"Oh fuck! Oh holy Tiamat! Fucking shit fuck! My wings! Shiiiiiiitt!!!" Martin was back. Fred saw that he was in one healthy piece, back in his lair.

　　"Martin, you`re back!" He said.

　　"Yes. Shit. Did we win?"

　　"Yes, the gates are closed and the demons are all gone," Fred replied.

　　"Holy shit. That`s good, because my wings. Holy fuck."

　　"I know. It was horrible. I saw it all," Fred said to console him.

　　"I didn`t. Did you die gloriously, Dragon?" Kumbanaka asked.

　　"I died like a fucking scrub, Kitty. That walking mountain pulled my fucking wings off. And it fucking HUUUUUURRRRRTTTTT!!!!!"

　　"I showed you how it was done, Dragon. I danced on the skulls of my enemies. I took heads until I was bored. Wherever those demons have gone, the ones that still live will speak of me for eons, and scare their children with stories of my& deadliness."

　　"All you did was die, cat. Keep your imaginary glory, just let me keep my fucking wings."

　　Fred, I`m so proud and happy.

　　"I`m so glad it`s all over," Fred replied to Jim.

　　It`s time to pick up the pieces, and you can start by opening all the gates you`ve closed. Let the humans be free.

　　"Oh yeah, right!" Fred looked at the Tower Forts. They had remained untouched by the demons, and the few humans that had hidden inside were never in any danger. In an instant, he erased the protective walls he`d thrown up, and double-checked that the humans had a clear path to get out of the forts. Then he looked carefully at the ruins of the town. He knew it was possible that a human could have been trapped in the lower levels of the demolished buildings, so he looked carefully. This paid off; he found two such humans, deep in the bottom of the towers, still alive.

　　He grew walls around each human, in a cube shape, and used the shape to gently pull the human from the ground. There he erased the wall-cube, and left them dazed, but safe, on the ground.

　　"Huh," realized Fred. There weren`t any demon body parts lying around. So many demons had died and exploded, the area of the town and the east fields had been littered with demon chunks. In some places the demon body parts even stacked up into piles. And all of that was gone with the rest of the demon invasion.

　　The blood remained. Well, when Fred looked closer, he saw that the blood wasn`t actually there; it wasn`t polluting the ground and the rainwater any more. But the demon magic, the numbness he felt, wasn`t gone. It was dissipating, though Fred couldn`t feel that quite yet. By the next dawn, the demon blood magic would be completely gone, and Fred wouldn`t have any excuse for not repairing the blasted battlefield.

　　For now, Fred went to let the people out of the Emergency Bunker. At the first door, he found some acolytes pounding on it, presumably trying to tell the people inside that the war was won, and they could come out. Fred knew the door was very thick, and one of five, so it wasn`t gonna work.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

　　Fred went down inside, and personally opened all five doors. He was gratified that all the humans seemed safe and unharmed, but he knew that the demons had left the bunker alone, so he hadn`t been worried. He watched as the sunlight streamed into the bunker through the five open doors, and people started to come out.

　　Fred, it`s done. I need to go tell all the other Earth Spirits the good news, and tell them all how it happened. Will you be okay without me for a while?

　　"Yeah, sure, I& Yeah, I`m okay."

　　All right. Thank you, Fred. We won! Bye for now.

　　"Bye."

　　To Martin and Kumbanaka, Fred said, "You guys okay? Anything you need from me right now?"

　　"No, Fred. I think I want the rest of the day to be quiet," said Martin.

　　"I have to write. I have so much to write!" said Kumbanaka.

　　"Okay," replied Fred. That done, he just zoned out, and watched the humans for the rest of the day. The rain had stopped, and the clouds were breaking up, but everything was still so soggy and torn up. Fred`s entire domain was a big mud bath, and all the humans were quite dirty. All the warriors were quite tired, as well. Many of them had just laid down on the battlefield, and didn`t get up again until dusk.

　　The only busy people were the acolytes, who brought the refugees and pilgrims out of the bunker, and got them back inside the Healing Complex or the white towers. None of the living fighters needed healing, really, and the pilgrims were well taken care of. Still, Priestess Sharfroen came outside and sang again, and made everyone feel better.

　　"Hello, I`m here, Fred."

　　This was a new voice, a completely new person talking to Fred. It was among the most unexpected things that had happened to him on this very unusual day.

　　"Who are you?"

　　"My name is& Unpronounceable. Call me Mal."

　　"Where are you?"

　　"I`m here. This little body has just hatched. I`m deep in the earth, your earth, in the nest of my parents."

　　Fred looked down, into his domain. His deepest part was the Cave Zone, and he didn`t think the big demon or the dragon turtle had any eggs. So he looked into the abandoned nest of the Celestial Wurms.

　　There he saw Mal, a tiny black Celestial Wurm, newly hatched, standing on shaky legs next to its empty shell.

　　"That`s you? You`re a Celestial Wurm? Are you okay?"

　　"Yes, thank you. That is what humans call creatures like me. And I am exactly as predicted," Mal replied.

　　"Okay. I just& I just didn`t expect newborns to talk."

　　"Have you spoken to a& Celestial Wurm before?"

　　"No. I haven`t even spoken to your& Oh, man. Look, I`m so sorry about what happened to your parents. And your& brothers and sisters, I guess."

　　"I appreciate your apology, and I know it`s heartfelt. It`s misguided, and I`d be happy to explain everything to you. But for now, I just want to know if I can grow up here. With you?"

　　"What? Well, sure, but what about your parents? Why did they leave you behind, anyway? I mean& I`m sorry if that came out wrong."

　　"They left me behind because they knew that they would. They taught me to guide the future, but not fight it. Please understand, I have my parents` approval to be here, and I`m not bound by your magic in any way. I just want your consent to stay."

　　"Okay. I& Yes, sure, you can stay."

　　"Thank you."

　　"How long? I mean, how long does it take for a Celestial Wurm to grow up?"

　　"Not long. Less than a thousand years. Perhaps a little more. My mother explained that a black& wurm like me is very rare, and not much is remembered about them."

　　"You just hatched! How did you talk to your mother?" asked Fred.

　　"My kind talk and think long before they leave their shell. It`s very important to get a good education as early as possible, don`t you agree?"

　　"Oh, man, we& I mean, the humans took your& and the other eggs had thinking, speaking people inside them? I`m so sorry, Mal."

　　"Your sorrow is real and does you credit, Earth Spirit Fred. And someday I will understand the threads that brought us here, and I will mourn them too. But please understand. It was known. It was& your language is missing many words that would help with this. We all knew this would happen. Even my siblings. From the moment they were created, they knew how they would help save the world from& demons. And they& consented. No, that`s not right. They didn`t fight the future. They made peace with it."

　　"Wow. That`s really& that`s weird and amazing. And it doesn`t make me feel any better."

　　"It will. In time," said Mal.

　　"Okay." Fred looked at Mal, and then looked at him again with his lair vision. Nothing changed, and Mal didn`t show up as red, or green, or any color.

　　"So, my magic doesn`t bind you?"

　　"No, not at all," replied Mal.

　　"Well, then I guess I`ll just ask. How would you like your lair?"

　　"I`m not one of your creatures, Fred. I won`t fight for you."

　　"Okay, I understand that."

　　"That being said, I`d appreciate something a bit smaller than this cavern. And a pool of water for bathing. I`m very sticky. It`s uncomfortable. Oh, and a hot rock would be nice."