cliff wall by the charging Wyrm and — as the spears slid into the joints of its armored mandibles — was carried with it. She held on tightly as the Wyrm raged across the cliff face, tearing up the surface of the cliff with shakes of its head as it tried to dislodge her. Yun refused to let go, knowing that if she did she would either fall again or be trampled by this Wyrm's rampaging legs.
Around and around they went, neither Yun nor the Wyrm relaxing in the slightest. Finally, to her horror, Yun felt one of her spears slip out of the joint in the mandibles and felt the mandible rapidly try to close with the other. Thankfully, as they were both jammed, they didn't meet in the middle and crush her, but she did have to move to avoid being sliced open!
Now — with one mandible free — the Wyrm began thrashing more viciously while snapping it's free blade-jaw open and closed to try and hit her.
They thrashed about for more than half an incense stick of time before something else changed — Yun was thrown high in the air!
Soaring upward, leaving the spear embedded in the joint of the mandible, Yun managed to get close enough to the rock face as she reached the peak of her momentum and grabbed the cliff face with one hand. As she did she was the Wyrm charging right at her again, giving no time for rest.
Yun got a good grip on the cliff wall as she prepared to move when the Wyrm drew close, but as she did she was shocked by what she saw.
A massive flying beast swooped in and attempted to grasp the body of the Immortal Wyrm as it scampered it's way around the sheer cliff face. The Immortal Wyrm attempted to dodge, but the flying beast anticipated it and still managed to get a claw on the Wyrm's center.
A shrill screech pierced the air as the Wyrm's myriad legs gripped tightly onto the cliff face, fighting the aerial beast's strength. As the Wyrm desperately stayed connected to the cliff it's back side swung up, using it's incredible length, and attempted to impale the avian with a scorpion-like sting!
Seeing the tail coming, the enemy released the Wyrm's body and flapped once hard to dodge it. Having been released, the Immortal Wyrm quickly tried to scamper back to it's cave, the only safe place left!
Back and forth they fought, the Wyrm striking when it was caught and the flying beast grabbing repeatedly.
The cliff side shook incessantly as the impacts tried to make Yun fall.
Finally, just as the Immortal Wyrm thought it had escaped, the avian enemy managed to grasp it with both massive claws. With two points of contact the avian got even more strength to pull and began to slowly remove the Wyrm's claws from the wall!
Crack!
Yun heard a loud sound as some of the Immortal Wyrm's shell plates began cracking under the stress of the avian's grip. More and more legs lost their contact with the ground as the gigantic Wyrm was slowly, but inexorably, dragged from the vertical cliff face. With it's legs unable to hold on the Wyrm could no longer risk arching it's tail end up to attack, as this would compromise it's already weakening grip on the wall.
Crack Crack!
More sounds rang out, and the Wyrm screeched yet again in it's strange but shrill voice. The shell where they avian was grasping was nearly entirely cracked, and the Wyrm was now on it's last few legs of grasping the cliff face. Yun herself just kept moving further out from under the two enormous beasts, as she wasn't willing to be smashed to death by the falling debris of their fight.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Five minutes!
Finally the great avian beast managed to rip the Immortal Wyrm off the cliff face completely and flew circles, gaining more and more height as it did, until it reached an absurd distance in the sky and disappeared behind some low hanging clouds.
Yun let out a breath of relief as she clung to the cliff face — panting — and tried to relax. This was the closest she had come to true death so far, and it was quite difficult to deal with so suddenly. She began seeking a location she could actually sit or lay down and rest in relative safety.
After nearly two more hours of shaky climbing and scuttling Yun managed to find a small ledge that would let her at least sit with her back against the cliff face while her tired feet dangled in the air.
"Wuying. . . I hope you're alive. This Yun will certainly regret it if you died here. . ."
Yun quietly spoke to herself as the exhaustion caught up to her and she began to drift out of consciousness unwillingly.
———————
Far up the cliff face, Wuying was resting against a wall near the cave mouth of the Irridescent Wyrm's den. He was a little spooked, but quite relieved at the fact the Wyrm was physically dragged off the mountainside by that giant bird. He couldn't see where Yun had ended up, but he had seen a small bit of her fight as the Wyrm rampaged around the cliff-side.
As far as he could tell, she was still alive. He saw the spear she had picked up from some of the Volvaka they had fought wedged in one of the joints of the Wyrm's mouth, giving him some reassurance she had survived.
