Walking through the bloodied cafeteria was worse than any nightmare Sam could possibly conjure. The sound of the blood dropping from corpses seemed to echo through his head as he slowly and carefully snuck towards the counter.

“They must’ve all been in here when the world break happened…” Sam brooded. Would his corpse have been among them if he’d decided to eat his toast in the cafeteria instead? It was a scary thought to consider.

“I wonder what did all this…” When he accidently looked into the eyes of one of the corpses, Sam winced.

“Don’t look at them,” Sam heard Derrick mutter, “Just focus on walking.”

Gulping, Sam decided to follow his advice.

Once he and Derrick finally reached the counter where the food was, Sam couldn’t help but notice that the floor wasn’t covered in blood anymore.

Ignoring the trail of bloodied footsteps, they left behind them; Sam and Derrick began packing their bags with food.

They found twelve chicken-salad sandwiches, nine chocolate-chip muffins, eight chocolate bars, and a bunch of candy.

“This is stealing, isn’t it?” Derrick asked as he stuffed the brims of his backpack with soda, “I mean, we’re looting right now, aren’t we?”

“I think so…” Sam paused as he replied, he hadn’t really considered what they were doing.

The two students shared a moment of silence before they continued to loot.

Unfortunately, their backpacks eventually ran out of room. Nevertheless, Sam still felt satisfied with their gains.

And so, carrying as many sparkling water bottles as possible, the duo began heading back.

Uri waved and showed a slight smile as he noticed them returning with full backpacks.

Midway through the carnage, however, Sam and Derrick both stopped. In the pathway linking the cafeteria with the rest of Southsea university, a buff, hulking monster with more maw than face panted at them.

The creature was covered in wounds, infested warts, and blood, yet Sam could still make out the ripped muscles underneath.

“Run!” Surprisingly, it was Uri who reacted first.

Derrick and Sam immediately ditched the water bottles as they bolted towards the exit. And not a second afterwards, a great screech erupted from the bipedal monster.

“RUN!” Uri screamed even louder as the beast began chasing them.

With adrenaline pumping through his veins, Sam barely noticed he was faster than Derrick. When he reached the exit, he briefly looked back only to witness the monster about to pounce on his friend by circumstance.

“NO!” Sam screamed as the monster attacked.

Just as the monster was about to dig its elongated claws into Derrick, however, several strange things happened.

First, Derrick’s body burst forward with a brief, unnatural speed. Then, the adrenaline-filled Sam gasped as his halo synchronised with his desire to protect his friend and forced the stone-floor underneath the monster to shift.

The monster screeched as it slipped and lost both its prey and its balance.

Unfortunately, however, the trio didn’t exactly have time to analyse what had happened.

Sam, Derrick, and Uri exited the cafeteria and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. The monster screeched in anger as it pursued them with heavy steps.

Sam felt the subterranean tremors almost immediately.

This time, however, the tremors were even more distinct than before.

So, when he noticed one of the worms were heading their way, he quickly warned Derrick and Uri.

“The worms are coming!” He shouted.

They quickly passed the second-hand bookstore, the library, and nearly reached the stairs heading down towards the trolley-station when Sam suddenly felt the tremors change direction.

“Thank god.” Sam wanted to scream in joy when he felt the tremor focus on the monstrous beast pursuing them.

Sam looked over his shoulder just as the worm surfaced.

“It’s even larger than before…” Sam’s eyes widened as he gawked at the sheer size of the monster. Unlike the car-sized worms from earlier, this one was approaching the size of a bus.

Naturally, the bipedal predator was devoured immediately.

“Everyone!” Sam screamed as the worm descended from its arch, “Stand still!”

The earth screamed as the worm descended into the ground. Yet, this time, Sam couldn’t help but notice how the stone seemed to temporarily liquify and shift when the worm hit it.

“It’s the same power…” Sam felt his halo shimmer in response to the worm’s earth magic.

Sam did his absolute best to calm his beating heart as the tremors returned. As he looked around, Sam quickly noticed that Derrick was lying on the ground a couple of meters away from the stairs. Uri on the other hand…

The tremors moved towards the fleeing Uri like an underground shark.

“Don’t ru-“ Sam started to scream, but it was already too late. The worm ascended and Uri vanished from the face of the earth.

Sam listened to his heart beating through his ears as he stared at the place where Uri had been devoured.

Although, this wasn’t the first time he’d seen someone be eaten by the worms. Nevertheless, it felt different.

“Shit,” He heard Derrick mutter. Looking over he noticed how Derrick had turned around and was now staring at the burrow left behind by the worm.

The tremors continued for nearly thirty minutes before they finally went away.

Sam gestured for Derrick to follow, and they retreated towards the library.

