As Tesel and the other warriors went down Gaya’s head and toward her neck, they remained vigilant of any possible sudden emergence of Aisa’s army. Their foe could have been anywhere in Gaya’s body by now, since so much time had gone by from the last time they’d fought them.

Despite Lia’s words that they all had to fight on the way they always did, and how those words brought back Fil’s resolve, a number of the men marching behind still felt discouraged and doubtful of success against Kappitta and Aisa. Some felt that a quick death would have been better than enduring those all too formidable foes.

Now that they were past Gaya’s neck and approaching her chest, most of the troops were careful this time not to go down the tunnels that led to the lungs; three of the men, however, ran down a detour to one of them.

“Wait!” Fil shouted as he saw them suddenly making a dash toward an entry to a lung. “Where do you think you’re going?”

He received no reply. The three men just kept running.

“Stop them!” Fil shouted. “Those cowards are deserting us!”

He and a few other fighters ran down that tunnel after them. The deserters came to the windy opening leading into one of the lung chambers. They all jumped in, screaming as they were being blown down to the floor.

“Stop!” Fil shouted to the fighters behind him. “Don’t get too close to the opening, or you might get sucked in by Gaya’s breaths. Let the deserters go. They’re unworthy of us!“

He shouted that last point loud enough so the deserters would hear him. As he and his men walked back down the tunnel to rejoin the others, they heard the screams and grunts of pain of the deserters as they flew up and down the lung chamber, crashing against the ceiling and floor of it again and again until their injuries and broken bones were so many that they died of them.

Fil and his followers reached the others. He pulled out his sword and pointed it at them angrily.

“If any of you wish to desert, as those three cowards did, just come to me, and my sword will make your deaths far slower and more painful than Kappitta or Aisa’s men could ever do!” he shouted.

There was a moment of silence as those others who, like the three just then, had considered deserting, decided with shame in their hearts to carry on with the mission after all. They all resumed their march downwards.

“It’s obvious that we need to visit Gaya’s heart again,” Lia said. “The surge of love for her has faded somewhat.”

“Agreed,” Tesel said, then shouted behind them, “We’ll make another stop at Gaya’s heart, troops, to boost our resolve and love for her!”

They continued on their way to her heart. They knew they were close when those marching in front saw a faint red glow. As they continued toward it, they imagined that the glow would get brighter.

It didn’t.

The pulse was even slower than it had been the last time, too.

They were all standing right in front of the heart now, seeing that glow as every bit as dim as it had looked farther back down the tunnel, and the heartbeat, if anything, was even slower now.

“Oh, no,” Lia said, tears coming to her eyes. “This can’t be. This is too much.”

“If those three deserters could see this now, they’d be so ashamed of themselves for abandoning us,” Fil said, choking back sobs.

“How many times do you all need to be reminded?” Tesel shouted back to the dwindling members of his army. “Gaya is dying. If she dies, we all die. Do you want to die having given up, as those three did, or do you want to die fighting?”

The troops behind, as teary-eyed as Lia, shouted, “Fighting!”

Those who’d considered deserting were now shaking with shame over having even contemplated giving up.

That heart looked so weak, so dim in its light…it was so slow in its pulse, it looked as if it would die any second, right then and there.

“We not only must fight and defeat Kappitta and Aisa, we must do so now!” Tesel shouted. “We can delay no longer. March now, double time!”

They immediately started a long jog down from the heart to the stomach. Their eyes looked everywhere for a possible ambush from Aisa’s men. The tunnels were so shrouded in shadows that the enemy could have easily been ensconced anywhere in them.

As they jogged on, they heard more voices from the heavens above. Urgency demanded, though, that they not stop to listen. They wouldn’t have understood the fast-flying words anyway, but they could still know the feelings given out. This is what they heard:

I’msopissedoffatAsarightnow.Allhecaresaboutisthemoneyhe’slosingfromGaya’snotsuckingdick.
He’sabusinessman,Lila.Whatdoyouexpect?
HecouldatleastappreciateGayaforwhosheis,Phil!Ihopehispornbusinessdoesdie!
Ifhisbusinesdies,we’llallbeoutofwork,Lila.
We’llallbefree!

The troops kept marching, feeling a vague sense of inspiration from what otherwise sounded to them like a vague flurry of words.

