Day: 667
Days Left: 4813
Lives Saved: 3
The blood moon's effects had finally worn off. So, after everyone in the enclosed pits had transformed back into humans, regaining their minds, they were let out.
When Sumit had returned from the ocean, Corinna talked to him about the sandwyrm tunnel expedition. Much to their relief, Jessica had reacted in the blood moon, attempting to drag her broken body as she was drawn to her missing limbs, which meant that they must still be intact. If they were intact, they could repair the marionette doll, allowing her to transform back into her human self safely.
Not wanting to waste any time helping and healing Jessica back to her human form, Corinna prepared to set off immediately for the tunnel alongside a small group. Feeling also responsible for Jessica's condition and abandoning her, Sumit was the first to volunteer.
As they would be inside an underground tunnel, Corinna thought it wise to have only a small group. Though she knew that they would refuse, Corinna wanted to try at least and ask Pearl and Daina as both of them had masks that would be incredibly useful underground. Pearl could transform into a giant mole-rat, which could dig its own tunnels, and Daina as a banshee would be excellent at reconnaissance as well as luring the giant sandwyrm away from the others as she was incorporeal. Her shrieks were loud enough to draw in the sandwyrm.
Much to her surprise, Pearl and Daina both accepted.
"Really?" Corinna frowned in confusion.
"Of course, darling," said Pearl, her tone becoming bitter. "Why would we lie about helping you? There's hardly any amusement in that. I would have come up with a far more devastating lie than that, one that would certainly pull at your heartstrings." A slight malicious grin flickered on Pearl's lips before she smiled sweetly back at Corinna.
A chill shot through Corinna's body. "Um..." she hesitated. "So, you'll help Jessica?"
"Yes, yes." Pearl sighed. "How many times do we have to repeat it? Why do you still question it?"
"Well, I didn't think you would gain anything from it."
Pearl made a fake offended gasp, her hand over her heart in shock. "We simply want to help her from the bottom of our hearts. We require nothing in return. Isn't that right, Daina?"
Daina nodded, her expression as indifferent and bored as always, but there was a slight sense of sincerity in her simple response.
"I have visited the darling Jessica, and that is no way to live," continued Pearl. "She is forever stuck in that horrible garment, and the only way to free her is to turn her back into a human."
Corinna paused. "You mean, you want to help her because of her clothes?"
"Why, yes," Pearl scoffed. "Have you not seen that dress and the apron? And to make matters worse, it is attached to her puppet body and cannot be removed. So even if you cover it up, she will always have it underneath." Pearl shuddered at the thought.
"I thought the dress and apron were cute."
Pearl looked Corinna up and down with a judging eye and a smirk. "Well, we have... different tastes."
Ignoring the insult, Corinna returned the conversation to the matter at hand. "Anyway, I am truly grateful that both of you have decided to help. With your masks, we should do fine down in the sandwyrm tunnel. This won't get in the way of your duties, though, will it? Will Princess Alfreda be alright with your absence."
Pearl hesitated before finally answering, "Her Highness has Lili, Calanthe, and Oscar still. The Princess will cope without us for a few hours."
"Good," said Corinna. "Prepare any supplies you need; we will be heading out in a few minutes."
*
Once everyone was ready, Corinna, Sumit, Pearl, and Daina headed over to the entrance to the giant sandwyrm tunnel, which Sumit and Rin had found Jessica. They trekked over the dunes, mostly in silence. Though Sumit did his best to initiate conversation, the rest were not in a particularly talkative mood. Daina, as always, was completely silent; the only time when someone had heard her voice was when she sang that one time. Finding Sumit's joyfulness and puns exhausting and annoying, Pearl blanked him out completely. Even Corinna would sometimes not talk back; her mind too focused on the guilt of abandoning Jessica.
They eventually reached the tunnel entrance, which was still partially blocked by debris, leaving only a small gap to peer into the darkness on the other side.
"So, um, Corinna," began Sumit. "I probably should have asked this earlier, but what is the plan exactly? How are we going to find Jessica's missing limbs? We don't know how far these tunnels go; we could get lost."
