B4T5R vs Naamah

The impact of the falling island sent a shockwave across the five realms and decimated nearly half of Scorch's territory. Dust and ash obscured the sun and thickened the air, forcing Naamah and Verdance to land on a rocky outcrop near one of Cypress' islands. In the distance she could make out thin trees growing on the nearby island, swaying in a nonexistent breeze.

Naamah placed her trident and shield at her feet and sat, collecting her thoughts. After leaving Animi with the natives of Abyss, she had left in search of her teammates. If this tournament allowed the sabotage of matches, there should be no problem with the retrieval of her captured comrades. Abyss teetered on the brink of annihilation and Naamah was ready to break any rule to avoid it.

If the gods or whoever was in charge had a problem with that, they could take it up with her.

#

Less than a mile away, Trenton was having issues with momentum.

The wormhole spit him out with such force that it send him skidding across the Nightlands, tumbling head over heels until his shirt caught on something sharp and he jerked to a stop. Bruised and battered with his shoes nowhere to be seen, he lay there. Above, the sky darkened as ashes fell like snowflakes.

The swaying trees provided little protection from the falling ash and were unlike anything he had ever seen before. Tall and thin, they almost looked like the tentacles of some giant creature. In fact, the entire landscape seemed to pulse beneath him.

As if to confirm his beliefs, the ground shifted and the movement of the trees grew erratic as they coiled and thrashed in the air, attempting to snatch a serpentine figure from the sky. The shape wove between the trees as Trenton dazedly tried to figure out whether to call them tentacles or not, before it was brought crashing to the ground a few yards away.

It was a dragon. Or, at least, he thought it was a dragon. Dragging himself to his feet, Trenton narrowly avoided being crushed by a collapsing tentacle as it was sliced in half. The dragon wasn't going to go down without a fight.

And neither was its rider. Naamah jumped from Verdance's back, landing heavily on the fleshy earth with her trident clenched in her hands. She stabbed at the remaining tentacles as Verdance ripped yet another from the ground. The terrain rolled and bucked, a high-pitched screech emanating from a hundred toothy mouths.

From where he stood, hands clamped firmly over his ears, Trenton could see the mouths begin to widen and blend into each other, forming a fissure that threatened to engulf both Naamah and Verdance. Attempting to warn them, his voice was lost amongst the wailing. He lowered his hands and set off at a run, quickly closing the gap between himself and the others.

When he reached Naamah, Trenton grabbed her shoulder only to be struck upside the head with the weighted end of her trident. She spun around to face him and jabbed the pointed end at him accusingly.

"Call off your demons, heathen," she spat, barely audible over the noise. "We have no time for your games."

"No, I don't think you get it—"

Trenton figured that Naamah had only heard the word "no" because the butt of the trident swung into view again, nearly taking off the end of his nose. Behind them, Verdance pulled free of the grasping tendrils and took flight.

"Will you just listen to me?" Trenton shouted, dodging a kick. He rushed forward and grabbed the trident before Naamah could swing it again. "You need to get out of here."

"Get your filthy hands off of—"

"For the love of god please shut up." He tried to pull the trident away from her. "We are five minutes away from being eaten and you keep trying to kick me in the crotch. That is not helpful or nice."

"Were it not for your demons we would not even be in such a situation," said Naamah.

"Um, sure, that's nice. You know what else is nice? Your dragon can fly. That's cool. Dragons that can fly are pretty awesome and I always sort of wanted to meet one and right now seems like a good time. Let's get on your dragon and fly away from the big nasty toothy things that are trying to eat us, okay?"

Naamah dropped the trident and Trenton stumbled, not expecting its weight. She eyed him for a moment before glancing up at Verdance, who was circling above. The remaining tentacles made no effort to recapture her and the screeching of the earth had died down.

"I see you understand that surrender is in your best interest," said Naamah.

"What?"

Verdance circled closer, preparing to land, and Naamah leaned down to retrieve her trident. During their brief struggle, a fleshy seam had formed along the ground, like an improperly sutured wound. Disturbed by its appearance, Trenton quickly stepped back.

A low rumble reverberated through the terrain as the seam unhinged itself, swallowing Naamah in the process.

Trenton made a grab for her as she fell but only managed to take hold of the trident before the seam snapped shut and began to dissipate back into the landscape. Within, Naamah found herself unable to breathe as the slimy walls pressed closer. She jammed her knee into one wall and her foot into the other, gathering her strength and managing to pry the walls apart just enough to breathe again. The air was hot and humid, tasting of decay, and an acrid smell came from below.

On the surface, Trenton panicked. Not only was he sore and frustrated, he had just watched the very ground itself eat a perfectly innocent—if not a little bitchy, in his opinion—woman. The five realms were strange and somewhat terrifying but this went too far.

Jabbing the trident into the remaining cracks in the earth, Trenton attempted to pry the seam open again. He had briefly seen the inside of the mouth before it closed and there had been no throat. It was like a venus flytrap, he figured. She was still in there.

Until she was dissolved alive, of course.

Verdance landed as Trenton managed to open a tiny crack in the mouth. The trident had been shoved into the seam and now he hung off the end of it, attempting to use his body weight to widen the opening.

"Oh, hi," he said. "Nice of you to land and all, I guess. We're just having a few, um, issues. Please don't eat me."

Leaning closer, Verdance nudged Trenton off the end of the trident and lay on it instead. The fissure opened wide enough for a human to pass through and the top of Naamah's head was barely visible below.

"That is… deeper than I expected it to be," said Trenton. "I hope she's still conscious."

"I am, heathen."

"Okay well um you sound," he paused, "healthy. Not dissolved."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing. I'll be right down." Trenton looked around for something ropelike and, finding only a dragon and some very nasty-looking tentacles, he decided to risk going down empty-handed. He made it about halfway down before wedging himself firmly between the two walls. "Hey, um, lady?"

"Naamah."

"Right—"

"You can also call me 'your highness.'"

"I'd really rather not it sounds a bit creepy. Anyway, you can probably climb out now. I think. You look buff and manly. In a very feminine way, of course."

Naamah rolled her eyes. Bracing herself, she began to climb out of the fissure, clambering onto Trenton as if he were no more than a convenient tree branch.

"Oof. You. Are heavier than you look," he said.  

Standing on him, Naamah could reach Verdance's tail, where it hung over the edge of the fissure. Grasping it, Naamah freed herself in an instant and, although she was a bit slimy, sustained few injuries. She turned back and watched Trenton fail repeatedly in his attempts to climb out. Only an idiot puts themselves in danger to help someone without a way to help themselves. Either an idiot or a saint.

After a few moments, she offered her hand.