Worm Mage

With Minki supporting him, Sparrow limped down the tunnels to the Barrows one short step at a time, rasping for breath that'd yet to recover since Kuraku detonated a cloud of explosive ants on his chest.

"Why are we at the Barrows again?" Minki asked, voice tight with worry. "You must sit down and rest. Our hands will heal, but only if we let them. We can think about Vice-General Kuraku later—"

"We are close," he whispered back. "Just a little bit more."

Minki wasn't looking so good herself. Her brows and cheeks where shrapnels of her shattered obsidian knife had cut into were still bleeding, and the skin on her palms were just as bloody as his, but they were soldiers of the Attini Empire. This much wouldn't keep them down. As long as their legs could still walk and their arms could support each other, they could get down to the chasm in the Barrows.

A crowd of a hundred Worm Mages surrounded them the entire time, walking alongside them, each shooting off with their own burning questions as to what had happened down at the slope—the elders tried their best to ward the younger children away so the two of them could have some space, but when they emerged into the open cavern and came face to face with the chasm, it was a familiar voice who snapped at everyone to quiet down.

Sparrow glanced briefly around, eyes black-rimmed and weary. It was Utu who'd spoken, with a wet rag pressed over his charred left eye and the triplet brothers trying to pull his arms back.

"... You're gonna get big sis back, aren't you?" Utu choked, before glaring at the two of them, resisting the triplet brothers' attempts to drag him back up to the village for bed rest. "You're gonna get her back, right? That lady… she thinks she can walk up here like that and just take one of us? No! I won't stand for it! We—"

"Don't be reckless, Utu! They use the same weapons as Sparrow and Minki" Ammu shouted, the eldest of the brothers. "Go up! We need to look at you!" Nammu said, the middle brother, whacking Utu over the head with an empty basket. "If we get a cooling salve over the burn quickly enough, the whiteworms may still be able to repair your eye. What do you think is more important to big sis? That you get your eye back or—"

"Who cares about my eye? We have to get her back now! There's no telling—"

"I'm sure we'll get her back soon enough, but not if you go down there like this!" Immu growled, the middle brother, dunking an empty basket over Utu's entire head. "Just go up! Lay down! There's gotta be a reason Sparrow and Minki came down here, so—"

"We are Immanu!" Utu snapped, and his warping voice tore a hole through the basket, throwing Immu to the ground. "We are children of the worms! These mountains belong to us! If we don't get big sis back, do you really think that lady's gonna let her come back? You weren't there so you wouldn't know, but that lady's eyes, Immu! Her eyes! She has seen horror! She has brought terror! She is—"

"I thought I told you all not to bother me again."

The Elder Worm's voice reverberated throughout the cavern as Sparrow limped to the edge of the chasm, a physical sound that knocked everyone off their feet. If it weren't for Minki supporting him with an arm under his shoulder, he would've fallen, too—but instead he glared across the other side of the chasm, eyes brimming with cold fury as the giant worms craned their heads to stare at him, their gazes indecipherable.

"... Utu," he breathed, without turning to look at the younger boy. "This, I promise you, as a fellow Child of Immanu: I will bring Ninmah back safe and sound."

The rushing chatter and the worried whispers and the chaotic arguments around him died down the instant he made his promise, and he felt—even with his eyes staring straight forward—that the only thing Utu did was give him a fierce, fervent nod of trust.

That, in itself, wasn't likely a blessing to break whatever tradition he wanted—but with Minki's help, the two of them took a step forward and warped a combined twenty metres across the chasm, emerging before the tall fields of crystal weeds.

Immediately, the giant worms around them reared their heads back, letting out unholy, demonic screeches. Their warping voices made his eardrums rumble, but he didn't let them faze him. He took a second, third, and fourth step forward, Minki supporting him all the way, and eventually, they pushed their way through the fields of crystal weeds to reach the very end of the Barrows.

The Elder Worm was already waiting for them—not like it could go anywhere being as large as it was—but before he could say anything, it craned its head and opened its mouth, shining two columns of silver light upon them. Invisible weight immediately crashed down upon their shoulders, making Minki's knees buckle. She almost brought him down along with her, so he tensed every muscle in his arms, his legs, and pushed against the weight to keep her on her feet; their roles were now reversed, but he didn't mind the exertion on his end.

She'd supported him thus far, and now, it was his turn to pay her back.

