Chapter 612 The Snake domain
They ran toward the monsters, throwing fabric, wrapping fabric, covering the slick, glistening skin.
The monsters began to slow.
Their movements became sluggish. Confused. Desperate.
But there were so many monsters. And not enough fabric. Not enough hands.
Alina watched as a boy from Class B tried to wrap a monster alone. The creature shook him off, and he fell to the ground, crying. A girl from Class C threw a servant’s apron at a monster, but it wasn’t enough to cover the massive body. The monster kept moving, kept grinding its teeth, kept reaching for the children.
"WE NEED MORE!" someone shouted.
"THERE’S NOT ENOUGH!"
Alina’s heart pounded.
She looked around again, her eyes searching, her mind racing.
And then she saw them.
The frozen servants.
They were standing like statues all across the playground, their trays still in their hands, their faces blank. Some wore jackets. Some wore aprons. Some wore long coats over their uniforms.
Their clothes were fabric.
Alina ran to the nearest servant.
"I’M SORRY," she whispered.
She pulled off the servant’s jacket and ran to the next. The apron. The coat. The hat.
She gathered the fabric in her arms and ran back to the children.
"HERE! MORE FABRIC!"
She threw the jacket to a girl who was struggling to cover a monster. She threw the apron to a boy whose blanket had been too small. She threw the coat to a group of children who were trying to wrap a monster together.
The monsters slowed.
More. More. More.
Alina ran to the frozen staff members: the cooks, the gardeners, the maintenance workers who had been watching the games, who were now frozen in place, their eyes blank.
She took their jackets. Their aprons. Their gloves. Their hats.
She didn’t stop.
She couldn’t stop.
The monsters were still moving. Still reaching. Still trying to grab the children.
But they were slower now. Much slower. Their movements were sluggish, confused, desperate for air.
"KEEP GOING!" Alina shouted. "DON’T STOP!"
The children kept going.
They threw fabric. They wrapped fabric. They covered the monsters’ skin, inch by inch, piece by piece.
One monster fell. Then another. Then another.
Their massive bodies hit the ground, sending tremors through the earth.
The children cheered. But there were still more.
And somewhere in the chaos, Luna and Vlad Jr. had a different idea.
While the other children were throwing fabric and wrapping monsters, while Alina was running from frozen servant to frozen servant collecting jackets and aprons, while the playground echoed with screams and the grinding of circular teeth, Luna and Vlad Jr. were moving in the opposite direction to get help.
Vlad Jr. had shifted back into his bat form, his small dark wings beating furiously against the heavy, dust-filled air. And on his back, clinging to his fur with her fingers buried deep, was Luna. Her bandaged leg was wrapped around his tiny body, her face pressed against his neck, her heart pounding so hard she could feel it in her throat.
"Faster!" Luna shouted, her voice barely carrying over the wind. "Vlad Jr., faster!"
"I’M TRYING!" he squeaked back, his tiny lungs burning, his wings aching with every beat.
Behind them, the ground trembled. Cracks spread across the grass like veins of darkness. The worm monsters were everywhere now, their massive bodies rising from the earth, their circular mouths spinning, their teeth grinding against each other in a sound that made Luna’s ears ache.
But one monster was following them.
It was massive: longer and fatter than any of the others, its body so thick that it blocked out the sun when it rose. Its skin was dark and slick, glistening with something that looked like oil, and its circular mouth was wider than a doorway, the teeth inside spinning in endless, hungry circles.
It had seen them. And it was following.
Vlad Jr. flew higher, his small bat heart pounding in his tiny chest. Luna could feel his body trembling beneath her, could feel the strain in his wings, could hear his labored breathing.
"You can do it," she whispered, though she wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or to herself.
The monster’s body stretched up, up, up, trying to reach them. Its length seemed impossible, like it would never end, like it could keep growing forever.
"Oh my moon goddess," Luna whispered, her eyes wide as she watched the monster’s body extend higher and higher. "It’s growing. It’s still growing."
Her fingers dug deeper into Vlad Jr.’s fur. Her bandaged leg ached. Her heart raced.
"Vlad Jr., where are we going?" she asked, her voice tight with fear.
Vlad Jr. didn’t answer immediately. He was focused on the sky ahead, on the distant shape of the mountains.
The Snake Domain.
If he remembered correctly, it was nearby. Not close enough to see, but close enough to reach if he flew fast enough. The snake shifters were ancient, powerful, neutral in most conflicts. They didn’t involve themselves in the affairs of other supernatural beings.
But they had authority.
If he could reach them, if he could convince them to send help—
"THE SNAKE DOMAIN!" Vlad Jr. shouted back, his voice thin and urgent. "I’M GOING TO GET HELP!"
Luna’s eyes widened. "THE SNAKE DOMAIN?! THAT’S TOO FAR! YOU’LL NEVER—"
"I HAVE TO TRY!"
The monster’s body stretched higher.
Vlad Jr. could feel the heat of its breath on his tiny bat legs. Luna could see the teeth now: so close that she could see the individual spirals of the circular mouth, the way the rows of teeth overlapped and ground against each other.
"IT’S GETTING CLOSER!" Luna screamed.
Vlad Jr. flew higher.
The monster followed.
"IT’S STILL FOLLOWING US!" Luna shouted.
Vlad Jr. looked down.
The monster’s body was still growing. Still stretching. Still reaching.
It wasn’t just following them. It was clearly chasing them. And it was too fast.
Vlad Jr.’s wings ached. His tiny lungs burned. He had been flying for what felt like hours, but it had only been minutes. The Snake Domain was still so far. Too far. But it was closer than other domains.
He couldn’t make it.
The monster would catch them.
"VLAD JR.!" Luna’s voice cracked. "LOOK OUT!"
The monster lunged.
Its massive body shot upward, its circular mouth opening wide, teeth spinning, ready to swallow.
Vlad Jr. banked left.
The monster’s teeth grazed his wing.
He spun, tumbled, caught himself and kept flying.