Will of a Prince

Seeing the corrupted creature in its entirety once more made Jacob’s legs feel weak. It somehow looked much larger than he remembered. His mind raced with all manner of questions.

’Why is it here?! When did it get here?! Why did it leave its home in the mountain? Where did it come from? What are the odds that we just so happened to be its next meal?!’

All of it didn’t seem real. It didn’t seem... fair. Jacob had plenty of terrible times in the past, but they were all able to manage at a relatively easy level. They had struggled sure, but the last week was far beyond anything they’ve needed to face before. It was almost like the world itself was turning its back on them now. Jacob snapped himself out of it and grabbed Maria tightly before dashing away from the creature as fast as he could. Everyone around him followed his lead.

"What the hell is that thing doing here?!"

"There’s no time for us to figure that out! We need to get off this ice fast!"

"But how long have we been travelling on this? How do we know we aren’t just running in circles?!"

Lidia grinded her teeth together and looked over her shoulder. The worm was now falling back down from its accent into the sky. Its trajectory was aimed right where they were running towards.

"SPLIT!"

Everyone dashed sideways. The worm crashed into the ground and burrowed back into the ice. Shards of frost exploded into the air. The sound of the ice being broken through so easily made Jacob sick to his stomach. All it took was a moment of hesitation for any of them to be squashed or eaten alive.

"Do we fight it?! There’s no way we can outrun something so big!"

Slimo hesitated. His brow furrowed as he desperately tried to come up with some sort of plan. Suddenly, something sparked in his mind.

"We can’t fight it, but we may be able to stall it."

Jacob looked at him dumbstruck.

"Stall something that huge?! Your brain must still be unthawing!"

"I’m not sure if it will work, but it’s worth a shot. However, I need you and Maria to act as bait."

Jacob nodded his head. He didn’t feel like telling Slimo that Maria was probably the one the worm was after anyway thanks to her new condition. Jacob picked up Maria and darted away from the group. Just as expected, Jacob felt rumbling beneath his feet. Using all the strength he had, he dashed away at the very last possible moment. The worm’s colossal maw shrieked past his body back into the sky, screaming once again as it flew. Jacob could tell it was growing angry or impatient by the moment.

Slimo started his preparations for his plan. He looked at Squabee and Lidia.

"Squabee, I need you to transform, even if only for a few moments. Do you think you can do that?"

Squabee nodded.

"I can, but three minutes is all I can afford without passing out or hurting myself."

"Three minutes will be plenty. Lidia, I know this is an odd question, but I know you are still incredibly strong despite missing your Zalo. Do you think you can handle a combined attack with me?"

Lidia raised her eyebrow.

"I thought we weren’t going to attack the worm?"

"That’s because we aren’t. We’re going to attack the ice."

Lidia started piecing his plan together in her brain.

"I think I see what you mean. What do you need me to do?"

"Just follow my movements. I know you can keep up."

Lidia laughed and smiled brightly.

"You just freed yourself from becoming a giant ice cube and you’re already itching to fight? You seem so fearless, yet you are still too afraid to put a ring on it I see."

Slimo’s face turned bright red and shouted back.

"Now’s not the time for that!"

"No, it’s okay. You just hate me. I get it."

Slimo rubbed his forehead.

’Why now of all times is she choosing to be difficult? She’s probably just trying to lighten the mood for herself.’

"Just follow me lead please."

The worm fell back into the ice with another giant crash, causing Jacob to slip and fall on the ice momentarily.

"Anytime would be a good time Slimo!"

Slimo shouted back.

"We’re ready! Let the bastard breach one more time but run towards us as he’s falling!"

"Got it!"

Jacob breathed in heavily, preparing for another attack from below. However, the vibrations under his feet somehow felt different than before. Jacob tried his best to look through the ice to see where the worm was, but he couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, Jacob heard a shout from Sarah.

"Behind you, Jacob!"

