It's stupid, really. All of this preparation and the only real practice you'll ever get against true monsters. And I mean real monsters, the type that tower over you, spit poison, suck blood, writhing tentacles, you get the idea. The only practice you'll ever get against those type of creatures is fighting them. I remember my first time. Snow Golem, couldn't feel my toes, fingers, feet, or hands for months after. I reckon my old team is still frozen in the same goddamn spot.

- Quotes of Explorers, Veteran Explorer

Jayke's attention focused abruptly on the floor. Chee started. The shadshin had felt the shift in the sand through the carpeted floor too.

"Careful." Jayke put his hand out cautioning Chee.

Nearly a year spent in constant danger, he knew better than to relax into the apparent calm. Bookshelves and tables laden with old texts looked almost peaceful. Then the carpet rippled again, whatever lurked below catching on loose threads and sending a terrible ripping noise through the shop.

The floor bulged and exploded.

A long sinuous form erupted from the carpet, ripping through the thick fabric in an explosion of paper and thread. A gaping maw snapped hungrily at the air, knocking books from their places and sending everything falling. Tables fell over, small items and handbooks, scrolls and parchment - all displaced.

The worm slithered across the shop, more and more of its body escaping the hole from which it emerged. Its bladed edges sliced against leather books.

Chee squealed loudly. "My shop!" She kicked at the body and pulled back when her foot was sliced open.

Then the worm's mouth opened to its full gape and Jayke tracked the flailing creature's maw in the midst of its whirling body. Chee screamed throwing heavy books with hesitance, buffeting the creature.

Jayke dove under the whipping body, serrated edges cutting away at the shelf above him. "Get back, Chee! Its body's just one huge knife!"

Chee darted up and down the shelves as fast as the worm, throwing an assortment of junk at the creature to no real effect.

Jayke yelled over all the noise. "Watch out!" The creature's body slingshotted across the room and made to engulf the shadshin librarian. Jayke focused in time to see her beady eyes widen and her whiskers twitch.

He dived, coming up close to her and threw a hand out. A luminescent blue shield sprang forth, transparent and hard. Jayke flinched at the impact. Any more of the worm's mass and the shield would've broken. The worm's body slid off the shield with a sickening screech, its edged body scraping unpleasantly against the protection magic.

"W-what?" Chee chittered. She stared at him, and back to the worm ruining her shop. "Kill it! Kill it! You're a [Mage] aren't you? Destroy it!"

Jayke ignored her, more concerned with the fact he lost sight of the creature's maw. The realization was just in time too, the creature burst forth from below once more. Jayke, palm down, conjured another barrier just as it tore open the carpet. The creature's double-rowed maw deflected off of the shield and crashed heavily into a shelf. The body followed, slicing Jayke's magic into particles.

His hand lashed back as the body of the worm pushed through and ripped open his palm. "Fuck!" He spat. Blood ran down parts of his legs, unable to avoid the entire length of the enemy. "We need to leave!" Jayke eyed the tent flap. It'd be better out in the open, not contained in this deathtrap. The sandstorm raged.

"No! Insanity!" Chee squealed. She dodged and duck with surprising nimbleness, moving with an acrobats frantic grace. "The mother is still out there!"

"Mother!?" Jayke repeated. "This thing's just a child!?" He used his magic again, deflecting an attack from below and from the left.

"We must kill it before the rest are attracted here!" Chee yelled. Her padded hands were constantly throwing items at the creature's maw. Her tail kept her supplied with ammo as she darted around the shop. "The head! Destroy the head!"

"How!?" Jayke yelled, having been pushed to the other side of the tent.

Chee's response was screaming and curses.

He flexed his hand, pale blue light encased it. The light became richer, fuller. What did that book say? The Feel of Magic. Magic worked differently for everyone, there were so many ways to invoke it. What was his? He pushed outward, deflecting the worm once more. He recalled the horned rabbit and his testing, his experiments with the magic. What was his method then?