Decree Three: Always repay what you have been given—

"I was against the Worm Mage's decision to give you the Whiteworm Class five months ago," the Elder Worm said, Minki's eyes widening as it sharpened its crown of teeth, curling around the two of them threateningly. "I knew saving and giving outsiders our Whiteworm Classes would bring trouble. You warmongers of the Attini Empire have been knocking on Hagi'Shar's doorsteps for the past few years… do you believe I do not see everything that is happening on this continent? What do you think we feel, watching you twist and corrupt our bodies and turn them into 'systems', stealing our biomagic and mutations?"

The two columns of light flicked off. The invisible weight lifted off Minki all of a sudden, and she was allowed to fall onto her rear, gasping for breath, but that just meant the Elder Worm could focus solely on Sparrow. The colossal worm swirled so close around him its crown of teeth was hovering just inches before his face.

Cold, freezing air billowed out the worm's mouth, but Sparrow's glare barely shifted.

"Ninmah has been taken by the Vice-General," he said slowly. "She will not be returned completely unharmed. I know this as a soldier with understanding of the Vice-General's interrogation tactics. Before Ninmah can suffer any permanent damage, we must retrieve her and—"

"You were the one who brought war to us," the Elder Worm growled, its warping voice cracking the walls and rumbling the cavern. "Once, humanity looked outwards to push the Swarm back to the edges of the world, and we, pacifist whiteworms who had never so much as harmed a single hair on a human, tried to help you. We tried to fight amongst you. Did you succeed in pushing the Swarm back? Did you take our assistance in stride and achieve anything with them? You did not. As of today, Year Sixty, the Swarm surrounds humanity's final continent. There is no hope for humanity anymore, so why do you continue to struggle? Why do you continue to yearn for power and bring war to our peaceful village?"

Sparrow twitched an eye. "As opposed to doing… nothing? If the Attini Empire does not claim the Hagi'Shar region for the construction of more weapons factories, we would not have enough weapons to hold back the Swarm in the south. If the Attini Empire Front falls, this entire southern end of this continent would be overrun, including Hagi'Shar, including Immanu. War would have come to this village regardless of what we do."

"So it does not matter whether it is the Swarm or the Attini Empire that destroys our peace?"

"Correct," he said plainly. "If war will come to Immanu no matter what, then, at the very least, the Attini Empire can harvest the natural resources of this territory for the weapons factories. The Worm Mages' lives may be slightly disturbed by the empire's presence below the mountains, but if you truly see and hear everything, then you know I will do my utmost to preserve this village's nonexistence. I will make sure the empire never reaches this village. I will—"

"At least the Swarm will slaughter all the children indiscriminately, without remorse, and without deceit," the Elder Worm snarled, clicking its teeth in front of his face. "I see everything that happens on this continent. The Six Swarmsteel Fronts defend the borders of this continent, but none of them work with each other. The Deepwater Legion Front regularly barrages the Plagueplaint Front with mounted vessel cannons. The Hellfire Caldera Front sends its Igniscale Warriors to ravage and pillage supply chains heading to the Rampaging Hinterlands Front. The Spore Knights of the Attini Empire Front regularly skirmish with the Nocturna of the Mori Masif Front, as though all of you are not of the same race, united under the same banner of 'humanity'—and do you think I know nothing of the Attini Empire's atrocities?"

"..."

"Acarna. Camarca. Muito. There had been many, many hidden villages in possession of secret resources and unique classes in the past. Once their existences were revealed to be within empire territory, you people were swift to take them under your control." The Elder Worm sneered, mocking him. "I do not suppose I have to remind you, someone from the infamous 'Bullet Ant Battalion', what was done to those villagers? In your desperate, futile war against the Swarm, you can justify any 'research' as a pure and innocent effort to save humanity, and my Worm Mages will meet the same painful fates if they are revealed to the rest of the world again: strapped to a table with their spines torn out, every pound of their inorganic bodies used for research, used to strengthen mindless, lifeless soldiers like you. Death by Swarm is a painless demise in comparison."

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"... I know," he said, a quiver to his voice. "And that is why I have mentioned, time and time again: I will do my utmost to preserve this village's nonexistence. The Vice-General and those soldiers with her may know about us, yes, but there is still time. She may not have relayed any important information back to the General, and subsequently, the Capital. If I can retrieve Ninmah and dispatch of the Vice-General quickly enough, all of you can still remain hidden—"

"And why do you care so much?" the Elder Worm remarked softly, curling left, curling behind him, to his right, back to the front. Sparrow didn't try to follow its movements. "You are a Bullet Ant Soldier. Surely, you stayed in Immanu because you wanted to learn as much as you could from the children. You wanted to become stronger. You wanted to be of service to the Attini Empire. Sooner or later, you would return to your people and tell them all about the powers of the Whiteworm Class—so why side with the children, still? Why do you even consider eliminating your own Vice-General and your own comrades in the army just to protect us?"

