Day: 667
Days Left: 4813
Lives Saved: 3
Enraged, the giant sandwyrm slammed the golden knight against the tunnel wall. Corrina held up her spear just in time to prevent the creature's gnashing teeth from devouring her. Unable to move backwards and trapped at a dead-end, the giant sandwyrm had only one direction it could go: up.
The sandwyrm shoved the golden knight upwards. The ceiling's integrity was now weakened from Pearl's digging, and thus the sandwyrm easily tunnelled through the sand. Daina and Pearl froze as the sandwyrm shot up to the surface in a matter of seconds, leaving a large gap where the light shone through.
Corinna spluttered and shrieked as the giant sandwyrm forced her through the hard layers of earth and sand, her back screaming in pain. Then, finally, she burst through to the surface, and the sandwyrm continued to propel up into the sky, its teeth still attempting to gnash at the golden armour.
Clinging on, his tentacles still wrapped around the sandwyrm's body was Sumit, who regretted the decision immensely, wishing he had let go, but it was too late now. He glanced down at the sheer drop below down to the grey sand, then squirmed and flailed as the sandwyrm began to arch downwards.
Corinna waited until they were closer to the ground, pushed her feet off of the creature and let go of her spear, her weapon remaining stuck in the sandwyrm's gnashing teeth. The golden knight landed on the soft sand with a stumble, not as graceful as she usually was able, then stepped back as the sandwyrm tunnelled back down into the ground.
"Sumit!" The golden knight called out as she saw a flash of an orange and red speckled octopus still latched onto the creature, then disappeared along with the sandwyrm down underground.
Pearl climbed up from the first hole left by the sandwyrm, followed by Daina, who phased through the earth. They reunited with Corinna, glancing around and scared at the absence of both Sumit and the sandwyrm.
"They're both underground again," explained Corinna. "We need to draw the sandwyrm back up." She turned to Daina. "We need to make some noise."
Nodding, the banshee flew a safe distance away from Corinna and Pearl, then let out her signature ear-splitting shriek. The ground beneath her hovering transparent feet rumbled and out shot the giant sandwyrm. It opened its mouth, ready to swallow the origin of the scream whole, but Daina's incorporeal body merely passed through it.
Now back above the surface, Sumit unwrapped his tentacles from the sandwyrm and landed safely on the ground. He waved his eight arms at the others in greeting.
"What now!" Pearl yelled at Corinna.
"Don't let it go under again!" answered Corinna. She looked up at the giant sandwyrm; its long body had shot up into the sky again and swallowing everyone in its large dark shadow. The golden knight charged at the sandwyrm's tail that was still embedded into the ground. She wrapped her arms around and held it still. Sumit and Pearl, confused, joined in with Sumit enveloping the tail with his tentacles and Pearl digging her mole-rat claws into the creature's skin.
After reaching the apex of its jump, the sandwyrm began its descent, about to burrow back down underground, but it couldn't. So instead, it screeched and wriggled its tail, trying to break free from its assailants' restraints.
The octopus, banshee, and giant mole-rat looked at the golden knight, eyes scared and bewildered, not knowing what to do next.
"Daina!" Corinna yelled as she struggled to hold the sandwyrm back, her feet almost slipping on the sand. "Bring it towards us!"
"What!" Sumit and Pearl shouted in horror.
The banshee flew over to the sandwyrm's face and screeched right in front of it, making it even more enraged than before. Continuing to scream and howl, fighting through the pain in her throat, Daina glided over towards Corinna and the others. Gnashing its hundreds of teeth, the sandwyrm blindly followed the screams of the banshee.
"Get ready!" Corinna called out to Sumit and Pearl.
Guided by the banshee, the sandwyrm twisted and turned, looping around almost in a circle, heading straight for Corinna, Sumit, and Pearl.
"Now!" yelled Corinna.
Together, the golden knight, the octopus, and the giant mole-rat heaved the creature's tail and then dodged out of the way as the sandwyrm hurtled towards them and bit its own tail.
The sandwyrm screeched and writhed as it tore off a sizable chunk off of its own tail, blood spurting out of the stump like a fountain and spraying red onto the sand.
Taking the opportunity, the golden knight rushed towards the distracted and in pain sandwyrm. She readied herself to make an attack when the sandwyrm, despite its suffering, swung its severed stub of a tail and whacked the golden knight away. Her armour clanged and clattered as Corinna was knocked a long distance away, collapsed onto the sand.
Daina opened her mouth, attempting to scream and screech, but all that escaped was a crackling croak. She grasped her throat, realising that she was now at her limit and useless.
Attracted by the clanging of the golden armour, the sandwyrm hurtled towards Corinna. Daina glided over, attempting to screech once more and block the sandwyrm's way, but the creature merely phased through her incorporeal body.
Corinna remained still, holding her spear in front, bracing for impact when the sandwyrm stopped. Its head twitched and turned to behind.
