I braced myself for stomach acid, grinding teeth, and gag-inducing smells.
Instead, I landed face-first on solid ground.
"Oof!" Edward crashed down beside me, his armor clanging like a dropped anvil.
I spat out dirt. We were standing in a tunnel—inside the worm. Not a fleshy stomach, but a cavern of earth. "It's cold here." I shivered a bit, a foggy breath coming out of my mouth.
"Most curious," Edward rose to his feet, peering around like he was admiring stained glass. Foggy breath also coming through his helmet "Within a worm that tunnels through soil… is a tunnel of its own."
He wasn't wrong. The space stretched far beyond the worm's body, bigger than it had any right to be. A cylindrical corridor of dirt ran on endlessly in one direction, its walls ribbed with stone. Behind us, the hole we'd fallen through still dribbled rocks and soil, as if reality itself hadn't finished stitching the wound.
"So, uh… what's the plan now?" I asked, brushing grit from my hair.
"Perhaps we begin our search for its organs."
"Yeah, sure. Where exactly?"
"Digging might be prudent."
So we did. Edward's sword carved deep gouges, while I clawed with my bare hands. No matter how much we tore through, the walls never bled, never twitched. Just dirt. Dirt that somehow was the worm.
Hours passed—or maybe minutes, time blurred underground. We should've been moving faster, but the deeper we dug, the denser the earth grew. Stone fused with stone until it was like carving through bone.
"How deep is this thing?!" I yelled, sweat stinging my eyes.
"I can feel it!" Edward roared back. "We are close—its life's pulse is near!"
As if on cue, my hands broke through a packed wall and sank into something wet. Black fluid sprayed out, reeking of iron and rot. It clung thick to my skin, warm as blood but viscous like tar.
"The hell is this? Oil?" I spat a mouthful that had splashed across my face. It burned bitter on my tongue.
Edward, dripping head to toe in the sludge, laughed. "Ha! Not oil, John! We've pierced a vessel! This is its lifeblood!"
I coughed, still trying to wipe the muck out of my eyes. "Disgusting lifeblood…"
"We follow it, and it shall lead us to the heart!" Edward shouted triumphantly.
But before I could celebrate with him, something wriggled out of the wound.
It hit the dirt with a wet slap. A pale, boneless thing, glistening with the worm's blood. It writhed, coiled into a spring, then launched itself at Edward's chest with a squeal like tearing meat.
"Goodness!" Edward sidestepped, the parasite smearing past him and hitting the wall with another slap. "What a foul little creature!"
Another squirmed free of the vessel. Then another. Their pale skins quivered as if barely holding in the sludge inside them, squealing and burbling in a chorus that made my ears itch.
"What the hell are those things? Chompworm babies?!" I backed up as one flopped toward my boots, leaving a slimy trail.
Edward parried one with the flat of his blade, grimacing. "Nay, John! They are parasites! Feeding on the beast from within!"
"Parasites?!" I gagged as one burst open on the ground, releasing a stink like sour milk and rotting meat. Its insides twitched and wriggled even after it popped. "Ugh, that's—nope. That's worse!"
But the vessel didn't stop bleeding. It started gushing. The tunnel walls pulsed as if veins had been cut loose, and from the rupture poured not one, not ten—but hundreds.
The floor writhed. A carpet of pale bodies slapped against each other, a storm of squeals and mucus. They piled over one another in a frenzy, slick skins tearing and smearing. Some squirmed up the walls.
One bit me, then two, then a dozen. I slapped them away, but each bite made me feel nauseous. My blood oozed freely from their bites.
The air thickened with the smell of bile and rot.
I looked at Edward, both of us now shin-deep in a seething tide of parasites.
"Edward—"
"Yes, John?"
"Run."
"Most gladly!"
We clawed our way back out of the hole.
"Cover it! Fill it in!" I shouted.
"On it!" Edward slammed his sword into the dirt, shoving soil back as I kicked and scraped with my hands. Parasites shrieked below, their squeals muffled under the collapsing rubble. Just before they could pour through, we sealed the breach.
I patted the mound, catching my breath. "That should hold."
"For now," Edward said grimly.
We glanced at each other.
"So… forward?" I asked.
He gave a curt nod. "Forward."
The soil we'd just packed shivered behind us. Neither of us needed more encouragement—we ran.
"Any idea what those were?" I asked, boots pounding dirt.
"Nematodes, John!" Edward called. "Parasitic worms, normally thinner than a hair. These, however, have swollen monstrous—fed fat on the worm's lifeblood."
