We had been walking for a while.
The air was quiet… far too quiet, heavy with tension.
Valex's face stayed grim the whole way, while Flit was still trying to process everything that had happened.
The atmosphere was strange — eerily calm. Just a few days ago, when we used to walk, their voices would fill the air with something… unusual.
Thinking about it irritated me for some reason.
I don't know why, but those voices made me feel… nostalgic?
After a while, it started raining.
Rain in this world was strange — black rain that fell regularly every five days.
Sometimes heavy, sometimes gentle — and today it was gentle.
I'd forgotten all about my water bottle. I needed to fill it.
As I took it out of my bag, I saw Valex take off his shirt and hand it to Flit to shield her from the rain.
"Are you sure? You might catch a cold," Flit asked.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine, as always," he replied with a gentle smile.
That smile — it was the same as when he patted my head.
Why… did that feel so warm?
Ah, right — I remembered.
I think I was around eight years old then.
I was helping my grandfather gather firewood.
We were cutting down one of the black trees — the wood of this world was weak and burned easily.
I picked up a large piece and handed it to him.
He took it, lit the fire… and patted my head.
It felt nice.
I don't know how I ever forgot it, but it made me feel safe.
I decided to stop thinking about it and went back to filling my bottle.
Then suddenly, Flit stood beside me, using Valex's shirt to shield both of us from the rain.
"Valex-sama won't catch a cold, but you might," she said.
She was really close — I glanced at Valex, who was looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite read, though he didn't seem to mind what she was doing.
The rain kept falling. We kept walking.
Flit was still covering me with the shirt, still close.
It felt strange — suffocating and comforting at the same time.
Then, suddenly, Valex stopped walking.
I turned to him and asked what was wrong.
He looked around and said:
"I feel something weird… like the sand's moving."
We all looked around to check.
"I must've imagined it. Sorry," said Valex.
"It's fine, let's kee—"
Before I could finish, I saw a patch of sand move.
I stared at it closely. Valex saw it too and stepped in front of us, ready for anything.
Then suddenly, something crawled out of that patch.
It looked like a giant worm… but with many jointed legs — legs that looked disturbingly human.
The sight was disgusting.
And then more of them started coming out, one after another.
We stood our ground, on alert. They were emerging from everywhere.
Then, all at once, the creatures stopped moving.
They all faced upward and opened their mouths.
The scene grew even stranger — they didn't even make a sound.
Then I remembered seeing them in the book.
Name: Rain Worms
Habitat: Underground — emerge during rainfall to drink.
Weight: 20 kg
Length: 75 cm
Status: Peaceful, non-aggressive (edible).
I explained everything to Valex — that they just came out to drink rainwater.
He seemed relieved.
I glanced at Flit, who was staring at the worms drinking.
Her expression… was cold, unlike usual.
I was about to ask what was wrong, but then I remembered something else from the book:
> "Whenever the worms come out… predators follow."
Then the sand started moving again — but this time, differently.
It was like the sand grains themselves were alive and crawling.
Valex quickly lifted both me and Flit and shouted:
"Faril! That's not sand! What is it?!"
I stared harder at the ground — and then I saw it clearly.
It wasn't sand at all…
It was ants.
Flesh-eating ants.
---
To be continued…
Next Chapter: Numbers vs Power.