---
"It's not going back... This really isn't normal," Rem said, her voice tight with unease.
The tremors beneath us confirmed what we feared—the Wormeater was still out there, long past the time it should have retreated. It had only taken fifteen minutes the first time, but now it had been more than half an hour. Something was wrong.
(Maybe it has stomach problems. Eating worms for thousands of years probably isn't great for digestion.)
You think it's suddenly suffering from indigestion after millennia of the same diet?
"Oh! That must be it!" Rem exclaimed, a realization dawning on her face.
She explained before I could ask. "I was guessing the timing based on the last time it came out to eat. But if that schedule was as unpredictable as now, my calculations were completely off. We can't know when the gate will open."
Great. Problem solved, but it left us with the unsettling truth—we had no idea when we'd be able to leave.
"Looks like we've got nothing to do but wait," I sighed, leaning my back against the wall. I put the knife back into the bracelet and pulled out the sword instead. The strange, black glassy surface of the blade shimmered with the faint light cast by the Gate. Almost immediately, the vibrations intensified.
Rem shot me a look of surprise. "Put it back. Quickly!"
Guessing what she was trying to see, I did as she asked, sliding the sword into the bracelet. The moment the weapon vanished, the vibrations stopped. I blinked. The first time the Wormeater had stirred, I'd also been inspecting the knives made of the same material.
"The Wormeater is reacting to those weapons," Rem muttered, wide-eyed as she hovered closer. "What are they?"
I glanced down at the bracelet. "Let me ask my bond. I'm not exactly sure either."
Yes, I think some explanations are long overdue, don't you?
(Well… ehm… those weapons might—just a tiny, tiny possibility—be made from the flesh of a Dragonlord.)
That's a bit more than I was expecting. I stared at the bracelet in disbelief. Why do you even have weapons made of something like that?
(Hey, it's not my fault that the Wormeater has a beef with Dragonlords.)
"So?" Rem asked, watching me expectantly. "Did you find out why the Wormeater was going berserk?"
"Yeah..." I hesitated. "They're made of Dragonlord flesh."
She stared at me, then burst into laughter. "Good one. Seriously though, what's the real reason?"
I didn't laugh. The grin quickly faded from her face, her eyes widening as the truth set in.
"You're not joking?!" she shrieked. "Where did you even find those?!"
"Your guess is as good as mine," I muttered. I could understand her shock—she had just told me that Dragonlords were beings of unimaginable power, and here I was, casually holding weapons made from one.
Wait a minute, Kran. Was your plan for me to eat the Dragonlord's heart using these weapons?
(Bingo. There are more steps, but that's the gist of it.)
Not wanting to hear more, I rose to my feet. "As long as we keep the weapons in the bracelet, the Wormeater shouldn't notice us."
"I hope so," Rem replied, still eyeing me warily. "But your bond is… something else. What kind of creature understands the language of Dragonlords and owns weapons made from their flesh?"
"I've been wondering the same thing. He's not exactly forthcoming with details," I said, shooting a pointed thought at Kran.
(My life is too long and complicated to explain right now, thank you very much.)
Rem let out a big yawn, curling herself back on the stone and putting her arm under her head as a pillow. "I'm exhausted after everything. Can I sleep a little ?"
"Of course. We've got nothing but time."
"Wake me if anything changes," she mumbled, closing her eyes.
Right—there wasn't much else to do. And, truth be told, I wasn't feeling tired.
(Perfect! It's training time! I've been holding back all the comments about how terrible your somnium control is.)
What? I've been using it just fine.
(Oh, please. You couldn't even reinforce your own body without hurting yourself. It's pathetic. How did you manage to hurt yourself with your own power? And don't get me started on how unoriginal your techniques are.)
Unoriginal? How else am I supposed to use energy?
(Somnium isn't just "energy." It's the power of Dreams. It can become anything you imagine. But instead, you treat it like chaotic fire in your veins—no wonder it hurts you. It only hurts because you believe it will.)
How can it be anything I imagine? That doesn't make sense. It's just energy, and my body hurts because it can't handle it.
(No, it hurts because you think it will. Your core isn't some piece of burning sun that's scorching you from within. It's part of you, and it only obeys your mind. Change your mindset, and you'll change your relationship with somnium. Now try.)
I hesitated. For as long as I could remember, I'd been taught to see my core as a miniature sun, a blazing source of heat and energy. But if Kran was right, and my belief shaped its nature, I had to change how I viewed it. Solunars and Lunaris were born the same, but our beliefs as we grew turned our cores into sun or moon fragments. Maybe I could reverse it, even if just for training.
I closed my eyes and focused. I imagined my core, not as the volatile sun I'd always known, but as a cool, serene moon. Slowly, the blazing heat faded, replaced by something calm and still.
(Good! Now try igniting a fire in your right hand.)
I shifted my focus, imagining my core returning to its sunlike state, but this time, it didn't feel out of control. It was just an extension of me. Somnium gathered in my right hand, and with little effort, I ignited a flame.
(You're getting it! Now, summon water in your left hand while keeping the fire going in your right.)
