“Well, it’s on me for not preparing a will. I should’ve figured out who would raise Marvin if something happened to me sooner,” Merlin said. He stared up at the giant skeletane wyrm looming over them from the far side of the room.

Orb spun to look at Merlin. “Don’t stress about it too much. I doubt Marvin is making it out of here either,” he said.

Merlin turned and shot Orb a horrified look. “That makes me worry even more!”

Charlie had only glimpsed it earlier. But the creature before him was much larger than the one that had fallen into the room when they fled the hex knights earlier. The creature’s head was as big as Merlin’s wagon. Its skeletal body was segmented. Each segment was as long as a horse and there were easily over twenty of them. The creature’s long serpent like form was coiled up tightly. Its head stretched high into the air of the room and its empty eye sockets bore down on Charlie and his companions.

To the creature’s right, Talmot scooted further away, trying not to draw attention to himself. Charlie wondered if the other knight, Redrick, was okay. He was still inside the wall somewhere. If he was alive, he was almost certainly unconscious.

“So, Mr. Researcher, what exactly do we do here?” Orb asked.

Themis gritted his teeth. He turned to look at the caved in tunnel behind them. “We don’t have a way out, and we can’t fight this thing.” His gaze fell to the ground. “I don’t know. This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go.” Themis stumbled, still weak from his injury. Canano lunged forward and caught Themis. He placed the white-haired researcher’s hand around his shoulder and braced him.

“I’ve got you,” the coyuta said.

Charlie focused on the serpent. It hadn’t moved yet. It was just staring at them. But why? Why hadn’t it attacked? What should he do? He could try to fight, but could he really defeat something this large? They couldn’t escape easily. He could try to use his powers to carve a path out of the room, but he doubted the wyrm would sit back if he tried to. There had to be a way forward. He just needed to find it.

“Geby, stop!” Themis called out, reaching a hand out. But the caldurra had already broken into a charge. Her feet stomped against the ground as she shot forward into battle against an opponent far larger than herself. The serpent watched her approach and presented its fangs. It seemed extremely unhappy with the fact Geby was bold enough to approach it.

The wyrm stretched its jaw wide and shot toward Geby. Geby put her head down and started to roll. To Charlie’s surprise, it seemed her body was made for it. She pulled in all of her limbs, including her tail, and rolled right into a ball.

Orb bounced in the air excitedly! “I told you she was like a mix between an armadillo and a dinosaur! This is proof!”

A second before the serpent reached her, she released her tail mid rotation, and it slammed into the ground, sending her rocketing forward into the air. She pulled her tail in again. The wyrm looked ready to swallow Geby whole.

Charlie’s breath caught as he watched.

But at the last second, she seemed to rotate faster in the air and brought her tail out again. It struck against the wyrm’s skeletal face. The creature roared. The momentum sent Geby flying away. She landed with a thud in the center of the room, leaving a Geby sized crater in the ground. She unfolded her body and stared up at her opponent. Geby slammed her tail into the ground several times in defiance.

Themis tried to take a step forward. Canano stepped with him. “Careful, Themis.”

The researcher shook his head. “Geby can’t defeat that creature. It’s too powerful. We have to help her.”

Charlie frowned. He couldn’t let her fight alone. He focused on creating several projectiles when the wyrm responded.

The wyrm uncoiled itself, and its head pulled back just as its tail shot forward. The tail moved extremely fast. Almost so fast that Charlie didn’t have time to process it. It smacked against Geby and sent her flying backwards through the air. She landed hard on her back and cried out in pain.

“Geby!” Charlie reached out to her mind. He waved his hand forward and several sharp stakes shot toward the large bone serpent. They bounced harmlessly off the creature’s body. He’d constructed them too hastily.

Vetica unsheathed her blade next to him. But when Charlie looked over, he saw the assassin staring at the size of her blade and then back up to the creature they faced. She frowned. “I’m not sure I’ll be much help here,” she said. Vetica seemed ashamed of herself.

“Keep the others safe. I’m going to beat up this stupid snake,” Charlie said.

“Charlie, are you crazy? Geby is a powerhouse! And your attacks bounced right off that thing. We have to get out of here!” Orb said.

“As long as Geby doesn’t take another hit like that, she’ll be fine. She’s heavily armored. But if one of us takes a hit from that creature, that’s it. I hate to say it, but that probably applies to you as well, Charlie. Even with your rock skin passive, that creature is large enough to crush your defenses,” Themis said. “There’s nothing we can do. We need to find a way out of this.”

Charlie frowned, looking over at him. “You don’t think we can win?” he asked.

Themis looked dejected. Canano was silent beside him as well. “Listen, the hero of Aysela was the one who first defeated this creature. But he couldn’t kill it. He was forced to seal it away with a power unique to him. We don’t have the power that he used. This creature will continue to repair itself, no matter how much damage we do to it. We don’t stand a chance,” Themis said. “If I can get Zephyr back, I might be able to seal it with my dungeon core. But there’s no guarantee.”

Charlie waved a hand, and the earth moved, bringing Geby back toward them. The caldurra rolled over and looked at Charlie in confusion, realizing he was the one responsible. She waved her tail through the air and looked back toward the creature. It was watching them again for some odd reason. Geby wanted to keep fighting it.

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Charlie shook his head. “Geby, I need you to protect everyone. Keep our friends safe, and Dalys too. We’re responsible for her right now.” The hex knight was still laying unconscious behind them. “I’m going to handle this stupid creature, okay?” he said.

Geby huffed, but turned to stand in front of the others, as Charlie had asked. She turned to the side, bracing herself to defend them if the creature’s attack reached this far.

Themis took a step toward Charlie. “No, you can’t fight this creature, Charlie.”

