Not asingle bone had touched him.
Heblinked, once again alone in the shattered palace grounds.He should’ve beendead.A flood of such proportions could’ve easily pierced through his light,shattering it with no more effort than a cup made of glass—instead, it haddeliberately avoided his presence.In fact, it had gone very far out of its wayto avoid hurting him.A great deal of focus and control would’ve been requiredfor such a feat.
Thesorceress had just spared his life.
Heblinked, stupefied.
Soon,the ground began to shake again.The buildings of the dead city crumbled andfell as more chunks of earth gave way.Isaac wobbled on his feet as thevibrations turned into shuddering quakes, building into a flood of motion.
Momentslater, in a distant part of the city, the sandwyrm erupted from the ground,impaling itself through the roof of a college.Instead of reaching high intothe body cavity, it beached itself across the ancient streets, smashing throughhouses with an unstoppable momentum, squirming and writhing violently as itslid back towards the palace.Isaac ran to the side, suddenly faced with anincoming creature that thrashed with the size and weight of a castle wall.Hedove over a giant, shattered skull, narrowly avoiding the impact of thesandwyrm’s mouth.
Thedragon was completely covered in bone.Each of the thousands of body partswriggled into its skin like maggots through a corpse, burrowing into the opencracks Isaac had carved in its scales.Green blood oozed from the flesh, thickas slime.The wyrm flailed along the courtyard,rolling itself over and over on the pavement, trying to rub the bones away, butits mad efforts only stabbed the corpses deeper, flagellating the flesh withspines and arms and ribs.
Itswings spasmed.Its glittering scales broke like glass.With another heave, the beast roared in pain and fear.
Somethingflew from its mouth.
A glob ofblood and saliva splattered on the pavement, rolling with the viscosity ofmucus.Once it rested, the pile of fluids began to twitch.Isaac recognized theshape.
“Zaria!”
He ranto her, through fields of shattered skulls and the falling showers of blood.Ashe rushed, he saw she was wrapped in a shell of green, viscous liquid,something close to the texture of a rotted yolk of egg.Zaria struggled upward,stabbing her poleaxe through the broken pavement, gripping the haft forsupport.Isaac ran straight into the disgusting miasma, covering himself in thesandwyrm’s fluids as he helped her back to her feet.
“Areyou alright?”he asked, trying to check her for wounds.“Do you need aid?”
Zariawiped a sheet of dragon blood from her face.Slowly, she bared her teeth.Witha vicious growl, she yanked her polearm from the ground, pointed it at theflailing wyrm, and shouted: “You’re fucking mine!”
Shecharged at the massive beast, axe blade held high, completely covered in blood,screaming a war cry at the top of her lungs.
“Oh,”Isaac said.
By now,the wyrm was thrashing recklessly, shaking offrainstorms of bone with every thrust of its segments.The air was thick withblood, flying limbs, and slivers of scale.Despite its efforts, Isaac couldstill see an army of corpses digging through the hide and muscle, burrowingthrough the meat like a pestilence of bugs.
Whenthe dragon bellowed, it opened its maw wide, and Zaria sprinted towards itagain, holding her weapon in a spearing thrust.She slammed into the roof ofthe creature’s mouth with all her weight, the spear and axe disappearing sodeeply into the flesh that half her polearm became buried inside.The beastgurgled, its tongue a jagged hunk of meat.With desperation, it tried to crushher with its undulating rows of teeth, but Isaac had followed behind, and hecast a gust of wind so sharp that it physically parted the dragon’s jaw.Heintensified the gale, flaying flesh, severing mandibles, catching the beast ina stalemate of force as it struggled to close its mouth.Meanwhile, Zaria hadyanked her poleaxe back from the bleeding maw, bathing herself in a shower ofblood, thrusting again, harder, deeper, stabbing over and over, like ablacksmith attempting to pull a tooth.
Thesandwyrm rolled onto its back, the roof of its mouth now pointing down.Zariadid not waste the leverage.She climbed up, stood tall on the dragon’s mouth,and impaled her polearm deep into its head.
Thewyrm’s roars ceased immediately.
For amoment, its segmented body flexed, the wings going stiff, a deep gurglesounding across the barren streets of the necropolis.Another moment passed,and its jagged tongue flopped onto the rim of its mouth, a horde of breathwheezing out in a final sigh.The only part that still moved was the rivers ofblood flowing from its body.
It wasdead.
Theyhad killed a wyrm.
Zariaripped her poleaxe from the dragon’s mouth.A slime of brain remained on thespear.Soon after, her legs buckled, and she collapsed onto the pavement.
Isaacran over, trying to help her stand.It was a difficult process.She was heavy,he was winded from casting spells, and every attempt to sink his hands throughthe noxious shell of dragon blood felt like digging through a swamp.Eventually, he managed to lean her weight against him, smearing all thehorrible fluids across his robes.Together, they struggled back to their feet.
“Idon’t know whether to thank you or smack you,” Isaac said.
Zarialifted her head, eyes wide.
“Whatdo you think—”
“Isaac.”
“Youchargedat awyrm.I was trying to distract it!Thatwas the entire purpose—”