Corinna raised the metal lantern in her hand; the green wisp inside it swirled around. "The wisp should be drawn to anything magical, so I'm hoping it will react if we get close to Jessica's missing legs. As for getting lost, Daina will be able to guide us out in her banshee form." Corinna turned to Daina. "I'm sorry that this plan relies such much on you."
Daina nodded, and Corinna almost thought she saw a slight smile on the woman's lips.
"Thank you." Corinna returned her own gracious smile. She brushed her finger underneath her jaw, activating her mask. Gold metal enveloped her body, forming armour and transforming Corinna into the golden knight.
Pearl and Daina watched; for a brief moment, their faces betrayed a sense of caution and maybe even fear, then snapped back to their usual indifferent expressions.
"Alright, Daina, could you please scout ahead?" Corinna asked, her voice deeper and distorted behind the golden mask.
Daina nodded as she donned her banshee mask. Her skin grew translucent, her feet completely invisible, and her hair growing longer and unkempt. The spectre hovered above the ground then dove through the blocked up tunnel entrance, phasing through it.
"Make sure to stay quiet," hushed Sumit. "Don't want the sandwyrm chomping on us."
Working together, Corinna, Sumit, and Pearl carefully cleared away the debris blocking the tunnel entrance, making sure to be as quiet as possible to not draw the sandwyrm to them from the loud noise.
Once it was all clear, Corinna went in first, leading the other two with the lantern, the wisp inside lighting up the tunnel in an emerald glow.
"Jessica's missing limbs might be in the same place as where we escaped," Corinna whispered.
"Or inside the sandwyrm," mumbled Pearl.
"We'll check that possibility last, shall we?" said Sumit.
Corinna nodded. "The tunnel entrance we escaped from was south-east from here."
Sumit retrieved a plastic school compass from his jacket pocket and guided them in the right direction. "Everyone be on the lookout for some severed wooden puppet legs."
Continuing on their journey, Sumit stopped and pointed to the ground.
Corinna looked down and saw claw marks in the sand, along with other traces, as if they were crawling and dragging their body.
"We're on the right track," said Sumit.
They followed the marks in the sand, hoping that it would lead them to the rest of Jessica's broken body.
After walking through the winding labyrinth of underground tunnels, the group eventually reunited with Daina.
"Any sign of the sandwyrm?" whispered Corinna.
The banshee shook her head.
"See any puppet legs?" whispered Sumit.
The banshee shook her head.
"Okay." Corinna nodded. "Could you please keep an eye on the perimeter? Warn us if you see the sandwyrm coming."
Daina gave a look of tiredness, rolling her eyes and silently sighing.
"I'm sorry, thank you," Corinna quietly hushed as the banshee flew away.
The three of them continued, following the tracks in the sand, the wisp illuminating the tunnel in an emerald haze. They all remained silent, fearing the sandwyrm's attention though Daina signalled that it was not nearby. All that could be heard were their careful breaths and cautious steps.
"Your mask," Pearl began, making sure to keep her voice quiet as she talked to Corinna. "Do you have any idea what sort of power you wield?"
Corinna hesitated, then answered, "Princess Alfreda said it once belonged to her mother, Queen Henrietta."
"And now you have it." Pearl paused, her eyes narrowing. "And why do you think that is so?"
"I don't know why I was given it."
"The only person other than Princess Alfreda who knew about those masks' existence is her sister, Queen Corinna IX. So why would the queen personally send you a mask?"
"I'm sorry, but I know as much as you do," replied Corinna, her tone becoming slightly bitter at the pressing questions. "I don't know why I got this mask."
"You're from that family of royal servants, are you not? I've worked alongside a couple of your relatives in my time. Rowena Earl was Queen Corinna IX's designer; I worked alongside her in collaboration when Princess Alfreda and Corinna required matching outfits."
Corinna paused, almost forgetting to breathe for a moment upon hearing her family, the family that she supposedly had, though all memories of them had faded from her mind. "So I've heard."
"I remember them being so fiercely loyal to the Crown," said Pearl. "Perhaps loyal enough to agree to be imprisoned in the Eternal Abyss to the queen's dirty work." Pearl spat out the last of that sentence, her eyes even more focused on Corinna, like her gaze was burrowing into the young woman.
"I'm not a spy or a double agent or an infiltrator or anything like that," Corinna hissed back, stopping to confront Pearl head-on.
