Hours passed as the worm waited. Dakota and Wendell used the time to start crawling through the worms winding digestive tract, often complaining about how tight the fit was when the worm itself was so large. As they progressed, they found that in the bends of the tract, there were often remains of those who came before. They'd found bones of several species, many of which were definitely dwarves. Dakota had picked up a few items now, and Wendell had managed to learn a new spell while holding a coin that he'd found affixed to a piece of armor. With the new spell, he could now detect magic. The coin in question granted the holder +1 to Luck.

"Well, that explains why you learned the new spell just then, doesn't it?" Dakota said while chuckling.

"Yep, I guess so. Hopefully, we'll find more items of this nature as we continue." Wendell said while pocketing the coin and grabbing the armor, and pushing it into his pack. "Are you sure we should be escaping rather than heading for this thing's brain to kill it?"

Dakota paused for a moment before answering, "Honestly, I'm more scared than anything. We've literally been eaten by something bigger than anything I'd seen in my life. I don't know what to do, only that I want to survive."

"Damn," Wendell said, surprised by Dakota's rare openness in the moment. "I want to live, too. But I’m willing to risk it if we can stop this worm from getting back to Kan Ladur."

Dakota paused and looked back to Wendell, "You ever dissect a worm in school? I don't think they have brains."

"Yeah, but they also didn't have a body the size of a row of school buses. Besides, I've listened to this one's thoughts. It has a brain somewhere. But you do bring up a good point. I was assuming we should go for the head, but maybe that's not the right play."

"Maybe there's another way. Don't they have several hearts? Could we can stab all the hearts as we work our way out?"

Wendell just stared at Dakota for a moment. "Dude! Why didn't you say that earlier? We've probably passed a few already."

"Because I just thought about it. I think I hear one off to the right."

"What?" Wendell exclaimed before leaning to the side and resting his ear to the slimy, muscular wall of the digestive tract. "I hear it, too. Shit!” Wendell exclaimed as he jerked his head away.

Dakota started laughing, “You forgot about the acidic digestive juices didn’t you?”

“It wasn’t that funny,” muttered Wendell as he held back a chuckle of his own. “Going to need you to heal my ear later. But back to what I was saying, we could probably just stab a few hearts and kill it."

"And without having to backtrack," Dakota said with a grin.

The pair started crawling around, trying to get as close as they could to the sound. Wendell summoned his psi-blade. A quick cut and Dakota was slipping out of the digestive tract and located the heart. He drew his sword and stabbed the heart several times before cutting crossway, connecting all the stab wounds. Blood fountained everywhere, including all over Dakota. But the heart stopped beating.

Climbing back into the digestive tract, Dakota looked to Wendell. "Let's head to the next one."

Over the next hour, the pair continued crawling through the digestive tract. Wendell started casting [Detect Magic] back to back and it helped them to locate a number of magic items as they crawled around. Thrice they came upon sections of the digestive tract where everything was fed into acid baths. Each time they cut their way out and then back in afterwards.

Each time they re-entered the digestive tract, Dakota would take some time to dig into the materials left over. He was able to learn that each acid was different, with the first seeming made for regular old rock. The second seemed to focus on metals and the last, the smallest of them, seemed to target organics. After that last bath, the amount of material moving down the digestive track was a bare fraction of where it started.

The pair were making good progress and had already stabbed the fourth heart when the worm shifted for the first time since stopping.

Wendell quickly reached out to the worm's mind and, eyes wide, yelled at Dakota to find something to grab onto. As the pair were trying to secure themselves, the worm started moving. Within a few seconds, it was already moving faster than before.

"What happened?" Dakota yells.

"The worm figured out we were killing it. Now that it knows it's dying, it’s seeking out a host to inject eggs into."

"What? What the hell is big enough for eggs from one of these?"

Wendell looked to Dakota, mouth dry, as he answered, "Dragons."

"Dragons? What the fuck do you mean dragons?" Dakota yelled

"She knows where a dragon's lair is. She's going to try and attack and implant her eggs into it before she dies. It's a suicide run."

"So, if we escape, we then have to fight a dragon?"

Wendell just looked at Dakota and shrugs before closing his eyes and reaching out to Ehde. "We've just about killed the worm. Y'all are safe. It's fleeing now, heading somewhere to die. We'll try to…"

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"Hey, don't be crying! We’d ain’t giving up!" Dakota yelled, misunderstanding what Wendell was doing and interrupting him. "Like you said earlier, if we die, we die fighting."

"I wasn't crying! I was trying to update Edhe before we were out of range. And I didn't get to finish, thanks to you." Wendell snapped back. "But you're right; if we have to fight a dragon, we'll fight a dragon. I'm not giving up."

Suddenly both hear laughter booming in their minds, followed by, "You mortals are always so amusing. Talking of fighting dragons while helpless in the belly of a worm and totally oblivious to the irony. Just hold on. I've tricked the worm into bringing you to me so we can talk. I'd rather not have to come get you, so stop trying to kill the worm for now. Get comfortable, I’m a long ways away from you."

"Wha… what was that?" Dakota asked

"I think that was the dragon."

