Death stared Killian in the eye. He watched the worms get distracted by their own slimy stance. There were about five of them. They all crept around in and around the heaps. Their wincers crept around more garbage.

  Killian caught his breath, hoping not to make a sound. It would be another disaster if they catch him with the bag. It wasn't only the worms that he feared. It was the trail his dead remains would leave for them to follow. They would give away all that was meticulously planned for years.

  Killian and other had kept their life on line to gain enough supplies before they could fuel up the rebellion. The Blue Bloods were vaguely aware of the mutiny in the Slums. It had halved the already scanty rations, leaving them to scour or starve. Killian chose the former, and made it his responsibility to gather enough funds for him and the rebels.

  ‘Fucking weasels,’ Killian always despised them.

  The worms were one of the cruel additions to their already wicked ploys. The Government at the capital was made to serve both. The Scums though, had limited rights. It was no mystery that the Monarchy wanted them dead. Oblivious, as they all acted, they knew that the Slums were on the brink of a famine.

  Last year, they had increased the patrol around the wall to prevent the Scum Bloods from entering the capital. Then, the worms came. They were to keep the Scum Bloods from stealing their trash.

  Knowing that the Blue Bloods were misers to spend so much of their abilities to guard their trash, Killian knew something was up. He convinced the rebels to scour the trash and get whatever they deemed precious.

  It was an instant failure at first. Killian knew that it wasn’t going to be easy and stole from the trash, regardless. The others followed. And now his ambition had brought him this far.

  ‘What if I die here?’ The thought had Killian in a chokehold.

  Except for the old woman who raised him, Killian had no immediate family. He wouldn’t know who to go to, or to reach out to if he was hurt. For most of his life, he was alone. Then he met her. Mitsuki. But she had left him too.

  ‘Why am I thinking about her now?’ His inner resolve weakened.

  ‘Is it because I am so close to my death that all of this appears meaningless?’ He thought. It froze him in his stance. The worms caught his scent.

  They crawled around him. Their wincers were too close as he tried to move away from them. Then he heard a crack, as one of them lifted their wincers. He watched it come down, missing it by a near distance.

  ‘Fuck it. If I die here, the rebels would be crushed. There would be no freedom’, the thought made Killian’s heart race.

  The glinting jewel shone brightly. Something made him kneel down right in that moment. It was an inner conviction. A strong sense of something. Maybe, it was instinctual. He wrapped his fingers around it, retrieving the jewel. Its blue glow was piercing.

  The worms weren’t distracted by it. They huddled up next to each other. There were five of them, if not more from what Killian could make out now. Their wincers held onto each other as they formed a ring with their bodies.

  ‘Where were they coming from?’ Killian wondered.

  He found himself stuck in the middle of the Dumping Ground. The sky growled. It’s rumbling increased as it changed colours. The Hour of Nobody had ended. The Gods had awakened. It only meant more trouble.

  The worms, as he happened to call them, were controlled by the Blue Blood’s abilities. When their energies reached the peak, the worms too get transformed into feral forms. It would mean that before Killian could scream, he would be snapped into two and gulped.

  ‘I would be dead, regardless of what I do’, Killian thought. He sucked in a breath, carefully placing the pads of his feet to not illicit any sound. Or response.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Killian’s attention shifted to the dagger in his shirt’s pocket. A shirt was a long fabric sewn to fit the body’s frame. Killian’s was the cheapest. It didn’t even come with a pocket. Killian had stitched a dirty rag in a corner of the shirt, hoping to pocket things in there.

  Surely, the dagger was no match for these creatures. Their skin was shelled, and if they sensed any danger, they would pounce on him head on.

  ‘What if I cut off their wincers? It should buy me some time’, he positioned himself strategically. There was no moment to plan a retreat.

  Chop. Chop. And slash. If that's what's what it would take for him to get through.

  ‘Fuck,’ Killian groaned.

  The worms turned attentive. Letting go of each other, as their wincers freed themselves. The elongated appendages shot up in the air, weaving themselves in a knit.

  'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Since when did these mindless monsters learn to form traps?'

  Before long, Killian found himself stuck inside a pile of filth. Its stench nauseated him, while the worm's trap laid above it.

  Gooey fluids stuck to his body. He realised it was dripping from above. It was viscous and in copious amounts, its stickiness glued his fingers together.

  ‘Fuck,’ he groaned. The stickiness made his guts churn. It was only then did he realise that he didn’t have a meal since a whole day. His body responded in a manner of betrayal.