I focused on my left hand, trying to imagine somnium turning into water. But as I did, the flame flickered out, turning into water as well. Holding both elements at once was harder than I expected. After several attempts, I managed to maintain fire in one hand and water in the other.
(See? You're learning quickly. Keep practicing with different materials and shapes. Once you master this, we'll move on to combat techniques.)
Kran was actually a decent teacher, though I had a sneaking suspicion he taught me how to summon fire first just so he could make me cook things.
(I'm not denying that.)
I shook my head and continued practicing, conjuring more elements with increasing ease. Once I'd gotten the hang of manipulating them, I got curious. Wormeater had used somnium to create a fake sun. Could I do the same? I concentrated, shaping somnium into a miniature sun and suspending it above me.
As light flooded the room, something unexpected happened. The carvings on the walls began to glow, coming to life under the artificial sunlight. With a deep rumble, part of the stone wall shifted and revealed a hidden tunnel.
(Uh… let's hope you didn't just activate a deadly trap.)
Rem awoke with a start, squinting against the bright light. "What's going on?"
"Sorry, I was practicing and... that happened." I waved at the open tunnel and snuffed out the miniature sun.
Rem blinked at the newly opened passage, her sleepiness vanishing. "You just found it? Did your bond say something about it?"
"I replicated Wormeater's sun, and the door opened. That's it."
Her eyes lit up, but I noticed new carvings above the tunnel. I was going to learn what it said once Kran translated them for me
(What am I, your personal translator? )
For some reason, he was still not doing his job.
(Tsk. Fine. Let me see.... What the hell?! I take everything I said about your luck back. You are the luckiest man I have ever known.)
"What does it say?" I asked, feeling a spike of excitement.
Rem joined in, flying around in excitement. "stop talking between yourselves, tell what it is already!"
(It says, 'Last Resting Place of Dragonlord Dunexarviok.')
What kind of name is that- no more importantly, That tunnel leads to the tomb of the Dragonlord?!
(That's exactly what it says.)
"Come on! You learned what it is, right? Tell me!"
"...That tunnel opens to a tomb of a Dragonlord."
Rem froze, staring at the tunnel, then turned away and curled back to where she was sleeping a moment ago. She murmured "what a interesting dream this is..." While closing her eyes tightly. A few seconds later she opened her eyes back, got up and looked at me, then turned back to the tunnel.
Rem blinked at the newly opened passage, her excitement barely contained. "You keep pulling off the most bizarre things… Don't look at me like that—let's go!"
(I guess she needed a second to process that.)
Suppressing a laugh, I stepped into the tunnel with Rem floating by my side. The air immediately grew heavier, tinged with a faint glow that danced along the walls. Just like the previous chamber, this passage was carved with intricate symbols—flowing, spiral-like patterns, as if the rock had once been molten and shaped by the hand of an artist. The deeper we ventured, the more the air buzzed with somnium, humming softly, like a forgotten song.
"This place feels... Forgotten," Rem whispered, her small voice echoing down the tunnel.
It did. The walls seemed to pulse, faint traces of magic still clinging to the very stones as if they remembered the mighty being that once ruled this world. The somnium here wasn't just denser—it felt dead, like it lost its essence.
It felt like we walked for a long time, though it couldn't have been more than minutes. The passage widened slowly, the ceiling stretching higher and higher until we finally reached an immense archway. Carvings of dragons curled along its surface, their eyes inlaid with shimmering crystals that flickered like stars. Tendrils of somnium snaked through the carvings, weaving around the dragon forms, imbuing them with an eerie, otherworldly light.
Beyond the archway, a soft, radiant glow illuminated an enormous cavern, giving the place a magical air. I stepped forward, and the sight took my breath away.
The skeleton of the Dragonlord lay at the far end, bathed in a ghostly silver light that seemed to seep from the very walls. Its colossal bones were crystal like, glowing with a soft pulsation as though the dragon's power still lingered in them. Its ribcage formed a massive arch of ivory, each bone gleaming like polished marble, untouched by time. Dark, sapphire-like crystals grew from the joints and the spinal ridge, glistening in the ambient glow.
The chamber was a forgotten temple hidden from this world of dunes. Great pillars of crystal rose from the ground, shimmering in the ethereal light, their surfaces etched with shifting patterns of energy. Between them, a mist drifted lazily, coiling like tendrils of smoke around the pillars and the bones of the Dragonlord, giving the place an air of both serenity and danger. The ceiling was impossibly high, and far above, faint, distant lights twinkled like stars, suspended in the darkness as if the cavern had its own sky.
"By the Dreamscape..." Rem's voice was barely a whisper, her small form floating just above the ground, eyes wide with awe. She stared at the skeleton, her mouth slightly open, and I couldn't blame her. The sheer size of the Dragonlord's remains made me feel like an insect in comparison. Its skull alone was large as a home, with long, curved horns that swept back like the wings of a bird in flight, now cracked and chipped but still radiating power.
(There it is… The heart!) Kran's voice broke through my daze. (Quick, take it! That isn't something you can find easily.)
