The atmosphere at the viewing seats once again changed drastically. Lyriss already lost count of how many times it did. But there was a complete silence as the elemental grabbed onto the goblins hand, well more like its finger given their disparity in size. Elementals were, unbeknownst to many, more like a monster than an intelligent species and as such they attacked anything that wasn’t part of its species.

But this elemental didn’t attack the goblin, it didn’t even resist as the goblin pulled it upwards. His earlier mutters against the worms should’ve been looked at as a primal language at most, nothing more than barks from a warg.

Instead it held a clear conversation with the goblin, coming to a mutual understanding, though sadly the contents of their conversation were obscured by the battle raging in the background.

Thought shot through her head, making her even stop commenting. Is it really an elemental? Even if it was a deviant it wouldn’t side with the goblins. A fire-golem? Even making it speak would be far above the control of any summoner she knew. A demon? No demon could stand exposing itself to such glowing white golden flames.

Every species she could think of, any possible variant, nothing matched it. No, there is one. But could it really be one? The spectators would have been shocked had they looked at her in this moment, her all-accompanying smile turning into a frown. But even they had their eyes glued towards the sight below them.

Without any other possibility she muttered the one solution she reached, a species gone since millennia. The true progenitors of what people nowadays called elementals; beings formed from mana in harsh surroundings. “A High-Elemental.”

When I grabbed his hand, the green skin lifted me up pretty easily, placing me on its shoulders, the bloodlike armor grabbing a hold of me. Well, sitting atop a shifting pool of blood still sounds better than inside a worm’s stomach.

“Oy devil, do you have a name?” The giant called out to me.

“Pretty sure I did.” I laughed out. “Can’t seem to remember it now.”

“My brother must have hit you harder than I thought.” He chuckled triumphantly. “Just check your status page.”

“Status page?” I asked in wonder, though my question was soon answered, giving me even more in its wake.

“Nope, no can do.” I sighed in resignation while guiding my hand towards a worm, flames crashing into it.

“You’re not within the system?” He sounded shocked, nearly missing his strike against the burning worm.

“Probably am, it just stopped working through some error.”

“That’s the same thing.” He flicked his hand, throwing the burning corpse at another worm. “I’ll just continue calling you devil then.”

“Then you’ll be stuck with giant.” Condensing my flames into another sphere I roasted a worm coming from the other side.

“I have a proper name.” He slashed his claws through another worm, trails of blood flying of them as they departed from its body. “Call me Goraa.”

Suddenly another one of his kind appeared besides us, bursting out of the ground just like the worms before him, though it seems the he controlled the sand to let him move through it, rather than brute forcing his way through.

“It seems you were successful in persuading it.” His voice was just like his outer appearance, old, with a tint of wisdom.

“Yeah, he’ll help us.”

“Good, then make haste, it’s about time you come back.” When he finished his words the ground beneath him opened once more, making him disappear the same way he appeared.

“We should go. I’m trusting you to help me keep them safe.” He turned around, rushing back towards the pack of goblins he left behind.

“Just get me there.”

Sitting atop his shoulder allowed me to have a better view of my surroundings, unblocked from the ever-twisting worms and other monster. The bloody sand was everywhere, leading towards walls of grey stone circling all around us, the only openings blocked by metal gates, covering a dark portal big enough that anything desired could make its way through, just like these worms before probably.

 Sitting in between these doors were torches, giving of a faint light, glistening up towards giant spikes sticking out atop the wall, blocking out any possibility of climbing out of it. Just like the eerie red sky, which gave out some kind of light without any visible source, blocked any attempt the birds had at flying through it, making this space completely shut off. Pretty sure that this place is a colosseum where anything that enters never leaves.

Though it wasn’t this thing that disturbed me. These worms would all fall sooner or later if we continued to work together. The show we pulled off as we slaughtered our ways proved that. But while we neared the group of surviving green skins another gate showed up at the other side. This one far bigger than the others, towering above them with at least five times their height.

Quickly we reached the mass of his comrades, enticing one of them to shout out towards us. “Goraa, you seriously brought the murderer here?”

“The murderer will keep you safe, it’s that or dying here.” He focused weirdly on the part of the murderer, making me think if it really was the right decision before he continued. “Also call him devil.”

“Calling him the devil doesn’t make it any better. It would also mean that the death of his majesty was wished for by a god.” Bitterness swung with the voice at the mere thought.

I got the feeling that there was some kind of misconception, probably through the language, which I didn’t know why I could understand or how they understood me. I let out a sigh. “Haaaaa, why did I go along with your offer again?”

“Because you didn’t want to die as a worm’s snack?”

“Ah, yeah, there was that thing. Can I change my opinion? Sounds better than being called devil all over.”

“An honorable warrior shouldn’t break his words so easily.” While his words may have sounded berating the glee in it showed its true feelings.

“And this honorable warrior is called devil all over.”

“We’ll see about that after taking care of these worms.”

He was right, our little skit had to end as more and more of the worms appeared around us.