The grey foliage and branches gave way quickly as I burst into a long field that must have been used for some sport, considering how low the grass was cut. Casey stood with her spear pressed through a hunger and into the ground. The round form deflated as the beast let out a final grunt.

Behind the tall warrior, another hunger prepared to launch its tongues for binding. With a flick of my golden blades, I rushed forward and cut all four of the appendages as they were an arm's length away from Casey. She pulled her iron spear from the ground and nodded as she turned to me. The beast whose tongues had just been dismembered took a step back and hissed. Casey quickly moved past me and pierced the round form—raising it into the air and flicking it so that the instantly deflated body was tossed aside.

“Thanks for the support; we might be in a bit of trouble, though,” Casey said as her tortie-patterned hand pointed to the source of all the smaller beasts. Even though I had moved further away, the mother of hunger still loomed high above the trees, and the ground shook with every step. Every now and then, a fresh set of the smaller creatures would be spewed out, presumably in a repeated pattern that would continue until they consumed the whole world.

“You don’t say,” I replied as my gaze was directed to the treelined on the side. Two hungers had come out of the woods but were stalled as they fell into a pit of grey sand. It might be easy to kill them off as the beasts frantically began to eat the sand while seeking better footing; they were clearly not intelligent, but killing each individual seemed pointless—or at least a waste of energy—when the larger monster was the guide.

Casey seemed to agree. She glanced at the struggling monsters for a second before turning back to me.

“We ought to get moving; that large one will be the problem.”

“Do you have any way to stop it?” I asked. Casey took a deep breath and looked at the giant monstrosity.

“We need to direct it; there is a world full of monsters that it could be dumped into,” I recalled seeing the world from when Orrin walked me around. Though the plan could hardly be called elegant, it did seem like the best way to get rid of the beast—for a minute, at least.

“If it can leave worlds on its own, wouldn’t it just come back?” I asked. Casey shook her head.

“Before leaving a world, it wants to leave a good amount of the smaller ones, but they will die rapidly inside that particular hell, I hope.” Her words weren’t reassuring.

“I concur,” Azul said from atop my shoulders. “This beast is only a minor threat in the grand scheme of the cosmos; it will not live for too long there.”

If this creature was only a minor threat, I’d hate to see a major one. Still, Azul’s words were reassuring enough. We had a plan but no way to enact it.

From the grey woods, a stampede of hungers came running forth—eating through the dense foliage as they came. It was possible that they were made to swarm areas where another of their kind had fallen, but there was little time to ponder the possibility. We both began to run down the long field as the mob chased after us.

From the woods in the distance, Enas burst out. His running form was stiff and efficient, not wasting energy on unnecessary movements. The bald soldier trained his gun in our direction and fired several beams of blue energy. I looked back to see three hungers fall as his shots burned holes in them.

Casey seemed to see an advantage and jumped slightly as she spun around. Lines of dirt were left in the short grass as she skidded backward while the momentum lessened. With a cry, the warrior ran a charging hunger through as Enas felled another one from a distance.

The tide was shifting with the arrival of our ally, and I quickly ran in a ‘U’ shape to head back into the fray. I sliced through one hunger after another. Without overwhelming numbers, their simple movements were easy enough to see coming once you got used to them. In a matter of moments, the field was filled with dead monsters.

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“Thanks for the support Enas!” Casey shouted.

“Do not thank me yet!” he replied with something between a shout and grunt.

Behind Enas was another hunger, but something was different.

The fleshy form which Orrin and I had encountered was spread across the tongued beast and wrapped around its large legs. The smooth body had burst out of the hunger’s inside and encased the whole things in vine-like appendages, and the body of the captured beast hissed in a low and constant manner. Atop the ball-shaped body, a giant humanoid torso with arms and a head sat and stared at us. The hunger had tried to eat it but became consumed in the process, which made it all the more difficult for us.

Casey let out an unfamiliar word, which I could only imagine was a curse on her world. I held my golden blades up as the next group came in close to attack. Enas stopped and spun on his heel to face the new threat with the rest of us.

“Where are the others?” Casey asked him.

“Pythagoras had some kind of idea, and Lerato went to help. I have not seen Orrin.”

“He was with me and got separated,” I added.

We didn’t have much longer for words as the fused monster came in close. It threw a punch our way, and the fleshy arm extended out. I dodged at the last possible minute as the force of the attack left a small crater in the ground.

Casey moved in close and ran her spear through the lower leg of the creature while Enas shot several holes in the head. The fleshy clay immediately grabbed onto the spear before the giant warrior could pull it back. She let go moments before the body of the monster extended—like a spiral of snakes—down to her hands. Enas frowned as the holes in the head of the creature began to close; the featureless face was restored.

A tongue shot out from the beast. I slid to the side and slashed it before it could bind me. Before the monster could have a second to think, I charged forward with my blade cutting down the center of the extended tongue. If the fleshy form could sigh, I think it might have. The clay-like body suddenly grew and covered the whole form of the hunger, compressing it in and cutting off the extended tongue before retracting back into a set of legs; one of which kicked me directly in the stomach.

I tumbled across the ground with several rolls before I managed to stop. As I held a hand over my stomach, I looked up at the monster. Now that it had returned to a humanoid form, it made the tall Casey look tiny in comparison. If I had to guess, it was even larger than before.

The face began to twitch and writhe for a moment as Enas and Casey backed up. A round mouth opened low on its head, and four long tongues of its clay-like body poured out and began to squirm like worms. It let out a hiss at us as it moved closer to us.

To our backs, the stomping feet of the mother became louder and more intense. It was getting closer. My teeth pressed together so tightly I might shatter them.

Casey and Enas moved close to me as they assessed the situation.

“We’re in a bit of trouble here,” Casey muttered. Her hands opened and closed like she was hoping the spear would still be there.

“A bit,” Enas replied. “But we should have stalled long enough.”

We were silent momentarily as we anticipated what would come from the bald man’s words. The giant steps of the mother booming behind us and hissing from the fleshy thing in front were only matched by the pounding of my heart as I held my breath in anticipation.

The sounds were finally broken by a new set of footsteps on my right. I turned, and my mouth fell open.

A giant that resembled the metal forms I had seen with Pythagoras and Orrin in the other world was charging in our direction. Perhaps it was the skeleton I saw before? Instead of metal, however, the giant was covered in glowing silver armor that resembled Lerato’s ability. On top of the head, Orrin sat and waved to us. He seemed to shout something but was too far away for the words to carry.

“About time,” Casey happily mused as the giant swung a fist at the monster behind us. The giant beast dug a gash into the ground as it was thrust into the tree line to our side. It cried as it spewed out more of the smaller scions and slowly stood up.

The fleshy monstrosity took several steps back as it looked at the support we had received. It let out another hiss before running back to the woods.

“That one will be trouble if it escapes!” Azul said to me.

“Should we pursue?” I asked.

“It would be best to kill it while we can; it will continue to grow until it interferes with… the search for the keys.”

I nodded and ran after the monster.

“Where are you going, Kiko?” Casey shouted to me.

“I’ll kill this one!” I hollered back.

As I spoke, the mother of hunger suddenly lunged at the giant machine. Its armored hands grabbed the mouth, and one leg moved back to prevent it from being knocked over. The others on the ground began to fend off the smaller beasts that had just been created. I turned away from the sight and focused on my new target.