The Wurm King (PT6)

It was early in the morning when the party stopped to make camp they had found an abandon watch tower in the forest that overlooked the road. The roof had partially collapsed leaving the wooden stair case to hang in the air while ivy climbed up the side. Auren looked back on the group, they were tired and hungry from the journey. It felt unkind to push them like this. But if they had camped near the village that night a group of hunters would have found them for sure. “well camp here till the evening.” With a sigh the kobolds who still had back packs set them down. The others began to scavenge the tower. “I’m going to take a nap wake me at dusk” Auren said before jumping onto a dust covered bed. A large cloud of dust erupted from under the bed as it collapsed under his weight. “ren? You ok?” Ahnya said as she looked over him. he gave a thumbs up from the hole he now occupied in the center before promptly passing out. Nas quickly followed Auren’s example jumping into another bed. however, his weight alone was not enough to collapse the bed. This was quickly remedied by Bwiggi who hoped onto the bed after him. the sound of the collapsing bed was enough to wake Auren who sat up and looked at the pair before laying back down. The pair laughed before they finally settled in to sleep. Ahnya turned to Hyak who was trying to crawl into a bed “hey Hyak can you keep watch?” he looked at her “uh yeah… Yeah I can” he slinked away from the bed dejected before climbing the side of the watch tower. “he gonna be alright?” Dreask said fiddling with his back pack. “he’s fine he slept most of yesterday. How are we looking on food?” “not good but considering we’ll be home before tomorrow morning we’ll be fine. Here.” Dreask handed Ahnya some rat jerky “ah thank you” “hey Hyak you want some jerky?” Hyak scurried down the wall and took the jerky from Dreask’s hand “thanks” he quickly climbed back up. “I’m going to sleep as well. can I trust you to take care of things?” Ahnya said as the pair watched Hyak climb. “of course.” her mind at ease she crawled into bed on top of Auren. his warmth was comforting. She nuzzled deep into his chest causing him to fidget a bit in his sleep before calming back down. After a few minutes she had fallen soundly asleep as well.

“no, damn it. Swing the sodding thing like you mean it. Again!” Geralt swung his blade at Auren who clumsily parried it before dropping into a low attacking stance. Auren loosed a mighty swing with all of his might, which Geralt casually side-stepped causing Auren to spin in a complete circle before the sword was buried in the ground along with his face. “guess that-ens a bit to big eh lad?” Geralt walked over to the weapons rack and grabbed a short sword. “here, it’ll be a bit easier for ya this way.” when he turned around Auren was still lying face down. “huh?  Tired already? Guess you won’t mind if we have Garm for dinner then eh lad.” Auren hoped to his feet. “nope I can keep going” “that’s what I like to hear.” He handed Auren the blade and took a few steps back. “alright lad, on guard”
“Oi Typhus can you keep an eye on the lad for a bit?” “what the hell for?” typhus shouted from his wagon. Auren and Geralt stepped inside “I’m going into town to see a lady friend” Geralt waved his fingers with emphasis on the words lady and friend. The two carried on while Auren’s eyes explored the wagons interior. Shelves of small potted plants and bones. jars of suspended body parts and unfinish mechanical inventions were strewn about a work bench in the corner. He couldn’t help but to start fiddling with one of the jars. A small jar of clear green liquid with an eye suspended in the middle. “Oi! Put that down” Typhus shouted before retuning his focus on Geralt. “as long as you pick up those ingredients when you finish whoring ill watch the boy.” “great, and typhus no experiments on the boy please” with that Geralt left. “here play with this and keep quit” Typhus handed Auren a bag of various animal bones. “now don’t look at me like that, I didn’t have any bones to play with when I was your age” typhus chuckled before retuning to his work bench. Auren followed him. the table was just a bit taller than him so he had to rhythmically jump to see what typhus was doing.  “sigh, here. If you wanted to watch all you had to do was ask.” Typhus pulled another stool over for Auren to sit on. “thanks” Auren said as he climbed onto the stool. Typhus quickly returned to work. Then pair continued on in silence for a few minutes before typhus finished what he was working on. “hey, pull this cap off for me will ya lad?” he held out a simple wooden stick with a small metal cap attached to a string on one end. Auren reach out and pulled the string. When he did a flame erupted from the stick causing him to fall off the stool in surprise. “ahahahah. Like my newest invention lad. It’s a self-lighting torch all you have to do is pull the cap off and boom instant light. Even stays lit under water too.” Auren’s eyes lit up “that so cool” he ran over to inspect it “can you teach me?” “what alchemy? I can teach you a little. Here.” Typhus pulled Auren’s stool closer to the bench. The two studied alchemy all day until Geralt came back. “alright lad time to head home” “sigh, ok. By Typhus” Geralt handed typhus a burlap bag. “what’s he so happy about?” “who knows” “well I hope you don’t mind looking after him again tomorrow then” Geralt said turning and walking down the wagons steps with a wave. “oi I’m not going to baby sit him for free ya bastard!” “ahahahh,” Geralt cackled as he ran after Auren.

