“a little further,” I call to myself.

  “You don’t need to call it!” I shout back with full knowledge that I also don't need to shout that.

  I can feel my annoyance as the process nears its conclusion. I can not describe how annoying it is to order around parts of myself with feelings alone. Mostly because I literally can not form words, but also because it is a lot— Why am I so weird— Either way, these morons will be returned to me. As soon as the rune formation held in our collective consciousness synchronizes, I will regain some control over my body.

  The parameters reach an appropriate range, causing the power rune to flood with the excess magic in my body— but there is a problem. I had assumed the power rune would limit the input, but it didn’t. Magic is jumping from the inductor runes to the formation in my mind. How? Of every type? How is this rune’s affinity so high? Another mismeasured variable. I have been holding off blame and anger. I have no time for pity or regret. Fear creeps up my hand for the first time since waking, shaking the illusory appendage.

  The only choice I have is to stop the bleeding. I make two dozen new inductor runes above my centers. These are also composed of thought, so the magic stops rushing to the formation in my mind and returns to its steady churn. Now it's time to deal with the consequences: Which are? The power rune limiting my mana should have kept us all synchronized. So, are we still synchronized? We are not. The bald me is on the north side of the grove, and as I look, that side explodes with a green light. I can see the magic amplifying their stake, but I can't do anything. I can’t even speak. If the mustache me moves, the whole formation will collapse—

  There is nothing more that I can do. The unchanneled mana ravages me again. It cracks my spine with the surge, tingling a sensation throughout my body. I can hear a scream- Is that my scream? No. That is Jer-Jer? I try to open my eyes, but I can’t move. I can only feel— Oh shit. The me that isn’t me opens my eyes and moves my body.

  Directly in front of us is a circular monstrosity with thousands of crystal shards for teeth. Its maw is four times my size and growing. Is it coming to eat me?

  “Vesh! Run away from the worm.” Lisen calls from behind me.

  The me controlling my body is doing that, but is that a worm? What kind of worm is sixty meters long? The unused body is slow to respond, leaving me completely helpless. I stumble for the third time with resignation. I have lived a good life. Death can’t be so bad— Jer interrupts my final thoughts with his holy steel sword. It appears in the corner of my eye and enters the worm with a squelch. For a moment, I don't think the thing will even notice, and then it bellows a bloody death screech in my face. The fluid that now soaks me isn’t something I should think about, but I think some of it got in my mouth before I could close it.

  “Vesh! It is great to see you finally moving around.” Jer congratulates the retching wretch.

  “I'm not- I am supposed to be bald… the breeze doesn’t feel as nice with all this hair.” The moron reciprocates.

  “So they aren’t fully healed.” Lisen comments as Gale and her catch up to Jer.

  I finally notice the dozen other corpses that litter the Waste visible beyond the surrounding desert. The worms are as black as the sand, so it was hard to distinguish them. The gray blood now coating the side of the dune helps. Jer had killed the massive thing with one hit. My curiosity prods me to ask the question.

  “The other Vesh wants to know if you killed all the worms?” My moron dictates the question without tact.

  “Uhh… No. Most of these were already here-”

  “Are we going to ignore how weird that question was? Why are you referring to yourself like that?” Gale asks, cutting through the bullshit; thank creation for Gale.

  “It isn’t me I am referring to. I'm talking about the Vesh who has hair— but not the one with a mustache— He sucks.”

  I can feel the thoughts of both alters currently. This one is ignoring the responses to their remark. Instead, they run their fingers through my hair and consider what I have to chop it off. I groan at the fury-inducing aneurysm fuel and listen to my companions.

  “So Vesh is still fried. Looks like they are healing— Right?” Jers questions Lisen.

  “Honestly? It would be a guess, but I think so. For them to return to some state of consciousness is a boon. Now it’s a question whether these are side effects or something more serious…”

  “But they are talking about Vesh as if Vesh is there but isn’t. I don’t get it,” Jer asks.

  “We could ask again?” Gale suggests, prompting the group to look at me.

  “Vesh, stop using my ears. It’s weird.” My alter shouts at me for all to hear.