They rounded another corner in the tunnel and heard munching sounds farther off.

“Halt!” Tesel shouted. The men did. “Listen!” he whispered.

Those munching sounds were much clearer now.

“Kappitta,” Lia whispered.

“Yes,” Tesel said in a low voice. “This is it. Time to kill the giant worm, or be killed by it.”

Everyone, even the three leaders, was shaking all over, many of them feeling nauseous. Fil took a secret swig from his cup of wine to calm his nerves.

They all knew that they couldn’t stop now, though. They couldn’t turn back.

“Let’s move in as quietly as we can,” Tesel said softly.

They all crept forward until they saw Kappitta.

The worm was now almost twice the size it had been the last time they faced it.

“It’s done a lot of eating since last time, hasn’t it?” Fil asked in a shaky voice.

“While our army is fewer in number this time,” Lia said no less tremulously.

The gargantuan worm was now looking down at them with hungry eyes. Its gaping maw of a mouth seemed to be smiling at all the food before it.

The warriors, continuing their march through a tunnel on the way to Gaya’s brain, came to a point that was level with her nose and ears. They heard a whispering female voice.

“Welcome,” the voice said.

“One of the gods from above?” Lia asked Tesel.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s much too close to us.”

“Gaya’s voice again?” Fil asked.

“Probably,” Tesel said. “Let’s listen for more.”

“Your marching is so noisy,” the voice said. “It’s disturbing my sleep. Try to move more quietly.”

“Forgive us, Gaya,” Lia said gently. She motioned to the troops behind her to march softer.

“You all smell…of blood…and mud,” the voice said.

“Oh, that’s definitely Gaya’s voice,” Fil said. “Only she would be close enough to smell our stench.”

Soon, all the warriors came up to be level with Gaya’s eyes. Though closed to the world outside, they were open to see Tesel’s army.

“You all look so tired, so dirty, and so beaten from all of your struggles,” the voice whispered.

“We struggle, tire, and hurt for you, Gaya,” Lia said. “We do this all out of love for you.”

“Now, tell us how to defeat Aisa’s army,” Tesel said, “and tell us what to do about Kappitta, if the giant worm is not to be slain.”

“Help us to be victorious,” Fil said, “if our suffering and deaths are not to be in vain.”

“Continue up to my brain,” the voice said, “If you are to receive the answers to your questions.”

The fighters continued their march up to the brain.

As they approached it, they sensed a soothing warmth emanating from it. That feeling made them all want to get over there faster, but Tesel warned them not to do anything to disturb Gaya’s needed rest.

Finally, the tunnel they were marching through rounded a bend, and they all could see the brain from a distance. It glowed an almost blinding white light. They all had to cover their eyes with their hands as they came closer.

That warmth, like a massage vibrating throughout the body of each and every soldier, buzzing from head to toe, was making them all want to run up to the brain. But again, Tesel ordered them not to march any faster.

The light, however blinding to the fighters’ vision, was paradoxically illuminating to their minds. It spoke to them in ways that words couldn’t. The closer they got to the brain, the more that light ‘spoke’ to them.

The warriors, all in a mesmerized state, said out loud all the wisdom and insight that the light of the brain was shining on them.

“How this war ends,” Tesel said in the monotone voice of one in a trance, “will depend greatly on where and when we confront Aisa’s army.”

“Before we face Kappitta,” Fil said in the same, hypnotized monotone, “or after.”

“If we face Aisa first,” Lia said, “we must resist all attempts made by his men to entice us with sex and the female body.”

“His magician, Gujon, will hit us with images of dancing naked women far more seductive and distracting than before,” Tesel said.

“We must be strong,” Fil said, “and resist the urge to have these mirages of women, lest we die.”

“We can resist lust with love,” Lia said. “We must recall what the heart taught us.”

“The heart taught us to love Gaya,” Tesel said.

“It taught us to love her mind and her heart,” Lia said, “not to lust after her body, but to seek to save it.”

“Compassion,” Fil said. “Not carnal passion.”

“We already know we must resist the dancing girls, though,” Tesel said, coming out of his trance. “We were tempted by them before. Our encounter with Gaya’s heart, moreover, should strengthen us if we meet Aisa before the worm; but what is the secret to defeating them all?”