“Wake up! Ahnya wake the hell up” “Hyak! W-whats going on?” “somebody’s coming up the hill” “shit I’ll wake Auren, you wake the others.” “right” “REN! Wake up”  she violently shook him by the collar. “huh? What?” he burst awake looking all around. “someone coming” she said pulling his focus back to her. “shit” he jumped out of the collapsed bed and pulled his shoes back on. He turned to Ahnya. “how many are there?” she then turned to Hyak who was shaking Bwiggi awake “four, no five maybe” Ahnya turned back to Auren “five” “shit, you guys hide out side the tower. I’ve got a plan” “what ren gonna do?” “don’t worry about it. ill deal with them just kill any stragglers who run out of the tower” As Ahnya left she saw Auren pull something out of his back pack before he started to climb the tower wall. She and the rest of the group hide in the trees in front of the door. a few moments later a group of hunters began skulking around the entrance of the tower. then the group entered the tower. Ahnya waited for a few minutes. Nas whispered “ I wonder what’s taking so long?” “I’m going in after him” Ahnya said in a huff. As she attempted to get out of the tree Nas stopped her “wait let’s give it a minute I’m sure he’ll be out soo-” just then the tower exploded in a bright red light as the whole thing went up in flames. “ren!” Ahnya and the group leapt out of the tree. The room they had slept in was now a raging inferno. Ahnya collapsed to her knees in front of the door way. Nas put a claw on her shoulder “Ahnya I…” “don’t say anything” Ahnya said as her eyes welled up with tears. “what are we all tore up about now?” Auren said with a laugh and grin. Ahnya ran up to him and punched him straight in the balls. He fell to the ground rolling in pain. “ahhh what was that for?” tears of relief welled up in her eyes. As she helped him up  Auren  saw a dark shadow form in the flames of the door way behind Ahnya. “look out!” he threw her out of the way as a sword was plunged into his lower chest. A bald man in a fur cloak stepped out of the flaming door way light reflecting off of his metal shield he kicked Auren to the ground. “thought you had me there for a bit kid.” He turned his attention towards the group of kobolds. “you weren’t kidding when you said you were gonna roast us alive.” Ahnya attacked him with her long sword which he blocked with his shield. Nas capitalized on this opening with a well place spear throw. The cloaked man was fast, he dodged to the side just barely avoiding the spear. This put him off balance, a weakness Ahnya quickly capitalized on driving the warrior back with a flurry of blows. As he fell off balance Ahnya swung low aiming for his legs he jumped into the air dodging the blow only to be met with the full weight of a kobold body slam. Hyak ran up behind Ahnya as she swung and vaulted off her back knocking the warrior over while he was jumping over Ahnya’s attack. As he hit the group Hyak and Ahnya grabbed the man’s arms as the rest of the group dog piled him. Ahnya climbed onto the man’s chest and drove her sword into his mouth muffling his screams and curses. Ahnya’s attention immediately returned to Auren she ripped open his shirt. She was surprised to see that the blade hadn’t pierced through to his back. the breast plate she had given him had stopped the blade from reaching the other side. He was still breathing but his whole body had gone limp. Nas picked up the man sword and noticed a faint odor on it. “I think this guy sword was poisoned” Ahnya let out a sigh of relief it must have be some form of paralytic. She pulled some salve from her back pack and bandaged the wound. “bwiggi, dreask find us some branches we’re gonna make a stretcher” the pair quickly got to work as they brought sticks Nas would bind them with small lengths of rope. they loaded him onto the small stretcher and carried him off towards the base. “just hold on ren we’ll be home soon”

As Ahnya left to hide in the trees outside Auren retrieved the crystal he had cut out of the mages neck the night before. “knew I’d need this at some point” he said to him self as he climbed up the wall of the tower. He waited there tossing the crystal up and down in his hand until he noticed a pair of eyes peek around the corner. He put the crystal behind his back “come on in I just want to talk” whispering could be heard in the distance before the group stepped inside. The one who appeared to be the leader of the group stepped out in front. He was bald with a scar under his left eye. “I’m Jervis, and your Snake right?” “aye” “good cause I’m bring you in, alive preferable.” “not gonna happen” Jervis crossed his arms “and why not? Last time I checked it was just you and a few kobolds against the five of us.” “Because if you take one more step I’m going to roast you all alive” “that’s rich listen if you surrender quietly ill make sure you get a quick death at the gallows. It’ll be infinitely less painful that what me and the boys here will do to you and your friends if you don’t.” “listen ill give you one last chance to leave here alive, I don’t want to hurt anyone if I don’t have to” “sigh, nobody ever wants to do it the easy way. all right boy get him” as the group stepped forward towards Auren. “don’t say I didn’t warn you” he threw the mage’s crystal straight at Jervis who was able to quickly hold up his shield as it impacted. The group went up in a giant inferno that ingulfed the tower. Auren climbed down the outside wall and snuck around to the front where he saw Ahnya crying. “gez I told them I’d be fine guess I better let them know I’m still kicking” he snuck up behind the group “what are we all tore up about now?”

