The dark of night spread through the pine trees like the fingers of a black ghost. The pair ran with the oak-covered ridge to their left, further from the Dark Mage camp with every lung-busting step, closer to the Hinge. The Salt River on their right, a cold wind at their backs.
Max fell to his knees after an hour of hard running. He’d never had to maintain such a pace for so long ever before. He knew he had good Stamina, but he was struggling to keep up with Anita, who had lower Stamina stats.
“I don’t know how you can keep going,” Max said through heaving breaths.
Anita looked as fresh as if she’d only been warming up. “I am channeling the energy from the trees using my Wilderness Lore.” She sat down next to him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You came back for me. How can I ever repay you?”
“We are a team,” Max said, still trying to catch his breath. He lay back on the ground as his breathing came under control.
Anita lay down next to him on her side, propped up on her elbow. “You are brave and honorable. You would have made a great Druid.”
Max turned to her. “I don’t have high enough Wisdom,” he said.
Anita ran a finger down his chest. “Sometimes it is not good to be so wise. A foolish choice can sometimes be the right one.”
Max sat up. Anita was absolutely beautiful, her green almond eyes were mesmerizing, her hair and skin so soft. Her chosen attire of cropped leather tunic and fighting skirt did little to hide her voluptuous form. But Max knew they needed to remain friends. To be anything more would be a huge mistake for Anita. But she was looking at him with amorous eyes. He had to be strong for both of them. He didn’t know if he could resist her. Of all the ladies in Eveirea, Anita was the only one he really wanted.
“I couldn’t leave you,” Max said.
“But the others, Elderon and Jahrod, they are not here. Only you came.”
“I was captured and taken while the others slept. A pair of dangerous Assassins grabbed me, but I managed to escape them. They were working for the Dark Mages. It is the Dark Mages that want me.”
“I think I know how they feel,” Anita said.
Max sat up. As much as he wanted to let Anita continue flirting, and as much as the idea of how far it would go was thrilling, she was a friend. She was not behaving as she normally did. He couldn’t take advantage of her.
“Anita, are you alright?”
“A bit light-headed. The drugs they used on me must still be having an effect.” She looked at her fingers caressing Max’s hair. She sat up sharply. “Sorry, Max. What am I thinking? We must find the others.”
She stood up and pulled Max to his feet.
A crack of a branch somewhere in the depths of the trees caught their attention. Any manner of things could cause a branch to crack: an animal running through the canopy, an old branch breaking off and falling, but Max and Anita were on high alert.
Anita looked at Max.
“Yes,” Max said. “I think so too. Someone stalking us.”
Max drew his catapult and loaded a bullet. Anita activated her Wilderness Lore and sought out a woodland creature to show her what stalked them. She found a small colorful bird flitting through the branches and sent it flying low in wide circles around their location.
“It is far off, whatever it is,” Anita said, releasing the bird and returning her attention to Max.
“We need to move fast. Jahrod and Elderon will be looking for us. We came across the Salt River at Darkwater Crossing.”
Anita looked to the sky and scanned the terrain. “It is not far. Can you run?”
Max nodded. “I can keep up.”
Anita laid a hand on his cheek. “You are especially sweet when you lie.”
Max would follow Anita anywhere, and not even the deadliest beast could stop him from following her. Even though they could never be together, Max knew he didn’t want them to be apart. Something had bound them when they first met. They had fought together, saved each other.
At that moment, the ground began to shake. Max grabbed hold of Anita, and the pair crouched on the ground to prevent themselves from falling.
A tree nearby started to shake. Then it sunk into the ground, falling straight down until the treetops was at ground level like a thick bush. Then another tree went down.
“A whurm,” Anita said, getting to her feet. She dragged Max up.
“A worm?” Max said in disbelief as another tree sunk into the ground.
“No, a whurm,” Anita said. She looked for an escape route.
Then the ground around them erupted, soil spilling upwards slowly, flowing over the forest floor. Max saw the fat white flesh of the whurm. It came up with the dirt, curled in a circle around them, trapping them. The body of the whurm sat on the forest floor ten feet high in a circle fifty yards on either side, a thick white body with dark-red veins that pulsated. Then the head reared up. A rounded tip to the long whurm. No discernible eyes but one round hole filled with rasping files for teeth.
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> Name: Whurm
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> Status: Hungry
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> Attack: Rasping Mouth
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> Threat level: Lethal
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Slime filled with dirt dripped from the round mouth. The ugly creature reared up before lunging at Max and Anita.
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> Whurm attacks Anita.
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Max drew his shortsword as the whurm’s head shot towards Anita. For such a huge creature, it moved fast. Its open mouth threatening to swallow Anita whole.
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> Max attacks Whurm.
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Max brought his sword down on the body of the beast, the short blade cutting deep.
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> Whurm takes minor damage.
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> Bonus Cold damage.
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Max had cut a deep slashing wound on the beast, but it hardly made a difference to the whurm. His Strength spell had worn off and so didn’t deliver any extra damage. His shortsword couldn’t even penetrate a fraction of the whurm’s body. He wasn’t even sure he had done any more than simply broken the skin.
