The worm surged forward with an ear-splitting roar, its massive, glistening body rippling as it closed the distance between them in seconds. Ethan barely had time to react, hurling himself to the side as the beast’s gaping maw crashed down where he had just been standing. Dust and debris filled the air, stinging his eyes and throat as he coughed and scrambled to his feet.
Through the haze, he saw the man standing perfectly still, arms crossed, watching the monstrous worm as though it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
“What is your problem?!” Ethan shouted, running back toward him.
“I already told you,” the man said flatly, not bothering to move even as the worm bore down on him again. “I want to die.”
“Unbelievable,” Ethan growled as he grabbed the man by the waist and dove out of harm’s way, narrowly avoiding the creature’s enormous jaws. They hit the ground hard, rolling across the dirt before Ethan sprang up, breathing heavily. “There’s no way I’m letting you die until you help fix this mess you created!”
“Start by fixing that mess.” The man gestured lazily toward the worm, which had already turned to charge at them again.
Ethan sighed, exasperated. “Of course. Sure. Why not?”
The worm lunged once more, its grotesque body slamming into the ground like a freight train. Ethan hoisted the man up and sprinted out of its path again, his muscles screaming in protest.
“Where did this thing even come from?” Ethan demanded, dodging behind a crumbling boulder.
“From a wormhole, obviously,” the man replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“And...?” Ethan pressed.
The man shrugged. “Wormholes are like rifts in space and time. When there's an issue with the timeline, the wormholes behave abnormally, doing what no one expects. A wormhole probably displaced some stuff from other dimensions into this one. Or something like that. I’m not really sure.”
“Are you kidding me?” Ethan barked as he hauled the man out of danger once again, just as the worm’s tail slammed into the ground, shattering the rock they’d been hiding behind.
“How do we stop it?” Ethan asked, desperation creeping into his voice.
“Beats me,” the man said with maddening indifference, dusting off his sleeves. “Good luck with that, though. I’m off. Holler when you figure it out.” And just like that, he turned and started walking away.
Ethan stared after him, dumbfounded. “Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath. “Guess it’s just me and the giant death worm, then.”
Squaring his shoulders, he raised a hand instinctively, and to his astonishment, a sword of pure energy materialized in his grip, glowing with a fierce, radiant light. He just mimicked something Aiden did during training and it worked. He blinked at it, then grinned despite himself. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”
The worm roared again, and Ethan snapped back to focus. As it dove underground, he tracked the ripples in the dirt, his eyes narrowing. The creature’s movements were erratic but followed a subtle rhythm—emerging, attacking, retreating, circling, and striking again. He crouched low, counting the beats in his head, analyzing the pattern like a complex dance.
'This worm surfaces every 10 seconds, striking for approximately 5 seconds before retreating. It circles underground for 7 seconds before re-emerging in a slightly shifted trajectory. Its speed decreases slightly after each lunge, so this gives me a fraction of a second longer to react. So all I have to do is to lure it into a predictable attack zone. Wait for it to surface and then use its momentum against it to land a decisive blow to its head. If biology class taught me anything, it was that a worm, whether platyhelminthes, annelids or nematoda are useless without their heads.' Ethan got into position and gripped his energy blade tighter, his pulse steadying as his confidence grew. As the worm’s head erupted from the ground again, he sprinted toward it, timing his movements to avoid its snapping jaws.
“Come on, you overgrown earthworm,” he muttered, skidding to a halt just as the creature lunged again. At the last second, he leapt onto its head, driving the glowing blade deep into its armored skull. The worm thrashed violently, throwing him off before retreating underground with a blood-curdling screech.
Ethan landed hard but rolled to his feet, he re-materialized his energy sword and locked his eyes on the rippling earth. He adjusted his position, calculated its next emergence, and when the worm erupted again, he was ready. Timing his leap perfectly, he slashed his blade through the air in a wide arc, severing its head in one clean strike.
The massive body collapsed with a deafening crash, its severed head twitching before going still. Ethan dropped to one knee, panting as exhaustion washed over him.
“Wow,” came the man’s voice from behind him. “You really did it. Well, on the plus side, we have what to eat for at least a week.”
Ethan looked up at him, horrified. “You can’t be suggesting—”
“Do you see any other livestock around? If you do, please share,” the man replied dryly.
Ethan sighed, dragging a hand down his face. He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t argue. They had to make sure of whatever they found if they were to survive. Together, they spent hours hacking the worm’s enormous body into manageable pieces and dragging them back to the crude shelter they’d built. By the time they finished, night had fallen, and the cold bit into their skin like needles.
They built a bonfire and roasted chunks of the worm’s flesh, the air filling with the surprisingly savory scent of cooking meat. Ethan sat across from the man, chewing silently before breaking the silence.
“So, what were you going to use the money for?” he asked.
The man raised an eyebrow. “What money?”
“The money you stole from your dad,” Ethan pressed. “Since you were willing to damn the earth for it, it must’ve been really important.”
The man sighed, poking at the fire with a stick. “I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?”
“Not until we fix this mess, no.”
“My wife was ill,” the man admitted, his voice quieter now. “I tried to get a loan, but no one would help. I went to my dad—he had the money but refused to give it to me because of... issues we’d had over the years. He literally told me to go rob a bank or something. I was very angry with him so I decided to rob him instead of the bank that he suggested but his security system was too sophisticated, there was no way I was getting in without getting caught and knowing my dad, he would've arrested me when he caught me. So I went back in time to take it when security wasn’t as advanced and it worked, but the time I went to was way too back, he wasn't rich then, he was just a normal lad going on with his life but my anger didn't let me think clearly.”
Ethan frowned, his heart sinking. “Where’s your wife now? Did she survive?”
The man shook his head. “When I came back, I met this. She is human. I doubt she made it.”
Ethan nodded, understanding more than he let on. “That explains why you want to die.”
"Yeah. There's nothing worth staying alive for."
"Don't lose hope just yet. There's still a chance for us to fix this and bring everyone back. The chances of us fixing this are slim but not zero."
“My name’s Gregory, by the way.”
“Ethan.”
Gregory leaned back, staring at the fire. “We’ll rest tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to where I last saw Seraphina. Maybe you can pick up a trail.”
Ethan stared into the flames. “Maybe.”
YOU ARE READING
Blood
FantasyEthan, a 16-year-old high school student, has always felt like an outsider in his small town. He's drawn to the mysterious and beautiful Emily, who's just transferred to his school. As they spend more time together, Ethan discovers that Emily is hid...