There was a moment of silence.

They heard Gaya’s whispering voice again: “Kill worm…kill will…”

“Does that mean, if we kill Kappitta, that we’ll kill our own willpower, and we won’t be able to defeat Aisa’s army?” Tesel asked. “Must we refrain from killing the worm?”

Then they heard the voice of hypnotized Lia telling them the brain’s counsel: “Kill the worm, and kill the will…of Aisa’s men.”

“If Kappitta is dead,” Fil droned in the same mesmeric state, “Aisa’s men will fight with no direction, no purpose, no aim. They’ll be mere automatons, chaotically fighting as if without brains, for the worm is their brain.”

“That’s it!” Tesel said. “I knew it! We must kill the worm. In fact, killing the worm is key to winning the war!”

The others came out of their trance.

“But killing the worm will be almost impossible,” Fil said. “Even with our improved skills as fighters, even with our strong, loving, determined hearts. The last time we faced Kappitta, we barely fended it off, barely escaped with our lives. A number of us died. If we were to try to fight Kappitta to the end, there’s a slim chance, at best, of winning. If it isn’t all of us who die, surely the great majority of us will.”

“And that small number of our survivors will still have to face a huge army,” Tesel admitted. “An army of randomly slashing fighters, but still a huge number of men. Surely their wild, aimless strokes of the sword will be lucky enough to kill our few surviving fighters. Then they’ll continue to slash at Gaya until she’s dead.”

There was another moment of silence, a despairing one.

Then they heard voices from up above:

Anyprogresssincelasttime,Lila?
No,Cecil.Shehasn’tevengrabbedmyfinger,evenafterItellhertograbit.
Trynottoworry.I’msureshe’llpullthrough.
Iwannabelievethat,Phil,Ireallydo,butit’ssohard.
Don’tcry,Lila.Givehertime.

“I wish I could understand what the gods are saying,” Lia said. “Are they encouraging us? Are they telling us a secret to killing the worm? All I can sense is their sadness and despair, like ours.”

“I know,” Tesel said. “What we must do is hard, but we can’t not do it.”

“How are we going to kill Kappitta, and still have enough fighters left to take on Aisa’s army, as disorganized as they’ll become without the worm’s guidance?” Fil asked.

“I don’t know,” Tesel said, “but we must try.”

“We might confront Aisa’s army before we get to the worm,” Fil said. “That’ll mean fighting them when they’re still sharp and focused. They could have moved up to Gaya’s chest area by now, while Kappitta’s still eating in her guts. What can we do?”

“We’ll do what we’ve always done, Fil!” Lia said. “We’ll fight! We’ll fight because we love Gaya, and we want her to live, even if we don’t survive. Have you forgotten the lessons we learned from her heart? Have you, Fil?”

He looked down at his feet in shame at his defeatism. “No,” he said.

“Then let’s get moving!” Tesel said. “Whichever we confront first, we must fight them all, if Gaya is to live!”

They started their march back down her body.

After a long march up Gaya’s arms, Tesel’s group and the one led by Lia and Fil met between the shoulders. They found a tunnel up the neck that was behind the windpipe, so they were able to avoid those powerful winds that had killed a number of their warriors in the lung chambers.

Once all of them were level with Gaya’s mouth, they began to hear faint, whispering voices.

“Are the gods and angels speaking to us again?” Fil asked.

“I don’t think it’s’ them,” Lia said. “These voices sound different, and much too close to be from heaven.”

“Let’s listen,” Tesel said. “This could be important.”

“Kill…worm…kill…will,” the voice whispered, over and over.

“Can you understand that?” Lia asked Tesel.

“Unlike when the gods speak their indecipherable babble, I can make out these words…Gaya’s words,” Tesel said. “But how do we interpret the meaning of, ‘Kill worm, kill will?'”

“We know we have to kill the worm,” Fil said. “That’s obvious.”

“We’ll be facing Kappitta on our way back to face Aisa’s army,” Tesel said. “It will probably still be in the stomach and intestinal areas, because that’s where it gets its food. So surely we’ll kill it first, before we face Aisa’s men.”

“But what does ‘kill will’ mean?” Lia asked. “Does it mean that killing Kappitta will destroy our will to carry on and defeat Aisa’s army?”