As Auren awoke he felt someone toughing his head with a wet clothe. “huu- Ahnya?” he said through a gravely voice. “shhh ren need sleep” she put a claw to his lips. “where are we?” “home, now sleep” he could hear Ahnya speaking to someone else in the background as his consciousness faded. He awoke again later when someone touched his wound “uh-ouch Ahnya stop I’m a still tender there” “I’m not Ahnya young master” a male voice said politely in perfect Ohhmen. “huh?” he opened his eyes to see a small blue kobold tending his wound. “oh yes I forgot to introduce myself I’m Saveed. I am honored to meet you young master.” “nice to meet you. Uh Saveed?” Auren extended a hand to him. “oh, thank you” he said as he shook Auren’s hand. “where’s Ahnya?” “she’s currently in the mines looking for the old one.” “looking for that thing again? Why it so important that we find that thing?” “its at the center of our religion, and culture besides we’ll need it for the release ritual” “for the what now?” “let’s not worry about that right now. You just need to relax and recuperate for a while. You’ve been asleep for the past six days. I’ll send someone to get you some food” he went to the door and spoke to one of the kobolds there Auren couldn’t tell who it was for sure, but he thought it might have been Hyak. “its fine I can get it myself” “no, no I insist that you stay in bed at least for today” Saveed said trying to keep Auren from getting out of bed.  As he stood up Auren noticed odd discoloration around his bandaged wound before a sharp pain set in forcing him to sit back down. “see, I insist that you rest for today” “why are you so worried about me? I’m fine” Auren said as he attempted to get up again before falling back in bed as he winced in pain. Saveed sighed before taking a seat on the stool next to the bed. “in our language they are called Draca meaning ancient ones but in the southern kingdoms they are known as Wurms. I believe you may be a half Wurm” “and I’m supposed to believe this because?” Auren said sarcastically trying to avoid laughing to hard and re-opening his wounds.  “because normal humans don’t grow scales when you put salve on their wounds” Saveed removed the bandage from Auren’s chest. He looked down to see that his chest had grown thick tan viper like scales where the blade had struck. “do you believe me now?” Auren panicked. “what on earth did you do to me?” “all I did was apply some of my old one salve to heal the wound more quickly” “what the hell is in it?” Auren replied still visibly distressed. “do you really want to know what’s in kobold medicine?” “no not really, but I would like to know why I have scales growing across half my chest.” Auren said sarcastically. “listen this is a good thing-“ Auren cut him off  “how is this a good thing?” Auren’s aggravation showing on his face.  “because you’re not supposed to be so human looking in the first place.” “and you know this because?” “because All the half Wurms I’ve ever met had horns and more scales, a lot more scales” “and you’re sure THIS isn’t a side effect of the salve?” Auren said pointing at his wound.   “yes I’ve tested the salve on everything from humans to rat-folk you’re the first person to grow scales like this. Which makes sense if you’re half Wurm.” “so I’m part giant kobold then? ” “what?” “Ahnya told me the old ones were like giant kobolds” “please don’t listen to anyone who isn’t a shaman when it comes to the old ones they won’t know what they’re talking about.”
