The tremors were getting closer with each passing minute. Eventually he had to admit the worst possibility was bound to happen: Sooner or later, he had to face the worms. They were much faster than him so it was inevitable.

The best he could do now was choosing a place to face them. He could climb up a tree but that would only give more time for the scattered worms to catch up with the rest and surround him, bringing the tree down and his life with it.

He was confident he could take on at least one of the fragments with his coated spear,   maybe even two but more than that and he would easily get overwhelmed.

So that left him with one option: Choosing a narrow space where the advantage of numbers is drastically decreased. And that is exactly where he is heading right now. Not so far in the distance, he could see a relatively small opening between two rocky walls that lead to the other side where the light was.

After another half an hour of running, he was almost near the entrance. It had looked like a small crack from the distance but now, upon reaching it could fit two person standing side by side. Right at that instant, one of the worms emerged from the ground and almost chewed off Rowan’s right leg. Cursing he jumped away and swiped with his spear simultaneously. It didn’t do much, only leaving a scar on it’s stone covered body. 

Without wasting a second, he backed off hurriedly without turning his back. The others were almost here. He had to deal with this one fast. The worm lunged again but this time Rowan took a thrusting stance and aimed his spear at approaching maw. It pierced the inner wall but did not pass through, so he pinned it to the ground with all his remaining strength and skewered it, trying to reach the point of a single nexus connected to the main body. 

The worm still struggled like a frenzied beast, trying to chew off Rowan’s face but after a final twist of the red terror coated spear, it eventually went still. Without wasting any movements, Rowan took his spear and ran to the narrow opening, looking back to see 6 other worms approaching rapidly behind him.

After reaching his desired location, he adjusted the stone hides strapped on his shoulders and ankles with strips of cloths and took a deep breath. As the first worm lunged at him from below, Rowan sidestepped and plunged his spear into one side of it’s face. Another one emerged, aiming for his legs. Jumping back, he swiped his spear, leaving deep scratch to it’s face. Before the third one emerged, Rowan went back to finishing the first one. 

The second and third worms were already aiming for his upper and lower body, each lunging at him with terrifying speed. He plunged his spear into the already injured one and kicked away the other. Before he could deal the killing blow to the one pinned down, he was suddenly thrown back and almost landed on his butt. He rolled backwards and jumped up to see that the place he was standing was hollowed out and two worms were burrowing out of it.

What was even more surprising was the newcomers did not come for him, but instead went towards the remaining ones and started…merging? It was a bizzare sight to behold. They all came together and coiled around each other, slowing melting. Before it was complete though, Rowan was already dashing aways towards the blue flames again, putting all his remaining strength into his legs.

‘Almost there. Don’t falter now! The transformation has to take some time, right? Please take all the time you need!’ His hope was crushed as he felt the ground shaking and an extremely strong ground pulses were generated were he used to be in the narrow crossing.

Looking back, he could see that the rocky walls were crumbling and the fused worm was already diving underground, heading straight at his direction. He had already left behind his supply of meat and and the storm was getting a bit stronger.

Shielding his eyes, Rowan ended up in a low drop from he was and immediately jumped down, rolled and continued dashing forward. He could now see the structure the flame was on top of clearly. It wasn’t like any structure he has seen before but he had an inkling that it was some sort of a temple.

The base of the structure was made of obsidian stone and etched all over it were intricate carvings of complex geometrical shapes and lines. Looking closely, he was hit with a sudden headache and fell down on one knee clutching his head with his with his left hand and the right holding on to the spear.

Trying to breathe, he looked back and saw that a large part the ground was moving in an unnatural way, the small cliff he jumped from already crumbling. Getting up with gritted teeth, Rowan tried to run again but was forced to balance himself as the ground behind him suddenly broke and the merged worm finally showed itself again.

Or so he thought. The thing that came out was definitely not just an amalgamation of a few worms. It was way bigger and looked more hideous, with 3 mouth slits and countless numbers of sword like teeth. Activating his ability with dread, he saw that the ethereal connections the worm fragments had with their bodies was gone and now it was the familiar overly complex pattern of the Brood Mother he saw at first before venturing into the ash field.

And that abomination was rushing towards him in a mad frenzy.