Vortex Origins
Chapter 59: Final battle at sandworms valley - 2

Chapter 59: Final battle at sandworms valley - 2

Kael knees buckled.

The strength drained from his limbs, and he dropped, hands sinking into the scorched sand. His vision blurred at the edges, but he forced himself to focus.

"well, that was messy. Isn’t that right, ash?’

His gaze flicked across the ruined valley—then locked onto movement. A figure crouched in the distance, hands tearing into the sand.

"Ash?"

Kael frowned. Ash wasn’t just searching—he was digging. Fingers clawing, arms moving with an urgency Kael had never seen. Blood smeared across the grains.

Panic.

Kael’s stomach twisted.

"What the hell are you doing?"

he himself up. His eyes never left Ash.

Something was wrong.

Something was very, very wrong.

Ash would never act like this. Not unless something was terribly wrong.

Kael’s breath slowed.

Then—he felt it.

A pulse. Faint but unmistakable.

His stomach twisted.

’Huh. Ten soul energy?’

Realization hit like a hammer.

’Right... We gain Energy by killing now.’

His gaze snapped back to Ash.

Kael forced his legs to move, pushing off the blood-soaked ground, staggering forward.He lost so much energy, his body screamed in protest, but he barely noticed.

They had escaped sandworm valley.

They had survived.

’So why— why is Ash still digging over there?

Then he saw it.

The sand shifted. A ripple, subtle at first, then more pronounced.

Dozens of them.

Beneath the surface. Moving toward Ash.

Kael’s pulse pounded in his ears.

"ASH!"

His voice tore through the silence.

"Get away from there!"

Ash didn’t move.

His fingers quickly ripped into the sand, hands raw, streaked with blood. His breath hitched, his jaw clenched so tight it trembled. Tears mixed with dirt, slipping down his face, falling onto the ground he refused to stop clawing at.

A familiar chime rang in his mind.

"[Soul Energy: 25%]"

His body shuddered.

"Not now... I need to save him... he’s still down there."

The worms closed in.

One of it lunged at Ash.

A spear of ice pierced through its skull, pinning it mid-attack. The creature spasmed—then stilled. Frozen solid.

Silence.

The other worms hesitated, their clicking maws snapping in eerie protest.

A shadow loomed overhead.

Ash lifted his gaze.

A man hovered above the battlefield. Dressed in a pristine black suit, hands lazily at his sides. Jagged wings of ice spread behind him, shimmering under the moonlight. His expression was unreadable—sharp eyes dissecting the scene below with eerie calm.

His gaze landed on Ash.

"You look pathetic."

Another worm lunged.

The man didn’t move.

Frost bloomed in the air. The worm froze mid-air, its body encased in ice before shattering against the ground.

The remaining creatures shrank back, screeching, slithering away into the shifting dunes.

Ash didn’t react.

He turned back to the sand. His hands—shaking, torn, caked in blood—kept digging.

Then—

A voice.

Soft and Feminine.

"Hey, kid."

Footsteps crunched against the grit.

Ash didn’t look up.

The woman approached, the dim moonlight catching the strands of her wavy brown hair. Loose strands framed her face, half-hidden beneath the shadow of her hooded cloak. Her amber eyes, sharp yet strangely gentle, flickered with something unreadable. Dust clung to her dark clothes, and a faint scent of iron and earth lingered in the air around her.

She crouched beside him, close enough that her presence pressed against the edges of his awareness.

"What are you doing?"

Her voice was steady, but laced with something—concern, maybe.

Ash didn’t answer.

Her hand, rough with faint scars, reached for his shoulder.

"Kid, stop. You’re hurting yourself—"

His body went rigid. Then—

A scream.

Raw and Shattered.

"Leave me alone!"

The air shuddered.

For a moment, the battlefield seemed to hold its breath.

Then—

Ash kept digging.

Blood. Sand. Desperation.

Behind the woman, Kael moved.

His steps were deliberate, heavy. Each one seemed to crack the air with tension, as though his very presence could break something. He reached Ash and yanked his arm, trying to pull him away from the madness.

"Stop, dude! What the hell are you—"

Kael’s voice died in his throat.

Ash’s face was a mess—blood, sand, and tears caked over every inch of him. His eyes, wide and glassy, were locked on nothing. His body was shaking, fingers still clawing at the earth like it was the only thing holding him together.

Kael’s grip tightened on Ash’s shoulder, his breath catching.

"What’s going on?"

No response.

A knot twisted in Kael’s chest. His heart slammed against his ribs.

’Max.’

The thought hit him like a slap.

His hands dug into Ash’s shoulders, shaking him harder than before.

"Where’s Max? I thought he’d be gone with the other."

Ash’s voice, when it came, was hoarse—empty.

"Max... got eaten. The worm took him underground."

Kael’s stomach churned, a sick realization washing over him.

"Shit."

He dropped to his knees beside Ash, hands digging into the sand, feeling the coldness seep into his skin. He didn’t care. The sand wasn’t the only thing that felt endless now.

The suited man watched them for a moment, lips curling into something almost disdainful. He exhaled slowly, his eyes flicking to the horizon.

"They’re either idiots... or all flame kids are just this reckless."

The woman stood by, arms crossed, her expression unreadable.

"The smart one got eaten. Shouldn’t he be dead by now?"

Neither Ash nor Kael said a word. The digging continued.

The suited man sighed, disinterested, and began to turn away.

Then, in the distance, the ground cracked open.

A sandworm exploded from the earth, its segmented body thrashing wildly, its mouth opening wide in a deafening screech. The air vibrated as it dove back underground, vanishing with a force that shook the battlefield.

The suited man paused mid-step. He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing as he studied the disturbance.

Ash and Kael stopped digging in unison. Their eyes locked on the shifting sand, the unease growing heavy between them.

Another tremor.

Then, the worm reappeared—its massive body slithering across the ground with unnerving fluidity. But it wasn’t attacking.

It swayed, twisted, almost as if it were alive in a way it shouldn’t be—erratic, spasming, its movements like the flickering of a broken marionette.

It stopped.

Ash didn’t blink.

His grip on the earth tightened, nails biting into the sand as if pulling something from it. His chest was still, but his eyes burned with something too fierce to ignore.

The worm convulsed.

Then—a hand.

A human hand tore through the creature’s side, bloodied fingers clutching a jagged blade. The thick, black blood of the worm spilled in torrents.

Ash’s lips curled. The edge of a grin, as broken as everything around him, formed.

Kael’s breath caught. He exhaled, relief and disbelief twisting into something that came out as a laugh.

"Hah! I knew he wouldn’t die from something that stupid!"

From deep within the worm’s torn body, a figure emerged.

Max.

He climbed from the ruptured flesh like something that didn’t belong in the world of the living. His body was drenched in the creature’s blood, dripping like a grim reminder of survival. His breath came in sharp, uneven bursts, his muscles trembling from the strain of tearing his way through death itself.

Max spat, his mouth twisted in disgust, flecks of black blood spattering the sand.

"Yuck."

His voice rasped, strained from the bile in his throat.

"I really hope this skill works inside my body too..."

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes narrowing as he locked gazes with Ash and Kael.

Then he smirked.

It wasn’t cocky. It wasn’t confident. It was just—there. As if he knew they’d be here. As if he knew they’d be watching. As if he knew, somehow, he would make it back.