Tendrils grew along the stone under the sand and reached past the black sand by the time the demons that stayed near the pillar of fire started to move toward the line of imps. “Go to the edge of the miasma,” I ordered the worms that could fight leaving those still healing in the pools while the more damaged worms dissolved into the pools. The sand shifted as many worms swam toward the line of imps stopping at the edge of the miasma. The smaller worms kept moving along the edge while the big worms stayed still at the edge all staining the sand black as they moved under the sand.‘They will be mostly useless but should slow down that army. While my worms outnumber the fire imps a single fire imp will destroy several worms before dying plus with those demons my worms will do even less damage. I need to drag this fight into the miasma if I want a chance to win.’ I thought to myself as ideas flicked through my mind. Dark energy started to be stored as the edges of my tendrils near the imps.

  For a reason I didn’t understand, the miasma stayed in the range of my tendrils so if I suddenly grow them over to the imps they wouldn’t have time to react as the miasma fell on top of them. It won’t be nearly as thick as it is now but it should be enough to take out the fire imps and the weaker demons. As that Geitlan demon with the strange power reached the imps it looked at my tendrils that were hidden behind the miasma. I need to make sure that demon can’t get too close to me or it might use that strange power that gave me that frightening feeling that I felt before. The other demons don’t have nearly as much presence and seem to listen to it and the other Lacerta demon exuded power that destroyed the bird. They work together but don’t agree with each other, the Lacerta demon might even retreat if I do enough damage but the Geitlan demon is more unpredictable.

  I don’t have any memories of Dra so I don’t have any insight into what they will do so I need to be careful. That other lactera demon that ran called my miasma darkness so maybe they couldn’t see past it but it was able to find the bird. The bird was burning in blue flames so maybe they saw that but that doesn’t give off light like their flames do so they shouldn’t have seen it. More thoughts that countered each other appeared in my mind as I watched the demons talk among each other. The fire imps merely waited shaking slightly while the few burning imps left tried to get away from the miasma as they could but the fire imps kept pushing them in the front. The miasma unnerve them and even some demons kept looking at the miasma as if I would send something at them. I felt tempted to do so but the only thing that can deal with the demons are myself and the miasma.

  The worm in my pool started to swim to the edge of the pool and started to crawl along the surface of the black sand. My attention snapped to it as it had changed from the liquid worms that it was before to have several plates that protected the top of its body and smaller plates that curved points that are used like legs. 5 plates and its body was as long as a human’s forearm with several legs that were hidden under those plates as its main body was still that liquid it was before. “Return to me.” I echo out to the strange worm and it crawled back to the pool without turning around. Its legs simply moved in the opposite direction the moment my voice reached it, meaning it didn’t have any internal parts besides the liquid that held everything together. As it entered my pool I broke pieces off of the plates finding it to be made from the same stuff my tendrils are with pieces of fragments. That imp twisted its essence but it was different than the spider somehow so I cut it in half eating one half while leaving the other half to heal.

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  The new essence was a very dark red that swirled the liquid around it. ‘It seems that this new worm might be more useful against the fire imps since their claws won’t be able to pierce its body easily but I would need multiple of these to stand up against their number without those demons. If I can make more worms like this and distract those demons then the fire imps would die without doing anything.’ I felt joy thinking how fat my worms would become off their bodies as I sent the new essence to the pool along the edge of the black sand close to the waiting worms. “Small worms return to the pools and feast on new essence.” My voice echoed out and the restless worms listened leaving the slow large worms behind. The Geitlan seemed to have heard me since as my worms reacted its head snapped toward me but it looked toward the ceiling. It said something as it took steps toward the miasma but was stopped by the Lactera demon and they argued.

  I watched them argue while the fire imps coward tried to move away from them but the demons smiled at them while smacking fire imps when they broke the line too much. ‘Should I lure that Geitlan demon closer to me and have the Lactera demon give chase or retreat? I don’t want Geitlan any closer to me than it already is but if I can divide it and the Lactera then the demons would probably be easier to deal with.’ I thought to myself as the small worms finally reached the pools and started to writhe and change. The main issue is that I don’t know if the Lactera would really leave or just charge with the Geitan into the miasma. They all would be weakened by the miasma but I don’t know if I have enough power to kill them all without risking myself or even if I should risk it. They have finally stopped arguing and are waiting around but for what I can’t tell. Maybe they want me to attack or maybe use Geitlan’s power to do something to make it easier to deal with me.

  As I watched the demons the small worms had finally finished their changing. They are smaller than the original besides that they looked the same. The new essence had been used up but now I finally have a use for these small worms as their new bodies floated in the pools. “Go to the edge of the black sand.” My voice echoed out and the new worms skittered across the sand. If they can truly see past the miasma then these worms that are above the sand will have to move farther away to keep hidden. They moved across the sand with some moving straight while others zig-zagged to reach the edge as the demons started to move closer to the edge of the miasma. I will call the new worms skitters and I will need to find a way to get more of that essence from the larger imps. Two large imps probably hold that power in the army and one more bird-looking one also. Their large army has been reduced to two large imps, one bird demon, a large number of fire imps, a dozen burning imps, the Lactera demon, and the Geitlan demon.

  The Geitlan demon had its hand on the head of the bird demon as it shook. That strange power wrapped the two demons as the Geitlan’s other hand reached up and released that power at the miasma. At first, I didn’t notice anything but as time passed the miasma started to be pushed back thinning it at the edge. The miasma along the floor around the edge thinned until there was barely a trace of it and the area was growing.