  Killian wanted to throw up. The filth was overwhelming. He could hear his heart pulsing hard as he tried to crawl through the garbage.

  ‘There's only one way to get through it’, he thought.

  Killian reached for the dagger. His fingers gluing to it almost immediately, thanks to that gooey material. He ran the blade on the underside of the wincers. It collected some of the slime but didn't stick to the wincers.

  ‘So, it only works for skin and hide. But not on metals,’ the revelation was important but he didn’t need it now. Death stared Killian in his eyes.

  Eyes gouged out from the base of the wincers. The worms screamed so loud; it nearly made him deaf.

  ‘Now these fuckers can see! Now, of all the time,’ Killian flinched.

  The discovery taught him just what he needed to know. Maybe there was another plan then. Or he was sure to die.

  ‘If I keep my head down, and make it to the next pile from underneath the filth; I would dunk down and make it through the pit hole’, Killian thought.

  The pit holes were large openings that opened into the underground garbage holding units. The waste that the Worms couldn’t dispose was dumped inside the pit hole.

  .

  The worms retracted their wincers. Killian fought the urge to throw up, struggling to move with the dagger stuck to his hand. He barely made it to the pile, when he felt the weight lift above.

  The Blue Bloods would examine the worms by slicing them up to extract anything important. It was said to be an occasional thing, but it didn’t help Killian’s fear. If they find human remains inside the worm, they would know that someone has been going through their trash. And the worms didn’t help exactly.

  'Disgusting, was what they are.' Killian’s eyes widened.

  The clock’s dial was ticking too fast.

  ‘Ruben's semidigested guts and eyes would give him away in no time,’ Killian remained frozen as the Worms aimed for him.

  Like all things corrupt, the Blue Bloods possessed powers. Something that encompassed space. But not time. The Gods would be damned if they could manipulate time.

  Just then the huge dial beeps.

  Even if Kilian didn't glance up, he know what time it was.

  01:00:01

  The wincers cut through the piles. One of them curled up against his leg, drawing him up.

  Before thinking long, his dagger was already in the air. It caught the red of the sky, as it hit the wincer. More gooey filth poured out of it.

  The wincer disjointed, making him fall from a height. Killian landed on his back in a pile of metal. Some pierced through his skin, and blood oozed out. It drew in the attention of the other worms. They clinched their wincers, coming after him.

  'Fine. If this is what they want.'

  The dial beeped in unison. The wincers came at him, one after one. He dodged one as it came to wrap his right thigh. The other wrapped around his waist.

  Chop.

  The wincer’s long, snake like part fell to the ground. It seemed to have startled the worm, making it loosen the grip around his waist. Another one tugged on his foot. It stuck to his foot pad, and Killian had no choice but to slash through it. At least three of the worms were dismembered.

  But it didn't instil any fear in them. They were still coming at him.

  ‘I didn't want to die. I didn't want to die.’

  'Not yet.'

  Then one of them lifted him high to the sky and dropped him hard onto the pile.

  ‘Fuck’

  The impact had hit him harder on the head. He probably had busted something on the inside of his skull. Blood flowed out. From the corner of his ear.

  Killian winced. His feet kicked. More slime rained over him, as he struggled.

  Then...it caught his eyes. The mocking lustre of the gem in his hand, which was now covered in the worm’s slime.

  Blood dripped from Killian’s forehead. It drenched the jewel, causing it to emit a radiating glow. He closed his eyes shut, holding onto it. His breath picked up, and his body jolted.

  When he opened his eyes, he was caught somewhere in a state of transit. Everything around him turned still. His body had begun to give up, when he heard that soft voice.

  [Killian Mortez, we have awaited your return.]

  'What were they talking about?'

  [I am, the Spirit Guardian that lives in the Temple Of Lamia.

  You've reached the Realm Of Gods.

  The battles that you win here would determine your fate.]

  'What the fuck have I gotten into?'

  {

  }

  The words popped out mid-air. Not only they had made him uncomfortable but a hell lot embarrassed.

  Killian opened his palm to find the jewel, still shining.

  'What is this thing?'

  [Heed my words, Rag Scrounger. This, is the Gem of Destiny. It was etched from the Chronomancer's Orb.]

  [The Gem only comes in possession of an heir born in Goddess Lamia’s bloodline. But it's power could only be unlocked by the chosen one.]

  [Killian Mortez, you are chosen by the Goddess Lamia, herself.]

  [You were saved by the Goddess, for when the time comes, you alone shall change the Fates of all the Realms

  You'll be taken to another realm shortly. Prepare yourself. You alone can change the destiny of your world. ]