In the center of the ribcage, cradled within the bones, was the heart of the Dragonlord. It glowed a brilliant red, like molten stone, pulsating with immense power. Even from a distance, I could feel the somnium radiating from it—dense, ancient, pure. It was easy to understand why Kran insisted that much.
Slowly, I approached, each step feeling heavier than the last. The air grew thick, the weight of the Dragonlord's presence pressing down on me, even in death. As I drew closer, the heart pulsed harder, and the entire cavern seemed to respond, like the deep inhale of a sleeping giant. I could almost hear the echoes of its past—roars from battles long forgotten, the clash of titanic beings.
I climbed into the ribcage, careful not to touch anything that might disturb the bones. The heart was even more enchanting up close.
I took the heart in my hands. It was heavier than I had imagined, and cold—strangely cold for something that once pulsed with life. The texture was smooth, like polished stone, yet it didn't feel like flesh at all. Somnium seemed to thrum within it, vibrating with raw, untamed power. I carefully stepped out from between the towering ribs of the Dragonlord, and the moment I crossed the threshold of its ribcage, a shockwave of energy erupted from the heart, pulsing outward in every direction.
The ground beneath us trembled in response.
"Oh, come on! Why did it wake up again?" Rem's voice wavered with panic.
"I guess it felt the wave…" My own voice was tight as the vibrations grew stronger. The tremors were no longer distant—they were thunderous, echoing from the very walls of the cavern. Something massive was coming. Fast.
The Wormeater.
Without hesitation, I stuffed the Dragonlord's heart into the bracelet. It vanished, and for a brief moment, the world fell eerily silent. But it didn't last. The ground erupted, and the cave walls behind us exploded in a cloud of dust and debris. There, towering above us, was the full, terrifying form of the Wormeater. Its sheer size defied belief. The creature's long, snake-like body twisted through the air, scarred and decayed from ages of existence. The remnants of limbs—once grand, now mutilated—jutted grotesquely from its torso, giving it an even more unnatural appearance.
Its eyes were gone, long rotted away, and its skin hung in patches, torn and missing in places where something, or someone, had bitten or clawed at it in some ancient battle. The air around it felt heavy, oppressive, as if the weight of the Wormeater's age and hunger crushed everything beneath it.
The monster tilted its head left and right, trying to locate us. Without the heart in my hands, I knew it couldn't sense me, but it was searching, sniffing out the somnium that had surged when I took the Dragonlord's relic. I turned toward Rem, who had gone stiff in midair, her tiny body frozen in fear. Without thinking, I grabbed her, clutching her close as she trembled in my grip.
I moved slowly, carefully, every step measured, hoping the creature wouldn't hear. In comparison to its monstrous bulk, I was less than an insect. If I could just make it through the tunnel, we might escape unnoticed.
But then, suddenly, another wave of somnium pulsed from the tunnel ahead of us—much weaker than the one heart caused, but enough to get Wormeaters attention.
The Wormeater froze, its massive head swinging in our direction. Its jaws twitched.
"The Gate…" Rem's voice was barely a whisper, her words trembling. "The Gate just opened."
Now, of all times?
(Oh… shit.)
The Wormeater lunged.
I bolted. Heart pounding, I ran with everything I had, Rem screaming in my arms as I sprinted down the tunnel. The earth shook beneath me as the Wormeater gave chase, its massive body crashing through the stone walls, sending debris flying in every direction. It wasn't fast, probably because it wasn't used to run after the prey, but the sheer size of the creature made up for it, snapping and devouring everything in its path. I could feel its breath, like a cold wind, brushing against the back of my neck.
Every bite of the Wormeater obliterated entire sections of the tunnel behind us, the walls crumbling as if they were paper. My legs burned, every muscle screaming with the effort to keep ahead of the beast's relentless onslaught. I was just barely fast enough, each second feeling like a lifetime as the tunnel began collapsing around me. The vibrations of the Wormeater's movements roared in my ears, an all-consuming wave of destruction closing in.
Up ahead, the faint glow of the Gate shimmered. A doorway to safety, showing glimpses of a vibrant green field on the other side.
With one last desperate burst of energy, I threw myself toward the Gate, diving headfirst into the glowing portal. I didn't have time to think, only to act. The Wormeater was right behind me, its maw snapping shut with a deafening crunch as it devoured the entire room just as I crossed into the other world.
The gate collapsed behind us, vanishing in the wake of the Wormeater's furious bite.
---
Rem was still shaking in my hand, her tiny body trembling with the aftershocks of fear. "We… we're still alive?" she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper.
I collapsed onto the soft grass, staring up at the bright, cloudless sky, letting the warmth of the sun bathe my face. "It seems so."
(Well, I'm still not alive, but thanks for asking.) Kran's voice chimed in, sarcastic as ever.
I ignored him, too drained to care. The feel of the cool grass beneath me, the fresh, moistured air—everything was a stark contrast to the desolate wasteland we'd barely escaped.
But we had made it. We had escaped the Wormeater's world. And in my possession, resting quietly within the bracelet, was the heart of a Dragonlord.
---