“That hardly makes sense,” Tesel said.

“Yet, it rather sounds like that’s what Gaya meant,” Fil said.

“Is this the wisdom that Gaya’s brain has for us to defeat Aisa’s army?” Lia asked. “That we have to let Kappitta live?“

“That doesn’t make any sense at all,” Tesel said. “Kappitta has only been bad for Gaya. It must be killed. Besides, it will be in our way before we get to Aisa. We must at least confront it and fight it.”

“So shall we fight it, but not kill it?” Fil asked.

“Let’s continue up to the brain and find out for sure,” Tesel said. “Let’s not jump to any hasty conclusions.”

“Very well, then, troops!” Lia shouted to all the warriors behind her. “Let’s continue up to Gaya’s brain!”

They marched on up.

Finally, Tesel’s men reached Gaya’s right hand, and the group of fighters led by Lia and Fil reached the left hand. The tunnels of Gaya’s arms opened out into the spacious chambers of her hands, and all the warriors could fit into each chamber with ease.

As they filed in, they felt a presence enter their bodies like air entering the lungs. This ‘air’ seemed to be their trainers of newer and better fighting skills, for they immediately found themselves moving with better grace.

The presence felt as if it were flowing through them…and making them flow everywhere they went. Swordsmen moved their swords in graceful arcs, almost like dancers. Spears were thrown in similarly flowing arcs, always landing exactly where intended. Arrows were shot with the same, flawless marksmanship.

The next thing to improve was their speed. They practiced drawing out and swinging their swords, and they were amazed at how lightning-fast they’d become in so short a time.

“This is incredible!” Tesel said of his own movements, as well as those of the other fighters he was watching.

“I feel as though I can take on all of Aisa’s army all by myself!” Lia shouted with pride as she swung her sword so deftly.

“So do I,” said another female fighter, doing the same faultless cutting of the air with her sword.

“This is so miraculous,” Fil said, with his sword swaying so poetically and swiftly, “that I need to put this improvement of mine to a test.” He took out his cup of wine, and instead of just sneaking a swig for fear of Tesel catching him, he now gulped it all down openly, without inhibition.

Then, once the cup was empty, he waited a moment or two to feel the buzz. He sheathed his sword as he waited.

Now, feeling nice and tipsy, he resumed his practice. He pulled his sword out of its sheath; as quick as a flash, it came out with perfect smoothness, with a screech of the metal blade. Then he moved about, with it slicing in the air as swiftly and adeptly as before. His wine buzz was in no way slowing him down or making him clumsy. It was as if he were completely sober.

“I cannot believe it!” he said with a grin. “I want to take on Kappitta all alone!”

Indeed, all the warriors were letting out triumphant shouts as they continued dancing with their swirling swords, tossing their spears with calculating accuracy, and firing arrows to hit what seemed microscopic targets.

“This is joyous news!” Tesel shouted, loud enough to be heard also in the other hand. “We now have the heart to defeat our enemies with resolve and determination. We have the skill to hit them fast and with precision. Now, there is only one more thing we need to ensure victory: insight from Gaya’s brain to know the secret of Aisa’s power. What weakness, in his army and in Kappitta, must we exploit to defeat them? For this knowledge, we must reunite at her shoulders, and march up to her head. Onwards and upwards!”

They all turned around and began their march out of the chambers of Gaya’s hands; but after only a few steps of each pair of feet, they noticed a slight trembling. Was it another earthquake? They looked back and saw slight movements in one or two of the fingers.

Then they heard a female voice from above:

MyGod!HerfingersclosedaroundmineafterIaskedhertodoso!
Whatwasthat,Lila?
Phil,Iwhisperedtohertograbmyfingersasmyhandtouchedhers,andshedid!Shecouldbebeginningtocomeoutofhercoma!
Maybe.It’sagoodsign,butlet’snotgetourhopesuptoohigh.
Yeah,wedon’twannasetourselvesupfordisappointment.Still,it’sexciting!

Not knowing a word of what was said by the god and goddess, but still encouraged by the feeling they were getting from the two above, the warriors continued their march out of the chambers of Gaya’s hands and back up her arms to her shoulders.

