Chosen

The sand exploded.

A massive chitinous body erupted from the ground, spraying debris into the air. The creature was beyond anything the prisoners—or even the Targari—had ever seen.

A colossal earthworm, its body larger than a temple, its skin a pale, ancient white, as if it had never seen the sun. Its mandibles clicked, releasing a low, unnatural hum that sent shivers through the desert.

---

The prisoners screamed and ran in all directions.

The Targari scouts on the ridge leaped to their feet.

"By the sands," one whispered.

Another, gripping the hilt of his sword, said in disbelief, "That is no ordinary worm."

Even Nayomi's breath caught in her throat.

"It shouldn't exist," she murmured. "This… this is from the old stories."

-

In the chaos, one prisoner stood still.

Leo.

He did not run. He did not scream.

Instead, his eyes locked onto the creature's.

For a moment—just a heartbeat—it felt as if the earth itself had fallen silent.

The worm's massive head hovered above him, its mandibles twitching, its deep black voids of eyes staring into his soul.

Then, it lowered itself slightly, its movements slower, almost… cautious.

The Targari warriors gasped.

"No," one of them whispered. "That's impossible."

Nayomi's fingers clenched around the hilt of her dagger. "It recognizes him."

The earthworm did not strike.

Instead, it shook the sand around Leo, sending ripples across the dunes—before slowly sinking back into the earth.

It had judged him.

And it had let him live.

---

The other prisoners were dead.

Devoured. Swallowed by the sands.

Only Leo remained, standing in the midst of their remains, his clothes torn, his body covered in dust, but his life untouched.

The Targari rode down in stunned silence.

One warrior finally spoke. "What… what just happened?"

Another shook his head. "That was no accident. The worm… it should have devoured him."

They turned to Nayomi. "What do we do?"

She did not answer immediately.

She looked at Leo, the silent boy who had faced the sands and lived.

Then, she turned to her warriors.

"We take him back."

For the first time in hundreds of years, the desert had chosen someone.

And Nayomi needed to know why.

---

As the Targari warriors gathered around Leo, still stunned by what they had witnessed, a weak, wheezing voice broke the silence.

"Hey! Over here! I'm alive! Please, don't leave me!"

The warriors turned, startled.

From beneath the bloated, rotting carcass of a desert beast, a filthy, half-buried figure crawled out. His face was twisted in a mix of relief and absolute disgust at himself.

It was Cassian.

Segrit, one of the scouts, burst into laughter. "By the sands, what is that smell? Did you hide in a corpse, you rat?"

Another scout gagged. "I can taste it in the air!"

Cassian, still gasping, waved a trembling hand. "I had no choice! That monster was eating everyone—I did what I had to!"

Segrit shook his head, grinning. "Survived the desert only to be cursed to smell like death for a month. Maybe the sands were punishing you after all!"

The other warriors chuckled, some stepping back from Cassian to avoid his overwhelming stench.

But Nayomi wasn't laughing.

Her gaze remained on the disturbed sands where the ancient worm had vanished. Its presence was no accident. Its recognition of Leo was no coincidence.

Something far greater than them all had stirred in the desert that night.

And she needed answers.