I side-eyed him. "You just happen to know that?"
"'Tis written in the family book." His tone all but smirked beneath the helmet.
"You've got to let me see that book."
"All in due time."
I don't know why, but that sounded suspicious. Feels like he's hiding something. My spidey senses were tingling. Meanwhile my blood still poured freely from the bites, leaving a red trail behind us.
"I feel lightheaded," I muttered.
Edward studied me as we ran. "Their saliva bears venom. It keeps wounds from clotting."
"Great," I said, swaying. "Then we'd better finish this before I bleed dry." Though, I noted they were healing already.
"Agreed. And beware—see there?"
Up ahead, the perfectly smooth tunnel bulged with earthen mounds, each taller than we were.
"Book say anything about those?" I asked.
He hesitated. "…Let us poke one."
We approached cautiously. Edward jabbed his sword into the mound. Dirt crumbled—just soil.
"Safe?" I asked.
"Seems so."
Then the mound shuddered. Dirt cascaded off as something vast pushed free.
An ant. The size of a hill.
"Your book forget to mention that?"
"It… may have said something," Edward admitted flatly.
The ant's mandibles clicked. A sharp vinegar reek flooded the air. Across the tunnel, more mounds split open—more ants crawled forth, staring.
"Are they friendly?" I asked
"It depends."
"Depends on what?"
"If they think we're a threat to their hive."
Too late. The swarm surged.
Mandibles snapped, claws raked. We fought back—Edward's blade severing legs, my fists pulping heads to slurry. A portal opened along my arm; my punch blasted through an ambusher's skull.
"Behind you, Sir Delinger!"
"I noticed! These things aren't subtle!" I smashed another with a portal punch.
"Any idea why they are so angry?"
"I can only speculate!" Edward's voice rang as his sword whistled through another.
We continued the carnage through the tunnel. Not really bothering to finish them all off, prioritizing escaping.
"That was a workout," I muttered, breathing hard as we left the ants behind.
Edward pointed down the tunnel, his armor casting long shadows. "Then steel yourself for more."
Ahead, bigger mounds ruptured. What emerged were ants ten times bigger than the ones we fought before. Thicker legs, enormous heads and stomach. Their armor gleamed red, their mandibles wide enough to crush houses.
"Soldier ants," I said.
"Indeed. The first were but workers."
"Let's go!" We fought, attempting to repeat the same massacre as before. Unfortunately, we weren't having the same success. Our fists and swords landed, but the ants gave as good as they got. Each hit rattled my organs.
"They're surprisingly quick for their size!" I shouted.
"No. They're the same speed," Edward corrected.
"Then why am I getting hit more?"
"It's not that they are faster. You are moving slower."
"Shit! The poison?"
"Nay! I too am slowing."
We were tossed around like ragdolls. Two against dozens—and more closing in.
"Fine," I snarled. "Time to speed up."
I bent my right knee, activating my Warp Rune. Space warped. Distances collapsed. Each tiny movement magnified a hundredfold. I became a streak of light. The Soldier Ant I punched in front of me turned to mush.
Edward answered in kind. Invisible slashes cut ants apart from afar. When one lunged at him, he turned immaterial, letting it pass straight through.
"Edward!" I shouted. "We have to finish this fast—more are coming!"
Behind us, the worker swarm poured in, flooding the tunnel.
"Why attack us? We've barely any food on us!" I roared, slamming a one-two combo through a portal into another ant.
"Our bodies are full of unsavory chemicals, beast! Leave us!" Edward bellowed, cutting down more.
The tunnel erupted into war. I warped whenever I could, accelerating to blinding speeds. Each strike pulverized both ant and my own fist—though my fists healed in seconds.
Edward was untouchable. When he wasn't intangible, he conjured invisible force fields, stopping legs cold. His unseen slashes carved chitin with ease. His style was bizarre—unpredictable, invisible, impossible to react to.
But it wasn't enough.
More ants broke through the walls. Dozens became hundreds. Hundreds became thousands. The earth crumbled, tunnels collapsing into deeper chambers. Each of my steps now pulverized the ground, yet the deeper we went, the slower and heavier our bodies felt. Edward began to falter, unable to hold intangibility for long. I was battered, thrown around. The tide was turning.
Then we tore too deep—rupturing a blood vessel. Hundreds of nematodes poured out, ignoring the armored ants and swarming straight for us. I obliterated most nearby, but ants clawing from the walls split my focus. A few nematodes bit me, their poison flooding my veins, making me lightheaded.