The separate groups reached Gaya’s shoulders and began their descent along her arms. Anticipation was high as they all wondered what new fighting skills they were to learn when they were in the chambers of her hands.

They all stopped about midway along the tunnels of her upper arms when they heard two male voices from above:

SothatisthegreatandfamousGayaWeld,pornstarextraordinaire?
Yes,itis,andshe’sallyoursforanhourfortwohundredbucks
Hereyouare,buddy
Thankyou,andherearetherules.Nohittingher,nobiting,andnoscratching.Shecan’thaveamarkonher,anywhereonthatbeautifulbody,’causeifthereis,anursewho’smoreofagirlscoutthanI’lleverbeaboyscoutnursewilltelleveryoneandwe’llbothbeinshit.Here,letmegiveyousomething.
Lube?
Yeah,incaseshe’sdry.Soaslongasyouremembertherules–don’thurtheratall–havefun.I’llbebackinanhour.
OK.

The troops still didn’t have the slightest clue about what was said about Gaya by the two gods, but they all had an instinct that told them it wasn’t anything good.

“I have a feeling that the gods are about to punish us, for some reason,” Tesel said with a frown. “I don’t know why, but I just have that feeling.”

The soldiers soon found that their instincts were correct, for they felt a few shakes, like the beginning of an earthquake. Then the shakes became regular, even rhythmic.

Back and forth, and back and forth, everything around the troops shook…and they were forceful, violent shakes, throwing the fighters in the air and making them all crash on the floor, only to be thrown again, back in the opposite direction, and forward again. Back and forth.

The thrusts forward were particularly violent, tossing the fighters further ahead than the being thrown back, so hitting the ground when going forward was harder than when thrown back. Fighters often fell on the backs of those in front of them when going forward, and when they were thrown back, they fell on the chests and bellies of those behind them.

In between this flying back and forth, Tesel, Lia, and Fil tried to give commands to cope with the problem.

“Can we try…Oh!…to grab onto anything…Ah!…the walls…Ooh!…the ground…Unh!…the ceiling!” Lia asked.

“Let’s try it…Ah!” Fil shouted.

The soldiers tried to grab onto the sides of the tunnels, but generally couldn’t. They just grabbed onto other soldiers, irritating each other in the process.

The shaking back and forth was getting faster and faster, making even fragments of conversation impossible.

Tesel wanted to tell his men to try to huddle up side by side, with men on the extreme left and right squeezed so tightly against the walls of the tunnel that the men would be stuck, and therefore, the shakes wouldn’t throw them anymore. He couldn’t, however, communicate the idea to his troops because the gaps in between the shakes back and forth had become far too brief to get a word in. All anyone could do was put up with the accelerated shaking, and hope it would end soon.

After another few minutes of the ordeal, the shaking suddenly stopped.

All the warriors just lay there on the ground for several minutes, alert, eyes wide open, waiting for the next shake and hoping it would never happen. Their hearts were pounding the whole time, they were sore all over, and they were breathing heavily.

During that time, they heard a few loud moans from high above.

“It seems to be over,” Tesel said, then he got up.

All the warriors finally rose to their feet. They rubbed themselves everywhere they were sore.

“Do you think the gods were angry with us?” Lia asked Fil.

“I don’t know what we could have done to anger them,” he said, “but they sure fucked us over.”

“That seems true, in too literal a sense for comfort,” she said. “If anything good came of that, at least we’re a bit closer to our destination.”

“That slight bend in the tunnel must be the elbow,” Tesel said to his men. “We’ll soon reach Gaya’s hands. Let’s carry on.”

They all continued down the arms.

The half of the group led by Tesel went up in the direction of the right shoulder, and the half led by Lia and Fil went up in the direction of the left one. It was dark, and none of the warriors really knew their way around, so it was hard for them to choose which tunnels were the best to go through.

As soon as all of them went through their chosen left and right entrances in the chest area, they felt a wind sucking them all up, deep into the middle of the large chambers they’d entered. Yelling and screaming as they all flew up in the spacious chambers, they smacked into the inside upper walls, then fell to the floors all around the entrances they’d just come up in.

“We went…the wrong way,” Fil said in gasps to Lia. “We’re in…the lungs.” He was rubbing his left arm, on which he hit the floor.

