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Description
     Vox was the only one to be awake at the crack of dawn. This was no real thing to be impressed about, Vox never slept. His race does not feel the pangs of fatigue that humans are susceptible to.
     The sun was peeking out over the hills, the valley below was bathed in a strange light. Anything that had any height at all had a long and deep shadow. The sun was directly in front of Vox's face, he was facing east. The team had camped out on an outcropping of rock that hanged above a wide valley on the edge of the forest they had escaped from.
     The new sunlight feathered the faces of the others. They started to awaken, and Vox walked over to them.
     Since Siegfried was the only one not stirring, Vox bent over him slowly and leveled his face with his victim's. He made his eye bright red and deepened his voice. He grabbed Sig and hoisted him to his own full height, all eight feet of it. Sig, not realizing what was going on, was startled when Vox boomed in a stentorian voice, "WAKE UP, LAZYBONES!!! Sig's eyes snapped open and he yelled, but then he became aware of his surroundings and shut up.
     "Put me down, Vox."
     Vox set him down with a chuckle and went away.
     After his heart rate settled down, Sig asked no one in particular, "So, when are we leaving?"
     His misdirected question was answered by Mella, "Let everyone wake up a bit first, then we'll have breakfast, then we'll go." She turned to Vox. "Thank you for destroying our eardrums, Vox."
     He grinned and sat down.
     When all the tents were put away, they started breakfast, which was a meager thing of biscuits and dried fruit. You had to ration as hard as you could when on the go.
     They slung their packs on their shoulders as soon as their appetites were whetted, and set down upon the nonexistent trail.
     The deep drop to the valley below was on their right, and the dank forest was on the left. They walked along the strip of sand and rock that was the woodline.
     Everyone was tired, no one got enough sleep last night.Everyone was cursing Vilehawks in their minds, and no one could think of a way to prevent that from happening again.
     The mood was bitter overall.
     Dim was at the head of the motley pack, with everyone fanned out behind him.
     He stopped abruptly, and everyone slammed into someone else. Without turning around, he asked, "Do you hear that?"
     Everyone strained their ears. A slight rustling could be heard, and it seemed to be coming from a good distance away.
     It was also directly to their left.
     Everyone directed their attention to the forest, scanning the dense foliage for movement. Dim turned to the rest of the group and said, "Wait here, I'll check it out. If I'm not back in ten minutes, send someone after me."
     He dashed into the forest.
     Sig started to follow him, but Mella held him back. "No, Sig. Dim needs this."
     They waited in twilight on the forest's edge.

     Dim crashed through the forest at speed, expertly dodging tree branches and underbrush. He drew his sword from the sheath n his back and jumped over a log. He landed on one knee, and looked around. He had landed in a clearing devoid of scrubby underbrush, it was perfectly silent. He got to his feet and hefted his sword to ready position on his shoulder.
     The rustling started up again directly in front of him, he saw bushes move in the sparse dawn light.
     A long, slithering, snakelike being crept out from under the bushes at astonishing speed. It did more than just brush the bushes out of the way, it uprooted them. The snake was as wide around as a good sized tree. It was segmented, and had a sick, slimy look to it. It stopped in front of Dim and reared up on it's lower parts.
     At first it seemed like the part where the head was supposed to be exploded, but instead a bunch of flesh was discarded violently from the area where the head was. Its head emerged from the resulting hole. It was a terrible head, triangular and tough looking, with razor teeth in the sizable jaw. It opened its maw wide and saliva dripped, its eyes glowed red.
     From the front of the worm two arms burst forth, spindly, spiderlike things, with a three foot long scythe on each end. The arms seemed to serve no purpose but rending flesh. From either side of the head two pockets unfolded, revealing batteries of spikes that dripped green venom. Dim knew that those spikes could be fired at speeds great enough to pierce tank armor.
     The Hawk larva screeched and began to fire its missiles at incredible speeds, you couldn't see them in the air. Dim adeptly blocked them with his sword, but that was all he could do. He couldn't move left or right for fear of losing his concentration- he was pinned down. The Vileworm slithered toward him, dragging its twenty feet of tail behind it. It drew itself up to its full height-about ten feet- and continued its barrage. It inched closer and closer; Dim knew that once it got close enough it would slice at him with its claws until he was nothing but a smear. He kept up his guard and waited. He had a plan.
     The larva was five feet from him, four, three, two-
     There was a sound of steel on bone.
     Dim's sword was locked between the Worm's claws, neither of them could move. The larva was too stupid to think of firing more spikes; it wanted its claws freed.
     In a lightning quick movement, Dim twisted his sword, flinging the thing's claws in opposite directions, then swiped at the Worm's belly. It screeched as a deep gash appeared in its core, it gushed green fluid. It wasn't finished yet, however. It brought its tail around and flung it at Dim, he jumped over it, but then felt something hit him in the back. He felt a burning sensation, then slammed into a tree. He stood and recovered, but saw that he had been spattered with a toxic grenade. He whipped off his coat before the acid melted the flesh from his back, and was careul to hold his breath. He ran to a spot in the clearing that hadn't been tainted by the Worm's toxins, then let fly his secret weapon.
     From a pocket in his pants he pulled a handful of odd pellets, he drew back and tossed them at his enemy.
     The clusterbombs exploded all over the larva, engulfing it in flames. He heard a bone-rattling screech, then the fire died off. He took his only chance; he bounded at his enemy, sword high. He brought it down through the Hawk larva's neck; his sword bit into the ground when he landed. He looked up at the Worm's head, it separated from the rest of its body and fell to the ground, spurting green blood. The rest of the body followed suit, and crashed to the ground with a mighty thud.
     His foe dispatched, he turned the other way and headed back to the others.