"Hey, guys," Sumit hushed. "Perhaps this not the best place to discuss this-"
"Come on; you can tell me," Pearl smirked. "Are you here to hurt Princess Alfreda?"
"No," snapped Corinna. "What have I done to hurt her? I've brought peace and-"
"This peace treaty is causing us to starve," said Pearl. "Making us weak."
"Enough!" Sumit hushed once again and stood between them, placing his hands over their mouths, silencing them.
"Sorry," mumbled Corinna, taking in a slow breath to calm herself down.
"Seems that the blood moon's effects haven't completely ended," said Pearl, returning a pleasant smile, though it was difficult to discern if it was genuine or not.
Sumit let out a long sigh. "Thank you."
They focused back on following Jessica's tracks in the sand in silence. Though Corinna had attempted to calm herself down after her argument with Pearl, somewhere in the back of her mind, those strong and aggressive thoughts still lingered. Her grip on her spear grew tighter, the metal denting slightly inwards from the golden knight's uncontrollable strength. Terrified of these thoughts in her head, Corinna hummed a melody in her mind, a song that she would dance with Harmony, which always kept her calm and peaceful.
It was just like Pearl had said, Corinna reassured herself. These thoughts are just the blood moon; the effects still had not gone away yet. But it will disappear soon.
The trick seemed to work for now, and Corinna could concentrate on finding Jessica's missing limbs without the distractions of malicious thoughts.
Eventually, they reached the end of the trail, the rest of the sand smoothed over, which was theorised was from the sandwyrm.
"And the tracks disappear from here," Sumit sighed.
"No sign of any puppet legs," said Pearl.
Sumit examined his compass and then his crudely drawn map of the Eternal Abyss. "If my calculations are correct, this is close to the tunnel entrance Corinna, and I escaped from."
"It all adds up," said Corinna. "But no 'puppet legs'."
"Which must mean that they are inside the giant sandwyrm," said Pearl. "How lovely."
Sumit groaned. "I really didn't want that to be the case."
Pearl's face scrunched up in disgust, imagining the puppet legs covered in saliva.
"If the sandwyrm ate them, would they be intact?" asked Corinna. "Would we still be able to help Jessica?"
"Calixte said that Jessica reacted during the blood moon," said Sumit. "She was trying to return to her missing limbs."
Gliding through the air in a faint phantom glow, Daina returned to the others.
"Daina," Corinna smiled in greetings. "We're not in trouble, are we?"
Daina shook her head.
"Is the sandwyrm still far away?"
Daina shook her head once again.
Corinna nodded, then paused in thought. She then turned to address everyone. "We're going to set a trap for the sandwyrm."
"Oh," mumbled Sumit, clearly not excited about the prospect.
Pearl groaned, still imagining the disgusting image of searching through the sandwyrm's insides for the puppet legs.
Even Daina's face betrayed a slight sense of concern. Though in her banshee form, she was incorporeal and thus could not be harmed by the sandwyrm, however the others could.
"And for the plan to work," Corinna continued. "I'll need everyone's help."
*
Corinna revealed her plan to trap the sandwyrm to others and began to get to work. Once the preparations were complete, Daina was given the signal and she flew over to where the giant sandwyrm was residing in the underground tunnels. Though she was incorporeal, her translucent body still shivered in fear upon seeing the ginormous and monstrous creature.
The sandwyrm was a legless monstrosity, as long as twenty feet and as wide as the tunnels that it had burrowed itself for the numerous years it had spent imprisoned in the Eternal Abyss. Its hard exoskeleton was coated in a layer of sand and earth where short spikes protruded out. Currently, it was asleep; occasionally, an almost snoring breath escaped its gaping mouth where its sharp teeth were set around the circular lips. At least, Daina believed the creature was asleep, as the sandwyrm did not appear to have any eyes at all.
Sucking in a breath, Daina prepared herself, then released an ear-shattering shriek.
The sandwyrm screeched upon the abrupt awakening. Its head shot up from its nap, hitting the ceiling of the tunnel and causing a torrent of sand to collapse on top of it.
Daina shrieked once again, then panicked as the sandwyrm charged at her. The long creature phased right through her, enraged by the disruption of its sleep. Remembering her invincibility, Daina calmed herself in a second and resumed Corinna's plan. The banshee passed through the sandwyrm and taunted it with her piercing shrieks, cackling as the sandwyrm blindly followed the sound but was unable to devour her.
