It had been normal in the valley.

  Or as normal as it could have been for the shroud-cat.

  The oldest of them, the one that had been there since the worm invasion, knew of the winged one.

  It had been there when it was just a shadow cub.

  The fire one had returned, bringing fire and death to the invaders.

  The invaders, these worms, had come from the lowlands. Her pack and mates had tried to fight them off.

  But there had been too many, and some of them were too powerful. So it hid with its litter and waited, for it knew that the scaled one would emerge and kill the worms.

  And it had.

  Fire, white and red, had emerged from its lair.

  Burning the worms to ash.

  It had swept across the valley like a storm, killing only the worms.

  There had been a tentative truce with the valley's other monsters, as the worms threatened them all. The Shroud-cat Matriarch, who had only a handful of her shadow pack left, agreed with this alliance.

  It seemed that the Fire one, too, had agreed.

  It never attacked any of the others, even the few flying ones that had survived...

  The fire one had never liked any other that could fly. As a cub, she had seen that anything that flew was dinner for the fire one...

  The shroud-cat Matriarch looked over the burnt, but healing valley. It had taken many moons, but they had cleared out most of the worms from the valley.

  But the world was never to be the same... it had seemed diminished for a long time now, its shadow had been smaller for a long time.

  She huffed as she looked down the mountain.

  The fire one was moving now, exploring, and purging the worms that hadn’t made it up to the valley... it was a lot more powerful than it had been before it went into slumber...

  That the Matriarch could feel in its bones.

  But now SHE, would follow the fire one, and so did some of the other monsters.

  Meeting the eyes of a giant monster, the trees moved aside for its massive frame. The Matriarch nodded, understanding that they should follow the Fire one and kill ALL the worms.

  Year 79, six months after the evolution

  Isaac burned the world with fire and magic. The new technique he had developed, and with the sheer power of his new evolutions, left all the worms he encountered no match.

  It had been a literal cake walk... but there were so many.

  It had taken weeks to months, and he could still find more brood pits.

  The brood pits of the dead monster were easy enough to do with, but the sheer amount of them and the worms in them had shocked him.

  It made Isaac realize that the worms were a world-ending threat if left alone.

  Luckily, he had gained some allies in his crusade.

  The monsters from the valley had come charging down, their need for survival higher than their instinct to kill each other.

  Isaac wondered how they viewed him, the giant buring dragon that lived above them all.

  ‘Are any of them intelligent?’ he left the question hanging as his firenado purged another brood of worms.

  ‘I should look into that,’

  From what Isaac had seen, the monster following Isaac was a group of pack leaders and survivors of the mountaintop. The understanding that he was killing the worms seemed to be what bound them and the others to each other.

  He hadn’t met any of the hunt variety of the worms down on the plains after the first few, and he was making his way to the desert fast.

  Other monsters also joined him in the war on the worms. The Twintaled horse that had “shown” Isaac the fire Sigil was one of them. And their area of the plains was a region where Isaac couldn’t find many worms. The horse was too fast for them.

  The understanding that HE was leading them all to the worm’s origin seemed to be something that connected all the monsters. It was magic and instinct, and a drive for survival.

  The effect was cumulative as more monsters, having survived years of being hunted, emerged from hidden places all over the plains.

  And as they got closer to the desert. The fewer the worms were, and the fewer brood pits Isaac found... Their food source had been eaten up, the land tainted with their hunger.

  But the desert was closing in.

  Spirit of Leaves and Wind, readied another arrow, this one empowered with enough mana to kill.

  It loosened, faster than the wind. The attack went through several worms before stopping in one of the bigger ones.

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  She looked down. The swarm of teeth, bone, and flesh was... nightmarish.

  Something that she hadn’t experienced before the gift.

  The wall of trees and leaves held the worm tide still, but there were still so many. The power of the high one holding the swarm at bay...

  Another surge pulsed through the tide of worms, the swarm trying to scale under and over the wall.

  More of her kin arrive at the wall, killing the worms in the hundreds, but there were too many.

  With horror, Spirit of Leaves and Wind saw one of the bigger ones arrive at the top, reaching one of her kin.

  He was one of the less... Martially inclined of her kin.

  Spirit of Leaves and Wind, started running, asking the wind to aid her in speed.

  But it was too late.

  The Hunter worm saw Tree of Still Winds. It lunged, its attack fast for such a large worm. Its maw opened as it bit down...

  The sight of her kin's limp body was something Spirit of Leaves and Wind would never get used to....

  But constant fury was what she was getting used to.

  She redirected the wind she had called into an attack, targeting the worm now feasting on her kin. The worm was caught off guard by the sudden assault.

  In quick succession, she created three arrows, empowering each with her new fury and the last of the wind she could gather.

  She loosed two arrows, the last one she held off waiting for the right moment.

  The worm, now not dazed, quickly charged and dodged the incoming arrows.

  ‘As expected,’ She waited a moment, allowing the worm to approach.

  The worm opened its maw, underestimating her.

  Spirit of Leaves and Wind unleashed the last attack, empowered with the piece of wind.

  The worm just seconds away from her and didn’t see the attack. The empowered arrow went into its maw and out the other side of the worm.

  The worm went limp, but Spirit of Leaves and Wind, not receiving a kill message, went over and took its head.

  Too many had died from worms that didn't die from mortal wounds.

  She looked over the wall. More kin arrived at the wall, helping them in the battle, but another surge of worms hit the wall. It did so again and again, an never-ending tide of worms, teeth...

  Her eyes spotted Heart of Tree and Bark; he was out there, fighting the bigger ones, keeping them busy.

  But they were still losing.

  Spirit of Leaves and Wind wasn't a true believer in the high one, but she still offered a prayer, hoping to save everyone from the nightmare.

  She steadied herself and readied another arrow; she would die trying before any worm would get into her home.

  Alda had miscalculated.

  The unending horde of worms had sprung up over half a century.

  That wasn’t natural at all.

  The mere sight of the worms was a curse for this world, and she feared that she would need to abandon this world, too.

  But she had invested so much in them.

  The elves, now truly awakened beings, were her children in the truest sense. But Alda had used too much of her power, giving them life and settling down in the Green Heaven.

  And with the power of the jungle, she needed time to access the ley line and channel it into her divinity.

  Looking across the battlefield with her divine sense, she couldn't help but sigh; The worms were too powerful and too numerous.

  Her most devout follower and one she now looked on as her son, Heart of Tree and Bark, had taken to the desert, channeling an unhealthy amount of mana and her power.

  Each pulse of power and mana brought with it a surge of vines and death, but more worms came after him.

  Heart of Tree and Bark had learned well from his sister, dodging all the attacks, the wind guiding him like its own.

  “No,” she couldn't give up like this. Not when her... children kept fighting.

  “Not like last time,” she murmured to herself.

  Her being descended to the wall.

  Her choice made.

  She would become one of them.

  ‘Not letting go like last time.’

  The ball of divine mana she was came closer, and there was a stillness in the raging battle, worms and elves stopped.

  And her body took shape.

  In reality, no deity would do this, as becoming a mortal demigod would be a permanent transition, but Alda was tired.

  Tired of losing the ones she loved and her creations in kind.

  She would join them and die with them if she had to.

  The Elves on the wall gasped as they felt their god and awakener transition from a higher being into one of them.

  The light she was made of transformed into the shape of a tall, slender, and greener version of them.

  And now, one of them.

  “I have arrived, my children,” she said as the light dimmed down. Her power, now grounded in the very earth they were fighting for.

  “Fight off these worms kin, and kill their—” Her words caught in her mouth.

  Was that fire in the distance?

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