     "Dim, you look awful!" exclaimed Shara as he stepped from the woods.
     "Yeah, it was a Vilehawk search party."
     Syxx asked, "It didn't have wings yet?"
     "No. It was just emerging from its egg."
     Syxx continued, "So it had its spikes out?"
     Dim hefted his sword. It was coated in bright green venom, but it didn't have a dent anywhere.
     "Ah."
     Mella congratulated him, "Nice job, Dim. I don't think any of us would have been able to dispose of that thing this early in the morning.
     "Now, let's keep going. We have to reach Arkendale in the next few days, so we might as well not waste any time."

Description
     Vox was the only one to be awake at the crack of dawn. This was no real thing to be impressed about, Vox never slept. His race does not feel the pangs of fatigue that humans are susceptible to.
     The sun was peeking out over the hills, the valley below was bathed in a strange light. Anything that had any height at all had a long and deep shadow. The sun was directly in front of Vox's face, he was facing east. The team had camped out on an outcropping of rock that hanged above a wide valley on the edge of the forest they had escaped from.
     The new sunlight feathered the faces of the others. They started to awaken, and Vox walked over to them.
     Since Siegfried was the only one not stirring, Vox bent over him slowly and leveled his face with his victim's. He made his eye bright red and deepened his voice. He grabbed Sig and hoisted him to his own full height, all eight feet of it. Sig, not realizing what was going on, was startled when Vox boomed in a stentorian voice, "WAKE UP, LAZYBONES!!! Sig's eyes snapped open and he yelled, but then he became aware of his surroundings and shut up.
     "Put me down, Vox."
     Vox set him down with a chuckle and went away.
     After his heart rate settled down, Sig asked no one in particular, "So, when are we leaving?"
     His misdirected question was answered by Mella, "Let everyone wake up a bit first, then we'll have breakfast, then we'll go." She turned to Vox. "Thank you for destroying our eardrums, Vox."
     He grinned and sat down.
     When all the tents were put away, they started breakfast, which was a meager thing of biscuits and dried fruit. You had to ration as hard as you could when on the go.
     They slung their packs on their shoulders as soon as their appetites were whetted, and set down upon the nonexistent trail.
     The deep drop to the valley below was on their right, and the dank forest was on the left. They walked along the strip of sand and rock that was the woodline.
     Everyone was tired, no one got enough sleep last night.Everyone was cursing Vilehawks in their minds, and no one could think of a way to prevent that from happening again.
     The mood was bitter overall.
     Dim was at the head of the motley pack, with everyone fanned out behind him.
     He stopped abruptly, and everyone slammed into someone else. Without turning around, he asked, "Do you hear that?"
     Everyone strained their ears. A slight rustling could be heard, and it seemed to be coming from a good distance away.
     It was also directly to their left.
     Everyone directed their attention to the forest, scanning the dense foliage for movement. Dim turned to the rest of the group and said, "Wait here, I'll check it out. If I'm not back in ten minutes, send someone after me."
     He dashed into the forest.
     Sig started to follow him, but Mella held him back. "No, Sig. Dim needs this."
     They waited in twilight on the forest's edge.