With his eight octopus arms, Sumit whacked the ground as if he was playing a drum kit and wobbled around, constantly moving and making a ruckus.
Pearl burrowed underneath the sand and tunnelled directly underneath the sandwrym's giant body. The ground shook and crumbled as the giant mole-rat dug underneath in random directions.
No longer hearing the sound of metal armour, the sandwyrm was drawn to the vibrations in the earth caused by Pearl's digging.
"No, wait!" Corinna yelled. "Pearl!"
The sandwyrm dove into the sand and burrowed into it, the rest of its body following and disappearing underneath the ground.
"Pearl!"
Once again, the ground rumbled, and the sandwyrm shot back up with one of the giant mole-rat's paws caught and trapped in its teeth.
Corinna gripped her spear, her eyes gazing up at the sandwrym. Something inside her mind clicked and unlocked, allowing what she had been trying so desperately not to escape in. Those thoughts beckoned her, whispering to her what she should do, what she had to do. They reminded her of the pain from before, her back still aching from being shoved through layers of solid sandstone. The voices continued to call out to Corinna, commanding her to take control, to fight.
The enemy was right before her.
Do not hesitate.
Flourishing her spear in her hand with elaborate spins and twirls, the golden knight crouched down on one knee, then jumped up, propelling herself up high in the air. Next, she grabbed ahold of one of the spikes jutting out of the sandwyrm's exoskeleton and balanced herself with the help of her spear. Now up close, the golden knight noticed the gaps in the exoskeleton that was essential for the sandwyrm's mobility: weak points.
The sandwyrm reached the highest point of its jump and began arching down. Once the incline was no longer steep, the golden knight ran across the sandwyrm's long body, the blade of her spear cutting along the exposed weak points in its exoskeleton, gutting it open.
Shrieking in pain, the sandwyrm howled and let go of Pearl. The giant mole-rat's paw, now free from inside the creature's mouth, began to fall. Positioned underneath, Sumit reached out his many tentacles and caught Pearl safely, his soft and globulous body breaking her fall.
Continuing her ascent, the golden knight reached the sandwyrm's head, her golden hair billowing in the wind. She kicked her feet off of the creature's head, propelling herself even higher. From that height, everything below looked so small, so weak, so insignificant. The sandwyrm that was once a terrifying and formidable behemoth seemed to be so puny and trivial to the golden knight, like an ant that she could easily snuff out of existence by squishing it underneath her foot.
Reaching the apex of her jump, the golden knight flourished her spear then plummeted down, embedding the blade into the sandwyrm's brain. With one last screeching howl, the sandwyrm's body plunged to the ground with a thundering smack, causing a gust of sand to spread and envelop the area.
Once the sand had settled and Sumit, Pearl, and Daina could see again, they rushed over to the sandwyrm's still body. Its stump of tail continued to bleed profusely, and as well as its body that had been sliced open, its head crushed from the force of falling from so high. Standing victoriously on top of the sandwyrm's head was the golden knight. She yanked her spear out of the creature's skull, then trampled along its body. The knight gazed at the revealed innards of the sandwyrm, then reached inside without hesitation, retrieving a pair of severed and broken wooden puppet legs- Jessica's missing limbs.
*
After Sumit, Pearl, and Daina had safely transformed back into their human forms, the group headed back to the village, their mission successful. They all hoped their efforts were not wasted and that Jessica could transform into a human once she was united with her legs.
Some of the damage that Pearl had received as a giant mole-rat had transferred over to her human body. Her right hand jittered in pain, barely able to move.
She wasn't the only one who had not gone unscathed from the fight; parts of the golden knight's armour had small black cracks, especially on her back from where she had been shoved through the earth. Corinna did not know whether this weakened her mask form or if it was just cosmetic, but that was the least on her mind at the moment.
The original plan had been to knock the giant sandwyrm unconscious and then retrieve Jessica's puppet legs, leaving the creature mostly unharmed. But something had snapped inside Corinna, and she couldn't control herself, couldn't hold back. They may have achieved what they had come for, regaining Jessica's legs, but at what cost?
That giant sandwyrm was a prisoner, Corinna kept on reminding herself. That was a person she had just gutted open. They may have been wearing their mask and transformed for far too long, unable to revert, now a mindless monster, but that was still a person somewhere inside there. Perhaps one day, they could revert into a human, but that day was now far further away.
No matter how hard Corinna fought in her mind that what she did was wrong, another voice fought back. She couldn't save everyone; she had to stop that creature from hurting others and herself. So what she did, she had to.
Corinna's body trembled, scared at her own thoughts. No, how could she think that? Yet the more she did think about it, the more she started to believe it. The image of the sandwrym was ever-present in her mind, replaying the shrieking sound of its ear-splitting cry of pain when Corinna's spear sliced it open, spilling its blood and guts out. But it wasn't the horrifying image of the slain creature that scared Corinna the most; it was how much she enjoyed it. There had been such a thrill that shot through her body, adrenaline pumping through her veins, not from fear but enjoyment. She enjoyed it- hurting that creature. If she hadn't been wearing the golden mask, perhaps there would even be a smile on her face, a twisted and malevolent one, her eyes brightened and delighted at the suffering she had caused.
