Wyrm on a String

Oh God. I don’t think we’re ready to fight a wyrm, I have to wake everyone up. I look over to the others. Azuki is happily making sand angels and Jet is eating it by the bucket full. We’re probably going to die.

I rush over to Spector. I have to wake someone up and his sand dreams are probably the most normal. It looks like he’s building a sand castle. Actually it’s kinda cute. Oh what are you talking about, we don’t have time!

“I’m sorry.” I don’t want to do this, but I wind up my palm and slap Spector across the face. Oooh dang, I went too far… I can see my hand on his cheek!

“June what the heck?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! We’ve gotta go!!”

“Wha- why?” Spector asks deliriously.

The giant wyrm erupts from the sand below, breaching the ground, like a whale jumping out of the water. Its mouth is wide open. I watch in horror as the wyrm’s jaw clamps shut, swallowing one of our horses whole. Oh no, not Chestnut!! I specifically named the horses so they wouldn’t die. Damn it!
“Run!” I let out my warning to Spector and we turn on our heels ready to take off. Hopefully this thing isn’t as fast as I think it is.

Unfortunately for us, the beast is only a hair slower than me. If this thing has good endurance we’re screwed. Speaking of screwed, I totally forgot about Azuki and Jet! Those two are still in la la land and would make a perfect entree to pair with the wyrm’s horse steak.

“Wait…” Spector stops in his tracks the same time as me, “we have to get the others!”

“Damn it you’re right.”

I can’t keep running to fend for myself. We’re a team. I run back to pull Azuki into my arms and try to “princess carry” her. Thankfully she’s pretty light, which I can’t say for Jet. Spector is unable to lift Jet into a piggyback, so he grabs him by the legs and starts running. Jet’s face is being dragged through the sand. Ooooh no! Spector just rammed his face into a rock! That’s gonna hurt in the morning.

Surprisingly, he’s still not awake after that. Although, my sleepy companion isn’t doing much better at sobering up. Azuki reaches her hands up and pulls my cheek into a kiss.

“I love yooouuu….”

Oh God, she’s like a drunk toddler.

I look behind me to see the giant wyrm’s body. Its lack of limbs makes it somehow more threatening than other magical creatures I’ve seen. Not to mention the sick mind tricks it can use on nearby prey.

The wyrm is pale in color like the desert sand with hardened scales around its side, but a surprisingly soft appearing underbelly. Just like the green dragon that attacked the Isekai House, this beast is gigantic. Hell, it’s probably a football field in length! Although, I wouldn’t know. I’m sorry Jet, but I still don’t get football…

We continue sprinting away from the wyrm’s terrifying mouth and out of the corner of my eye I see our other horse Lady Maple take off heading back to the town of Tauwren. She’s running with her tail between her legs! Coward.

“What is that thing? June do you know?” Spector asks as we push forward. I shout back to him, but the words barely come out on account of the running. Man, my lack of cardio might be the death of me, literally.

“It’s a sand wyrm!” I manage to squeak out.

“A worm?”

“No a wyrm! It’s related to dragons. Except it doesn’t have arms, legs, or wings. Basically, it’s missing the good parts!”

I look back towards the wyrm to confirm. While it doesn’t have any limbs, it does have a massive head, probably to house its big-brained knowledge of illusion magic. It opens its mouth to release a loud screech. Inside are rows and rows of dagger like teeth, it’s forked tongue dangerously slipping between these weapons.

Maddie was telling me a little bit about monsters and adaptations. Creatures that live underground, like the sand wyrm here, usually have poor eyesight. So, they have other modifications to make up for it. This wyrm probably has a good sense of smell instead, given its forked tongue. I think we can use this to our advantage.

“Spector, have you ever heard of a worm on a string?”

“No?”

Aww. I gotta admit, I’m a little sad that we don’t share that memory as kids. I used to love watching those things wriggle around people’s fingers. I guess he never wanted to be a close up magician then. Oh what am I saying, that’s not the point!

“Really? Okay well it’s a fuzzy toy that you can control with an invisible wire.”

“What are you getting at?”

“This thing can’t see us or its environment, so we have the power. We hold the string! This wyrm will follow us anywhere!”

“Yeah, that’s kinda why we’re running…”

He doesn’t get it. It’s fine, I’ll do it myself. I’ve just got to lead this big guy away somewhere else. I drop Azuki from my arms and take off sprinting to my right.

“HEY!” Azuki falling to the ground seems to have snapped her out of her trance.

“I’m sorry!”