…

“It’s my fault,” Derrick said as they leaned against the library’s glass doors, “If only I hadn’t asked him to come with us, Uri wouldn’t have-“

“Don’t,” Sam shook his head, “Don’t blame yourself, you couldn’t have known, none of us could.”

“Still,” Derrick looked at his shaking hands, “He didn’t need to die, fuck.” He balled his fists until his knuckles whitened.

Sam stared mutely at the burrows left in the worm’s wake. He could hardly recognize the campus where he’d spent the last two years. He thought about the people in the cafeteria, how he’d recognized some of their faces, and how Uri had kept the door open for them even when the monster had chased after them.

“No, he didn’t…” Sam whispered softly.

Sam and Derrick sat in silence for a while, both thinking about what they’d just experienced. In the distance, they could hear faint screaming, and echoes of roars.

“Why is this happening…” Derrick whispered suddenly.

Sam shook his head; he didn’t know what to answer.

They both tried eating, but none of them had the appetite to eat more than half a chicken sandwich. As Derrick looked at the messy campus, Sam retreated into himself.

In his mindscape, Sam beheld his dark green halo. How many times had this halo, and the power it symbolized, saved him by now? Once? Twice? He’d lost count long ago.

He remembered how the halo had responded when the stones had shifted underneath the earth worm. How it had briefly synchronized with his will when the monster attacked Derrick, and how it warned him of the tremors.

With these memories in mind, Sam opened his eyes and focused on one of the many pebbles on the ground in front of them.

Sharpening his will, Sam focused on the pebble until it became all that he saw. Once he felt like he had established some sort of connection to the pebble, he prodded his halo to activate.

And to his surprise, it did.

The pebble rocked back and forth for a while before it obeyed his will and slowly began floating in the air.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“What the-“ Sam heard Derrick marvel, however, as he did, his focus wavered, and the pebble dropped to the ground.

“I knew it…” Sam muttered, and Derrick directed his attention to him.

“D-Did y-you do that?” Derrick stuttered; his eyes were as wide as saucers.

Sam nodded slowly, “I think so.”

“Shit,” Derrick said, “Shit shit shit, this shit just keeps getting crazier and crazier!” Derrick ran his hands through his hair. “I know you said you had powers, but shit, man!” Derrick stared at the pebble, “That was like something from out of a game or something!”

Sam agreed.

“So that’s why you can feel the worms?” Derrick asked and gasped when Sam nodded hesitantly, “Because you’re an Earthbender?!”

“A what?” Sam asked back with a frown.

“Jesus’ man,” Derrick shook his head in faux disappointment, “Have you never seen Avatar?”

When Sam didn’t respond like Derrick wanted him to, he sighed.

“Avatar? Nickelodeon? The Last Air Bender? It doesn’t ring a bell?”

Sam slowly shook his head; he didn’t have Nickelodeon growing up.

“But that’s like, seriously awesome.” Derrick let out a low whistle in jealousy, “I wonder if I can do magic too…”

For some reason, Sam suddenly recalled the burst of speed Derrick had displayed when he fled from the monster. Although it wasn’t as obvious as the floating pebble, it definitely didn’t seem like a normal burst of adrenaline.

“Maybe you can...?” Sam suggested before explaining how he’d discovered the halo, what he’d really done when he’d slept, how he’d lost track of time, and how the halo had helped him until now.

“So, I just close my eyes?” Derrick asked doubtfully but with a hint of excitement. For a moment, it was like the two of them had forgotten all about Uri’s untimely demise and the horror they’d experienced until now.

“Yeah, or at least, that’s how I did it?” Sam frowned and shrugged his shoulders. Everything he’d done with the halo had been instinctual. Like how one doesn’t think about moving an arm, one just does it.

Derrick closed his eyes and frowned, and just as Sam thought he didn’t find anything, Derrick opened his eyes and exclaimed, “I saw it! It’s actually there! Like a circle of light! Man, that’s so fucked up!”

Before Sam could say anything, Derrick closed his eyes again.

“But mine isn’t dark green though? It’s like… ” He frowned before smiling, “it’s like the sky, a cyan-ish colour,” Derrick took a deep breath.

“Man, that felt amazing.” He admitted.

Sam nodded before suddenly remembering what his halo made him feel.

That sense of stability, safety, and strength… Now that he knew what it was, Sam couldn’t comprehend how he hadn’t realized it before.

It was obviously the earth element.

“Focus on what your halo makes you feel,” Sam suggested, “It isn’t dark green like mine, so it’s probably not earth… see if you can identify which element it is?” Sam had a clue but didn’t want to take a wild guess.

Derrick nodded and deferred Sam’s expertise.