About that time Hyak kicked the door open carrying a plat of rat meat. “ah your dinner is here.” “thanks, I’m starving.” “back to the main point though. I want to complete your transformation into a half-Wurm.” “and I’m supposed to go along with this because?” “because the form you have now isn’t the one you were born to have, besides think of the power you could gain.” “power?” Auren’s eyes widened. “scales as hard as steel, the ability to breath fire, claws that can cut through armor. Half Wurms are imposing warriors on the battle field and all you have to do is cast off your humanity and become something greater.” Auren contemplated what Saveed said for a moment before replying “what do you get out of this?” Auren said as he bit a chunk out of a rat leg. “I’m a shaman advising the Draca and their descendants is what I live for” Saveed said with a smile. just then Auren heard Ahnya’s voice outside the door. She appeared to be irritated about something. She burst in and got up in Saveed’s face “why didn’t you tell me he was awake” “I didn’t want to get the young master too excited, with his injury and al-” don’t give me that crap you seem to be forgetting who’s in charge here. I have half a mind t-“ “hey you two, can we speak something other than kobold so I can be included in this conversation please?” Auren chimed in cutting them off. “ah yes of course we can, right Ahnya?” Saveed put extra emphasis on the of course part of the sentence. “yes, ohhmen Veeds spe-ciumty” Ahnya said her tongue not quit forming the word she wanted. “it’s pronounced Spe-cia-lty Ahnya.” Saveed cackled. “Saveed can you leave us for a few minutes?” Auren said with a stern voice as his mood had visibly changed. “ah yes of course.” Saveed slinked out of the room annoyed at his ejection.
“what happened after I passed out?” “we take ren back to hide out. Veed was waiting said he would help.” “and what about Gura and Lomu?” “they fine alco-hol worked” “glade to hear it helped out” Auren relaxed a bit lying down on the make shift bed. It was just a book shelf with a bed roll on it. “Ahnya turn. so how ren blow up humans?” “haha that? It was simple. All mages have a crystal implanted somewhere on their body. When its removed from their corpse residual magic still remains so all you have to do is break it on something and boom. The type of explosion depends on what type of magic the mage had an affinity for in life.” “Ren know a lot about magic. Where ren learn all this?” “the guy who raised me had a friend named typhus who taught me all kinds of stuff as a kid.” “oh, Ahnya have a present for ren” she ran out of the room. “Ahnya wai- sigh” he decided to kick back and wait. Soon he could hear her running back down the hall. “here this for you!” Ahnya shoved the reflective silver dome in front of him “what’s this thing?” “it’s fire man’s shield” “so, I assume you killed him then?” “yep” “and I’m sure you mutilated the corpse beyond recognition” Auren said with a grin before inspecting the shield for a few minutes eventually noticing something interesting. “I know why baldy didn’t die in the explosion” “huh? Why?” Ahnya said with a tilt of her head. “this is enchanted steel. The mage mark is right here on the back along with the type of enchantment, wyverns ward. fire proof in layman’s terms. It was made by somebody named Astilisk. Anyway, thank you Ahnya” he set the shield next to the bed and yawned. “ren need sleep” “yeah, will you stay with me? I don’t want Saveed to smear me with more of that salve while I’m asleep.” He laughed before yawning again “yes lift head” she put his head on her lap and began playing with his hair and softly humming. Eventually the pair drifted off to sleep.
“Elgis! Elgis! Eeeeeelgis!” a male voice called out through the forest. It was soon joined by a female voice “Elgis! Elgis, where are you?” “do you smell that?” the male voice said. “yeah, sulfur, and its nearby too.” The female voice replied. “its coming from over there” “fire magic, must be Elgis’s handy work.” The male voice said.  “yep everything’s charred without any signs of spreading. His signature version of fireball if I had to guess.” “Mira I found a trail” the male voice called out. “I’ll take point you just make sure nothing sneaks up on us.” The female voice replied. “will do” “that was close who ever came through here forgot to disarm the rest of their traps.” The female voice said. “wait there’s someone on the ground up ahead Elgis! Elgis!” “wait, Durris slow down wait!” Mira found him holding Elgis’s mutilated body. tears streaming down his face. “when I find who did this… I’m going to make them wish they’d never been born” Mira put a hand on his shoulder. “we can’t just leave him out like this, come ill help you dig the grave” and so the pair spent the day digging the grave before wrapping the body in a blanket and giving him his last rights.
