My brother pulled me into his hug as we fell.

It was only a fifty or so foot drop. Far enough that the shock of hitting the ground was disorienting. It also didn’t help that Vin rolled on top of us as rocks rained down around and on top of us.

“You…” Vin growled as a rock the size of a barrel hit him on the back. His hide was strong enough to take the beating, but that had to hurt and probably cracked some ribs. But if it had hit me or Starna, it would have simply crushed us. “...Okay?”

Starna was whimpering and I had a feeling that being pushed up against a magical void was very uncomfortable, since her magic would be draining away. I had only recently unlocked some magic and experienced the cold tingle that ran over my skin as Vin passively canceled out whatever small reserves I had built up.

“I’m good.” I moved all of my limbs and flexed the muscles all over my body to check for injuries. “What was that?”

“Wurm.” Vin pushed himself up, using his four arms to redirect the rocks that fell off of him.

“We can’t be that far down.” I looked around the large cavernous room that we were in. “Wurms that big never come close to the surface.”

“This one did.” Vin growled. “But it’s giving us something to hit…” His voice trailed off as a fireball lit up the cavern and struck the side of the wurm as it launched itself at us from the ceiling.

The twenty foot long eyeless snakelike monster had its toothy maw wide open as it fell. It was at least five feet in diameter and seemed intent on swallowing us whole. At least until the magic had hit it.

The fireball knocked it far enough away from us that it only sprayed us with gravel as it landed and rolled past us.

“There’s people down there!”

I tried to find the owner of the voice, but the light was gone as soon as the fireball died.

“Starna!” I pushed Vin away from her. She wouldn’t be able to use magic as long as he was touching her. “We need light!”

Light appeared in the palm of her hand, which let us see, but it also outlined a very clear target that was very close to the Wurm.

The monster rose up inside the room as it prepared to strike at its new target. I pulled out my sword and crossed in front of her to put myself between them. Vin roared and threw himself at the monster, wrapping his arms as far around it as he could, trying to keep it from moving.

“SKREE!” A giant eagle shot from behind us and struck the head of the wurm as another fireball hit it from the side.

“What are you doing here?!” A lizard-man with studded leather armor holding a scimitar and tall black shield ran in front of me. “You’re going to get yourselves killed!”

He let out a roar that echoed around the whole room, then lifted his shield to block the falling wall of flesh that hit him.

I helped Starna move further away from the fight. Once she was situated, I was going to go back and help. I doubted that Vin would let it move far and the Treca seemed to be able to handle himself for the moment.

“Are you hurt?” A soft voice pierced the shadows behind us.

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A silver scaled female in leather armor held out her hand and a ball of fire formed in it. She launched it at the monster before looking at us. “Do you need healing?’

“We’re good.” I shook my head and blinked. The woman in front of me looked to be a Silver, except that race was supposed to be extinct. Silver was actually the slang name for the race because they hadn’t been seen out in the universe since the Camadt War. From what I’d heard, they were hated by everyone because they stole elemental power and made it their own, making almost all of them very powerful. They would eventually burn through whatever power they stole, but they were still something to be respected.

“Then get back in there. Gildire said there was a Camadt around here too. We’re going to need all the swords we can get.”

“The Camadt is on our side.” I smirked at the look of disbelief that the Silver gave me. “He’s my broth… adopted brother.” I corrected myself so I wouldn’t have to explain in more depth. “You have my word that he won’t attack you if you don’t attack him.”

The reptilian woman eyed me for a moment before calling into the shadows. “The cam is on our side! Don’t hit it!”

“Thanks.” I looked at Starna. “You good?”

“Go.” Starna pushed my hand away as I tried to brush some of the dirt off of her face. “I’m fine.”

I nodded at her, then gripped my sword and ran at the monster.

There were six things fighting the Wurm now. A six-legged panther that was a little smaller than the drakes we’d ridden on was slashing at our foe and a three foot tall red Imp with a flashy sword who was darting in and out, cutting larger gashes in the side of the monster than I would have expected a sword that small could inflict.

The Wurm twisted, then spun in place, knocking everyone else back, but failing to dislodge my brother. Vin had been ripping into the Wurm with his teeth and claws and had inflicted a decent amount of damage to it, but the concentration of life that I could feel from it was coming from multiple places. My brother might be able to tear the monster in half, but there were so many hearts inside that thing that it would just grow back into two monsters once it had time to heal. We needed to make sure that we broke them all so we could stop the monster here.

Metal blades flew through the air into the monster’s side, burying themselves completely. Ice lances and earth spikes followed, letting me know that there was at least one other mage back with Starna and the Silver.

“Vin!” I pointed at a stalagmite a few feet away from me. “We need to pin it!”

I saw my brother roll his eyes even with the lighting as poor as it was, but he pushed and slid the Wurm across the rubble. He let out a deafening roar as he lifted the giant monster over his head, then slammed it onto the spike. The monster started thrashing as it tried to free itself, which more or less allowed us to not have to worry about it directly striking us.

I leapt onto its back and buried my sword into it to keep myself from being thrown off. The motion began to wiggle my sword, making the hole larger. I shoved my free hand inside it and began stealing its life force. I wasn’t as good at it as my uncle had been, but I really just needed to weaken this thing, not kill it.

The thrashing slowed, but it was still enough to loosen my sword to where it was pulled loose. I let go of the handle and leaned in, burying my arm into the monster up to my shoulder. I could feel my arm burning, but the life that I was stealing from it was more than enough to heal my injuries. A small splotch appeared on the side of the Wurm, but it was going to take a lot of damage to my arm before there was a significant enough wound on the Wurm to hurt it.

My companions didn’t let my effort go to waste and had cut or blasted holes in the side of the monster, tearing out or breaking its hearts. It took almost thirty minutes, but the Wurm finally stopped moving. I unhooked my arm and slid off of the monster to look at the rest of the group.

“I think we need to find a river to wash off all of this blood.” The Eagle and Wampus had vanished, so there were at least two mages in the group. The Imp and Treca were as covered in the green liquid as Vin and I were, while Starna, the Silver, and what looked like a yellow Cat Sith stood off to the side. The three of them were only partially covered in dirt.

The Silver waved her hands and a wave of water crashed over us, washing off a lot of the grime and blood.

“Seriously?!?” Vin flicked his arms.

I started laughing. It was just too funny to see my brother looking like a drowned cat. It wasn’t long before Starna joined in, then the others joined as well.

“Glad I could amuse you.” Vin looked at the Silver. “Could you make a fire now so I can dry off?”