  “I think we-”

  Then, a thunderous whir shifts the sand for ten meters in each direction. Thankfully, Jer thinks of grabbing my useless body, and we all sprint for secure footing. Meter-long shards of crystal break the surface of the sands in a perfect circle. The giant teeth are in the way of our escape, and the mouth is closing on us. We are dead, slip through the gap, and are saved. Except for the horror that belittles monsters and intends to eat us— Yeah, aside from that, we are in a great position.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Surprisingly, Lisen leads the pack of fleeing exiles, followed by Gale and Jer, holding me like a sack of potatoes. Wait- Where is Shannai?

  “Vesh wants to know where Shannai is.” My moron has to yell for audibility over the impending doom.

  “Tell Vesh to shut the fuck up.” Jer grunts. Maybe the trip has been rough so far.

  I instruct my moron to do so. But she had already gone back to stressing about her hair. The run isn’t gaining us any ground. Moreover, the teeth are getting closer. I would suggest changing plans, but it isn’t like there are options—

  “Vesh says to use the black balls.”

  “I said shut-”

  “Oh, that one was for me.” She realizes, reaching into the dimensional bag.

  The rune balls appear in my hand, and my alter throws them with a fistful. I urge them to slow down before the explosion cuts my warning short. I am cartwheeling through the air. Now, I am crashing into the sand while maintaining my roll. My sight clears before my hearing. Through it, I see a very frustrated worm closing in on us. The others aren’t moving. The journey must have been very rough. I now notice the blisters littering everyone but me. I need to help them like they have helped me. Or do I need to order a portion of myself to do it—

  Either way, I stand between destruction and love. Without them, I would not have made it further than this worm. Here I stand, or we all die. I can’t use my magic, but I have the swords. With two thin bits of metal, I will oppose them. The pressing problem is that I can’t move, and defending isn’t my game. I will face it regardless. It is a hundred meters away from fifty then-

  A black comet descends from the sky, shattering the head ten meters before me. In an instant, vitreal and gray goop coat every visible surface. The collective drenching echoes with a sputery sound that plops. Then, there is silence. Once I finish vomiting, I notice a familiar purple-haired powerhouse standing atop the corpse.

  “Fuck the sun,” Gale notes.

  “We should be getting to the forest soon,” Lisen trumpets, jeering us on.

  “I am fine.” I lie, feeling the bravado as an extension of myself.

  “Surely the burly man never falters.” Gale sings in her soothing voice.

  We have been trudging through the sand for more than a week now. After the fifth day, I couldn’t keep track anymore. The sun never shifts from the center of the sky, and it never stops beaming down. My exposed skin is starting to blister at the onslaught. Gale and Lisen aren’t faring much better. But Lisen promised relief soon once we reached this forest. I am curious how she knows that, but she isn’t forthcoming.

  Vesh has remained unconscious, and Lisen says there is nothing she can do. She still reduces our body temperature and helps Vesh stay hydrated and fed. She has this way of putting mashed-up food balls directly in their stomach. I am still angry at her for being unable to do more, but it is hard to hold onto in this heat. We break every few hours with the shade of tents to cover us. In these little moments, we talk, and I am back at the wall.

  Gale, Lisen, and I had grown closer while stationed in the south. It started when Gale invited me to her home for dinner and grew into a close friendship. Gale and I still have a better flow than Lisen, and I. Lisen is too intimidated by me to open up, or at least I assume. Either way, she is a friend and is doing everything she can for Vesh.

  I wish Vesh would wake up. They lie on a makeshift stretcher made of young trees and leaves. If identical materials were present at every rest stop, we would not have been able to maintain it, but they are at every rock, and I am starting to think the trees aren’t natural.

  “I know it isn’t exact, but there is a pattern to it,” I argue with Gale.

  “You are seeing things. Who could have planted all those trees? We have seen at least a thousand, and none seem very old.” Gale retorts.

  “I think they are short trees, but that is a guess. But the pattern is clear as day. How do you not see it? Like there, line up that one with that one. You see it, Gale?” I point out, trying to move my hands in the pattern.

  “I don’t see it,” Gale reaffirms.

  “What about you, Lisen? Do you see it?”

  “It’s called a death shrine… there is a symmetry in it. And they were planted, in a way.”

  “Ha! Told you so- Wait, What?.”

  “Are you okay, Lis?” Gale asks, noticing something I hadn’t.

  “I don’t like to think about it,” Lisen assures with a haunted look.

  “Ominous,” I mumble.