“Hmm…” Sam observed Derrick analysing his halo with closed eyes, “I think it’s freedom? Or no… it’s more like… being unfettered? I can’t really put a word on it.”

“So? What element do you think it is?”

Derrick opened his eyes and grinned, “There’s no question about it, I’m an Airbender!”

…

Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried, Derrick just couldn’t figure out how to airbend, as he called it. At one point, Derrick had even resulted to using hand gestures, but to no apparent avail. Sam did feel a faint gust of wind at one point, but if that was due to Derrick or the actual wind, he couldn’t tell.

“Anyway,” Feeling rested and somewhat grounded again, Sam decided they had squandered enough time, “Are you ready to get going?”

Derrick nodded.

“Yeah, sorry.”

As they moved past the burrow where Uri died, Sam and Derrick got silent. Though they had managed to temporarily distract themselves with magic, none of them had truly forgotten what had happened.

…

The university district was filled with towering buildings, narrow alleys, and open surfaces. As Derrick and Sam made their way down to the trolley station, Sam noted that it was definitely getting darker, and quickly too.

Every now and then, Sam would spot a figure in the windows, looking down at them from above. It seemed that, despite the silence, there were still people around. They were just smart enough to stay away from the ground.

“Unlike us…” Sam gulped as he searched the shadows for any signs of movement. Sam was constantly keeping an eye on his halo, as soon as he noticed anything, he would signal Derrick to stop.

Nevertheless, it did bother him that they hadn’t seen any helicopters yet. With the ongoing catastrophe, one would assume that the military would have responded by now. The fact that he hadn’t seen a trace of them yet didn’t bode well for the future.

“And then there’s the fact that all forms of communication seem to be deactivated…” Without any internet or telephone reception, it would take a lot more time for the government to reorganize society as well.

Ultimately, however, the only thing Sam cared about was locating his family and making sure they were all right.

Sam counted and — on their way to the trolley station — they had to stop due to sporadic tremors a total of five times. The amount of time they had to wait varied but averaged at around ten minutes. Meaning, a walk which should’ve taken them around ten minutes, took nearly an hour. And once you factored in the fact that both Sam and Derrick spent this hour being constantly on edge, it wasn’t strange that they felt tired.

“People,” Derrick noted softly as they reached the university trolley station. During the journey, they had defaulted to whispering if they could. There was no such thing as being too careful, after all.

The various glass cubicles on the platform were all brimming with people waiting for the next trolley to arrive. To Sam, it looked like a crammed death trap. How these people hadn’t been attacked by worms yet was beyond him.

They were just waiting to die.

As for the transit system… Sam sighed, “They are all waiting for a streetcar that won’t come…” He muttered.

Derrick nodded in agreement. They both agreed that there was no way this world break was a localized issue. Monsters and magic? No, this had to be a global issue, expecting anything less at this point would be foolish.

“But how are we supposed to get home?” Derrick asked as he scrutinized the cubicles and the streets beyond them, “I can’t see any cars running either?”

As a matter of fact, neither could Sam. Instead, the streets were congested with abandoned vehicles.

“Shit.” Sam remarked inwardly. If regular vehicles didn’t work, they were as good as screwed.

“Should… we do something?” Derrick asked as he stared the cubicles filled with commuters.

“Like what?” Sam asked back, “It’s not like we have enough food for a hundred people.” Sam couldn’t actually tell if a hundred people were truly spread across the platform, but there were definitely more than fifty.

Eyes followed them from inside the glass cubicles as they walked across the platform. The electronic signs displaying the trolley time schedule were still functioning but seemed to update with new and prolonged wait times periodically. Sam couldn’t help but feel like they were all stuck in old habits. Hadn’t these people seen the worms? Did they really think the trolley would come?

“Then again, I’m here too…” Sam sighed to himself. Without transit, had to figure out how to get to Highland.

As they walked, Sam found himself searching the cubicles for any familiar faces but found no one. Which, to be fair, wasn’t strange; it was Saturday after all, and most of his student colleagues didn’t have the same ambition as he did.

Derrick, however, stopped halfway through the platform.

“Aisha?” Sam noticed how Derrick’s eyes widened when his gaze locked with one of the commuter’s.

Inside the cubicle, the hijab-wearing girl’s eyes widened when she spotted Derrick. The girl, Aisha, subsequently pushed her way through the packed cubicle until she finally got out.

“Derrick!” Aisha shouted much louder than Sam thought she had any reason to, “Oh Derrick!” She all but threw herself at him.

Sam, who observed the heartfelt hug, could not help but notice the conflicted look on Derrick’s face.

“Aisha,” Derrick eventually pushed the girl away, albeit gently. “What are you doing here? Where’s Xavier?”