Logic, emotion, instinct, and need. He pictured what he needed, felt for what felt right and willed it into being. The barriers form from the hands, they were the focus and easiest to use, instinct. He matched the feeling with the physical, logically, his hands tied the magic. Emotion, wonder, awe, he could never get enough of seeing magic, and for that, it showed itself. Need, he needed it to happen, and it did.

The teethy maw shot for Jayke's chest once more. This time, rather than deflect the hungry head, he sacrificed his hand. Grey-blue light infused his hand thickly and he felt nothing as the creature chomped down. The entirety of its length seemed to tense at finally grasping prey, it started to retract back into its hole. He was pulled a step or two by the worms tugging.

Drool slid off his wrist. "Christ." He cursed. The worm did indeed have eyes, small and black. They stared at him, confused as to why it couldn't taste flesh. His other arm shielded against its writhing body that tried to cut him.

Then, with an effort of will, the barrier tightly surrounding his hand expanded. Still inside the creature's maw, its jaw widened past its limit, ripping skin and breaking teeth. A keening screech pierced through the raging sandstorm outside, the fluttering pages of ruined books, and the cursing and yelling of Chee. Then something popped, burst, really. Jayke was covered in green slime, and then the length of the creature went limp. Blood.

"Didn't know I could do that." Jayke muttered. He had expanded the field of his barrier. He hadn't been able to figure that out previously. Did he need to practice more?

"There are more. Do not let your guard down!" Chee warned, somehow unfazed by the worm corpse lying in her shop. Jayke was more surprised by the fact she didn't flinch at the green blood coating her things.

A deep keening scream, like the howling sands only beastlier, broke through all noise.

"The mother." Chee grimaced. "Great Sand Worms. Bladed, ferocious, unyielding. They age into their magic. They sense vibrations - movement." She recited the information as if from memory. "The Marketplace Between does not often suffer them blindly. The timing is terrible, we must hope the sandstorm is natural and not the worms' doing, then we have a problem."

"I'm going out." Jayke said. There were people out there exposed. He'd seen enough people die to monsters in his lifetime, he wouldn't make the same mistake of letting it happen again. "There are people out there."

"Then you are likely to die." Chee glanced at him, then the corpse of the juvenile worm. "But better someone with your magic than not. If you survive, come and your books are free."

Jayke helped himself to some scarves strewn about the floor having long lost their place in Chee's shop. She didn't comment on it as he wrapped them around his face and eyes. "Thank you."

Chee peered outside, catching the sinuous shadows among the sandstorm. "Do not thank me. It is bad luck." She chimed lowly.

Jayke stared around the shop, the corpse, the books, the twitching shadshin. "You're welcome then."

Chee smirked, not able to summon a true smile. "Better."

The storm still raged. He shouldered the tent flap, the wind a physical resistance. He held his arms in front of him, palms splayed, and the barriers that formed kept the worst from him.

Visibility was low. Sounds were drowned out by the storm. Once, twice, he thought he heard screaming. Muffled at first, but then with resounding clarity. He finally caught the direction and trudged forth, noting the grooves in the sand that seemed to disappear in the storm. Tracks of worms' passing.

Bodies. Myconid parts, arms legs. Dwei children. Jayke grimaced.

The smart move would've been to step into his [Safehaven]. Smart, logical, and safe. The best choice, really.

Endless hours of self-introspection courtesy of the apocalypse tended to bring certain things to light about one's character, however. Jayke had stayed safe during the hysteria where others had been reckless. He lived because of it. He was safe at the cost of potentially helping others. And it wouldn't be until later in the chaos until he'd regret it. He hadn't realized that wasn't how he wanted to live. There was no point if you only disappointed yourself.

In the whirling sand, a shadow appeared. An outline. A shop. He ventured closer. Calling out garnered no response, no people were behind the messy counter, not that anyone would've recognized his speech save for a myconid. Or alternatively someone like Chee who spoke Common. The entire place was in clutter. The awning was ripped apart. Weapons lay about. Axes, swords, spear. Other sharp things he couldn't name. Metal of all shapes and sizes. No signs of life, only struggle. He would have preferred a firearm. The notion didn't stop him from grabbing the hilt of a sharp blade. After all, he couldn't behead every worm by sticking his hand in their mouth.

