The Second Ubtir

Selen knew the hissing worm was close, but decided not to say anything to Rudsis. It would eventually find him, no matter what he did, and the result would be the same. If he knew it was coming for him tonight, he'd simply lie awake, and would try to fight it off. Selen knew this because she'd seen it with her foresight.

Night came, and she perched on a branch in her owl form, observing things below her as Rudsis lay down to sleep for the night. It wouldn't be long now. The hissing worm could smell dreams.

Soon, she heard what could have been mistaken as a snake's hissing, but it was much more quiet. Almost impossible to hear. She honed her ears, however, and could hear the vibrating noise as the approaching ubtir stuck out its tongue to smell the air around it.

It emerged from a bush then, crawling so close to the ground that it could just as well be dragging itself on it. But no. Countless legs moved in unison to carry the hissing worm as it slithered, getting closer. It's body was segmented as many times as it had pairs of legs, but its head looked like that of a snake. The difference was that its mouth was full of fangs that protruded over the lower jaw, and its eyes were big and round with circular pupils so it could see in the darkness.

It approached Rudsis slowly with a body at least three times the length of a grown man, and as thick as a thigh. Its countless, tiny legs moved with such efficiency that the worm seemed to slide fluidly on the ground. Once it was close enough, it remained motionless for a couple of minutes, observing the sleeping human.

Rudsis was sleeping under a tree. It had been five days since his encounter with the chirping spider, and his skills in traversing the forest were improving every day with the owl's guidance. He'd grown confident enough to not hide in caves anymore. Lying on his back, he turned over on one of his sides, and the worm flinched imperceptibly. But once it was sure the human had not become aware of it, without even having to curl or prepare in any way, its head shot itself directly at Rudsis' leg to bite it. It retracted just as quickly, and allowed the poison to spread throughout Rudsis' veins for a few seconds before coiling its body and falling asleep.

Selen looked down for a few seconds, took air in, pushed it out, shook her wings, and resigned herself to waiting. There was nothing she could do now, and her foresight told her that things could go either way. Rudsis might live, but it was just as likely that he would die tonight.

What humans didn't know about gods, was that they had the impulse to pray every now and then. They had their own stories of a being even stronger and more powerful than them. Inarentas, Afena's people, had known a few of those stories, but they didn't know that the gods suspected this being to be creator of everything and everyone.

"Please, Dit," Selen prayed. "Please, let him live."

Selen waited.

Rudsis dreamed.

A certain evening, when Rudsis was eighteen, his father had punched his sister until he cornered her up against a wall. It had been mere coincidence that Rudsis decided to visit them that night. Ever since the death of their mother, their father found a refuge from his loss in wine. Nothing had happened at first, but as Rudsis' sister grew and resembled their mother more and mother, their father had slowly but surely grown to hate her.

She was unconscious when Rudsis entered the house, and he heard his father screaming in rage. He hurried to his sister room, and tackled his father without even thinking. The older man was lifted off the floor and crashed against a wall. There was the sickening sound of something cracking, but Rudsis didn't hear it. Taking his sister into his arms, he lay her on the bed, and hurried to get a healer.

His sister took months to recuperate, but she did get completely better, and even married a noble from another city. She moved out, and as far as Rudsis knew, was living a pleasant, comfortable life.

His father died. Rudsis acted somber and serious during his burning, but he was proud of having saved his sister. He'd saved her. Without him, she would have died a violent, miserable, hateful death.

"My hero," she always called him.

Rudsis was a hero.

The dream always played out the same, exactly as he remembered it. This time, however…

Rudsis was a child when he was about to tackle his father, and managed nothing but to bounce off the adult's leg and fall sprawling on the floor. His father stopped kicking the unconscious form of his daughter, walked over to his son, crouched, and slapped the little boy across the face. Rudsis rolled on the floor, and it was him that crashed against the wall this time.

He wanted to get up, but couldn't. His body wouldn't respond. It lay on the floor, unmoving, as if dead. But Rudsis could see everything that was happening, and his father had gone back to kick and stomp on his sister.

"No!" he tried to shout. "NO, NOOOOOOO."

But not sound came out of his mouth. All he could do was stare in horror inside a dead body.

"No," he thought. "No. This didn't happen like this. I saved her. I'm her hero. I killed him. I stopped him. I saved my sister. She married and went away. She had children, and I've gone to visit them. She has five children so far. I saved her. I killed him. I'm not a child. I was eighteen. It's been fifteen year since that..."

Outside Rudsis' dreams, the owl saw him tossing and turning, sweating, sobbing.

"The hissing worm will kill you in dreams," she said out loud, "but your mind is yours, and in it, you rule. The hissing worm will kill you in dreams, but your mind is yours, and in it, you rule."

Back in his dreams, Rudsis could hear a whisper. A part of a song, or a poem along with the grunts, growls, and soft thuds of his father's hatred inflicted upon his sister.

He remembered the words now. "Your mind is yours, and in it, you rule."

"This didn't happen," he thought. "This isn't happening."

Everything disappeared. The house, his sister, father, and the room they were in. Rudsis found himself standing in an endless black space and before him, a huge, strange monster part worm, part snake. It was coiled at his feet, and sleeping.

Rudsis reached for his spears, the short ones hanging in a holder on his belt. They were there, as they always were, and he took one step as slowly and silently as possible to raise it above his head, tip pointing menacingly down at the head of the wicked monster before him.

He drove the spear down with both hands, and woke up. A sharp, deep gasp escaped from his mouth as he bolted up right with wide eyes. Beads of sweat made their way down his whole body.

"Amazing," said the owl. "Truly amazing, Rudsis."

Rudsis got on his feet as quickly as possible to get away from the sleeping worm.

"Don't worry, it will sleep for days now," said the owl. "You could sleep right next to it and--"

Unheeding, the former guard took the sword and raised it above his head to deal a mighty, cleaving blow at the monster.

"If you want to waste your energy with futile tasks, why don't you try jumping up to the moon?" said the owl.

"It's a monster!" Rudsis shouted.

"Exactly. A nearly immortal monster, child. Just like the spider, you cannot kill it."

That didn't stop Rudsis from letting out a frustrated, shrill scream while pounding on the worm's form as many times as he could before his arms gave out.

"That was rash," said the owl when he was done.

"You said it wouldn't wake up."

"I said it would sleep for days now, and was about to say that you could sleep next to it without worry. I didn't know if being beaten multiple times while screaming would wake it up or not."

"I took my chances."

"Clearly," said he owl. "Bad dreams?"

Without replying, Rudsis took his few belongings, and asked, "Are we still heading the same way?"

"For one more day, yes."

Silently, somberly, Rudsis continued his journey.

Amused, Selen followed him.