“I found a set of tracks leading away from the forest.” Mira said crouching down to inspect them. “kobolds and a human from the look of it. What’s the plan?” she said as she looked up at Durris. “what do you mean what’s the plan. We find whoever did this and turn them into red paste.”

“when Auren awoke Ahnya had already left for the morning. His wound had healed quit nicely the salve may have caused him to grow scales on part of his chest but if it meant he could recover this quickly he could see himself with more patches like that in the feature, the thought was so funny to him he let out a slight chuckle. He quickly found a set of clothes that had been lain out for him. it was his rat leather garb from before. Someone had shoddily stitched up the cut on the chest where the sword had pieced. He found the supply’s he bought in town he looked around the base for some boards and eventually found some red liquid he could use as paint in the kitchen. Auren quickly went to work wondering the complex putting signs at key points to help him find his way around the complex. Eventually he found Rahka at the mushroom farm. “hey Rahka need some help?” Auren said with a smile he was happy to see his friend after so long. “huh? Oh Ren, no Saveed not be happy with me if I let Ren do that.” Auren seemed puzzled by this. “don’t worry about Saveed. If he gives you any shit just let me know and ill show him what it’s like to fly when I punt him through the roof.” Auren smiled giving a thumbs up. “no Ren still hurt Rahka fine.” “no, I insist” Auren replied before a noise caught the pairs attention. “master Ren! Master ren where are you?” Saveed could be heard shouting in the nearby tunnels. “I guess I’ll go deal with him. we’ll catch up another time Rahka.” As Auren walked away Rahka let out a sigh of relief before getting back to work.
“Saveed!-“ “master Auren i need you to come see this immediately.” “first off cut the master crap just call me Ren. Second, don’t tell anyone here what I can and can’t do, got it” Auren said leaning over the small Kobold. the average kobold was about three and a half feet tall Ahnya was an exception at four foot one. Saveed was three foot one. So Auren had to have seemed a giant before him. “yes mast- Ren. And I was only trying to help. It won’t do if you start working and split your self back open. Now if were done follow me, I have something to show you” Saveed led him down into the depths of the mine, past where he had fought the Girsk and further still. Eventually the Petra reinforced walls gave way to metal reinforced mine shafts. Auren could see where the kobolds had pried up part of the mine cart tracks. Probably to make pick axes or other tools. “how deep does this go?” “this was once a dwarven mine. They were seeking the old one’s hoard, but their greed got the better of them. They kept digging and digging until eventually the humans grew tired of the dwarven occupation and drove them from this land. Nobody knows just how far they dug, well except maybe the dwarves themselves.” Saveed said as Auren listen dumb founded.  “how on earth do you know all this?” Auren replied stunned.  “I’m much older than I appear the blessings of the old ones have done wonders for my complexion.” Saveed said with a chuckle. “so your how old then?” “it’s not important but to give you an idea the dwarves were driven from this mine about six-hundred years ago.” “how old is Ahnya?” “she’s about twenty in human years.” “huh.” Auren had thought that Ahnya was older than Saveed. “what about Rahka?” “seventeen-ish I think” “and Gura, Lomu and Hyak?” “listen just learn bastards Draca and ask them yourself.” Saveed responded annoyed.  “bastards Draca?”Auren said with a tilt of the head. “it’s what we shaman’s call Kobold speak. It’s a more guttural dialect of Draca.” “ok then good to know, can you teach me how to speak Draca then?” “all in good time Ren.” Eventually the mine shaft gave way to a massive dome shaped room covered in a blue fluorescent moss. Auren saw the head of a massive reptilian beast hanging from the ceiling by its vertebrae. its massive claws poked out of the wall resting on the floor. The beast had to have been giant in life. Auren stood there awe struck for what felt like minutes. “yes, I remember the fire time I saw a millennial Draca in all its glory. Though my first was still very much alive.” Saveed said as he marveled at the creature as well. Auren was still in awe of the beast. “Ren snap out of it.” “oh, yeah sorry.” “no, no its perfectly normal to be stunned by the glory of the old ones” “yeah.” Auren stuttered.  “but now you see the significance of your heritage. Even a half-Draca would strengthen the tribe greatly.” As he stared up at the Wurm Auren pondered the power of this creature. If he could have some small measure of that power. What would he do with it? Thoughts of Ahnya flashed into his mind. That was it. His purpose. he would protect the only place besides the caravan that would accept him as he was. no matter what. “will it hurt?” “the transformation? there will be some “slight” discomfort yes” “slight?” “I expect any transformation would be an unpleasant experience” “when can we start?” “we’ll perform the ritual tonight. Until then I want you to meditate here while I make the necessary preparations.” As Saveed turned to walk away Auren asked “why do I need to meditate?” “the Draca can communicate with their kin’s spirit through their bones. this is why half Draca are so important to our religion. I’m sure your progenitor will have much to tell you” with that Saveed left Auren alone in the giant chamber.
