Beyond the broken bridge

Only in the blue swirling yet still storm of the warp had he felt like this. He hung weightlessly in the air, dragging himself along on the ancient metal of the inverted tower. He still felt some residual though fleeting nausea, but excitement overruled it. The lack of gravity made him feel stronger and fitter than ever, and the lack of responsibility made him lighter than before.

He adapted quickly to his weightlessness. Clambering along the inside walls of the tower with his hands and feet he lamented his lack of a tail. His kind never had any,like ettins. He guessed it would offer quite some extra balancing benefits, as he had seen other norns steer themselves when they lost their footing.

Floating loose,and stuck to walls he saw more and more thick and solid slate-like slabs. The rocks appeared a very dark-greenish anthracite in coloration, and he wondered at their origin. More and more cluttered the tunnel, and near the end he had to push himself through. The tunnel appeared dark, with an unpleasant head radiating from one side. Pulling himself through he noticed the stars peeking through the dark slate making up the walls. 

Windows, quite like in the ettin tunnels. Closer inspection taught him the walls themselves were made out of the same ettistone, the blackened scales had been a later addition somehow. The far side of the tunnel was difficult to see due to the lack of real light and the wavering heat transferring from one direction. Both directions stretched out beyond sight, but the one the heat came from glowed in a dim red. The stone scales floated more densely in that direction, adding to the danger.

The dry heat flowed in twisting eddies to the cooler direction, streams of hot and cool air twisting slowly around each other. 

Sosir took advantage of these and had them carry him along down the immense, hot, stone corridor. Slowly he made his way, climbing around clusters of the large stone scales. The stars passed him by periodically, but he no longer knew up from down. He had no clear idea of his bearing and whereabouts. Even knowing where he came from was difficult to say. Moisture in the air increased as he went on, and odd round things with a texture like plants drifted the same currents as he.

Plants more frequently decorated the slabs on the walls. Whole mats of lush greenery covered the walls at times. Small trees and shrubs stuck out from the underbrush. Large vines stretched across the wide halls like the web of a city sized spider would have. The odors of ozone and sulphur carried on the heated winds made way for the fresher scents of leaves and flowers.

One of the round, free-floating plants slowly drifted alongside him, lazily bumping into a drifting boulder. A shower of pollen and starseeds surprised him, but a quick nibble proved them edible.

Certain now of sustenance he crawled and floated through the steam and tropical greenery. Strange insects and even stranger critters he saw, luckily mostly from a distance, some of the things were more alien than he could probably stomach seeing up close. Sometimes he noticed patterns in how plants were arranged, even some of the starseed orbs tied to one place. Clusters of the slates were stuck together like columns, and clearly twined rope made for a sort of rail which he pulled himself along on.

A plant based mortar had slates glued together in structures. He had not noticed the first one, but when he saw a window in one of the stone domes he realised what they were. The greenery around them was not cleared, but clearly he was drifting in a sort of settlement. A grand structure snaked between the dome habitats, spanning from one star-glimmering wall to the other in the far distance. A hideous maw, not quite that of an adder, crowned the edifice. 

Frightfully quiet. No creature voices for a greeting, not even a showing of faces but for one: tied up between the jaws of the cyclopean statue was a young norn. Slowly drifting up along the slate up to the creature, the green scales on the unconscious norn gave him a pause, but the branched horns and bright red full head of hair were un-grendel like to give it the benefit of the doubt. A gentle stir did not wake the wee one. 

A rumble back in the tunnel. Loud clashing of rock and a teeth gritting grinding sound gave Sosir a quick start. Hurriedly he cut loose the drifting youngling, dragged him swiftly between the rocks and undergrowth.

A great shadow hovered over them. Like a thundercloud an aura of static danger came over them, a clash against the statue shook the town, and then the danger moved on. The shade rolled over them for a frightfully long time, and suddenly it was gone. The statue they were lurched against seemed less like a horrible imagination and more like a terrible reality now.

The wee thing was still unconscious. He left him between the leaves as he clambered out to check the town. It still appeared empty, but a sense told him he was being watched. 

The Nornir that lived here were perhaps not the most cultured creatures, but they seemed well adapted to their environment. Workplaces where rope could be twined and nets were woven. Knapped slate knives were used, tied to poles along with more tools to prevent them from drifting off. Starseed plants and yarnfruit knots were planted in an orderly fashion between the homes.

He grabbed hold of a knotty, twisted tree branch as he heard a call out to him. A norn, scaled like a lizard and coronated with spikes drifted warily towards him. His motions were fluent, and he moved effortlessly.

“Stranger, what have you done!”

Despite the grendel like scales and meaty prehensile tail this was clearly a norn.

“I saved that young one from certain doom, a doom I suspect you prepared him for! What evils could one so young have done to deserve such an end!”

