Chapter 36

The crunching of dead leaves echoed out from under Lore's feet. Every step sounded louder than the last to Lore, but he kept marching on; through the forest, hunting for a dangerous beast.

An ominous presence exuded out of every inch of the forest, and it made it impossible for Lore to track the Wyrm. He decided to jump up into a tree, and move through the forest through the canopy. Lore could move much faster using the limbs from the trees. Lore also wanted to move in a more stealthy fashion, he didn't want the Wyrm to catch him off guard

Unfallen leaves scattered around Lore as he made his way around tbe edge of the forest. He worked his way around the west portion, and he found no trace of any living thing.

Around mid afternoon, Lore had mapped out what felt like a large chunk of tbe forest. Through his investigation, Lore discovered that evening a giant rock hole the buried deep enderground. The ground around the hole was scarred black from fire, and scales lay scattered everywhere. Lore scouted around the area, scouring for any clues. Lore didn't find anything other than dead flora and fauna. Bones of different animals were piled up in excrement, and Lore was thankful he was wearing a mask. Lore then took s dry branch and lit it on fire, approached the lairs entrance and tossed the torch inside. It fell for about four or five seconds before clattering to the floor, and from within the light stirring of some beast could be heard.

Lore decided to retreat back to the edge of the forest for the night, rest, and work his way through the lair.

Lore cleaned up his camp once waking in the morning, and started his walk towards the center of the forest.

With everything mapped out Lore had no trouble at all making it back to the entrance of the Wyrm's home. Lore ran through all the possibilities he could think of in his head. He determined that he would have to primarily use magic as the cave would probably bs to small to swing a sword. Sitting diagonally across his belt lay a short sword. He drew the smaller blade, produced a light source, and slowly made his decent into the cavernous hole.

Lore made his way down, and he could hear each footstep ring out with an echo. As he moved down the hole, it eventually leveled out into a flat floor. Lore was so far underground that no light reached this cavern. Before him lay a huge cavernous space that span what Lore estimated was two-thirds of the forest, and along the wall there were two or three opening similar to the one Lore entered through. Lore did his best to allow his eyes to adjust in the darkness before making a step. Once his vision improved slightly he took a small step forward. His foot landed on a bone, and loud snap echoed out throughout the cavern. Lore heard the shifting and scraping of scales on stone, and he then created a light source with magic using a fire spell and forming into a ball and setting it to float above him. In the darkness, now driven away by his ball of light, three pairs of eyes stared back at him.

"You came to play with us," said the voice of the largest set of eyes.

Lore looked upon the creature, and it appeared to be an adult wyrm, looming in the darkness.

"I seek the Wyrm," replied Lore. "And I want to know what you are doing infecting this forest."

The head of the beast began to turn back and forth, looking at Lore.

"That is not your concern, but we will tell you anyway. This land has been infected by a plague that causes the land, and animals to die, making this land barren. The truth is, We are the plague."

A second Wrym, and a third followed suit.

"How long do you plan on staying in the forest?" asked Lore.

"We plan on staying here until the land is completely barren, which should take about four hundred years."

"What if someone finds the cure?"

"We will kill them. For the only cure is to kill all three of us."

Lore laughed at the answer. "Why bother even telling me this? If you're going to destroy the land why not just leave?"

One of the beasts growled, and lunged at Lore. He quickly dodged the attack, and caught the Wrym off guard. He leaped up, and brought his short sword down on the monsters nexk scales. With a loud crunch, the beast went limp.

Another jumped and grappled with Lore. Lore used his free hand to bring up the sword, and cut the beast down. Lore was hit from behind again, and he felt a sharp pain in his side.

Lore was surprised by how weak thr first Wyrm was, but he knew the others would be stronger. A third beast charged towards Lore and swung its tail at him. Lore ducked under the strike, and with quick movements, he sliced open the creatures stomach. The sword pierced the scales of the of the biggest Wyrm, but it only penetrated an inch. The Wyrm thrashed, angered by this futile display. The beast turned and wrenched the sword out of Lore's hands.

The monster threw the sword, and it landed beside Lore. The wound in his side opened, and blood gushed out and soaked into the dirt.