No!
No...
Corinna shook her head, her hands tightening into fists.
This was just the blood moon still affecting her. The blood moon was only two days ago, and only yesterday did the sky finally fade away from pink into its usual grey. It wouldn't be unusual for her to be still having those thoughts. In fact, it has happened before but not at this level. Perhaps it was because she hadn't had to fight anyone recently? All of those violent and aggressive thoughts had only just risen to the surface now that she had to encounter the sandwyrm.
There was also the fact that Harmony was not with her. Usually, Corinna would spend the blood moons with Harmony, feeling a sense of calm and tranquillity when in her presence; those malicious thoughts would never appear when they were together. Even the days after the blood moon, Harmony was always nearby somewhere in the village whilst Corinna worked on buildings or tending to the water nymphs. Harmony was always close by that the blood moon never affected Corinna. It seemed that she had grown dependent on Harmony to such an extent that when she was no longer around, the blood moon's influence came crawling back into Corinna's mind.
Yes, that must be it, thought Corinna. Two logical reasons why she was acting like this. She would never actually think those thoughts herself- it was the blood moon.
Regaining her sense of confidence and repelling back the self-doubt and fear of herself, Corinna continued to walk in silence with the others, knowing that everything will be better once she sees Harmony again.
*
Sumit, Pearl, Daina, and the golden knight eventually returned to the village, Jessica's severed puppet legs in hand.
"Right," said Sumit as he awkwardly held the wooden puppet legs, unsure of a way to hold them appropriately. "I'll go and-"
"Where have you two been?" called out a cold voice.
They all turned to see Lili standing behind them with her arms crossed. Pearl and Daina shrunk away from seeing the royal bodyguard, and their eyes averted to the ground.
"Do you know how long you both have been gone?" Lili marched up to her fellow royal servants, her glare continuing to judge and pierce through them. "Neither one if you ever thought to tell anyone where you were going or ask permission to-"
"Ask permission?" Sumit scoffed. "They don't need to ask permission."
Lili directed her glare to Sumit, her eyes narrowing and even colder than before. "They are servants to the Princess- we are servants to the princess. We need to be by her side or at least close by to tend to her needs, to protect her from harm."
"What harm?" Sumit waved his arms, motioning to the peaceful and desolate wasteland around them. Though his voice quivered from his fear of Lili, Sumit pressed on through it. "Besides, you still have you and Oscar and Calanthe. It's not like you can't afford to have two of you to leave."
Sumit looked back to Pearl and Daina for agreement, as Pearl had made the same point before they left for the sandwyrm tunnel; however, both remained silent.
Realising that it was perhaps best not to be argumentative, Sumit calmed himself and continued in a softer tone, "they helped retrieve Jessica's missing limbs in the sandwyrm tunnel. Without them, I doubt we could have done it."
Lili looked to Pearl and Daina, her glare fading into a stern expression. "Regardless, you did not ask permission to abandon your duties."
Pearl swallowed. "We apologise." She bowed her head low, as did Daina. "We won't make the same mistake again." Though Pearl's voice truly sounded sincere, there was still a slight sense of bitterness in it.
Sighing, Lili put her hands on her hips, her eyes glancing to the ground before returning to Pearl and Daina. "Please, just tell us next time."
"Would Her Highness even let us help?" asked Pearl, her bitterness returning in full swing.
Lili hesitated, knowing the answer, then replied, "I would at the very least have covered for you."
"Would you now?" Pearl raised an eyebrow.
Lili pushed back her shoulders. "Yes," she said sternly. "I would." She turned her attention back to Sumit. "I apologise for holding you. You should return Jessica her... legs. I hope that it will help her."
"As do I," said Sumit.
Giving a quick nod, Lili motioned to Pearl and Daina to follow her. "Come," she ordered. "Her Highness wishes to know the reason for your absence."
Pearl and Daina obediently obeyed and trailed behind Lili as they headed to their newly constructed house in the village, their heads bowed low.
"Right," said Sumit. "'Leg' us go and-" He stopped before he could finish any more puns as he noticed that the golden knight was nowhere to be found. "She's probably gone to see Harmony," Sumit mumbled to himself. On their journey back to the village, Sumit had noticed how silent the golden knight had been. She likely went to Harmony for comfort after the ordeal they all had endured, and the guilt that was still present in her would make her not want to be there when Jessica's conscience returned. Sumit himself was still dreading it; he had also abandoned Jessica in the sandwyrm tunnel. To see her again, he knew, would do nightmares to his stomach, but it was something he had to fight through to do the right thing.
Not wanting to waste any more time helping Jessica return to her human form, Sumit made his way to the water nymph building, carrying the severed puppet legs with him.