"Better safe than sorry." The words dripped with irony knowing full well the first step to guaranteed safety. He hefted a shield onto his left arm. More layers of defense were always more effective. If the magical barrier failed he'd have the physical one. There was no armor for him to wear, only shields and weapons.

He conjured a barrier to test the maneuvering with his armaments. The shield stopped his left hand from casting on his left side, but that was easily compensated for. His sword arm could cast to the left and his shield arm the right. The barriers were solid to him as well so he'd need to release them in order to strike through. The grey-blue light dissipated.

He passed another empty shop. The entire row of shops might turn out to be-

A worm exploded through the wooden structure in a blast of splinters. A blur shot past Jayke and the worm's maw chased after it. Jayke's arm shot out instantly - sword biting into the neck of the thing. His shield came up reflexively. The angle was wrong and the cut was shallow but the worm keened. That was all that was needed.

The blur skid to a stop.

Shimmering scales diluted by the whirling sand of the storm. Sparkling rainbow eyes regarded Jayke and glanced at his sword and shield. It was a dwei man - or so Jayke thought, his eyes swirled unintelligibly and he pointed urgently forward. The man yelled something in a language Jayke couldn't comprehend, but already he was spearing towards the worm. His spear shot forward and ripped through flesh digging deep into the sand.

It keened and died.

Ripping away from the worm the dwei man leveled his spear forward and gestured towards what Jayke registered as the direction of the oasis. Water. Jayke's head swiveled that way as the dwei shot off. He followed urgently, realizing the man was a sharp outline in the storm, somehow less blurry and more in focus. Was he doing that on purpose?

Two worms made themselves known. The first died as the dwei man cut left, right then impaled it. The latter was larger than any he had seen save for the mother. Thicker than he was tall, and god knows how long. It roared - not screeched. And it dove like a whale into the sand, throwing plumes of heavy sand forward and around. Jayke threw up wide shields and deflected the sand for both him and his dwei companion. The grey-blue shield startled the dwei but he relaxed warily once the sand bounced off of it, he glanced at Jayke.

"Keep an eye on the floor!" Jayke hoped the message wasn't completely lost.

The dwei looked at Jayke in surprise but braced himself as soon as he noticed Jayke's attention on the floor. In short order, the whale of a worm erupted like a volcano in a spray of sand and teeth. The sand below Jayke's feet all but disappeared. A barrier formed the moment his footing was lost and the momentum and impact sent Jayke flying fifteen feet in the air. He rolled and scraped against the sand, the body of the worm followed the head and the dwei man slashed at its passing. The head was after Jayke. He grunted at his landing, any surface other than sand and it would've been nasty.

"Okay, layer the defense." He groaned to himself, heart beating wildly. There was no rest, the head came for him relentlessly. He braced, holding his shield up and throwing up a barrier. When the worm was just so, he pushed out and stepped to the side.

He shouldered the worms charge with both physical and magical shield, somehow deflecting its entire mass slightly to the left. The edged body scraped against his shield. Jayke pulled his shield away and thrust his sword into its place, shoving the point into the soft flesh between its hard blades. It slashed itself open in its passing, and Jayke roared into the storm, before rolling away as other parts of its body curved towards him.

Blood splattered the sand and the rage of the worm was something physical.

The ground vibrated.

"Fuck." He looked around wildly, preparing his magic. He took a stance. Jayke made a stronger magical barrier this time, his sword hand bracing his shield arm with magic. "Where? Where's it gonna be?"

It erupted from the ground a ways away from him and launched upwards.

He couldn't help but admire the form.

At the apex of its soaring climb, it curved downwards and opened its maw once gravity had aimed it at Jayke. For a moment, the top of its head disappeared in the sandstorm, so high was its launch that the sand shrouded its presence. Then reality caught up to him.

"Maybe I should've gone in the [Safehaven] after all." He stared up at the diving, magnificent, terrible creature. Then he set his stance and braced. "Angle the shield, Jayke." He listened to himself, remembering the small detail. He adjusted and prepared to step away with the impact.

