Hitori signaled for his team to stop. Elvira made a few clumsy steps before everything settled into silence. After a half hour of travel they hadn’t encountered a single thing, not even a side passage or turn. Just one long, straight tunnel.

Straight to where, Hitori wondered.

Nowhere, I’m sure. It’s a boring old hole. You should turn around before something bursts through the wall and eats you.

Now that he was in it, Hitori knew this tunnel was far too suspicious to ignore—go figure—but he worried they couldn’t finish exploring it before the end of the day. Given how straight it was people were likely meant to use a Longstrider Tech. Manetho’s mysterious friend would be long gone by now. Unfortunately his team couldn’t take advantage of the flat terrain on the trip back. He glanced at Elvira.

She was holding a bright light above her head, a Flare Arte Gordon grabbed for her with a small selection of others. He got her armor back in good condition too, though the rush job cost quite a bit. Hopefully Mr. Foster could get their pay increased after the unexpected difficulty. I wouldn’t count on that simpering coward. Problems for later.

For now Hitori spent a moment listening for metafauna activity. The Sandworm that made this tunnel was unlikely still around, but there was no telling what creatures inherited its ancient handiwork. He didn’t hear anything, so he motioned to continue.

He scanned the tunnel as they walked. There were places where the rough texture of the stone floor smoothed out, but nothing to suggest the passage saw regular use. The walls were approximately cylindrical, without a clear boundary between top, side, and bottom. The material itself was some kind of sandstone, although it wasn’t any natural variety Hitori knew of.

He hadn’t extensively studied metafauna on the Northern continent, focused more on Eastern for reasons which were now apparently invalid. In any case, he did know of Sandworms and the fact they made these tunnels. He supposed the mechanism involved some biological acid or perhaps a natural Flame Arte. Neither option was especially appealing. Probably both, then.

He stopped again.

There was something. Not a sound. Perhaps a smell? He took a deep breath. The air was in large part cool and moist, but he caught a hint of dry, sandy breeze.

“We’re close to an exit,” Hitori said in a low voice. “Let’s give it another fifteen minutes.”

They continued forward. After a short while Hitori had the team cut out their lights. In the near total darkness it was easy to see the approaching glow. Before long, they found themselves in a massive chamber. A hole in the ceiling let in a pillar of sunlight, cut at a sharp angle due to the lateness of the day.

The sides were made of the same material in the tunnel, but the floor was covered in a thick layer of sand. There were four other passages, one of which was considerably larger than the others, off to the left.

“It doesn’t seem we can go any further,” Protius said.

Like he’s actually going to listen.

Hitori scanned the different openings, then sighed. “Yeah, you might be right.”

Took you long enough. Why don’t you head back and interrogate that old Paladin instead? That was a much more promising lead. I’m sure you could get him to talk. Well, I’m sure I could, anyway, even if your arte selection isn’t very good.

“We were trying to follow that guy you saw, right?” Elvira said. “Could he have left some tracks in the sand?”

Don’t encourage him, dammit!

“It’s possible, though with the right tech he could pass through without touching the ground.” Hitori glanced at Protius. “Can you look around without disturbing anything? I don’t see a mark from a high speed turn, but he might have stopped here and Dashed to another entrance.”

“Sure thing,” Protius said. He closed his eyes for a breath, and a faint ripple of white light shimmered down his body. He gently kicked off the floor and floated a short distance into the air. “Give me a minute, I’ll be right back.”

While Protius hovered along the wall, Hitori took the opportunity to check where they walked in. There wasn’t a great deal of light in the chamber, only what little diffused from above. Still, there was enough for Hitori to be sure there was no sign of any traffic here. He relaxed against the wall.

Suddenly, Gordon gave him a curious look. Hitori returned it.

“Is something going on?” Elvira said.

Hitori motioned for her to wait, then turned and gently placed his hands on the stone. He lowered an ear into place between them. A moment later he said, “Something is coming.”

“Something we can handle?” Gordon said.

“It sounds a little… big.” Hitori frowned, then sighed. He turned to Protius. “Have you found anything?”

“Yes, actually,” Protius replied. “It looks like a four legged creature entered this tunnel very recently.” He was standing next to the big one to the left.

Hitori hummed.

“What are you thinking?” Elvira asked.

Hitori gave her a thoughtful look, then said. “I’m worried whatever creature that was might have called for reinforcements.” When Elvira remained curious, he added, “The giant, underground tunnel building kind of reinforcements. I really don’t want to be down here if that happens.”

“Please don’t leave me behind,” Elvira said, half playfully.

Hitori laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it, though on an unrelated note, how do you feel about being thrown.”

“A bit mixed, to be honest.”

“Oh, it’ll be fun… probably.” He turned to Protius and yelled. “Alright, enough of this. Head to the surface and we’ll walk back from there. Can you and Gordon handle pulling the girls up?”

“Sure thing boss,” Protius said. He disappeared in a plume of black mist.