Something in Sparrow went taut—chest, throat, stomach. The Elder Worm noticed his hesitance and pounced on it.

"Just leave the village and rejoin the Attini Empire," the Elder Worm whispered. "You are correct that, no matter what happens, war will come to Immanu eventually. The only difference is whether it is the Swarm or the Attini Empire that holds the butcher's blade. In that case, why not give us up to the empire? Offer us to your 'researchers' so we can be picked apart once again, brutalised for knowledge you can gain from our inorganic bodies. Perhaps you could even have your researchers brainwash my children. Remove their memories and turn them into living weapons just like the two of you. They would be sure to serve humanity well in some capacity, even if it all futile effort in the end—"

"If I may, whatever… you are," Minki said, her warping voice calm and somehow remaining even. "Since you removed my Silver Ant Class and, subsequently, the emotion and memory suppression mutation, I… have begun to remember certain things."

The Elder Worm stopped curling around them for a second. The two of them were still standing, surrounded by its colossal body, but no longer did Sparrow feel they were being 'contained' in any way, shape, or form.

Minki raised her head and spoke of a free world.

"I… lived in a town called Hanuco, on the southwestern coastline," she said, her steady voice somehow soothing. "My father was a fisherman, and my mother was his skipper. I used to follow them out onto the seas, and I think… I was good at swimming. Maybe that was where I got my strong lungs and legs from. When the Crawling Seas finally caught up, though, I was told by my father to dive off our fishing boat so I could swim back to the town. My parents ended up sailing their boat around to distract the Crawling Seas from catching up to me. They bought me an extra two minutes. It was long enough for me to climb onshore, but not long enough to warn everyone to run, so… Hanuco was destroyed in four minutes. By mere luck, I alone managed to run far enough inland to avoid the destruction."

The Elder Worm's silence was deafening. Sparrow kept his head low, his chin tucked-in; he cherished the serenity while it lasted.

"It was not just Hanuco that was struck, of course," Minki continued, drawing a diagonal line in the air. "The entire southwestern shoreline of the continent was sunken in a single day. Hanuco, Prawan, Pisac, and all the neighbouring towns did not last. So I ran deeper inland, joining up with refugees everywhere I went, and everything that could catch up to us took huge chunks out of our group. Giant mantises chopped up bridges and intercepted our caravans. Colossal flies sprayed their petrifying venom over our heads. Pillbugs were volleyed from the encroaching Crawling Seas and crashed into our shelters like meteorites. Dying was the easiest thing to do back then, but I… I lived. And I made it to the borders of the Attini Empire, alongside five hundred or so refugee children from various villages and towns along the way."

"..."

"Please do not blame the young Vice-General for being violent," she said plainly. "You may not understand, but 'starvation' and 'desperation' gnaws at a child's sense of self. I was six when I ran from Hanuco, and eight by the time I was taken into the military. I did not need to be taught how to wield a blade, nor how to open a man's throat in the middle of the night. I had already killed for far less than a single slice of bread. Going to war as a weapon for humanity was much more 'reason' for living than I deserved. Because I could fight for humanity, I could endure the Ant Class Soldier training. I could endure the fighting. I believe I could still kill if I deemed it 'good for humanity', and that much has not changed even if I now possess the Whiteworm Class."

"..."

"... And yet I do not desire a do-over," she whispered. "I am but one of tens of thousands of orphans displaced by the war and forged into a weapon. I am not alone. Perhaps, in another life, I could have been a normal child leading a normal life. In another life, I could have been born a complete human and led a human life, but not this life. I have already spent more than half my life as a living weapon, and I am a Silver Ant Scout destined to fight and die on the battlefield—for all that I remember about my past now, my memories of being a weapon still triumph over that of being a human. I still do not remember my old name."

"..."

"When is the best time to live, oh great 'Worm God'?" Minki looked up, catching the head of the Elder Worm curling past her face, and he froze in place. "For me, it is right now, at fifteen years old. I do not wish to change the past. I wish to eradicate the Boreus as the weapon of the Attini Empire, and I wish to protect the peace of the village as 'Minki', named by the Children of Immanu." Then she tilted her head, real confusion in her expression. "Is that… not reasonable at all, sir worm?"

"... And you, 'Sparrow'?" the Elder Worm asked. Quiet, but not angry. Firm, but not mocking. "What do you remember of your past?"

The question was strange, and, as such, he tilted his head up at the Elder Worm.

