Still, he needed to be extra cautious since he suspected that the tyrant would be far more sensitive to ground disturbances compared to it’s fragment. He was bit deeper in the jungle now. The trees grown here were smaller compared to the ones he saw before, with red barks and red leaves. The twin suns had already disappeared along the horizon and Rowan was getting tired. He had to find a place to rest soon.

Walking for a few more hours and eating a piece of the disgusting meat, he finally found a small crater in the ground with with red autumn leaves laying around. His face instantly brightened up. ‘Finally! A comfortable bed! At least it can be.’

Without wasting any time, he went around and collected most of the leaves lying around and dumped it in the small crater and jumped down. After a few adjustment, the ground was comfortable enough to lay down. Looking up at the sky veiled in dark clouds, his thoughts drifted to that of his family: ‘Mom must be worried sick. Instructor Carol is probably getting reprimanded and getting the scolding of a lifetime.’ Rowan winced, ‘I gotta apologize to her when I get back..hopefully.’

‘I wonder what big sis is doing. Did she hear the news of what happened to me? She probably did and probably took leave from her work and is with mom right now. Good, at least mom wouldn’t be alone.’

‘Thinking of Talia, did she find any clues about dad’s whereabouts? It has been years since he and his team went missing in the Beyond…’

‘Hang it there Dad, we will find you. One way or another.’

With these thoughts, Rowan felt his lids closing and slowly drifted to sleep.

He dreamed of a great forest being incinerated by great blue flames. The sky was raining blood and titanic bodies obscured the heavens. The scene shifted and now there was only darkness. 2 people, or at least that’s what Rowan thought they were, were speaking in an unfamiliar language, but somehow he could understand it.

“This is madness! We don’t know if this will even work, let alone find a suitable inheritor! Your fragments are way too vast and scattered all over the realms!”

“I understand your concerns Janus, but we do not have much choice. The Great Connector Mother is working on is our only salvation. I have already helped her with my part. Now, you must do yours. Guide them, all of them when the time is right. Do not worry, old friend. I will not be completely lost. I am much too beautiful for that.”

There was a low grumbling noise and a reply: “I pity your inheritor. So be it, I will do my part but I cannot promise my authority over the Gates will be absolute. The Greater Will’s influence grows stronger with each passing eons.”

“That is enough”

With that the dream abruptly ended and Rowan woke up with a start. Breathing heavily, he looked around. He was still laying in the crater and the sky was still dark. There was still the faint tremor from the Brood Mother but it still seemed to be at a relatively safe distance. 

‘What a weird dream…Wait, the titanic battle and the giant trees kinda resemble this place…Huh, I’ll have to think on that later’

Checking his supplies, Rowan felt something wet falling atop him. He went absolutely still and slowly looked up. Small droplets of water were falling from the dark clouds and he could see occasional sparks of lightning followed by low rumbling thunders.

Rowan almost wanted to cry from happiness as he hurriedly cupped the rainwater with his hands and drank greedily. After almost a week without it, the rainwater tasted holy to him. After having his fill, he tried to store some of the rain but didn’t have any suitable container. So, he just took out one of the concave shells of the worm and carried it as he continued his way towards the blue flame.

It didn’t seem too far now, a few days journey at least. He picked up his supply and looked at his makeshift bed one last time before heading out again.

Another day passed, spent in walking without any rest. Rowan didn’t know what but his body had felt slightly different after entering the forest. He felt a bit..stronger. Not by much but he could feel a subtle difference. He thought it was from getting food and water but he didn’t remember a time feeling like this even before this journey. 

‘Is my body getting assimilated? No, that’s impossible. I haven’t killed any Beyonder creatures. So, what is going on?’ Rowan didn’t fully understand but he suspected it had something to do with the area itself and the strange dream he had.

‘Whatever the case, at least I can go on for much longer without rest now, which is awesome!’

Just as he was smiling like an idiot, thinking about his new found strength, the ground suddenly shook terribly and Rowan almost lost his balance. ‘Woah’. Regaining his footing, he climbed one of the trees and looked at where the Brood Mother could be. There, in the distance, he could see the familiar extremely complex pattern of the creature but something was different now. Looking closer with his ability, he saw that the nodes and nexuses was…untangling? After a few minutes, he realized what was happening and a cold dread took over him.

‘ I-it’s…fragmenting’. Indeed, the Brood Mother was fragmenting into many more smaller ones and spreading out in different directions.

And many of those fragments were barreling straight at Rowan’s direction.