Fred looked down into the Tree Zone, where the fairies danced among the limbs of the silver tree. Right now they seemed to be mostly sleeping, though. But something else was happening. In the entrance to the naga`s lair, the JorMgumo (in her human form) and Regnoweit were holding hands. Fred was shocked. He didn`t expect that.

　　They weren`t moving. They were just holding hands, and looking deeply into each other`s eyes. It was like some sort of painting, a vision of star-crossed love, lit by the silver light of the tree. Fred didn`t know what to do, and certainly wasn`t going to interfere. After taking a few moments to recover from the unexpected, he shrugged and went on doing his check.

　　He looked into the Temple Complex, which was as busy as ever. He looked in the quiet Maze Zone. The Lined Hallway was quiet, too, though Fred thought the creatures seemed a bit anxious. The Ogre Zone was quiet. The Cave Zone wasn`t. The big demon was clearly upset, and kept stalking back and forth, occasionally stepping into his hot mud pit, only to step out again a moment later. He also randomly roared at nothing.

　　And the wurms were leaving.

　　As Fred watched, the three wurms left their lair, climbed the stairs, walked out of the front entrance, and moved to the north side of the Inner Wall. There they stopped, and Fred realized that they were politely waiting for him to make a sallyport for them, just as he had when they arrived. They looked cold, and a light misty rain began falling on them.

　　"How can they leave," Fred wondered. "Doesn`t my magic control them? Hey Jim?"

　　Jim didn`t answer, and Fred was still angry with Martin. so he reached out to Kumbanaka.

　　"Kumbanaka?"

　　"What is it, Fred?"

　　"The Celestial Wurms. The ones in the deep cave, you know?"

　　"The ones who mourned so loudly, yes, I know of them," said Kumbanaka.

　　"They want to leave."

　　"Can they?"

　　"Well, they`re waiting for me to open the wall for them. Right now."

　　"Amazing. I cannot leave. I still feel the bindings of your magic upon me."

　　"So, I shouldn`t let them?"

　　"Fred, I`m sure you want them to be free. I know their suffering has broken your soft heart," soothed Kumbanaka. "And perhaps it`s the case that your magic has no more use for them now that the eggs are gone. But we both know that you`ve already made your decision."

　　"Well& you`re right." Fred opened the wall.

　　He also opened the Town Wall, and watched the three Celestial Wurms begin to walk out of his domain, heading west, up the mountain.

　　"Holy Tiamat! Is that the wurms? Are they LEAVING?" Martin spoke up.

　　"Apparently," replied Kumbanaka.

　　"Let`s watch and see how far they get. It`s distressing to feel the yank of these magical chains. I know from experience."

　　Fred and Martin separately watched the wurms moving west. Fred thought that it would break his heart again if they got to the edge of his domain, and couldn`t get out. This was exactly what Martin was expecting, though.

　　The wurms passed into the tree line, and got closer and closer to the edge. Then, in a moment. They were gone. They were free.

　　Martin nearly fell off his tower. "Holy Tiamat, they`re gone! What in& what did you do, Fred?"

　　"I didn`t do anything, Martin."Stolen novel; please report.

　　"So they`re gone," Kumbanaka said. "As I told Fred, perhaps his magic has no more use for them."

　　"It could make them fight tomorrow! That`s what it`s making us do! What the fucking fuck, Fred?!?"

　　"I don`t know the fucking fuck, Martin!" Fred replied hotly. "This wasn`t my idea, and if it was my magic, I didn`t have any control over it. It`s controlling me, too."

　　"Well did you ask your little head friend about it?"

　　"Yes I did! I told him all about how bad I feel, and how I don`t want to be anybody`s slave& guy. And he said to fight the fight tomorrow, and then after I see what real evil is, we`ll talk again."

　　"Phaha," ejected Martin. "He will never provide answers. He`ll only keep lying to you."

　　"Martin, that& you can shut the fuck up. Just shut the fuck up until morning." Fred shouted. Martin didn`t reply.

　　Fred was all kinds of mixed up about what had just happened, so he knew he needed to do some digging. The idea came to him to add more covered trenches to the eastern side of the river/stream, on the north side of the road. He`d made trenches mostly throughout the eastern field, but if the demons came from the north, he wanted to be ready.

　　So that`s what he did for the next hour. When he was done, covered trenches crisscrossed the entire area north of Fred`s town. As he worked, the weather got steadily worse, and now the rain was really coming down. This fit Fred`s mood perfectly, but he also knew that a wet, rainy battlefield might be bad for the demons.

　　The rain also helped the refugees make the decision to relocate into the bunker. They each waited as long as they could, then packed up their tents and moved up the road and through the five doors. By morning the east field would have no one upon it but the army.

　　Thinking about what to do next, Fred suddenly felt the need to reach out to Michael and Virginia. He went to his drum, and began sending his message. He talked about all the rain he was getting. He talked about the demon army coming soon. He talked about how his humans were preparing. He talked about how scary it all was.

