Bang...

Bang...

Bang...

Loud knocks could be heard, separated by small pauses. After about twenty or so knocks the sound stopped.

"This should do..." Solus thought as he looked at the opposite wall of the room he was in.

Having a length of about fifteen meters, it had served as his training range. After his altercation with the other skeleton, he had realized using rocks to throw might be a great idea. So, halfway through the morning, he had located a larger room where he started throwing rocks. At first, he could barely reach half the length of the room before the stone would hit the floor or the ceiling. But being a skeleton meant he got to practice for as long as he wanted to without getting tired or bored. Well... without getting very bored. So after a few days of practice, he had been able to hit his target, as long as it was standing still and closer than fifteen meters.

After he had been able to hit the wall a few times in a row, something interesting had happened. A ping had alerted him that something had changed, and after opening his status he had found he had gotten a new row called accuracy. It had started at a value of one, but after a few more days of practice, it had reached twelve. The number had stopped growing after that and no matter how many more stones he threw it wouldn't go higher. What he did notice was that his actual throwing ability had stopped becoming better as well. Again he was tempted to use his last question, but like before, he left it in favor of something more important. Moving out of the room, Solus wondered what else he could practice.

After the fight with the other skeleton, he had been sitting in the small room for almost a day, thinking. Eventually, he came to the conclusion he needed to learn how to defend himself in case he came across another skeleton that wanted to fight him.

Highly motivated, for a skeleton, he had left the room and started with the first thing that had made an impression on him. Throwing.

Now he was done with that, he needed to find something else to do. Heading down the stairs, his mind on something else, he fumbled. Falling a few steps down, he landed on both his hands. A snapping sound rang through the room as some of his finger bones broke, sending a wave of pain through his mind that lasted only an instant.

Looking down at his hands he got an idea and looked back over his shoulder at the stairs. How about he learned how to climb? If he got better at it, then he would be able to use it to run from any other hostile skeletons. Standing back up, he noticed that one of his finger bones was still lying on the ground. Remembering his status screens warning, about not being able to repair missing parts, he picked it up and tried putting it back in its place. After holding it down for a few moments the part stayed put, but when he waved his hand, the finger bone broke off again, flying through the room against a wall. Feeling a familiar emotion, Solus walked after the finger bone and picked it back up. After replacing it, again, he made a fist of his hand and, slower this time, waved it about. The finger bone stayed in place.

Lowering his fist with care, he looked at the stairs. It was time to beat this annoying contraption. Walking towards it, he started climbing, slow and steadily. As soon as he got to the top, he turned around, and, with his full concentration, moved back down.

Almost two days passed, with Solus’ only activity, walking up and down a set of stairs. Had he been alive he would have long since given up. But he wasn't alive, and he didn't give up. About one day after he had started, he got a sound notification again. But summoning the status window revealed only a manafield value that had been raised by two points, but no new lines. He had imagined it would have shown something like 'the stair climber' and was a bit disappointed. However, two days of practice had made him a decent stair climber anyway, even without any status lines to prove it. Being able to rush up and down the stairs, he had noticed he was getting better at moving his limbs. More secure in his movements, he had finally decided he was done with this practice.

Heading towards the exit, he hesitated a moment before rushing out. Arriving outside on the street he looked around to find only rubble and no skeletons, moving or standing still. Looking around again, much slower this time, he noticed the details on the other side of the street. During and after the battle he had paid no attention to it. Now he saw that, like most of the town, the buildings were nothing more than piles of rubble. Except at the end of the street where he saw one that was still standing. Bending over, he started running. It was the first time he moved this fast, but he found it surprisingly easy. Jumping over small rubble and dodging bigger blocks, he moved his limbs with precise movements. Increasing his speed until he made it to the other side of the street a satisfied feeling emerged in his mind. It had taken him no more than a few seconds, his own progress startling him somewhat. He had come far from the ungraceful, shambling skeleton he had been before.

Looking through the entrance of the new building, he saw it was much bigger than the previous building that he had been in. But it was also more broken down. The entire backside of the building was gone, leaving a gaping hole, showing the edge of town. Most of what he could see had been destroyed, leaving nothing more than a ruin. Realising he knew where he was, Solus walked into the building, heading for the wide open back of it. Looking around, he saw it was like a straight line of complete destructions running through town. Even though the town had already been destroyed before, the difference between the two was still very clear. This was the spot he had started hearing the grinding noise from, days before. Walking forward, through the hole and the ruins, Solus reached the edge of town where he saw a line of mulled earth seemingly without end. Whatever it was that had done this, had come from far away and had barreled through town in a straight line. It had apparently not been very concerned with anything in its path.