     Dim crashed through the forest at speed, expertly dodging tree branches and underbrush. He drew his sword from the sheath n his back and jumped over a log. He landed on one knee, and looked around. He had landed in a clearing devoid of scrubby underbrush, it was perfectly silent. He got to his feet and hefted his sword to ready position on his shoulder.
     The rustling started up again directly in front of him, he saw bushes move in the sparse dawn light.
     A long, slithering, snakelike being crept out from under the bushes at astonishing speed. It did more than just brush the bushes out of the way, it uprooted them. The snake was as wide around as a good sized tree. It was segmented, and had a sick, slimy look to it. It stopped in front of Dim and reared up on it's lower parts.
     At first it seemed like the part where the head was supposed to be exploded, but instead a bunch of flesh was discarded violently from the area where the head was. Its head emerged from the resulting hole. It was a terrible head, triangular and tough looking, with razor teeth in the sizable jaw. It opened its maw wide and saliva dripped, its eyes glowed red.
     From the front of the worm two arms burst forth, spindly, spiderlike things, with a three foot long scythe on each end. The arms seemed to serve no purpose but rending flesh. From either side of the head two pockets unfolded, revealing batteries of spikes that dripped green venom. Dim knew that those spikes could be fired at speeds great enough to pierce tank armor.
     The Hawk larva screeched and began to fire its missiles at incredible speeds, you couldn't see them in the air. Dim adeptly blocked them with his sword, but that was all he could do. He couldn't move left or right for fear of losing his concentration- he was pinned down. The Vileworm slithered toward him, dragging its twenty feet of tail behind it. It drew itself up to its full height-about ten feet- and continued its barrage. It inched closer and closer; Dim knew that once it got close enough it would slice at him with its claws until he was nothing but a smear. He kept up his guard and waited. He had a plan.
     The larva was five feet from him, four, three, two-
     There was a sound of steel on bone.
     Dim's sword was locked between the Worm's claws, neither of them could move. The larva was too stupid to think of firing more spikes; it wanted its claws freed.
     In a lightning quick movement, Dim twisted his sword, flinging the thing's claws in opposite directions, then swiped at the Worm's belly. It screeched as a deep gash appeared in its core, it gushed green fluid. It wasn't finished yet, however. It brought its tail around and flung it at Dim, he jumped over it, but then felt something hit him in the back. He felt a burning sensation, then slammed into a tree. He stood and recovered, but saw that he had been spattered with a toxic grenade. He whipped off his coat before the acid melted the flesh from his back, and was careul to hold his breath. He ran to a spot in the clearing that hadn't been tainted by the Worm's toxins, then let fly his secret weapon.
     From a pocket in his pants he pulled a handful of odd pellets, he drew back and tossed them at his enemy.
     The clusterbombs exploded all over the larva, engulfing it in flames. He heard a bone-rattling screech, then the fire died off. He took his only chance; he bounded at his enemy, sword high. He brought it down through the Hawk larva's neck; his sword bit into the ground when he landed. He looked up at the Worm's head, it separated from the rest of its body and fell to the ground, spurting green blood. The rest of the body followed suit, and crashed to the ground with a mighty thud.
     His foe dispatched, he turned the other way and headed back to the others.

     "Dim, you look awful!" exclaimed Shara as he stepped from the woods.
     "Yeah, it was a Vilehawk search party."
     Syxx asked, "It didn't have wings yet?"
     "No. It was just emerging from its egg."
     Syxx continued, "So it had its spikes out?"
     Dim hefted his sword. It was coated in bright green venom, but it didn't have a dent anywhere.
     "Ah."
     Mella congratulated him, "Nice job, Dim. I don't think any of us would have been able to dispose of that thing this early in the morning.
     "Now, let's keep going. We have to reach Arkendale in the next few days, so we might as well not waste any time."