Then it plummeted downward like a comet, the weight of its body crashing down like a hammer. Jayke was the nail. His shield shattered on impact. The worms entire mass jerked as it caught up with the redirection of its head. Its body went limp for a second, blood trailed its head and mouth, shaking away the dizziness after being deflected.

That moment of pause was all that was needed for the spear to shoot straight through its head like a bullet.

Everything was blurry, fading. The backlash from his shield breaking had brought Jayke to his knees. He threw up violently. The contents of his stomach decorated the ground. His vision swam and he jerked at the sudden contact on his shoulder. Nausea assaulted him again.

He set his arms behind him and looked. The dwei man. He held his hand out toward Jayke. It took a moment for him to get his bearings until Jayke gripped his forearm, starting at the cool touch of his scales. The dwei hauled him up to his feet and helped him pick his way through the worm corpses to another abandoned shop. There, at least, they'd have cover from the sandstorm.

It was a dye shop. Different colored sands and pigments. Red, blues, greens, and yellows of every shade. It was one of the most undisturbed shops, undamaged, that Jayke had seen. He took this all in blearily, not thinking too hard less he throw up on his helper.

The dwei plopped Jayke down on a chair and took a seat for himself. The dwei leaned his spear closeby against a counter. Without words, both men reached for the small cups at their hips. Jayke to combat nausea and the other, presumably, because of thirst.

Water ran down his throat, cutting rivulets through his sand-caked skin.

Jayke leaned his head on wooden frame of the shop. Baskets hanging from the scaffolding shook. "What the fuck have I gotten myself into?" The sandstorm was still strong and he wondered at what Chee said. One of the worms very well might be the cause of it. He had memorized the short list Chee had recited. "They age into their magic." He repeated, grimacing. That did not bode well for the people here. They had evacuated somewhere he knew. It was the only way to explain the lack of bodies, there'd been much more people roaming the market earlier. He just wondered if they all made it.

A tapping caught his attention.

The dwei was looking at him. He gestured to his hands. Then magic. A hologram. One messy and nearly incohesive. It sharpened though, between his palms, until Jayke was staring at an image. One that seemed to radiate from the dwei man's very hands. He realized it was his scales, messing with Jayke's perspective and creating something three-dimensional before his very eyes. Jayke's eyes bulged painfully when he focused too hard on it. Magic.

Colors seemed to cycle and he noticed the look of consternation on the dwei's face. "He's rusty," Jayke said in a flash of insight. The dwei was colored light brown but here and there, scales of scarlet red.

The image flashed and Jayke returned his attention to it as it became something he recognized. The oasis. Water, sparkling blue. A large structure made of smooth sandstone, one that Jayke recalled seeing on his short circuit around the oasis prior. A shelter? A worm circled the oasis, smaller ones assaulted the stone structure but small spears poked at them from the building. People. Inside the building. Safety.

"Is that where everyone ran to?"

Further from the oasis, other people armed with spears and weapons rallying myconid, dwei and other species towards the stone building. [Guards], Jayke identified them by their red coloring. A quick glance at the dwei man across from him and Jayke noticed some of his scales were kept perpetually red.

The mother worm was here for the oasis then. Maybe she was looking for a permanent nest? The stone building it seemed was the only safe structure around the Marketplace Between large enough to hold the panicked masses. The [Guards] were sent to rally everyone there less they become prey to the smaller worms.

"But then who's dealing with the big one?" Jayke pointed at the image.

In response, the image showed groups of people fighting the larger worm. They were actually drawing blood from the monstrous thing. Actually causing pain. It was just an image, but it was depicting inhuman strength from these individuals.

The dwei man pointed to himself and then showed a series of images of him helping people to the shelter. He stared at Jayke, wondering if he understood his meaning.

He responded by pointing to the dwei's red scales and the dwei nodded in confirmation.

The nausea had let up finally. He didn't consider his current state to be worthy of a healberry, now that he knew their true worth, so he didn't bother with it. He felt banged up and bruised but no less ready to fight Great Sand Worms than before.

The dwei blinked when Jayke reached into a pigment nearby - this was a dye shop after all - and marked himself red.