Turning around, Solus got an unobstructed view of the town. Without as much as a curve it was now split into two, divided by what looked like a path of wanton destruction. Intent on seeing where the thing had gone, Solus started running through the rubble, managing to stay on his feet. He noticed he didn't see a single skeleton moving anywhere near the dividing line. He wondered if the skeletons were scared away or had been destroyed. Arriving at the other side, he saw the line of uprooted earth exiting the town in similar way as it entered. He saw no trace of whatever had made it in the first place.

Looking towards the horizon, Solus saw it would be dark soon, and although he would be able to see in the dark, he could see far more with the light of day. Checking his surroundings, he found a building that was still standing not far from his location, and he decided to stay there for the night.

After sprinting a short distance he arrived at the entrance and made sure nothing saw him enter the building. A ‘ding’ from his status distracted him for a moment, but deciding it could wait he headed into the building. Inside he saw something that was very different from what he had expected. No empty building, no piles of rubble but a large room filled with.. white things... Almost half as tall as him, they resembled some sort of very smooth, boulder. He noticed over twenty right away. Taking a hesitant step forward he approached the nearest of them. Getting closer he saw that it was covered in curved lines and after circling around he noticed that they weren't actually round. They had slightly darker, flattened sides. Backing up towards the door, he looked over his shoulder again to make sure he was close enough to the exit. Picking up a nearby rock he took aim and threw it at the furthest of the things that he could see. The rock made a nice curve through the room, landing on top of his target.

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Nothing happened. Wondering for a minute, he picked up another rock and threw it towards the same one. Before the rock could hit its intended target, the object made an abrupt motion and straightened out. Standing as tall as Solus himself, a worm-like thing with bony plates caught the stone in its mouth. Razor sharp teeth pressed against the stone and a crunching sound followed. Rock splinters fell everywhere as the skeleton like worm lowered its head. No eyes could be seen or sockets could be found, only a darker fold giving any indication to the direction it might be looking at.

Solus froze and wondered if the thing would try and fight him. Having seen both the movement and the bite, he was certain it wouldn't end too well for him if it did. Lowering its head and crashing into the floor, the worm rushed towards him. Not thinking about anything anymore, Solus turned around and ran through the exit. Taking a hard left he started moving at a breakneck speed passed the path of destruction and chaos. Reaching the end of the ruined area, he ran into a street that would lead him to the center of town. Behind him, he heard crashing sounds as the worm trampled through anything and everything in its path. Heading for the church area, Solus kept rushing, hoping he would lose the worm. Halfway to the church he had already passed four streets and dodged through two buildings. Right when he wanted to pass through another building, that might have been a shopping mall, he noticed the sound of the worm moving off in another direction. Slowing his step, he hid inside the building and started listening. He was sure, the worm was moving away. Had it lost him? Waiting until he couldn't hear the worm anymore, he stood up and observed his surroundings.

He was standing inside a building that had only one wall remaining, which was the one he was hiding behind. All the other sides were open, and the eight-meter-high roof was only being held up by a few massive pillars. He saw a small simple staircase wrapping around the center pillar. Still not hearing the worm, Solus moved towards it, making sure not to knock over any rubble with his feet. Arriving at the stairs he heard another status ‘ding’. Barely even registering it, he climbed up, finding it difficult even with all his stair climbing practice. He knew that without this practice he would never have been able to get to the top. Reaching the next floor, he saw that most of that level was gone. At the back of the roof, two parts of the walls had managed to fall against each other, creating a triangle shape that was tall enough for him to walk into. For the rest, nothing remained of the second floor.

