Gula

It came back out of the dirt. The worm towered just below the eclipse and cried out its unnerving song. It sounded like an orchestra and intense screeching all at once. So much chaos and disparity. But it cared not.

As the worm dug itself under and wiggled its way around the sea of dirt, Syren cried out, "What the hell is this thing?"

"Something that isn't supposed to exist in this world. I can feel it. It's similar to myself. A demon. Not exactly any demon. I can feel something from it - a strange connection. It's like its a part of you - a part of us," Whisper replied in shock as the creature's song came over the land, "I can feel it. I recognize it. Its song of consumption and feast. Of all the ungodly creatures, the most uncontrollable had to come here. The demon of gluttony. Gula. Gula is its name."

"Gula," Syren repeated in awe. But he awoke real quickly as the creature was about to emerge once more.

"I can feel it. It's after us. It's after you," Whisper said as the two of them began to flee. Gula wanted nothing but to consume. There was nothing higher to it than following its own nature.

Syren quickly opened his black tome and flipped through the pages looking for some way to defeat the creature. As Gula was about to emerge once more from under the dirt, Syren chanted out:

"Flames guide my path.

Bring asunder my wrath.

Rejoice in the pyre.

And burn down an empire."

The only requirement was having a hand, and all Syren needed to think about was a candle. When Gula came out, a swirling fire shot out from Syren's fingertips. Gula's mouth was wide open to consume Syren whole, and as he shot his fire, they immediately burned the edges of the monsters mouth. It stung but did little else. At the very least, Syren was able to avoid one attack. He kept flipping through the pages. He ran and ran. Whenever he felt a tremor right underneath him, he could tell that it was going to come up right under him. Gula swam in the dirt effortlessly.

"Damn it. It seems like it really wants you," Whisper said as he was dragged around wherever Syren went.

"No. I can tell that its just playing. It could have swallowed me by now. Its playing with its food," Syren said as he began to feel some kind of connection to this monster, but didn't know why. All he knew was that Gula would eventually tire of the chase, and just consume him. If it was anybody else, it would have already done so. Syren could assume that Gula was responsible for all of those people going missing in the village. It acted slightly different to Syren. It knew that it would eventually succumb to hunger, and the time for fun was over. Within a second, it came out from underneath the dirt and straight at Syren before he could cast another spell.

"Damn it," Syren exclaimed as he stared into the emptiness of Gula's mouth. It swirled and tore apart the air. It was getting stronger and consuming more. Its mouth was similar to that of a black hole. Just constantly taking everything in and crushing it all at once with no end in sight. But Syren wasn't afraid. He stared deep at it as if he was looking in the mirror. He could feel a connection to it just like Whisper did, but even if he did, it didn't mean anything to Gula. To the worm, he was just another meal in the end. Whisper couldn't do anything, but he instinctively ran towards Syren to push him away - however even if he had, he wouldn't have been able to save him.

A shining blade furiously and swiftly struck the side of Gula's head. A helmeted knight in silver armor came out from hiding to help slay the beast. Gula cried out in pain and only missed Syren by a scrape. The knight continuously pierced the creature making it flee back underground. The blade cut, but no blood was spilled.

"Are you alright, citizen?" the knight asked. He sounded like the same one that passed through Whisper some time ago. The same one who tried to maintain order in the city.

Syren nodded with a smile. "Yeah. Didn't think there was anybody else around?"

"That creature took everybody else. It was smaller before. A lot smaller. The size of my finger when I first saw it. It didn't take long for it consume the entire town leaving only the buildings in tact."

"How did you survive?" Whisper asked, but since the knight couldn't hear him, Syren repeated the question.

"How did you survive?" Syren asked.

"I don't know. At that size, I think that worm couldn't care less about one measly human. It started with one or two. Then after a few minutes, it went after groups. We tried to hunt it down, but it didn't take long for it to take everybody. But when I was left alone, it went right past me. I suppose I was lucky. Then, I waited for an opportunity to emerge. Strange that it went after you, though."

The knight pointed his sword at me, "Now, who are you? Whatever that creature is, it seems to have taken a liking to you."

As Syren was about to introduce himself, the tremors began once more. With little warning, the worm shot out from the dirt and towards the knight. He quickly dodged it, but the helmet was tipped over. The knight was not just any knight. It was a woman with short, black hair.