The whurm was distracted enough by the blow to twist sideways, and its attack line on Anita was spoiled just long enough for her to roll aside. She jumped up and onto her feet and thrust with her spear. She drove the tip of the spear deep into the beast, then pushed it deeper still, all her weight and both hands pressing the spear into the body of the whurm. The red fire from the spear tip glowed deep in the body, and then she pulled it free. The spear came away with an eruption of slime.
The whurm turned and lunged at Anita again. She thrust forward with her spear and caught the beast under its mouth. She pushed upwards, the spear driven deep into the whurm as its own weight worked against it.
Then the whurm reared up, the spear stuck in its flesh, pulling it from Anita’s grip. With the spear ripped from her hands, she fell back a pace and loaded her slingshot. She twirled the leather sling and launched a bullet at the whurm. The bullet bounced harmlessly off the whurm's thick, rubbery hide.
Max shot a superior bullet from his catapult from his position behind a tree, pulling the powerful golden roc sinew back as far as he could manage.
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> Max attacks Whurm; no damage done.
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The whurm dropped its head to the ground and drove Anita’s spear deeper into its flesh. The burning tip caused minor damage. The whurm hardly seemed affected by it, and it lunged forward. Max loaded his catapult again.
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> Max attacks Whurm.
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> Whurm takes minor damage.
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Max retreated a few steps, having delivered a minor blow to the beast, feeling certain the whurm would now attack him. He shouted out at it as he reloaded. “Come on, you slimy beast. Over here.”
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> Whurm attacks Anita.
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The whurm’s body slid over the ground, knocking down a tree as it went, its head focused on Anita. It lunged forward, round mouth open, rasping teeth ready to deliver terrible damage. Anita backed off and cast a spell. A swarm of tiny insects erupted from the ground and flew upwards in between Anita and the whurm. They filled its mouth and covered its head. The whurm shook its head as the tiny insects bit and stung, and it gave Anita just enough time to dodge the incoming attack. The whurm took minor damage from the Swarm spell. It shook its head to escape the swarm, and even though the insects continued to attack, the whurm appeared to ignore the swarm and lunged for Anita again.
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> Max attacks Whurm; no damage done.
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Max was getting nowhere. It was like trying to attack an angry bull elephant with spitballs. He checked the whurm’s stats and saw its Health was still very high, virtually unscathed.
Anita summoned a Magic Bullet and shot it at the whurm. The magic energy dealt minor damage, but the whurm was extremely resilient to physical damage. The bullet stuck to the thick slimy skin for a moment before sliding off and dropping to the ground.
Again the whurm attacked Anita, lunging at her. This time it caught her and delivered heavy damage with one crushing bite. It opened its mouth, ready to bite again, but Anita dived away. She took a vial of ointment and applied it to her arm as she ran. The whurm’s head followed her and attacked her again.
“Why doesn’t it attack me?” Max shouted. “Come on, you great white slimy beast. Attack me!” Max shot a bullet from his catapult, more in an attempt to draw the beast on to him and away from Anita.
It ignored Max and attacked Anita again.
“Anita, run to me,” he shouted. “This way. Trust me.”
“Just keep attacking it while it is focusing its attacks on me,” she shouted. But the whurm’s head slammed into her and knocked her off her feet. She landed heavily and skidded across the ground. The whurm reared up, its head fifteen feet in the air, up in the trees.
Max ran over to Anita and skidded to a halt in between her and the beast. It turned its head downwards, ready to slam it down on the two of them. Max grabbed Anita and dragged her away. She kicked back with her heels and scurried back across the ground. The whurm slammed its head down heavily, shaking the ground and throwing up dead leaves and dirt. It started moving immediately, sliding over the ground, reaching forward, its round, rasping mouth on the end of its long uncoiled body just inches from Max. He could see the rasping teeth, more like heavy metal files, grating back and forth over each other and making a terrible scraping sound.
The whurm recoiled. Max knew it was about to lunge at them. Anita tried to pull Max away, but he stopped her.
“Just wait. Trust me.”
The whurm started forward, its mouth opening wide.
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> Max casts Fireball.
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The fireball leapt away from Max’s hands and straight down the whurm’s throat. The slimy white flesh lit up from the inside, glowing orange as the fireball raced down its gullet. Max pulled Anita back and took cover behind a tree.
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> Whurm takes critical damage.
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> Whurm has been defeated.
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> Max gains experience points.
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The fire burst out of the whurm’s open mouth like out of a flamethrower. The body exploded and threw huge chunks of rubbery white flesh and torrents of slime up into the trees. The slime hung on the branches and slowly dripped down, and the chunks of flesh fell back to the ground, each with a sickening splat. The smoldering and stinking remains collapsing as the magical fire burned out.
Anita stepped up to the lifeless mouth and pulled her spear free. She wiped it down to clear it of slime and then turned to Max.
“You are a surprising Mage, Max.” She smiled.
Max stepped forward and picked a chunk of whurm flesh out of her hair. “We could probably use a shower,” he said.
Anita nodded. “Let’s find Elderon and Jahrod first, shall we? Maybe we can convince the dwarf to shower, too, unless you planned to just shower with me.”
Max blushed. “No, that’s not what I meant.”
Then he felt the ground move. He wondered if it was just that he was so attracted to Anita that he was losing all balance, but then the ground gave way beneath his feet, and he was falling.