I turned—Edward was drowning beneath a tide of ants, nematodes, and gore.
"John Delinger!" he roared, slashing down dozens in a single swing. "'Tis' time I stop holding back! I shall show you my peak!"
He leapt onto the mound of corpses we had made. His voice thundered through the cavern as he chanted. The brilliance of his armor—the only light in this abyss—dimmed. The tunnel plunged into total darkness. His voice resonated through the darkness.
"Hear me, heavens, and bear my plea.
I lay down shield, I lay down flesh,
I bare my soul unto eternity.
No wall of stone, no veil of night,
No armor forged, no spirit bound,
No time, no space, no fate, no death—
Shall bar this stroke of mine.
By oath surrendered, by will made pure,
By blood, by steel, by all that endures—
Let all be riven as one."
His sword blazed. I saw Edward drowned in ants and nematodes, his armor torn, his flesh raked, yet he stood defiant—like a lone star burning against the void. He uttered the last of his chant.
"Hither to me—The Great Sunder!"
Time slowed. My Aiming Rune etched every second into my soul.
The arc of light spread from Edward's swing, severing everything around him in a horizontal line. No defense could stop it, no shield could deny it, no veil could hide from it. The armored ants fell apart as though reality itself had decreed it. The walls split open, pierced through in an instant.
The world shuddered, as if groaning in pain. Then—silence.
I stood there, slack-jawed at what I'd seen. I saw something there—something important, something my new eye glimpsed but could not yet understand. Then, I ran to Edward. Not everything died. The smaller creatures like some worker ants and nematodes squirmed. Edward sat there on his knees, head down, unmoving. I couldn't let the remaining creatures get to him.
I finished the rest—turning parasites and ants alike into pulp—then hurried to Edward, shaking his shoulder lightly.
"Edward. You alive?"
He stayed silent for a heartbeat—then inhaled sharply, like a drowning man breaching the surface.
"John?"
I cracked a grin. "That was pretty good back there."
"Well, I try," Edward snarked back. His armor was in tatters, chunks missing and revealing his torso—and one of his eyes.
"It seems I am not at full capacity," he said dryly.
"Can you move?"
"Of course I can." He tried to stand, then toppled instantly.
"It seems my body's faculties are worse than I thought." He laughed weakly at his own state.
"That's alright. I'll carry you until you recover. Sound good, buddy?"
"Very well. I shall be in your care."
I reached for him—but my hand passed through his body.
"Can you turn that off?"
"Oh dear. Give me a second." He closed his one visible eye, concentrating, then opened it again.
"There. It's a bit faulty right now, apologies."
This time I managed to lift him, slinging him over my back as I started walking. For a while, we moved in silence. Then I spoke.
"So… what was that?"
"Curious, are you?"
"Of course I am. I've seen great destruction—most of it mine—but there was something else in that thing you did. I can't put my finger on it."
He chuckled. "It is the culmination of all my efforts, honed into one sword strike."
"Are you purposefully trying to sound mysterious?"
He laughed harder. "Ahaha! Maybe I am, but it does not make it any less true."
"Well, whatever it was, it was impressive. Everything hit by that strike was just… gone. They never had a chance. Took a lot out of you though."
"Indeed it does. But its true price is not easily felt."
I ruminated over his words then continued asking. "Did you learn that from your family book?"
"Unfortunately, no. If it were that simple, everyone would be scrambling to do it. It cannot be learned from mere words. It is my oath, my beliefs—the culmination of my journey."
"The more you explain it, the less it makes sense. Anyway, it's not like I could do something similar. I can't really use magic that well."
He was silent for a beat. "You could, John. If anyone could, it's you."
I looked at him, suspicious. The more time I spent with him, the stronger that feeling grew. His cryptic words didn't help. But… I didn't think he meant me harm. I let the subject drop.
"I feel heavier, slower. Even more than in the area with the soldier ants. Do you feel that too?"
"Indeed. Look at the ground as well."
I knelt, trying to scoop some up—but the dirt turned out to be stone instead. It was heavier, denser, with a dark green luster.
"It seems the Chompworm is slowly turning the dirt into the rare minerals we spoke of. The deeper we go, the heavier gravity and pressure will be. The process condenses the once-loose earth into hard rock," Edward said from my back.
"We're close. I can feel the heartbeat."
I looked ahead. Beyond lay the heart of the Chompworm. I felt it too.
"Hither to me, King of the Land," Edward whispered.
I stepped forward, Edward on my back.
I guess it was time to show Edward my peak.