  Gale whacks me with a leaf, and I apologize. Then, we are up and moving again. The sands seem to have no end. We had lost sight of the Wall on our fourth day, leaving us with no landmarks to position off of. Lisen saves us again as she had some way of determining our position. Occasionally, she will re-direct the course. The darkness almost collapses me when it finally comes. I am going into heatstroke again, but no. The heat is gone. The sun is gone. I drop the stretcher and look back at my companions, who stare at the sky.

  “Lisen, you magnificent bastard!” I holler, scooping up both in a leaky hug.

  “Get- Get off, you oaf.” Gale laughs through her tears.

  “I don’t mind,” Lisen mumbles into my chest.

  The forest comprises these short pine trees with dark bark and greyish needles. The tallest is a half meter above my head. We camp at the closest rock. According to Lisen, the darkness only lasts six hours here. Six hours is six million times better than none, so I try not to complain. I fall asleep quickly while staring at a strange mound in the distance. It’s almost snaking around in a bow that the winds shouldn’t permit. Maybe there is a boulder behind the peculiar formation. But thoughts blow away with a cool breeze brushing my face.

  I awake to the end of the world. It is hot again, and the sun has resumed its bullshit. On top of that, the mounds I had fallen asleep examining were gigantic black snakes.

  “Do you know what those are?” I ask Lisen.

  “They are trouble. We will try to keep clear of them, but we will likely have to face some before we reach the inner waste. We have to hope we don't see a Pinnac. Those are babies.”

  I look back at the giant cylindrical monster babies with the first bit of excitement since entering this hellscape. That might be a fun challenge I can face, unlike this grinding that's wearing at my will.

  “Let’s get going.” Gale pats my shoulder.

  We are back on the trek after the much-needed rest, and with our return, the sun rappers are in the center of the sky. It is one of the strangest things I could imagine. As I crossed an invisible boundary, the sun skipped five hours ahead. I even stepped back and forth. I could stare at the sun, but you could notice it skipping across the sky. I swear if it isn’t one thing, it is another. Gale gives me a dirty look as my experiments have made carrying Vesh difficult.

  “My bad. That’s wild, though.”

  “I noticed it coming in.”

  “Oh yeah? I missed it.”

  The sand is hot but not as hot as black sand should be. Honestly, I don’t even think it is as hot as other colors of sand under constant sun. The sky is empty of clouds, and the air cracks your lips. I honestly don’t know how I would have done this if it had been Vesh and me. I probably would have died by now. Without Lisen, we would die. Vesh’s preparations have been of more use than mine by miles. And Gale is the only one who can keep a calm head. Without her, I would have probably killed Vesh and myself trying to help him. Most endearing, neither has even hinted at leaving Vesh. They are good friends, and I should mention how thankful I am.

  It takes nearly the whole day to put the words together. I am still working through it, and I’m not very reflective on the best days, so the time isn’t productive. Altogether, I find a moment of silence as we trudge up a mound to view the forest we are heading towards better. We left Vesh down at the base by a spring because we can't carry them up these steep ones.

  “Thank you two for sticking with me and helping Vesh. I know I haven’t been gracious, and I apologize. You both have done right by us, and I would be dead if it weren’t for you. You both are good friends, and I should do a better job at appreciating that.”

  “Hey, we get it. Vesh is still in danger, and you feel helpless. You are right, but it is also understandable.

  “Yeah. I feel pretty helpless and am the only one who can do anything to help.”

  “Well, I will do better from here on. No more yelling at you for helping.”

  “That is appreciated.” Lisen accepts as we reach the top of the mound.

  We can see the forest, which is more extensive than the last, but that isn't what caught my eye. My eye draws to the worm carcass piles lying a few kilometers from the forest. The edge of said pile is half a kilometer from us and closer to Vesh. I start running down the mound, but the sand and decline make it hard to pick up speed. We hadn’t noticed the proximity of all those damn worms because we couldn’t see above this sand pit. I can see it now, and I can see the worm coming straight for Vesh. Are they standing up? Vesh is standing.

  Thank destruction. You wake up in time to attract a horror with no help around. Vesh doesn’t seem stable on their feet and is now looking up to see the worm. I need to move faster. Lisen calls Vesh, but they still won't move. I have to get there. I have to move. Vesh starts moving a few steps and starts a stride before tripping. But it’s enough. My steel sword extends my arm enough to plunge into the worm with a mound of momentum. The worm travels another half meter before my meter and a half sword stills it. Then, it vomits a death throw into Vesh’s face. Which in turn causes Vesh to vomit. I don’t care how gross they are as I step forward to hug them.