Aisha shook her head, “I-I don’t know, h-he just vanished earlier…” She wiped a tear before smiling, “But I’m so glad to see you here, Derrick, I’ve been here for like six hours already! None of our phones are working and we can’t leave due to that… thing.” Aisha talked quickly.

“Thing?” Sam interjected, curious as to why they hadn’t been attacked.

“Wait, Xavier disappeared? You mean during the world break?” Derrick chipped in.

Aisha nodded, “Yes, the world became blurry and then Xavier was just gone. I-I don’t know what happened to him… It was like he vanished into thin air.”

Sam recalled how some students at the campus had disappeared too.

“Did they die?” Sam couldn’t comprehend why some would vanish and others wouldn’t, “Or maybe it was an alien abduction?” At this point, nothing was too far-fetched.

Then, Aisha continued.

“-A guy tried to leave the platform about five hours ago when this worm-like thing suddenly popped up from the ground and ate him,” Her face paled at the memory, “I-It was horrifying, like actually dreadful. I don’t know what the police are doing.”

Sam exchanged a silent look with Derrick, which Aisha didn’t seem to miss.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think we’ve met,” Aisha extended her hand, “I’m Aisha, a friend of Derrick’s.”

“She’s a childhood friend,” Derrick hurriedly explained.

Sam’s eyebrow rose at that. Something about Aisha’s intonation and Derrick’s reaction seemed to indicate that they were more than just friends. Which was weird, seeming as they were talking about a missing Xavier.

“And didn’t Derrick say he had a girlfriend?” Ultimately, it wasn’t Sam’s position to judge. Though, he wanted to avoid the drama if he could.

“I’m Sam,” Sam smiled a polite yet impatient smile as he shook her hand, “Derrick and I just met.”

Which wasn’t completely true; Sam had met Derrick loads of time before the world break: he frequently sold his old textbook literature at the second-hand bookstore after all. Nevertheless, they had never interacted outside the regular customer-shopkeeper script before.

Derrick, however, didn’t seem like he thought Sam’s introduction was sufficient, “Sam right here is actually a bona fide hero. He saved my life not too long ago,” Derrick gave him a grateful look, “Twice actually.”

“Twice?” Sam frowned. There had been that time at the cafeteria, sure, but he couldn’t remember a second time.

“Maybe he’s including when I told him to stand still?” If so, saying that he saved Derrick’s life felt sort of exaggerated.

“Really?” Aisha’s face whitened, “You’re not saying there are more of those things out there, are you?”

Sam and Derrick both nodded solemnly. Sam deliberated whether to tell her about the bipedal monster or not before he ultimately decided not to. She’d found out about them eventually.

“And there’s no use scaring here more than she already is…” Sam thought to himself.

“We were actually heading south,” Derrick said, “To Melany’s place down in Cold Springs.”

“Melany’s?” Aisha frowned but didn’t say anything.

An awkward silence replaced the conversation and when Sam was about to suggest moving on, another commuter exited the cubicle.

“D-Do you guys by any chance know what’s happening?” A middle-aged woman asked hesitantly from the doorway, “You seem like you know something?”

Naturally, the question attracted the rest of the cubicle’s attention.

Sam hesitated, but Derrick didn’t.

“We just came from Southsea,” Derrick shook his head, “It- it was a slaughter.”

If they didn’t have the cubicle’s attention before, they definitely did now.

“A slaughter?”

“Mark! Did any of you see if Mark Newman was there?”

“Was it one of those monsters?”

“Do you know what’s going on?”

“What do you mean ‘a slaughter’?” Several of the commuter asked.

Sam exchanged a meaningful look with Derrick before he continued, “We don’t really know anything more than you do. After the world break, the worms appeared from out of nowhere. And yes, there are more than one-”

Several commuters cussed at that.

“-I don’t know who Mark is, unfortunately, but if he’s a student at Southsea, he better stay away from open spaces, as you already know the ground is the death zone,” Derrick hesitated, “And the worms aren’t the only monsters out there.”

The cubicle became silent.

“W-What are we supposed to do?”

“I-I’ve got to get home; my child is waiting for me!”

“Why aren’t the authorities doing anything?!”

“When is the god damn streetcar coming!?”

As the people in the cubicle descended into chaos, Sam finally indicated that it was time to go. Although a part of him wanted to stay and help these people any way he could, a larger part of him hated that he was wasting so much time.

Derrick nodded, readied his bag, and nudged Aisha to follow.

Sam didn’t mind, if she was Derrick’s friend, she was naturally welcome to join them.

When they began walking away, however, several individuals in the cubicle noticed.

“Hey!”

“Where are you going?!”

“A-Are you going back out there!”

“Don’t be stupid, you’ll die!” They shouted from within the cubicle.

…