“I know,” Lia said, rubbing her right leg. “We never learn these things ’til it’s too late.”

No one had any more time to rub his or her hurt body parts, for another wind sucked them up to the ceilings of the lungs, against which their bodies smashed. Shouts of pain echoed all over the chambers.

They tried to stick their fingers into the gluey ceilings, to keep from being blown down again, but it was no use. Gaya’s next inhalation, a deep and powerful one, pulled them all off the ceiling and threw them down to the floor again. Some of the troops’ bones were fractured.

As he winced at the sounds of groans of pain all around him, Tesel was looking all over the ceiling to find the upper exit. As soon as he found the small black hole, he pointed at it.

“Everyone!” he shouted. “Try to get over there, to that hole in the ceiling, and crawl out of it!”

He shouted loud enough for those in the other lung to hear; Lia and FIl looked for and quickly found their upper escape hole.

“There it is!” Lia shouted “Try to get to i…”

Suddenly, the next exhalation carried everyone screaming up to the ceiling again. More screams of pain were heard when their bodies smacked against it. Those closest to the escape hole scrambled over to it as fast as they could before Gaya’s next inhalation, which was softer.

Those right by the escape holes–Tesel, Lia, Fil, and several others–clung to the sticky ceilings as tight as they could, so the breath wouldn’t blow them to the floors. Many others fell, some screaming, others already dead from their combined injuries.

The ones still at the top managed to crawl out the escape holes in time before the next breath came. After it came, and some of the warriors had clearly flown up closer to the escape holes, Tesel, Lia, and Fil reached into the chambers to pull out some of the men on the ceilings.

After they were pulled out, another inhalation pushed most of the rest of them down again, while others had dug their fingers deep enough into the ceilings to be able to withstand the wind and stay there. Between the breaths, these troops crawled out the escape holes. The next exhalation brought up the ones from the bottom; Lia frowned to see those coming up that were clearly corpses.

At the end of that exhalation, the dead bodies fell, while the survivors clung to the ceilings and struggled to get to the escape holes in time. Tesel, Lia, Fil, and some of the others who’d already escaped hurried to pull as many of the survivors out as they could.

The next inhalation came, and a few of the warriors trying to get out screamed as they were blown down to the floor again. The survivors who’d escaped watched and waited for the next breath to bring the remaining men back up. The exhalation came, but all the bodies that came up this time were passive and lifeless; none tried to grab on to the ceilings. When the breath ended, they all fell back down silently.

“There’s nothing we can do for them,” Tesel said. “Let’s carry on in our separate groups to the shoulders.”

“Come on, troops, let’s go,” Fil shouted out to his and Lia’s group. But before anyone took any steps, voices from above were heard again:

OhPhilI’msogladyoucametoseeher!
Howisshe?Shedoesn’tlooktoogood,Lila.
Herbreathingisgettingweaker,Ithink.IsometimesputmyhandoverhermouthandfeelbreathingbutthenIdoitagainlaterandherbreathingisweaker.Oh,Phil,I’msoscaredshe’sgonnadie.Whatarewegonnado?
Let’snotgiveuphope,Lila,thoughIwishyou’dgiveupthatbottleofJimBeam,Phil.
Oh,comeon,Cecil.Igottohaveafewswigsofthistohelpmedealwithwhat’shappened.

Again, the soldiers didn’t understand a word of what was said, but they felt a kind of identifying with the speaking gods–especially Tesel, Lia, and Fil. They all continued on their way to the shoulders.

After a long, hard march from Gaya’s belly to her chest, Tesel’s men finally reached her breasts. Her mammary glands were a sight for sore eyes, thirsty throats, and hungry stomachs. All of the troops were salivating; their eyes widened.

“We finally made it,” Fil said in a hoarse voice through a dry mouth. “The land of milk, from a real honey.”

“Let’s split up into halves,” Tesel said. “Lia, you and Fil take one half of our fighters to the left breast, and I’ll take the other half to the right one. Everyone, feed in an orderly fashion. No greedy hogging of the milk. Let’s make sure everyone gets a fair share. Line up and take turns. Be patient as you wait for your turn.”

The army split up as ordered. Tesel, Lia, and Fil waited for their shares after all the others finished feeding. The milk was so good-tasting and nourishing that it was tempting for each and every man and woman to keep drinking without stopping, but they all resisted that temptation and remembered consideration for their comrades.