“Don’t gotta tell me twice,” Gordon said. He snapped to the center of the chamber in a blink, splashing sand where he landed, then launched himself skyward with a whiplike crack.

Hitori, Chandra, and Elvira walked to the center. Elvira was looking at the spot Gordon took off from.

“You know, I’ve been wondering,” Elvira said. “My Dash Tech launches me the same distance every time, but you guys seem to be able to control where you land. How do you do that?”

Hitori smiled. “That is an excellent question, which we’ll discuss at length during our next training opportunity. For now, Chandra?”

“Try not to flail around,” the Paladin said as she grabbed Elvira by the belt and collar. Before Elvira could respond she was flung upwards out of sight. When she didn’t come down a moment later Hitori assumed a teammate grabbed her successfully. Chandra turned to him. “See you in a bit.”

A few seconds later, Hitori found himself alone. He looked around. It was rather pretty down here, in its own way. The way the light bounced off the red stone from the walls and the yellow sand on the floor gave it a pleasant, somewhat exotic atmosphere.

It was a good thing too, because he got to spend the next few minutes enjoying it while he traded in a High Jump Tech. What was less good was the faint rumble moving into the audible range. Had he misjudged how much time there was? Thinking about it, Chandra could have thrown him too.

He started to pull out his WebComm. Wait! This could be so much fun! He felt a strange urge to let it be, and instead to wait for the Sandworm to arrive. What was going on? There was no way he could fight a Sandworm alone, and even with his whole team it would be suicide to fight it underground. Don’t be such a wimp, I could totally take it.

He checked his Vital Net. It had almost finished unloading and compressing an attack tech, which made enough space for his High Jump. He had to decide if he could risk loading it. He would be unable to use techs until it finished; somewhat problematic if a one hundred ton metafauna was trying to flatten him. On the other hand, without it he lost his primary means of escape.

Hitori took a few seconds to consider his options. Up top was Chandra, an alternative he apparently rejected for some reason. Was he was worried it would put her in danger? Who cares about that? It’s boring! He could also start loading High Jump, and hope to survive two minutes without techs. Not promising. You could stick around and fight it.

He looked at the tunnel he came in from. He didn’t have his Longstrider loaded either, but he did have a Dash Tech. It wasn’t anywhere near as efficient, but with his pouch of Wolf Stims he could make it back to the White Temple in a matter of minutes. Come on, don’t run away, that’s so boring.

He decided to go with that, just as effective, while keeping his whole team safe. He wanted to talk with Manetho anyway, and that path ran straight past his office. Oh, fine, whatever. The rumble grew even louder, and the sand shifted on the ground. He had to move immediately.

Before he could start, the noise stopped. Then a whole new sound rose to replace it. It was less the dragging of stone, and more like the cracking of a mountain. The ground in front of his escape glowed red, and before he could react something burst from the earth. Thank the gods!

The creature that emerged was more than twice as wide as he was tall, covered in thick, sand colored scales. Its front end narrowed to a point, and a wreath of flame and molten glass dripped from it. It drew itself from the hole, body seemingly without end as it slithered into the cavern. It stretched up to the ceiling when finished, with twice that length coiled on the ground in support.

Hitori backed away until there was a short distance between him and the far wall. He needed to save a little space to maneuver.

His options were not great. Without knowing the layout of the other tunnels, there was a real danger a Dash Tech could slam him straight into a wall, and without a High Jump there wasn’t a way to make it above. Even worse was the possibility of his team jumping down to help. Hopefully Protius or Gordon had enough sense to stop the others from trying.

Given its size, the Sandworm would struggle to move in any but the largest tunnel. That would be his best bet then. Hitori turned towards the passage opposite the one he came in from. He was confident their mysterious bandit took it, so there was sure to be another exit at some point.

The Sandworm sensed his intentions, and before Hitori could Dash into it, it spit a thick stream of reddish liquid at the tunnel. The stone dissolved with alarming speed, collapsing the entrance and leaving it buried under a mound of sand. See! Acid and fire, I knew it would be both. It quickly did the same with the other passages, save the largest one.

Hitori frowned. He wasn’t about to get outsmarted by an overgrown worm. Not that sticking around to fight was a better option. The beast inched forward. It didn’t have any kind of eye he could see, but Hitori was confident whatever sense it did have was fixed on his position.

It arched back its head, and then spewed a stream of acid straight at him. Hitori dodged easily, careful not to get closer. The red liquid hissed and sizzled in the sand, not settling until a plate of red stone remained in its place. Meanwhile, the creature tried a few more shots at Hitori. It seemed to be testing his reactions, judging how best to strike.

Finally, satisfied in its plan, the Sandworm attacked. It drove its massive body towards him, swinging its tail up and over to block the space above. Hitori watched it come in, unable to see an opening. The world crawled to a stop.

Finally! Sometimes you can be too… too much…

He felt something pull on his hand.