He scanned the room, his eyes widening as he realized the Grip of the Bene Gesserite had taken hold. "You've placed your faith in prophecy, one that remains unproven," Krelln's voice cut through the air, sparking a wave of Anger. The crowd drew their weapons, their intent clear.
"I'd sooner face death than surrender to a prophecy. I'll forge my own path. Your minds have been poisoned by those in power. I'd rather mount the Shai-Hulud and confront our enemies in Arrakeen. They steal our children, using them for their own twisted pleasures, and yet you cower here like vermin."
"See, the outsider has bared his fangs; you lack perception, boy, you dare accuse us of cowardice. We are the Fremen. This world is our battleground; we've been waging war against the Harkonans for decades. What say you? A greenhorn who's never tasted battle.
Listen well here, boy. If you say another word, you shall be exiled, and those that follow you." Anger was written on Krelln's face, and he unsheathed his mother's CrysKnife.
He turned around and showed it to the people: "My mother's blade. Her last gift to me as she went to the Ancestors, but before I go." Krelln said.
He turned to the Fremen men who spoke of exile, the one who opposed him the most and killed his father.
" You will duel me for this disrespect. I grew amongst you, and you dare say I am not Fremen. Did I not do everything you had asked? Did I not become the one who rode Shai-Hulud? I was, and yet you scorn me. But now You will die today, Barim."
The others saw this and began to sit down. A duel was deeply respected in Fremen culture, and Barim was one of the best fighters the Fremen had. Barim walked to the circle's center and watched the other Fremen remove the Body of Rohan, the elderly man.
When he died, he didn't fight it; in the last moment, he sought out death in a duel. This was how he wished his end to be, and so it was given.
Barim was thirty, and Krelln was ten. The boy looked intimidating with his mask on, his red eyes piercing through the blue. What made him terrifying was his fighting prowess. There was a cold and chill air around him when he was angry.
He twisted his hands to warm them up and walked around facing his opponent; he crouched and stretched out one leg after the other. The children at the very back, observing, saw how he walked and stretched and knew he was one of them.
An army of orphans is at the back of the one they call Blood Warm. Some began to hold their crysknife to prepare; today was most likely the promised day.
" Fight me, boy or will you waste more of our Tim.." he did not finish that sentence as Krelln attacked; his speed was faster than other warriors. Barim tried to block an attack to his chest, but the back of his wrist was cut, and Krelln moved behind him and stabbed his shoulder.
The boy, no. the Man was efficient. At killing, each strike was hit, and it was a vital hit. Barim swung around his Knife as to cut at Krelln, but the man went under his arms, pierced his arms, and hooked on the flesh, ripping out the ligament.
A cry of agony and pain came out of Barim's mouth, but Krelln did not let him scream any longer. He grabbed the now limp Arm, pulled it towards himself, and pierced his still suit under his rib cage.
Barim tried to breathe, but it was painful, "Tell me, am I Fremen now?" Krelln said to Barim as he fell to the ground and his lifeblood oozed out of his still suit.
Krelln stood before the dead Opennet and roared at the others. " Those of you who follow the old way may do as you wish, but I will not stand and watch my future be planned because of a prophecy. I will not bow and kneel for those who oppress me.
I am the Bloodworm; many of you swore yourselves to me five years ago. Now, I ask you again to come before me and kneel." He roared his last words, and the room became silent. The first became Jamis as he came and kneeled before his leader. " I will follow you where many will not."
And so others started to come into the circle, and they, too, kneeled and swore themselves to him. By the end, all five thousand thousand Fremen stood with him, and they kneeled before their lord.
But this five thousand was out of millions, and thousands more Fremen did not follow and scoffed at their foolishness.
" Follow me into the desert storms that are to come. Follow me and war against these invaders that come to our world, our Arrakis, our Dune," said Krelln
at once, they chanted his title: "Blood worm, Blood worm, Bloodworm." Stilgar watched from the shadows and said, " He is not the Lisan Al Gaib." He had never been more sure than this.
Krelln and five thousand were exiled, and many said they would die in the desert storms, but no such things happened. They went further into the mountain ranges of Arrakis than everyone had ever gone. The journey took three weeks, but they ended up on the large mountain range obscured by storms.
Krelln had been feeding the five thousand by using his inventory and giving them water to drink. This was a secret known to those who knew his title as Bloodworm, and now, five thousand people surrounded him and saw him as a god.
When he came to mountain ranges, he took out of his inventory a tool he called the burrows. These things acted like ants, digging underground while a Dead zone was active. When they dug, the sound was so low that not even the Shai-Hulud could hear them.
He placed the burrows at the bottom of the mountain, and inside his mask, he was creating a hologram of how he wanted the underground city to look. Calculations were being made so as not to make mistakes when making the new sitch.
He took the whole night to scan the mountain, and then the burrows began to dig the next day. A month passed of them digging and spitting out sand.
Before the completion of the new sietch, the five thousand Fremen lived in tents in this hot weather, but they were self-sufficient with ample supply of food and water.
Now, they stood before a beautiful rock door that looked heavy. It had the symbol of the house Atreides in it. On top of it were the two moons, Krelln and Avron. On the bottom were the two suns of Arrakis.
Many of them had waited for this day, and it had come; five years of waiting is here; Jamis stood beside Krelln and nodded. The young man pushed the door, and the inside was cold, not hot, like the outside.
They all walked through a long hallway, and then they stood before a city, a Tiefling city built deep inside a mountain.
As everyone marveled at the city's site, Krelln went somewhere else, deep within the mountain. There was a hole that went deep into the ground, and Krelln, thought to himself they say, when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back into you.
As he extended his hand, water began to gush into the hole. It was a well, and it would fill a channel that led to the city,
the water was to be used to drink, wash, and even as natural sunlight.
reflecting the sun's rays and creating natural light. Initially, windows were meant to serve as the main source of illumination in the city. However, by placing the windows in strategic locations, something extraordinary could be built. And that's exactly what happened; the people didn't have the luxury of a night sky, but the moon and sun's light served as a reminder of the passing days.
Many Fremen laughed joyfully and hugged one another; this was a new beginning, and they would never be found far this deep into Arrakis. They had crossed the desert storms.
They all stood before a large empty space, It was the only place the light of the windows could not reach. The further they looked down the darker it became; their voices would echo when they spoke. Children would yell their names, and it reverberated back.
Rivers that looked like roads led to the space where soon water poured in. Memories of times when they struggled to have water came to them, and now they had that in abundance.