Angry beyond words the draconian stranger grabbed hold of him with paws and tail, intending perhaps to offer him in a same manner. To Sosirs surprise though, the hold was weak, and a kick sent his assailant out into the air. His welcome clearly worn out he grabbed some nutmeal cakes and a string of yarnfruit as he tugged the youngling out of the settlement, the other inhabitants staring him down, helpless against his strength.

A while later, when he found themselves deep in dense tropical growth, he decided to make camp. The youth was slowly waking up, but still confused. Sosir had strevelled for the better part of a day, and despite the complete lack of effort travel required here, the impressions and experiences had him weary.

He jammed himself between some branches, getting comfortable to speak to the youngling.

“Ho there, wee one. Can you tell me your name and why they tied you up?”

“The divine worm liberates those chosen.”

Still confused then. Sosir had the time though.

“Start with your name then, theologies later.”

“Anlong. My sacrifice was to pacify the divine worm, the maker of stone and the dweller in flame.”

“Without one proper sacrifice, he will feast to his heart's desires on his next cycle.”

When this next cycle would be Sosir could guess readily enough. The youth sulked, clearly distraught his responsibility had not been fulfilled. Sosir sighed at the sight. Apostacy was one thing, and he was glad he had saved Anlong, but the future massacre in the settlement wore heavy upon him too.

Straightening his back, he tears out fur from his back and chest. Resin from the branches had him glued to the wood, likely some insect catching adaptation. 

“Pines and needles!” He spat. His mind burned like his waxed skin did, though. A sacrifice would be offered.

Anlong kept to himself. His life had been dedicated to that honorable end, and now he was without aim. Sosir however was very busy. Collecting branches, leaves and mosses with frequent glances at the youngling. Large blogs of the resin were covered with scaly lichen. Soon enough a primitive dummy of his young charge was done, and slowly even Anlong had a look of understanding on his face. For now they would rest, tied to the spindly branches, tomorrow, they would sacrifice.

On the morrow they headed back. The villagers are once more hidden in their huts, though their doors were barred this time with rock, wood and whatever else they had found. The two norns drifted into the settlement once again, dragging the doll along on a crude rope. They felt the terrified looks of the villagers upon them, but Anlong was strangely calm. Perhaps because his time should have been up already. 

Placing the doll in the stone maws of the monster, Anlong was hidden in the bushes around it so he could animate the puppet with the rope. Whether he would do so or jump in the demon's mouth himself when the time came, Sosir could not tell. He had his own job. Hidden by the sculpted tail of the evil edifice, he waited for his moment. His heart was in his throat and he had eaten as if it were a gallows meal. He had seen monsters fall before, if only his nerves had the same trust though.

They did not need to wait long. The thing came, though Sosir sensed this more than seeing it. A dark shadow loomed over his hideout, and he counted the moments until the maws would have found the bait. A snap and a muffled gasp of horror comes from the domed huts, then chaos erupts. The worm twists its massive bulk and squirms in panic. Sosir takes this to be his que, and he bursts out of the shrubbery, clasping firmly to the rocky tail. He ignores the black pinprick eyes between the scales staring at him as they follow him in unison, and jams his flint knife under a giant stone scale, lifting it up.

The thing comes. To the horror of onlookers it takes the bait. Sosir jumps out and grabs its tail. The beast, confused and mad, bits at sosir. Its glued jaws stick to the coarse rock of its tail as sosir kicks off.

Roaring in pain, the strongly glued jaws rip open ever so little, and the gigantic confused heat turns on its tail, rushing to eat Sosir off.

Sosir kicks off with all his strength, catapulting him skyward. Just in time, if he had had a tail the beast would have grabbed him.

The toothed jaws close with a crunch around the tail, the resin now glueing tail and head together. Drifting free, Sosir looks back. He had expected to glue the “divine” creature to a circle for a little while, cool its temper. To his disgust he saw he had achieved far more. The beast knew only to devour, and this he did.

The settlers cry out in horror as they witness the divine worm devour itself. Its thousand eyes jittering in frightful mania, tarry lifeblood forming bubbles on its body as the hooked jaws set into the hardened hide. In its death throes his massive body crushed, destroyed rolled over the settlement and the greenery. The Nornir fled their huts in absolute fear, making their panicked way to the forests.

In days the corpus slowly comes to rest against the tunnel floor, the black bile pooling around it. Plants grow dazzlingly fast with it, and nature's reclamation begins.

The destroyed huts are being rebuilt. Sosir the wyrmslayer is cast out, as is Anlong. “Surely the village will die now with our lifebringer!” the draconian settlers proclaim with spirit. Sosir looks at the divine carcass, flowers and plants spreading out from it and shrugs. Anlong however, is broken Wiith no purpose and no home; he has no place but on Sosir’s trail.