"What color?"

"Seriously? Now you want to be racist?" Wendell responded with more than a bit of heat.

"I'm not being racist, you ass. I'm asking because when I used to play table top RPGs with Liam and Arden, you could tell if the dragon was good or evil by its color. I was wondering which this one is."

"Oh," Wendell said, feeling a bit sheepish. "Sorry. I don't know what color the dragon is. I didn't know dragons lived underground. But from her touch on our minds, she didn't seem evil… I don't think."

⚴

Wendell and Dakota did as they were told and made themselves as comfortable as they could. It took the worm over a day to reach its destination. When it did, it came to an abrupt stop that killed it and slammed Dakota and Wendell through a more than a bit of worm meat. While trying to get their bearings, the worm was ripped into two, and an indigo-colored dragon towered above them. Suddenly both were lifted into the air by magic, cleaned, healed, and sat on the ground a little ways away from the worm.

Wendell immediately started looking around, getting a feel for the area they were in. They were still underground in a clearing that looked to be about five hundred feet across and a several hundred feet tall. There was one tunnel at ‘ground level’ leading out of the area and one in the ceiling where the worm entered.

Dakota, ever worried about respect, quickly stood and bowed to the dragon. “Thank you for saving us from this worm.”

One side of the dragon’s mouth twitched with a suppressed grin before she spoke into their minds, “You are welcome, mortal. I am Seirhesmegtanddaffor, but I know that’s too much for your small minds, so you can call me Sei.”

Eager to make up for his lax manners, Wendell quickly stood and bowed, “Pleasure to meet you, Sei. I’m Wendell, and this is Dakota.”

The dragon shook her head before continuing. “Yes, I know. I’ve read through your memories as the worm was bringing you here. Such an odd and boring world you two come from. But now you are here, on Traum, the greatest material realm of them all. The gods have asked me to help you, Wendell. And a friend of mine is on her way with a potential companion for Dakota. While he waits for her, let us discuss how you would like to grow Wendell. What you wish to become. Your fears limit you,” Sei stated, “and you don’t have a firm sense of who you are. Neither in the old world nor this new one. We shall meditate, and I will attempt to guide you.”

Looking at Dakota, Sei continued, “I saw that you are a chef. We will be inside my home meditating for quite some time, a few days at minimum. Please do not disturb us unless it's an emergency. Skin, cut, and cook that worm while you wait. As you take it apart, just start some piles for usable items, metals to be melted down, and trash.” With that, the dragon turned and walked into her home.

Wendell looked over to Dakota, “What do you think?”

“Not like we have a choice, it seems. But if the gods told her to help you, then it should be safe.” Looking at the worm corpse, Dakota added, “At least you don’t have to attempt to butcher a giant worm.”

“Good point.” Wendell slipped his pack off and set it next to Dakota. “I’m going to leave this here. Feel free to grab anything you need from it.” And with that, he followed Sei down the tunnel.

Dakota looked back at the worm and groaned before saying to himself, “This is going to take a while… but at least I have magic to help me.”

⚴

The room was thick with emotions as Ehde recounted the message that Wendell had sent her. Many of the city leaders were filled with relief upon hearing that the worm was no longer heading in their direction. With the good news, the meeting broke up with calls for celebration.

But the group of twiceborn in the corner weren't sharing in that relief. It had been two days since the worm had eaten Dakota and Wendell and they'd not heard from them. Nor had the gods answered any of their prayers or demands for information.

As the room emptied, a priestess they had not met or even seen before approached and bowed to the group. "This one brings you tidings from the great goddess Tianlong. Your friends were rescued from the worm by a daughter of the goddess. They are both safe and unharmed." As she spoke the priest reached out and laid a hand on Deandra for just a moment. "With the help of the goddess, one of your friends is being granted the blessing of dragons. The other has met his new companion and they are getting to know one another. It will be some time before they can rejoin you as they are far away but they will leave the daughter better equipped for your mission than ever before. Please proceed as before, for they will catch up in time."

After she finished speaking, the priestess winked at Deandra before she turned and walked away, walking through a doorway into an adjoining room. A few steps later the priestess vanished from sight and the party all started talking at once.

"Who the hell was that?" Miguel questioned.

Liam rushed to the door, "Where did she go?" he questioned, not seeing the priestess anywhere.

Celeste hugged Deandra and followed after Liam, "Come on guys, let's go back to Gito's."

That evening over dinner, they tried to tell the clan leader what happened but quickly realized something wasn't right.

"She was a dwarf with black hair and piercing eyes," Liam stated.

"No brother, I think you must have been distracted. She had red hair and beard," Miguel argued.

"This makes no sense. I saw a human woman with blond hair," Celeste added.

Deandra sat eating her food and waited for someone to ask her, for she knew the truth. When the priestess had laid a hand on her head, Deandra had gotten an ability:

[True Sight: Pierce the veil of all illusions, shape-changing, and polymorphs to see the truth.]

That ability had allowed her to see who the priestess really was. She was a beautiful dragon that looked to be made of crystal and bigger than a mountain.