Novels2Search

Chapter 21 - Running from a fellworm

Roberion didn’t have time to process anything. The vibration and noise were all he could feel waking up. Percival tugged his arms and tried to run away to the exit, throwing the flare behind them.

A few seconds later, a chain detonation happened. Explosions focused on the other side made a little earthquake in the soil. The shockwave, tough, was only superficial. It seemed the deeper the soil was, the tough it was. That was only a quick conclusion Roberion made as he didn’t have time to process anything, just follow Roberion.

The fellworm got frenzied. Focusing on the origin of the explosion, she started to move to intercept and check her eggs. Roberion and Percival started climbing the rubble to the exit. Their self satisfaction for running away was short-lived. Climbing up the exit, the worm's other end stared at them right before descending, shock almost paralyzing them. But Percival pushed Roberion down and run with him before it was too late.

Charging ahead seconds later, the fellworm crashed in the rubble. Both would be dead if not by the resistance of the materials and distance. The shockwave throwing them both forward, Percival ruptured most of his form as he shielded Roberion from the attack, white sparks flowing around before him vanishing. Roberion had his bones crushed and was bleeding, hemorrhage making its way through his internal organs.

Percival showed up as the die was activated automatically. Not wasting anytime, he put Roberion on his back and run away not looking back, as he only felt an extremely warm air in his back. The way ahead was most black, but the same illumination of the temple could be seen here, drawing would be seen if not by the destruction in the walls, making the drawing incoherent.

The damage to the walls seemed to be made by the same things that damaged the dome outside. Sadly, he was sure Roberion fainted if not worse, so he couldn’t glimpse anything from the information. Blood was dripping from his back, he noticed how Roberion seemed out of it. If he would be out for the same time or worse, of his verge improvement. They would be in a dangerous situation, if not dead by the fellworm, they could die from monsters, traps, even from famine. Roberion barely just recovered before all this.

The noise from behind just got stronger, signaling that the worm at least was near from completing destroying the rubble. Without any time, Percival tried to be fast as possible. Throwing always all his possible equipment, shield, helmet, rapier, greaves, only his chest plate being in place because he couldn’t drop Roberion or maneuver while he was in a critical state.

Blessedly, he reached an intersection, but without any guidance he choose the right one that seemed to go deeper, skipping the left one. The same process would happen many times as he run from the fellworm. His only saving grace was that the worm slowed down to move in the tunnels, her big size going against her. He was curious how she has managed to reduce her size, but waiting a second could spell their doom.

Roberion's condition was improving slowly, but the worm was getting near, and they needed something to at least distract the beast. Without any choice, Percival made an improvised rope and tied Roberion to his back. With more maneuverability, he started taking the landmine from the crates, started dropping the bombs in intervals as he run away in the tunnels.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The bombs didn’t hurt the creature but seemed to make it slow down a little. The tunnels seemed never ending, half-hour and a crate of landmines later, it seemed still a long way to go. Percival, with almost all hope lost, opened their last crate of landmines.

The previous tactic didn’t work out ten minutes later, the fellworm heat could be felt on his fur. If he felt like that, it was worse on Roberion, but now he didn’t have any choice, didn’t have a way out. It seemed it was their end, but they are dismissing the parent instinct of the worm.

The worm was already too far away from its children, feeling it was near enough of the intruders. It started increasing its heat. It was not long after as a monstrous line of fire was shot. Even with their Headstart, the flames didn’t take much before reaching them.

But enough time for Percival to see a part of the wall destroyed. This section was way more damaged than the rest. It is his last gamble to run out from the flames and the worm, to save Roberion. Without any delay he entered it, the darkness of it didn’t distract him, he run headfirst using flares to see the way.

The flames stopped following them, but Percival didn’t stop running, the threat of the worm still keeping his mind alert. Looking at the walls, the damage continued, as if the perpetrators were trying to create a new path in the tunnels. Although not carefully made, it was serviceable.

Walking thought it, near the end, some runes were carved. Percival didn’t know much about runes, but they seemed similar to the ones carved on the dome outside. Keeping that in mind to tell Roberion later he kept running. After an hour of running, he entered a true tunnel, but it was way smaller. It was approximately five meters in height and four in width.

There are some drawings in this tunnel. These drawings showed some various point eared people like the one in the main dome. Most of these people had the same number of eyes, five, but some of them had more, some even had eyes on their body.

Some carried red flags. These flags had illustrated five eyes and multiple weapons. Some carried green flags, multiple arms and legs in fighting position showing up. The last gold one showed flowers made of bones, ribs, most of them. In the center of them, a mouth with an eye inside could be seen. In the iris of the eye, a thorn like blade protruded.

The next drawings showed some construction being built, some of them seemed to have some fellworms near them, carrying heavy slabs, the pointy ear people commanding them. The next following drawing showed the finished city. It seemed to have bonelike constructions in it aside the ones previous showed. They seemed to be consuming the city, in these bonelike constructions, the humanoid people seemingly fused to it.

It seemed so harrowing that Percival even stopped a second to process it. Getting out of it, Percival kept running until he reached a door. This door was ornamented with runes. Some runes seemed different from the others, like they were written with haste.

Nearing the door, Percival was taken aback as the door opened. What he saw seemed to be a subterrane area, a show of light of the most diverse colors, vascular plants seemed to grow just outside the last part of the tunnel through the door . Sound of water sounded in the distance. Finally, they have a moment of peace, but the dread of the worm was still in his mind.

Something caught his eye. There was also a corpse entangled by the plantlife. He seemed weirdly new, but the plant life that had grown on it seemed to tell another story, his clothes broken and ragged like an ancient reliquary. That seemed important, but he had other things to do.

He untied Roberion from behind his back and examined him. He was full of wounds, trickles of fresh blood were still seen. He didn’t seem to be in danger, aside from his malnourishment, so he waited.

It took a few hours before Roberion opened his eyes, but what he said didn’t make sense to Percival.

“Why…system why?”, said Roberion, full of dread.