Heeehe. I’m not sorry. Now, my sense of direction is a bit off right now. I think I’m still a little disoriented from the whole oasis situation. I just hope that I’m leading this wyrm where I want him to be. Otherwise, I’m screwed.

“JUNE!” Spector shouts out to me.

It’s too late to turn back now, I’m committed. I’m a bit surprised the wyrm stayed locked onto me considering Jet, Spector, and Azuki are still grouped together. This big guy could probably swallow them all in one gulp. Does that mean it's chasing me because my scent is the strongest? I sniff my robe to check and it’s not pretty. This wyrm is rude, but honest. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I WANT the wyrm to chase me.

I peek up ahead to find the acre of cacti we passed by earlier. Yes I’m going the right way! I’m getting closer to my destination, but as I get closer, so does the wyrm. I’ll need to speed up. I dig my heels into the dunes of sand to try and trudge forward. Unfortunately for me, running in sand is not a talent of mine and this part is uphill.

I lose my balance and start to slip. As I descend, I look behind and the wyrm has its mouth open wide, its threatening jaw not five feet behind me. Welp, this is it. Good thing I wrote my will already.

Just as I think it’s over, the wyrm lets out another terrifying screech, but this one sounded like pain? I’m not really sure what’s going on so I scramble uphill to see if I can see the tailend of the beast.

“HEY! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

That’s Jet’s voice! And… he stole my line. Eh, it sounds better when he says it anyways.

From the top of the hill I can see that he plunged his sword into the wyrm’s tail, temporarily pinning it down. Thankfully the layer of sand is thinner in some places allowing the blade to hit bedrock. Sure it was a bold plan, but there’s no way his saber will keep the wyrm down for long. We need to lure him over here.

“Guys!” I shout over to the others in the valley below. “We need to bring the wyrm out this way!”

Azuki chides coldly, “Why?”

“We don’t have time for questions, just trust me!”

The wyrm starts to flex his body curling downwards then upwards. It looks like he’s doing wriggly yoga. Sure enough, this move gives him the strength to pop the sword out of the rocky surface. Alright now time to run.

Unfortunately, the wyrm turns its giant head towards the others. I think it’s ticked at Jet and understandably so. What do I do now? I’m not good at any attack spells yet. I try to hit they wyrm’s thick body with the top of my wooden staff, but it doesn’t seem to phase him. Honestly, my weak swings probably felt like a relaxing back scratch to him.

Then, a flurry of moths starts to swarm their way towards me. It’s Spector!

Spector returns to his human form and fires a crossbow bolt into the wyrm’s side. It manages to pierce through the scales, drawing a small stream of blood. The monster cries out and turns its head once more to give us its attention. Now it’s our turn to hold the string.

I look over to Spector who stands by my right side. “Ready to run?”

“Lead the way June.”

I’m starting to like this guy.

We continue the scramble forwards and head towards the prickly cacti.

“June… are you sure about this?” Spector's voice wavers in courage.

“Trust me! Now, DUCK!”

We slide ahead towards the cactus patch, just narrowly missing the spiky spines above us. We safely land in an empty spot deep between rows and rows of the prickly plants. Touchdown.

I look above me to find the wyrm in a far less fortunate position. Its massive head is caught on thornlike structures sharp enough to pierce through its scales holding the creature in place. How foolish, you’ve fallen right into my trap! Just like a wyrm on a string.

“How did you know that would work?” Spector asks.

“Well the wyrm doesn’t have the best eyesight so it tracks prey with its sense of smell instead. Thankfully, the cacti here don’t have a distinct scent, so I don’t think the big guy realized what he was getting into when chasing us.”

My thorough explanation seems to leave Spector pleasantly surprised. To be fair, I didn’t expect my plan to work out this well either. We just got lucky. Regardless, I sit up and lift my hand to the sky. We’re about to get a penalty for excessive celebration!

“High Five Spector!”

“Keep your head down…!”

Spector pulls my head towards his chest bringing us to ground as the wyrm thrashes recklessly in the cactus spines.

“Are you okay?” Spector asks.

“Yeah…” My head stays on his chest. I’m a little afraid to move while the monster writhes in pain above us. I can feel Spector’s heartbeat. His pulse is surprisingly calm given what we just went through. Oh. It’s speeding up now. Why? The danger is over… unless…?

I pause to think and it seems quieter for a bit. The beast must have finally resigned after its aggressive attempts to escape the cacti have failed. After a few minutes, the wyrm’s breathing slows to a halt.

“Hey Spector-”

My voice cuts off and both of our ears perk up to a nearby sound. We hear the thwacking of cacti up ahead. A voice calls out to us from the other side.

“Ooooh you two sure are close! Would you like some privacy?”