The ground shook.
Not like before. Not from magic.
But from something… alive.
Beneath the sand, something massive was moving.
The boy—still nameless, still chained—felt it before he understood it.
Not through sound.
Not through sight.
Through something else.
A pressure.
A pull.
A whisper in the bones.
Around him, guards were rising, coughing, gripping their weapons. Slaves were crying, some still on their knees in the wet sand. The fire was gone, but the dread remained.
And then—
CRACK.
The earth exploded.
A monstrous shape burst from below, spraying stone and sand into the sky.
A worm.
No—not a worm. A nightmare given flesh.
It towered above the ruins of the camp, longer than a dozen wagons, thick as a tower's base. Its skin was plated in jagged, rocky scales, pulsing with crimson veins. A circular maw gaped open at the front, lined with row after row of serrated teeth. Black ichor dripped from its mouth like tar.
Screams rose again—but too late.
The creature lunged.
CHOMP.
Three guards disappeared in a single gulp.
A slave tried to run—then there was only blood.
Chaos.
The worm slammed into the ground again, diving into the sand like water. A tidal wave of earth followed in its wake.
Caelistra reacted instantly. She spun, hands glowing with radiant sigils.
"Valkor's Shield."
A dome of sapphire light erupted around her just as the worm resurfaced, jaws open wide.
CRASH.
Its head struck the shield with the force of a collapsing mountain. The ground split. The barrier held—for now.
Then the worm hissed and dove once more.
Underground.
Gone.
But not for long.
The tremors continued, stronger this time. The air vibrated. Sand danced.
The boy gasped.
He could feel it.
He could feel it moving.
Not just near.
Toward something.
Someone.
His eyes shot to the left.
There.
"ROFF!" he shouted, voice raw. "UNDER YOU! MOVE—NOW!"
Roff turned, confused. "What?!"
"JUST MOVE—!"
He did.
Just in time.
The earth exploded again—exactly where Roff had stood. The beast erupted, fangs first, swallowing empty air.
Gasps from all sides.
Caelistra's eyes narrowed.
She extended one hand and unleashed a spear of jagged frost.
"Glacien Thrust!"
The ice bolt shot like lightning—striking the worm's head.
CRACK.
The shard shattered.
The worm's hide was untouched.
Caelistra's jaw clenched. "Its armor…"
The monster screeched and vanished underground once more.
The tremors resumed—closer. Angrier.
Caelistra spun around, eyes scanning the ruined camp, then landed on him.
The boy.
Soaked. Chained. Barely breathing.
But… he had seen it coming.
Twice.
She marched toward him, fast.
"You," she snapped. "How did you know?"
He blinked, still catching his breath. "I… I don't know. I just… felt it."
"Felt it?" Her tone sharpened. "Where? How?"
He shook his head. "I just knew. It's like it's pulling the ground when it moves. And I— I can feel where it's going."
Caelistra stared at him.
Around them, everyone else stared too.
The arrogant mage—asking a slave boy for help?
It made no sense.
Yet here she was.
"Then feel it again," she said coldly. "Now. Where's it going next?"
He hesitated.
The ground trembled again.
Faster this time.
The beast was not just hunting—it was learning.
He closed his eyes.
Focused.
There.
No—there.
A whisper of pressure in the ground. Like a second heartbeat.
He pointed with a shaking hand.
"By the broken cart," he said. "Next to the dead firewood."
Caelistra turned instantly.
Her hands lit up.
Her voice rang like thunder:
"Astral Bind: Heaven's Spike."
A magic circle unfolded mid-air, lines burning with starlight.
A spear of silver light launched downward, piercing the sand—just as the worm burst forth.
BOOM.
The light struck first.
The worm screamed, its cry splitting the air like glass. The spear had pierced through the weak flesh between its scales.
It recoiled—injured.
For the first time… afraid.
The boy opened his eyes.
And for the first time… he smiled.
The worm dove again, vanishing into the churning earth.
The tremors returned.
Faster.
Angrier.
Smarter.
The beast was learning.
Caelistra turned toward the boy. "Where?"
He closed his eyes again.
Felt it.
This time… it was circling.
Looking for another opening.
"Behind the cooking pit!" he shouted. "It's going for the wounded!"
Caelistra turned, arms already rising.
"Lumen Flare: Skybrand."
A beam of pure light descended from the stars, spearing the earth like divine judgment.
BOOM.
The worm burst out too late—its side scorched, scales cracking under the force.
It screamed again, diving deep.
The boy gasped. "It's not fleeing."
"What then?" Caelistra demanded, never taking her eyes off the battlefield.
"It's… hunting you now."
She smiled.
"Let it try."
The ground began to shake harder than before.
Roff shouted from across the field, dragging another slave to safety. "It's going to bring the whole camp down!"
"No," the boy muttered. "It's bringing her down."
The worm shot upward, a second time, not from below her—but from behind.
A feint.
Caelistra didn't flinch.
"I expected that," she whispered.
She spun mid-air, cloak swirling, and launched an orb of searing white-blue energy straight into its open mouth.
"Nova Burst."
BOOM.
The impact lit up the night like a second sun. The worm's head exploded in light—yet the beast lived still, reeling backward, half-blind, bleeding tar from shattered jaws.
It retreated under the sand again—but slower now. Wounded.
"This ends now," Caelistra said.
She turned to the boy again. "One more. One last time. Where?"
He hesitated. "I…"
She knelt to his level, face inches from his. Her voice softened—not with kindness, but with urgency.
"You see it. I know you do. Focus."
The boy trembled. Then closed his eyes.
This time, he didn't just feel the pressure.
He saw it.
Like echoes in the dark.
A trail of shadow and hunger.
He opened his eyes. They shimmered faintly.
"There," he said, pointing toward the edge of the camp where the hill sloped down. "It's going to leap."
Caelistra smiled darkly.
"Let it."
She walked to that very spot, slow, deliberate.
Lifted both arms.
A spell circle formed—not glowing… but black.
Runes hummed like a heartbeat.
"Tenebral Chain: Mirror Maw."
The worm erupted from the ground, exactly where predicted—jaws wide, aiming to consume her whole.
And straight into the spell.
Chains of black glass shot upward, snaring its head, its mouth, its body.
It roared.
Too late.
The circle below erupted.
BANG.
From within the darkness came hundreds—thousands—of mirrored fangs, biting into the beast from all sides.
The spell consumed it.
The worm howled one last time before the earth swallowed it.
Silence fell.
Not the peaceful kind. The broken kind.
Steam rose from cracked ground.
The slaves stared, trembling.
And Caelistra?
She didn't move.
Until she turned her eyes to the boy.
She walked toward him again, boots crunching through broken stone.
Everyone watched.
Then she crouched.
Her tone was calm. Measured. Final.
"You're not just some wretch. Not just a slave."
He said nothing.
"You felt it. Not with eyes. Not with ears. With something deeper."
She reached into her cloak and pulled out a rune-stamped medallion, glowing faintly.
She held it out.
"From this moment on," she said, voice cold and clear, "you belong to me."
The boy stared.
She didn't blink.
"You'll learn magic. You'll train under me. You'll rise, or you'll die. But either way—"
She leaned in, voice low.
"—you're not nameless anymore."
He didn't reach for the medallion.
Not yet.
But deep inside—something shifted.
And above them, the stars began to burn just a little brighter.