　　He wanted to talk about more specific things, but again he wondered who was listening, so he didn`t talk about the Emergency Bunker, or the covered trenches he`d dug, or the Celestial Wurms that had left, or why they had left. But he ended with an upbeat statement about how he was happy to be near them.

　　Michael was the first to reply to him. Micheal just relayed good wishes and hope.

　　Virginia also spoke up. She also hoped for the best. She also advised that Fred rely on his creatures to help as much as possible, especially his dragon. Surprisingly, Martin didn`t speak up about this, though Fred knew he was listening.

　　That done, Fred escaped to Shelley`s lair. He couldn`t think of anything else to do, so he laid down in his happy place. "When the fighting starts, just stay in here," Fred said to the little groundhogs. The rain continued for most of the night, and everything outside got very soggy. There was even some thunder and lightning. Fred knew all this, but felt warm and dry in Shelley`s place.

　　An hour before dawn, Jim spoke to him.

　　Fred! A demon gate has been closed!

　　"No way, that`s amazing!"

　　What? I assure you there is a way. I`m not lying to you.

　　"Sorry, sorry, just a figure of speech. I`m very happy about it."

　　Yes, it`s wonderful. All of the things we had hoped the humans would do has come to pass. Now we just need to survive long enough for all the gates to be closed.

　　You did this, Fred. All the hope I`m feeling right now, all the hope your peers have, came from you.

　　"Okay. So, the wurms left."

　　The Wurms?

　　"No, the w& Yeah, them. They got up and left. And my magic let them."

　　I& I don`t know what to say about that. Your magic binds your creatures to you, and to each other. They certainly weren`t supposed to leave.

　　"Kumbanaka says it`s because they aren`t any use, any more. To my magic. So it let them go. Or kicked them out, mebbe, I don`t know."

　　Did you want them to go?

　　"No, of course not. But yes, I knew how much they lost, and I didn`t want them to be trapped here with nothing but grief."

　　Hmm. Your relationship with your most complex creatures has always defied expectations. Are you special? Or is your magic different from your peers? I haven`t been able to successfully analyze that. But at this point, Fred, I`m not sure it matters.

　　"It matters to Martin! He wants to know why he has to fight the demons and the wurms get to escape."

　　If we don`t defeat the demons, the wurms will not have escaped at all. You and your peers were always our big plan, and Aeru and I don`t have another. At least Martin can fight, die, and be reborn with your magic, as many times as necessary. The wurms gave that up, so in that sense their lives are in terrible danger. I wish we could call them back and explain that to them.

　　"I don`t think they`d listen. The humans took their babies. And my magic helped that."

　　Your magic has done nothing but good! One demon gate is already closed, and it is due to those eggs. Would you have died to save the whole world?

　　"No, that won`t fly. The eggs didn`t have any choice. And I didn`t either."

　　I know that Aeru and I brought you here, yes. But you`ve been making choices ever since. And your choices have already saved many lives, including the lives of other Earth Spirits.

　　"Look, this isn`t& okay, so you don`t know why the wurms left. Mebbe you know why the naga and the spider-lady are in love?"

　　What?

　　"Yeah, the& Joroguma spider. And the naga. They`re all holding hands and sharing moments. Is this like the bear and boar?"

　　Amazing. I was just asking if you are special, or is your magic different from your peers? This is what I`m talking about. As you`ve grown into your abilities, you`ve continued to surprise me. Fred, I don`t know. I don`t know about the naga and the JorMgumo and what relationship they have. But I trust you and your magic. At this point it`s beyond my expectation, and certainly out of my control. And I don`t care. I trust you.

　　Jim`s statements shook Fred a bit. Jim had never even suggested that he had some sort of control over Fred. His mind was in an angry, suspicious mode, so he wondered if Jim had some sort of magical "leash" upon Fred, that he`d never used. Fred then wondered if Jim HAD used the leash, but Fred didn`t know it. Then Fred (metaphorically) shook his head, and knew that was absurd. "If Jim had used some sort of magical control over me, Martin or Kumbanaka would have probably said so," he mused. "And if Jim had that kind of power, he could have kept the broken Earth Spirits alive, against their will."

　　Fred was also shaken by Jim`s admission that he didn`t know. Before, Jim had practically all the answers, and when he didn`t, he promised to try to find out. So him saying that he didn`t know was weird. Again, Fred had to shake himself and not let his mind run wild with crazy thoughts. If Jim didn`t know, that wasn`t malicious or suspicious. Just frustrating.

　　"Okay, look, I`ve got a busy day planned, and it`s already getting to me. So let`s just get through it, okay?"

　　Of course. I promised you that I`d be here when you fought the demons, and I meant it. I`m not leaving until they do. Hopefully this rain keeps up, and it drives them away.

　　"Yeah, small blessings, I guess. But I bet the fog will be bad."