"My past is irrelevant," he said curtly. "Minki said as much. I am but one of tens of thousands of displaced orphans with the exact same story. It could have been anyone rescued by the Worm Mages that night, and it did not have to be me. It could have been anyone who survived the inorganic operation, and it did not have to be me—but now I am here, half-organic, half-inorganic, and I must do what I must as both a weapon of the empire and a Child of Immanu. I believe you are no different from the two of us in that regard."

The Elder Worm turned its head slowly. "And how… are we not different?"

"Ninmah said you no longer believe in humanity. That you no longer believe we can defeat the Swarm. I cannot claim I understand what beings you worms are—where you came from, why your biomagic is so powerful, and why you know the things you do—but if you had truly given up on humanity, you would not have attempted to save three thousand and eighteen humans before us by trying to give them half-inorganic bodies. Why did you not just leave them to die?"

Minki cast a soft, befuddled look at him from behind, but he couldn't turn around and explain right now. His focus was solely on the Elder Worm.

"I believe, deep down, you do not detest humanity as much as you claim to," he said, shaking his head slowly. "You saved me and gave me the Whiteworm Class because you want to believe humanity can still be 'good', no?

So, he reached inside his cloak and held out a broken wooden handle of his rifle.

"Even a weapon needs a weapon," he said. "My anti-chitin rifle was broken, and the spare rifles we still have from the other Silver Ant Scouts will not break through the Vice-General's chitin. If we are going to attack into an entrenched position to rescue Ninmah and stop the Vice-General from reporting the village's existence to the empire by midnight, I will need my old weapon back, and that would be a bullet ant rifle. Can you make something like that for me?"

"..."

Silence for another good half a minute.

Then the Elder Worm pried his crown of teeth open, snapping forward at Sparrow's arm, making him flinch and close his eyes and reel away—and then the Elder Worm retreated after swallowing his broken rifle, the handle bubbling and floating around inside the Elder Worm's glowing silver blood.

"... I could make something much more powerful than a 'bullet ant rifle' of the Empire kind," the Elder Worm muttered, his body pulsating as he started augmenting Sparrow's rifle with his metallic parts. "Your empire rifles are outdated compared to the ones used in the Rampaging Hinterland Front. The bolt is easily jammed, so I will switch it out for something that will not. The striker is blunt and slow, so I will replace it with a faster one. The wooden grip is warm, but liable to rot in rain and snow, so I will use inorganic glass with a wooden veneer to make it appear the same. The sight is also a few degrees misaligned. While you may have learned to compensate for your weapon's deficiency, it is simply better to have a weapon that works properly in the first place. That, or I can just make you a railgun."

Sparrow's lips thinned into a line. "What is that?"

"If humanity does not know it, then it is too early for your kind," the Elder Worm mumbled. "I will fix the improper weight distribution, harden the bayonet, and make it so it does not require actual bullets to fire. If you pull the trigger with no bullet in the chamber, it will fire an air shot that deals little damage. If you fit a handful of snow into the chamber, it will fire hardened snow. If you fit dirt into it, it will fire hardened dirt. I trust you will be able to make something out of this upgraded weapon?"

He blinked. That sounded… powerful. "Can you make several more for us, then? One for me and one for Minki, and then maybe twenty more for the rest of the elders?"

"No. I do not have enough essence. This weapon for you will be my last for a while. Afterwards, I will go into temporary dormancy in order to replenish my essence and inorganic parts, and you Worm Mages will truly be on your own for at least the entirety of the next month." Then the Elder Worm opened his mouth and shone a bright light down on them, making them wince. "I do not believe the two of you can afford to just stand around waiting for me to finish, however. It will be eight hours before I can finish the modification of this one rifle. Return by nightfall, and I will have the weapon ready for you."

This was no request. It was a demand, and Sparrow knew he'd pushed the Elder Worm's buttons hard enough for long enough. He grabbed Minki by her hood and started dragging her back, cracking his neck, his heart pounding in his ears.

"First, we tell Utu and the others the news," he said, narrowing his eyes at the tiny, tiny Worm Mages all the way across on the other side of the chasm. "Then, we eat bug meat for points until we die."

Minki glanced back at the Elder Worm, biting her lips. "And you will tell me what that… that 'thing' is?"

The two of them pushed through the fields of crystal weeds, and the Worm Mages on the other side jumped and waved at them, most of them immediately warping over to wrap them in a massive hug.

They must've been worried.

And that wouldn't do as long as he was here.

"... I will let Ninmah tell you tonight," he said, eyes flashing cold as he nodded back at Minki. "You and I both know she is a much better talker than I am."