"Tch."

The two of us dodged back and looked upon Gula. And it seemed to look down on us even without eyes.

"This is good. Now, there are two of you," Whisper said in a sarcastic tone, "I'm sure two people can kill a goliath where many more have failed."

Syren said to the female knight, "How about we work together to stop it? I can cast magic, and you can distract it. Since you asked, I'm Syren."

"I don't think either of us has a choice. I'm Tyra."

Tyra charged in without any thought.

"Nice to meet you," Syren replied as he flipped through the black tome, "This will work."

As Gula stood towering above with the rest of its body wriggling in the dirt, Tyra shot forward with her blade tightly gripped in her hand. She attacked the worm as it just stood there taking it. Then, Syren chanted his spell. He needed to think of a hand's shadow. And the only requirement was that his body needed to cast a shadow. The larger the shadow, the stronger the spell. The sun may have been darkened, but there was enough light to pass through to give him just that.

He chanted:

"Grant darkness unto me

A sun reveals hollow

with black to follow

The shadow thirsts for naught

But the hand strangles the bloodshot

Follow me, my shadow of wrought."

In an instant, his shadow began to morph into tendril-like appendages with hand at each ends. The shadow vanished leaving only a handful of long arms. The shadow hands spell. He controlled them with his mind with ease as if they were really his own arms. The shadows came out and shot towards Gula. They wrapped themselves around the worm's wriggling body. It continued to sing its disharmonious song while struggling.

Gula looked as though the onslaught was working, but it was all a ruse. It wasn't weakened in the slightest. It broke free of Syren's shadow arms and pushed Tyra away with its enormous body. It dove back down into the dirt, but this time, it consumed even the soil it swam in. As Tyra tried to distract it, the creature was just not interested in her. It continued to focus its attention at Syren. That's all Gula wanted - to consume Syren. Whenever the creature got close, Syren casted a different spell. The same requirements as the shadow hand, but with a different intention.

He chanted:

"Call upon thee

Grant darkness unto me

A sun reveals hollow

with black to follow

The shadow thirsts for naught

But a blade to wither and rot

Follow me, my shadow of wrought."

His shadow began to morph around his hand with the single thought focused at one thing - a sword. The shadows transformed into a pure-black sword. The shadow blade spell. The hands and his shadow gone, but he was given a different ability to work with. As Gula came close, he instinctively dodged it and sliced the creature on the side. He felt lighter and quicker. However, it wasn't enough.

The worm felt no pain. And the wounds quickly regenerated as the creature consumed more and more of the dirt and grass leaving behind a trail of destruction.

"It's still not enough," Whisper said as the two of them continued their struggle, "The more you fight it, the hungrier it becomes. It will consume and grow in an infinite loop until there is nothing left. First, Gula will start with all life in this world. It has no remorse or care. It is relentless in every way. It will dry up the oceans and carve out this world like a cake. When it's finished, it will look up at the black sun that made its existence possible - it will look up at the stars... still hungry."

"Whisper, what are you saying? Are you saying we can't beat this thing?" Syren asked. To Tyra, it looked as though he was just talking to himself, but she couldn't really distract herself from the fight. Gula may not have focused on her, but just by being near the creature put her in grave danger. If she wasn't careful, Gula would just consume her whole without warning.

Whisper paused for a moment, "There is one way. I usually wouldn't offer this. If this was any other day, I would have preferred just letting you and the rest of this world die. But I have changed my mind for today. I don't want to die. Gula is powerful, but I can give you an edge. Although, I don't know if it will work."

"Whatever you can do, I'll gladly take the help. Demon or not, we need to stop this thing. I can feel it," Syren said worried, "Gula - this creature will eat everything. It has no thoughts or remorse. It sees us as just food."

"Who are you talking to?" Tyra asked confused as she latched onto the worm's sides and stabbed it repeatedly to no effect.

Whisper said to Syren, "This is something that I've heard in legends. Whisperers are able to take control of a human's body. I can grant the body with intense strength and agility - far beyond that of a normal man. But it will hurt. Your blood will feel like it's on fire. Your skin will peel. Your eyes may go blind. But in the end, you will be granted the necessary power."

"You'll be taking over my body?"