Jacob turned around. It was too late. The worm, instead of breaching from directly below, was coming in from the side for a horizontal attack. It broke through the ice and tried to close its mouth on Jacob and Maria. Something warm started spreading across Jacob’s body. The darkness appeared to fade slightly around him. Just before the teeth could close on his body, they magically appeared to miss their mark by mere centimeters. However, the momentum was still too great for Jacob to not be affected. The head of the worm crashed into Jacob, sending him and Maria flying back towards Slimo and the others. As he landed and looked up, he saw a woman with beautiful blonde hair, large white wings, and an irrationally composed expression.

"S-Squabee?"

The worm was now roaring over the top of the ice towards the group like a train. Slimo and Lidia shot towards it.

"Not exactly what I expected, but the plan still may work! Jump on my mark and slam your foot into the ice, Lidia. Make sure to push yourself away from the worm as much as you can."

"What then?"

"Using the power from our first push, we need to do the same thing in the other direction."

Lidia’s brain finally connected the pieces of Slimo’s plan. He was going to shape the ice to their benefit. However, given the worm’s tough hide, there was almost no guarantee it would work.

"I understand. Let’s do it!"

Lidia and Slimo kicked off the ground. They crashed into an area close to the worm, creating a massive crater in the ground.

"AGAIN!"

They jumped back towards the group, and both landed into the side of the crater they had just made, shaping its edges almost perfectly. There were now dozens of giant ice shards poking outward, ready for the creature’s arrival.

The worm didn’t seem to care what Slimo and Lidia had made, or it was too massive to stop itself from charging forward. Its body flew across the crater with incredible speed. The group split themselves up to dodge just in case. However, the spikes that Slimo and Lidia made managed to pierce the worms hide, causing it to stop in its tracks. A deafening squeal escaped from its mouth as it thrashed wildly to free itself.

"It worked! Gain as much distance as you can!"

Squabee fell to the ground, her wings slowly falling off her body. Sarah grabbed hold of her and lifted her up.

"Are you alright?"

"I’m fine. We need to keep moving."

Everyone ran as fast as they could away from the screaming worm. Their plan seemed to have worked perfectly.

"I can’t believe it worked! Great thinking Slimo!"

Another rumbled started echoing from below their feet. Jacob was too distracted to notice, but Slimo caught on immediately.

"Don’t thank me just yet!"

He tackled Jacob to the side, allowing another leviathan to break through the ice. It looked identical to the one they had just lost. In fact, it looked so similar that Jacob wasn’t even sure if this was a second one or if they simply did nothing but piss the first one off.

"Another one?! Is this another leviathan?!"

"Who cares if it’s another one! What the hell do we do now?"

They were all out of ideas. More importantly, now they were running out of time. Everyone was already exhausted from the first encounter they had, especially Squabee. There was almost no guarantee they would survive this next encounter. Slimo grit his teeth.

"We can’t fight, we can’t stall, that means we only have one thing left."

He looked at everyone with desperate eyes.

"We need to run until we can’t run anymore."

And so, everyone ran for as long as their legs could carry them. The hours dragged by with every dodge they had to make and every trip they had to recover from. As their bodies began to shut down, it was clear that not even running could save them anymore. They were all beyond tired. The worm broke through the ground again as Jacob hardly managed to dodge once more. His chest rose and fell extremely quickly as he tried to take in as much oxygen as he could. The cold air stung his lungs with every breath.

"S-Slimo. I... I can’t any... I can’t anymore."

Slimo was too exhausted to talk back. He was resting on his knees, pale in the face. This was it. Jacob’s heart thumped loudly against his ribs.

"Never. I’m never going to give in. You can’t take Maria from me."

He wiped the sweat of his brow. A looming shadow fell over his figure as he held Maria tighter. Lidia screamed at Jacob trying to get his attention.

"I’M NEVER GOING TO GIVE IN!! YOU HEAR ME, ZALO?! NEVER!!"

Suddenly, something enormous crashed into the side of the worm, carrying it far away from Jacob before he could be swallowed. Jacob flinched and covered Maria to protect her from any possible debris. Everyone looked over at the worm completely speechless.

The thing that crashed into the giant worm, the thing that was now biting into its flesh and eating it, was none other than another leviathan worm.