Heading for the makeshift room, he saw a white flash out of the corner of his vision. Snapping his head to the side, almost making it spin full circle, he saw the worm. It was rushing from building to building a few streets away. Dropping to the ground, he moved to the edge of the roof. He had a clear view of the street in front of him because of the height of the roof he was on. Keeping his skull down, he saw the worm rushing into a building at the end of the street. It seemed to be going from building to building, street to street, looking for him. He had to do something before it reached his hiding place. Stones? Dropping stones on something had always worked for him so far. Seeing the worm barrel through a wall, causing a small building to collapse, he wondered how big the stone would have to be. He noticed that one of the stones hit the worm on the darker side of its body. The worm froze for a few seconds, shuddered, then rushed off again. A weak spot? Running through his memories he found the only thing that resembled the worm was a shrimp. Those were weak on the bottom right? If he could tip it over and then spear it with something it would die. But he didn't have a spear… Sitting still for a moment his gaze drifted down to his arm. White bones held together by some mysterious force. What if he broke the arm? Could he fashion it into a makeshift spear? Looking around he saw a few large pieces of stone lying close by. Sliding back, trying to make as little noise as possible he picked up a smaller rock. Putting his arm on the biggest rock he saw, he looked at his arm. Would this work? What about the pain? He remembered what it had felt like breaking his arm when he fell. A crashing sound announced the presence of the worm, it was now in a building very close by. He didn't have time to find anything else. Raising the stone high, he hammered it down on his arm.

A breaking sound, followed by heat and a blinding pain in his arm, seared his mind. It lasted for only an instant. Looking down on his broken arm he saw his radius bone had shattered into two. His hand had dropped off and was lying together with his ulna bone on the makeshift anvil. He raised his arm, would it be sharp enough? A shattering sound was heard in the building next to his. The worm had almost reached his hideout. Sharp enough or not it would have to work. Pickin up the other parts of his left arm he ran to the triangular room and hid them inside. Then he went back to the stairs and looked down. He didn't see anything moving yet, and that was good because now he still needed a way to flip the worm over. Looking at the staircase he remembered the worm had mainly barreled or forced its way through all the obstacles in its path. Would it be able to climb the stairs? What if he stood out in the open waiting for it? Then, while it climbed up, he would try and knock it off. Picking up a nearby rock he didn't get any more time to think. Skidding to a halt the worm entered the room. Scanning around, it found him almost instantly and started rushing to the round staircase. Crouching down and raising the stone in his hand, Solus waited till the worm had reached the bottom of the staircase. As he could see the darker part of the slow-moving worm he threw the stone at its exposed side. The worm froze and trembled a couple of seconds before continuing up. Solus picked up another stone and waited until the worm was almost at the last turn. When the worm came into full view he threw the stone at its darker side and immediately started running. The stone knocked against the worm freezing it while Solus barreled towards him.

“TOO FAST!” Solus yelled in his mind.

Having no other choice, he sped up even more and rammed the worm right at the moment it started moving again. With his only remaining hand, Solus tried to grab onto the worm, but it was much to smooth. The momentum carried both of them over the edge and, having hit the worm at a lucky angle, the worm started flipping over in the air. On the bottom side of the worm, Solus saw many small feet trying to scramble for a foothold. He reached out and grabbed one of them and used it to pull himself closer to the worm, right before they crashed into the floor. Solus, on top of the flipped over the worm, had managed to position his left arm downward and it was rammed between the flailing feet. Piercing deep due to the force of the fall the worm made a high pitched sound. Solus heard snapping sounds and he knew he had multiple fractures and broken bones. The pain flared all over his body for a moment, but he couldn't wait as he ripped his left arm out of the soft bottom of the worm. Somewhere in his mind, he registered that it was made up of some sort of soft material he had never felt before. Hitting the worm again, it appeared to still be unable to move or defend itself.

It took almost an hour but eventually, Solus managed to rip all of the soft stuff out of the inside of the worm. He didn't know when he should stop though, would the worm start moving again if he stopped hitting it?

>CLING<

A loud noise was heard as his left bone, that had been badly damaged by his own assault, hit something inside the upper part of the worm. A small marble, white and glistening, rolled out of the hollowed out worm. Distracted for a moment Solus looked at it. Realizing his error he raised his arm to hit the worm again, then noticed that there wasn't much of the worm left. Even if it was alive, how would it follow him without any legs? Solus stood up, moved a few steps back and waited. A few minutes passed but the worm didn't move. Falling on his boney rear, Solus felt a tremendous relieve flush him for a short moment. After it left him, he stood back up and walked to the mutilated worm. He looked at the marble for a moment, then picked it up. He had no idea what it was, but it looked nicer than anything else he had seen, so he took it with him.

Heading back up the stairs, he decided he would wait and hide in the triangle shaped room until his arm had repaired. Glancing at the remains of his left arm, he wondered how long it would take.

“I need a weapon.” he thought.