"WHO ARE YOU?"

The jarring scream would make anyone grab their head as their brain would most certainly be in pain. Thankfully, that wasn't him. Since he couldn't speak and answer her question, he could only stare at the creature.

When he gave the creature another look-over, he noticed that floating abover her were yellow words.

[Mother Rock Worm (E Rank)]

She was one rank higher than Cade, which worried him. He had a bow and some arrows, not something used to win against rock. He couldnt see the children he knew she had anywhere, either.

"YOU DARE NOT ANSWER?"

Cade didn't know how to respond, but something came to his mind. He wasn't sure if it would make any progress, but an idea is better than no idea at all.

Lifting his hand, he tapped his neck where the vocal cords would be three times, trying to indicate that he couldn't talk.

The creature's black, rock-like eyes seemed to almost squint, perhaps taking in the information. After a brief pause, she spoke again. "ALL FENG TALK."

Cade shook his head. His gamble paid off. This creature was intelligent.

The creature's lower portions shifted, as if she was thinking. After another pause, she leaned forward and began to approach him, more rocky sections emerging from the hole. When the creature stopped, she had formed a circle around him, like a snake circling it's prey, leaving little to no space between them. Her head was now level with his and be could see his own skeletal reflection in her beedy eyes.

"Why can you not talk?" Her voice was now a lot quieter, not as threatening, or perhaps she lowered her voice because she didn't see him as a threat.

Cade shrugged, not sure what she was trying to do.

"Is your Mana Core open?"

He shook his head, surprised that she knew what that was. Than again, he should make a note that he was the intruder in this world, so he should expect everyone and everything else to know more than him.

"That explains why. If I were to help you open your Mana Core, can you do me a favor?"

Cade frowned internally. What other choice did he have? He felt like the mother rock worm knew that, too. He nodded in reply.

"Good. Grab my tail." Her body began to lift until her head was touching the ceiling. Her teeth began to rotate and spin, and she dove head first into the rock, a hole forming almost instantly. The rocky body around him began to move from one hole to another and he watched as the sections slowly shrunk, until the last segment, the tail, emerged. As it moved past him, he reached out and grabbed the space between the two sections, holding on as he was dragged into the darkness of the hole.

As he was being dragged, he thought about what kind of favor the mother was going to ask of him. Although, as long as it helped him get stronger, he didn't really have any complaints.

After what felt like ten minutes, the mother rock worm had slowed down, and he emerged through the floor into a large room, almost five times bigger than the other rooms he was in before.

The room had a high ceiling, with four pillars at each corner, supporting its surmounting weight. In the center of the room was a large fountain, a statue of a female angel in armor and bow drawn, an arrow aimed at one of the far walls. The fountain had no running water, no doubt after sitting unattended for however long.

As he observed his surroundings, the mother rock worm faced him. "Do you see the statue aiming the weapon at the wall over there?"

Cade nodded.

The mother rock worm shifted, her eyes focused on the mysterious wall. "I cannot see anything on the wall, but I can feel some sort of energy emanating from it. I can feel the same energy from the weapon on the statue. Can you investigate for me?"

Cade was curious now and walked towards the wall. When he was roughly ten feet away, he could see a strange design carved into the wall. A large circle, with four smaller circles inside of it, overlapping each other. Each of the four circles had a triangle inside and in the center, between the four circles, was a small black circle. Looking between the statues and the design, he could see the arrow was aimed for the smal circle.

Walking to the statue, he noticed that the arm holding the drawstring wasn't fully extended back, and the shoulder had a gap, almost like a dolls, meant for forced rotation.

Climbing unto the statue wasn't hard, as his every step found a foothold. He put one hand on the shoulder, his skeletal hand scrapping against stone. He plucked the drawstring with his other hand and it vibrated to life, the only thing made of real material on the fountain. Feeling around the arm, one of his fingers landed inside a curved section below the elbow, and the hand holding the drawstring moved slightly when he pulled back.

Cade positioned himself behind the statue, one hand on the shoulder and one hand on the groove in the elbow. As he pulled on the elbow, the shoulder rotated towards him and the drawstring was pulled back, the stone arrow moving back with it. When Cade felt the shoulder stop and he couldn't pull anymore, he eyed the circle and released the elbow. The arrow sprung forward in a blink of an eye and the wall erupted into a cloud of dust. He waited for the dust to settle as he made his way over to the wall.

When the dust had settled, the entire design on the wall had tuned into a giant hole, and a light was shinning through. Beyond the hole, he could see green grass and trees, and he could somehow smell the fresh air that entered the room. He looked over when the mother rock worm moved next to him.

"Yes. I can finally leave this place. Come, children."

The sound of crushing rocks made him jump as dozens, maybe even hundreds, of lamps began rolling their way to the mother and out the hole towards a new life.

The Mother Rock Worm faced him and her rock hard face seemed to almost relax. "Now, let's open your Mana Core."