The banshee led the sandwyrm through the labyrinth of underground tunnels, leading it to where the others waited to spring the trap. As she got closer and closer, Daina's chest tightened, hoping that the plan would work as she could not transform back into a human quick enough to protect any of them.
Passing the engraved cross in the tunnel, marking Daina's cue, the banshee shrieked once again but with jagged staccato, signalling the others to prepare themselves.
*
Hearing the banshee's specific shriek, Sumit turned to Pearl. "Time to go!"
The two of them sprinted through the winding labyrinth of tunnels, then both stopped, glancing at one another in concern, then back to the two dividing paths in front of them.
"Which one is it?" Sumit asked, panting in panic.
"I thought you knew!" Pearl hissed.
"You can turn into a mole! You should know everything about tunnels!"
"And octopi are meant to be smart, yet your mask hasn't helped you there!"
Daina's screams resounded across the underground tunnels, followed by the rumbling and shaking of the earth as the giant sandwyrm slithered after her.
"It's this way," Sumit and Pearl said in unison, now remembering which tunnel it was.
*
Seeing the second engraved mark, Daina let out another staccato shriek. A few seconds later, the earth rattled even more as Corinna, Sumit, and Pearl blocked up tunnels in the distance, knocking down areas of structural weaknesses that Corinna had identified. Daina continued to screech and attract the sandwyrm's attention away from the clamour and racket from the collapsing tunnels. She clutched her throat; it was already crackling and sore. Daina didn't know how long she could keep going but endured through the pain, knowing that if she stopped screaming, the sandwyrm would go after the others instead.
Seeing the dead-end before her that Corinna, Sumit, and Pearl had created, Daina smiled with relief. She let out one last ear-deafening scream as she reached the dead-end, then glided to the side.
The giant sandwyrm crashed into the tunnel wall at full speed, the earth cracking from the powerful force, then the once-powerful creature collapsed motionless and unconscious.
A torrent of sand and earth fell from the ceiling and buried the sandwyrm partially, a thick enough layer to trap it, or at least slow it down, Corinna hoped, if it should awaken again.
In her giant mole-rat form, Pearl burrowed from the ceiling, her head popping out, and she gave a small wave with her rat-like claws at Daina. After landing down, Pearl dug out a small gap in one of the blocked-up tunnels, allowing Sumit and the golden knight to get through.
"Good work, everyone," said Corinna.
Sumit let out a huge sigh of relief but made sure to stay quiet in fear of the sandwyrm from waking. "I am so glad we did not get buried alive."
The banshee and the giant mole-rat both shrugged, unfazed by the risk due to their masks' forms.
"Wouldn't be much of an issue," joked Pearl.
"So, now what?" Sumit asked Corinna.
Corinna hesitated. "We need to retrieve Jessica's legs."
"If they are even in there," said Pearl.
"Daina..." Corinna turned to the banshee. "I don't suppose you could... look and see?"
Daina returned Corinna's politeness with a scrunched-up face of disgust and reluctance, followed by a silent sigh and a nod of the head. The banshee phased through the creature, then after a few seconds, returned to the others, her face even more disgusted than before. She gave a thumbs-up.
"Now we just have to get it," said Corinna.
"Not it," said Sumit and Pearl in unison.
"Alright, I'll do it." The golden knight approached the unconscious sandwyrm, thinking about how she was going to go about it.
Sumit donned his mask and transformed into an octopus, relieved that it was one small enough to fit inside the underground tunnel whilst big enough to pin the sandwyrm down with its tentacles as a safety precaution.
The sandwyrm's circular mouth was guarded by layers of sharp teeth, though Corinna was not so worried as her golden armour seemed to protect her quite well from harm. Corinna carefully stepped closer, lifted one of the top lips and gazed into the darkness inside. She heaved the mouth even wider, about to prop it open with her spear when the creature's body jolted.
Stirring awake from unconsciousness, the giant sandwyrm shook its body then shrieked in pain from its ringing head.
Corinna retreated instinctively, her golden armour clanging from her every step.
And just a second after, the sandwyrm rushed towards the sound.