Charlie focused on the dungeon around him. During their training, Themis had allowed Charlie to his half of the training room freely. But now he was used to this dungeon. It was familiar to him, like a home away from home. He didn’t need anyone to allow him anymore. Charlie just needed to do it. He pointed to the ground, and Merlin reluctantly sat him down.

“Are you sure about this, Charlie?” Merlin asked.

Charlie nodded. He crawled a little away from his friends and then raised a small circular platform under himself. It raised him in the air until he was about four feet high.

Themis removed his arm from around Canano’s shoulder and stumbled forward. He caught himself and found his balance again. “What are you doing? Why are you—”

Charlie smiled at him. “We train hard so we can protect the ones we care about in the future, right? Well, the future is now. We just spent a long time training and the people I care about are in danger. I’m going to protect them. I’m going to keep you all safe,” Charlie said.

“Keep us all safe?” the researcher asked.

“Yeah! I care about you too! You and Geby and Canano! You’re my friends. I know your powers aren’t working, but you don’t have to worry. I won’t let this creature hurt you, I promise,” Charlie said. He turned to face it.

Themis laughed. “How easily we forget the wisdom we pass down to the next generation.” The ground beneath Themis slowly rose into the air as well. “I may not have all my powers. But I’ll fight beside you, Charlie. It seems even I had a lesson to learn. Shall we?” he asked.

Charlie blinked in surprise. A grin overtook him. “Yeah! Let’s do it!”

Magic resonated throughout the room. The serpent sensed it; it swayed from side to side in anticipation. Suddenly, Charlie realized what it was waiting on. It wanted a good fight. It wasn’t just hunting. The creature wanted them to come at it with everything they had. That was why it had given them time to prepare. That was why it hadn’t tried to wipe them out yet. Charlie was happy to oblige.

Themis and Charlie both activated their abilities at the same time. As one, their hands reached toward the beast.

“Shift!”

“Dungeon Manipulation!”

Two stone serpents rose out of the ground and shot towards the wyrm. A giant fist of stone moved beside them. The serpent’s body jerked, and its head shot forward once again. Charlie was reminded of the training room. He remembered waiting for that attack to hit him, hoping his hidden tactic would knock Themis off before he hit the ground himself.

There was no secret trick this time. It was a clash of strength. The strongest would overcome the other.

Themis’ twin serpents wrapped around Charlie’s fist.

The wyrm roared.

The two attacks met each other head on. The fist smashed into the wyrm’s face head on, its power amplified by the serpents coiled around it. But the wyrm wasn’t so easily defeated. It rallied and pushed through. The fist crumbled. But the two stone serpents wrapped around it detached and soared past, wrapping themselves around the larger serpent made of bone and biting down on it.

Charlie grunted. He needed more power. He needed…

“Hey Orb, remember that thing you wanted to try? I know you wanted me to do it with you, but do you think I can use Geby instead?” he asked.

Orb rotated slightly in the air. “What thing? Use Geby for what?” He paused, realizing what Charlie meant. “Oh that! I’d hate to see such a good reference wasted. I mean, I think it would be cooler if I did it, but I think I can make an exception just this one time. But you’ve gotta say the phrase! Just change a word or something.”

Charlie nodded. “Geby! Do the ball thing!” he said.

Geby was more than happy to oblige. She rolled up on herself.

Themis looked confused. “Charlie, what are you doing?” he asked.

Charlie smiled. A large fist formed behind him and picked Geby up. The hand reached back, building up power.

“Don’t forget the line!” Orb said.

“I know!” Charlie looked up at the wyrm. It was struggling against the stone serpents, snapping at them to try to free itself from their attacks. Charlie smirked and threw his hand forward. The giant stone hand behind him copied him and flung Geby at high speed across the room.

“Go Geby! I choose you!” Charlie said.

Geby shot through the air. The wyrm only noticed at the last moment. It turned to face them and roared, showing off its sharpened fangs. Geby smashed right into them. The sound of bone crunching filled the room.

The creature fell back, thrown off balance by the momentum. The stone serpents disintegrated, going down with it and dust filled the room around the creature. Geby fell to the ground and rolled backwards towards Charlie. She unfolded herself when she reached them and swayed happily, making her ferry noise.

Merlin walked forward, standing next to Charlie’s platform. “I can’t believe you did that. That was incredible.”

Orb bounced up and down in the air rapidly. It was the fastest Charlie had ever seen the dungeon core move when he wasn’t in danger. “That was awesome! We’re totally gonna get sued, but that was awesome!”

Themis grimaced and fell to a knee. “That took a lot of energy out of me. Let’s hope it stays down.”

Charlie smiled and looked back up at the creature. His eyes grew wide.

The wyrm’s silhouette rose within the smoke. As the smoke cleared, it became obvious the fight wasn’t over. A new layer of bone grew over the creature’s face, covering its eye sockets in a protective shell. Two segments below the creature’s head, a series of bones unwrapped themselves from the creature’s body.

“Looks like a...” Orb spun to his side. “…rib cage or something.”

The long, curved bones stuck out on either side of the creature. The outstretched bones reminded Charlie of a pair of wings. Well, wings without feathers or skin.

Themis closed his eyes. “I’d hoped for a moment, but this creature is too powerful. I want to fight. I just don’t know what we can do to stop it.”

Charlie furrowed his brows. He didn’t know either. But he wasn’t going to give up. An old friend’s words played in his head.

“Put your faith in that when you’re in danger, and it will reveal its power,” Torq had told him.

“Vault Transfer!” Charlie said. The object appeared in his hands.

“What’s that?” Canano asked, unsure of what he was looking at.

Merlin chuckled. “You can’t tell? It’s a weapon fit for a hero.”

Charlie steeled himself and stared back up at his foe.

Then he popped the small black pacifier into his mouth.