Whisper replied solemnly, "Yes. But I don't have to take over your mind. You will be in full control if that is what you'd like. And when the fight is over, you can kick me out. The only thing is that I can't enter your body without permission. You'll have to explicitly allow me to enter."

For a single moment, Syren was unsure if this was a viable solution. He would gain the strength of a demon which might be just the edge they needed, but he wasn't entirely sure if Whisper was telling the whole truth. If Whisper did take control of his whole body, then would he really let go of his control. But as soon as he saw Tyra struggling to fight the monster, he knew that the two of them would have no chance at defeating this thing.

"If you plan to do this, decide quickly. Gula will only get stronger as time grows," Whisper said as his snake eyes stared deep into Syren's soul like a predator eyeing its prey.

But as the fight continued, he knew that if they failed, Gula would get too strong. This was the only chance they had at defeating this thing. After this, there would be nothing that could stop it.

With two words, Whisper smiled.

"I accept," Syren said as Whisper dove straight into Syren's chest. He convulsed and twisted his body. His muscles grew. His eyes turned white. His teeth sharpened into fangs. His tongue elongated. The veins on his face popped out. The clothes on his back was close to tearing off. Syren cried as his whole body felt like it was on fire, but he could also feel so much power coursing through his veins. The pain even began to feel comforting like an old friend. He smiles as his own blood was boiling inside of him. But Syren wasn't completely gone. His mind was still intact. He could hear Whisper's thoughts in his head, but Whisper never tried to take control of his body.

As Tyra watched this transformation, she had no idea what she was looking at. But she kept her composure. She leapt back as Gula almost knocked her away in her distracted state.

Syren chanted once more the shadow blade spell. His voice sounded almost serpent-like, but he didn't care. With swiftness, he chanted:

"Call upon thee

Grant darkness unto me

A sun reveals hollow

with black to follow

The shadow thirsts for naught

But a blade to wither and rot

Follow me, my shadow of wrought."

He jumped up with a monster's might and sliced Gula. The creature cried out its song as Syren was able to fight the creature with almost the same strength. As Tyra watched, she jumped back to watch. She was unsure what Syren was, but she was now certain that he wasn't human.

Gula was still just as fierce - actually it grew even more fierce. As Syren's shadow blade cut deep, it still wasn't enough to really do any damage. No matter how hard he hit, Gula continuously regenerated itself. It didn't care how many cuts or wounds was inflicted. It was relentless in its efforts to consume. A blood vessel popped off of Syren's face, but no blood flowed out. Instead, there was steam. With every cut and bruise, steam would rise up.

"This isn't working," Whisper said in Syren's mind, "We're stronger, but not strong enough. I may prefer mindless violence, but we can't just fight out there. Think. Otherwise, our efforts will be hopeless afterall."

As Syren kept dodging Gula's attacks, he had noticed that the worm only had one tactic. It was a simple animal that went for the direct approach. It didn't care for what was in between it and Syren. As he looked around, he began to formulate a plan. Syren smiled as he looked around. The worm had gotten so big that it had basically surrounded him like a snake coiling around a rat. For anybody else, this would look like a hopeless situation, but Syren had another thought. He continued to dodge Gula while leading him towards where he wanted it to go.

When Syren got to the point where he didn't need Whisper's strength, he said, "Time to let me go, whisperer."

And just like that, Whisper was kicked out of Syren's body as he began to turn back to normal.

"What are you doing!?" Whisper exclaimed, "Have you suddenly become suicidal?"

For a moment, Gula froze as Syren stood still. But it was only for a moment. If it had looked around, it wouldn't have attacked so carelessly. With a simple dodge to the side, Gula passed right by him. And instead of consuming Syren, it bit right into itself. The worm had had him surrounded, but that just made it easier for Gula to consume itself. Its mouth began sucking in its own body. It couldn't stop itself. And even if it could, Syren doubted that it would. It was in its nature to consume. It went after the strongest and tastiest meal around. And it found just what it wanted. Gula continued singing its song as its whole wriggling body began to unwind into itself like an ouroboros.

Syren sighed a breath of relief and sat on the dirt floor which was once the lake's seabed. His black tome still in his hand. His blade turned back into his own shadow. He sat there watching Gula eat itself under the black sun. It truly was the demon of gluttony.