 “sigh, great alone with the worlds largest lizard” Auren sat there in silence waiting for something, anything to happen. He tried to meditate but his mind always ended up wondering off. Thoughts of the past few weeks flooded his mind. The battles, how hard its been to adjust to life underground, Ahnya? Ah he began to ponder Ahnya. “how do I really feel about her he wondered?” at first, he saw her as someone who was only doing what’s best for her clan, but over time his opinion changed. maybe she was something more. maybe she wanted something more. He had noticed her advances. At first he wrote them off as her messing with him, but after a while he realized she not that kind of person she says what she means.
His pondering was cut short when he noticed that his torch was almost out. “shit, shit.” He frantically looked for his bag. After searching around him for a moment he remembered that he had forgot to take it with him when he left this morning. Luckily the glowing moss kept the dark at bay after the torch finally extinguished.  Maybe this was part of Saveed’s plan since Auren couldn’t see in the dark he could leave the cavern, so his only option was to continue meditating. After a while he started to hear whispers in the darkness. “who’s there?” Auren quickly stood up. The whispers seemed to be coming from the bones of the Wurm. In fact, they got louder as he approached the Wurm. “are you the one whispering to me?” he put his hand on the giants claw. It had to be the size of a small house or larger. As he touched the claw he could hear a voice in his head. “ahhhhhhhhhhh, welcome Young Wurmling. Have you come for my treasure as the dwarves did?” “ahhhhh?” Auren screamed as he fell flat on his ass. “ah hahaha I remember my first time talking to an ancestor I nearly shat my self aahahaha. I must apologize I haven’t introduced myself. I Am Girion of the black iron scales. An who might you be child?”  Auren sat there stunned. “well speak up young one you’re the first conversation I’ve had in quit a long time you know.” the booming voice was quite jovial with his tone even when commanding Auren to speak. Auren stood up and dusted himself off “I am Auren of the red claw clan.” “ahhh Auren a fine name child. Now what have you come in search of?” “I don’t really know. a Kobold shaman told me to talk to you if I wanted to return to my true form.” “true form? You know you’re supposed to be about fifty before transforming into your Wurm form for the first-time child, didn’t your parents teach you anything?” “my parents are dead.” “oh well that put a right damper on the conversation didn’t it?” “its not important just explain the whole thing to me.” “where do you want me to start then lad I could talk your ear off till you become a millennial if you let me. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” “start with what I am and what it means to be a half-Wurm.”
“what are ya talking about child you’re not a half Wurm” “what do you mean?” “I mean you’re a full Wurm.” “I think you need to get your eyes checked. I’m not a giant.” “that’s not nice lad. This is just the form I died in. besides I can see you clear as day.” “ok then why do I look human then?” “at Birth Wurms take the form of another race as a protective measure once they’ve grown wise enough to protect themselves they can return to their true form.” “so when I turn fifty I’ll turn into a giant lizard then? “that’s up to you child” “can you stop calling me child already I’m seventeen years old.” “oh, I’m sorry everyone’s feels like a child when you were over three-thousand years old when you died. Ahaha” the voices laughing was like thunder Auren could feel the ground shaking beneath him. “so what happens if I transform early?” “nothing child, it’s the same as transforming at fifty. But why rush? Enjoy the feeling of being human. I miss my childhood as an elf dearly. If only I could go back to those days.” The two talked for hours about the intricacies of Wurm culture until Auren heard a voice calling him from somewhere. It was Saveed.  “alright, thank you Girion you’ve been a big help.” “no, no, child thank you. I’ve been so lonely down here, just promise to come back and see me again. It gets very lonely down here.” “I will.” With that Auren walked away from the claw. He awoke sitting on the ground where he had been meditating earlier Saveed’s hand was on his shoulder. When he noticed that Auren was awake he said “its almost time” Auren stood up “Alright, I’m ready.”