‘What a cruel joke. Right when I’m about reach my destination.’

Trying to suppress his fear, he brandished his spear and took a battle stance. At least he should try to do something. He won’t go down without a fight.

Activating his ability, he tried to discern any weakness and come up with a plan. Sadly though, he couldn’t really understand the patterns of the Brood Mother. He could make a little sense of the part present in it’s head but did not know which nodes to target. Before he could even try to look further, the creature was already slamming down it’s massive body and lunging at him with its countless sword-like teeth. 

Sidestepping, Rowan thrust his spear at it’s head but it didn’t even leave a scratch. Jumping away before it could attack again, he ran backwards a bit towards the temple before facing the creature again. Again, he dodged an attack and returned with his own at the same spot of its head with similar results. Gritting his teeth, he tried other parts of head, risking some minor injuries, but all with the same result. Because of it’s size, the creature was a bit slow compared to it’s fragments but it’s body was impenetrable.

After some more attacks, Rowan had to accept that he would have to take some major risk to deal any meaningful damage. Using a forward slash momentum, he barely dodged the creatures maw and went straight near it’s horrible mouth and plunged his spear into one of the three slits. Finally, it did leave a tiny scratch. 

Before he could attack again, Rowan was hammered back by the side of it’s head as the creature was thrashing wildly, knocking the air from his lungs. His vision went dark for a moment before regaining a semblance of consciousness. He tried to get up and breathe but felt sharp blinding pain from his right lung. 

‘It's… definitely broken.’

He had been thrown back quite a distance and now he saw that the temple was so much closer. ‘What a…ride’. Rowan got back up with a groan and started walking as fast as he could towards the titanic entrance, which was gigantic, around 30ft or so.

Before he could cover much distance though, the Brood Mother had already barreled towards him. ‘Curse…you’. Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip around the black wood spear and prepared to face it again while simultaneously moving back towards the temple.

‘Whatever god…this temple is dedicated to…please help me…if it’s not too much…trouble…’  

Sadly, it seemed that his prayer was not answered and the Brood Mother looked even more mad and was charging straight at him.

Before he could completely dodge it with his injured body, the maw of the creature was already closing in on him. Before it could completely swallow him, Rowan thrust his spear inside it’s mouth and aimed for the nodes present in it’s head. 

At the same time, it clamped down it’s jaw, inserting the spear thoroughly through the upper mouth wall and reaching one of the nodes he was aiming for. Unfortunately, most of Rowan’s left arm and leg got into the bite range.

Blinding pain, unlike anything he had felt before, rushed to his head and a pained scream escaped from him. He couldn’t feel his left leg and arm anymore. Tears were forming in his eyes. ‘It…hurts. Damn it…’

Luckily, the creature didn’t seem to be doing too well either, one of the nodes he could see now seemed damaged by the terror coated spear. Before it could swallow him whole, it reeled back and wailed in pain, shaking it’s head furiously. 

Without looking back, Rowan was already crawling up the low stairs, gritting his teeth and keeping his body at an awkward angle. His left arm and leg were torn and hanging by thin threads of flesh, leaving bloody trails. Everytime his right side hit the stairs, it sent sharp jabs of pain, making it even harder to breathe.

He was slowly losing consciousness too, only the occasional jabs of pain pulled back his attention to the present. After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached the top of the stairs and was at the entrance. Beyond it was an immensely massive hall with countless concentric circular rings. And in the middle of the ring was a slight ripple in space.

‘A…Warp!’ Rowan felt an emotion he hadn’t felt since ending up in this wasteland: Pure happiness. Smiling through the pain, more blood flowing from his mouth, he continued crawling towards the warp. Looking up the hall, he could see a massive, ghostly blue flames burning in a similarly massive brazier. It was the guiding blue light he had seen from afar. From his angle, it looked like it was floating but upon closer observation, it was definitely supported by an invisible barrier. Not exactly glass but something like solidified air, which he could not understand completely.

He was almost at the first outer ring, leaving bloody trails, when he felt the ground subtly shaking again. ‘Not again…’ Groaning, he looked back and saw that the Brood Mother was already ascending the stairs. ‘Are you that…hungry!? Do I look…like I can satisfy…your hunger!?’

Cursing internally, Rowan hurried his pace and continued to crawl. The creature was already near the entrance. ‘Almost..there. Please, just let me…see my mom…again. I can’t die here. Mom…she won’t…be able to…handle another lost.’

Rowan was losing a lot of blood too. He was still conscious because of activating his ability. He could see through his enhanced eyes that below the concentric rings, there were infinite numbers of extremely complex patterns and runes. He hurriedly looked away before his brain turned into a mush. Just that initial sight almost made his brain shut down.

There was a furious wail behind him and he could feel that the creature was now lunging at him. Rowan had already crossed the first ring and was now almost at the second when something happened. There was a subtle glow across the grand hall and he heard a deafening wail from behind. Looking back, his eyes widened. The entrance was completely engulfed in ghostly blue flames with the Brood Mother in it, writhing in pain. With his ability, he could see that the complex nexus of the creature was being completely burned away and after a heartbeat there was nothing anymore. Strangely though, the physical body still remained and was now lying motionlessly, with his spear still lodged into the upper mouth. He felt a slight tingle somewhere inside him.

‘Scary…’ What kind of flame is that? Whatever it was, Rowan did not want to go anywhere near it. Turning towards the Warp again, he continued his crawl, trying hard not to lose consciousness. ‘ I’ll…miss that spear. Well, I’ll get a…better one…when I get back. Mom is probably…gonna faint…if she sees me..like this.’

Making sure he didn’t lose consciousness, He continued towards the Warp. He was almost beyond the final ring and his right hand had already started reaching out towards the Warp when the whole structure shook slightly. Instantly, the entire hall was engulfed in ghostly blue flames, with him in the center. 

Rowan’s last thoughts were: ‘So…close…’