At the end of their feeding, their bellies full, they lay on the ground, resting with blissful satisfaction. Wounds were bandaged, and sighs of relief were heard all around. A good, long sleep rejuvenated them, and after that, they were ready to come together at Gaya’s heart. Morale was the highest it had ever been for them.

When they all reunited at the heart, they stood before it in awe of its huge, glowing redness. The heartbeat was loud and hypnotic, but…slow.

Such beauty, such bigness, yet…such weakness, such pain.

What the warriors before had only vaguely sensed was now explicitly known, in vivid detail, with no room for doubt.

Gaya was dying.

The troops’ own hearts were heavy for the heart they saw before them. They all heaved collective sighs for their ailing world. The glow of that huge heart was fading, little by little, along with the slowing beat.

No longer were they fearing only for their own lives. Now they feared mainly for her life. Tears were running down their cheeks. They were trembling all over.

Lia was especially affected. She was sobbing audibly.

Fil was sneaking sips from his cup of wine, hoping Tesel wouldn’t catch him, in a feeble attempt to ease the pain.

“Troops, we all know who is responsible for Gaya’s affliction,” Tesel said in a sombre tone. “Aisa’s army, and the giant worm, Kappitta, have been slowly killing Gaya, poisoning and starving her. This slow, painful destruction of our beautiful world is why we must not falter in our efforts to save her. As hard as it will be to fight Aisa and Kappitta, as many of our lives as we will inevitably lose, we must do all we can to stop the enemy from destroying her. If she dies, we all die.”

“And if we all die…with Gaya,” Lia added, with sobs interrupting her words from time to time, “that will be…a mercy for us. For who would want…to live on a dead planet? Who would want…anything other than death…if continuing to exist…in misery…in a world…whose beauty…is only a memory, a beauty…crushed and replaced…by only ugliness…and putrefaction…all around us?”

They all looked at that heart again, heard its beat even slower now, its glow getting darker.

“We cannot give in,” one of the men said.

“We cannot give in!” another shouted at the top of his lungs. “We have to keep on trying, even if it kills us all!”

“We must do it,” a female fighter said in sobs, “not for ourselves, but for her.”

“For her,” many soldiers said together.

“For Gaya!” Lia shouted.

“FOR GAYA!!!” they all shouted.

Then, they heard voices from high above again.

Oh,Cecil,I’msogladtoseeyouhere!…HowisGaya?Aboutthesame.SometimesIputmyhandonherchesttofeelherheartbeat…Andhowisherheartbeat,Lila?…It’sslow,thenItouchherchestagain,later,anditseemstobebeatingslower.Idon’tknowI’mreallyscaredforher…Iam,too,Lila…Atleastyou’rehere,andIknowyoucareabouther,Cecil,unlikethatbastardAsa,whoonlycaresaboutallthemoneyhecanmakeoffofher.Butshe’snotjustamoney-makingpieceoftitsandasstoyou,Cecil.Youknowshe’sahumanbeing,afriend,andlikeme,youloveher.

Again, the warriors couldn’t understand the fast-moving words, the muddled language, but they understood the feeling.

“Now, we know what we must do,” Tesel said. “But before we can do that, we must improve our fighting capability. Love for Gaya alone won’t be enough to win our battles against Kappitta and Aisa’s army. We must split up, go to Gaya’s shoulders, travel down her arms, and learn better fighting methods from her hands. Then we’ll travel to her head, and there gain insights and a battle plan to win the war, once and for all.”

The warriors began their trek, in opposing directions, up to Gaya’s shoulders.

“To get to the stomach, we’ll first have to pass through the tunnels of the large and small intestines,” Tesel told his army as they passed by the rectum. From there, one could see passing out of it the bodies of the slain in the battle they’d just fought against Aisa’s men. Groans of annoyance from Tesel’s troops behind him were his only reply.

“And after the stomach, to Gaya’s breasts to feed from?” Lia asked, hoping to raise the soldiers’ spirits.

“Yes,” Tesel said “Then we can finally be nourished.”

The fecal smell of the area was overpowering.

“I can smell that nourishment already,” Fil said with a scowl.

The soldiers continued grunting in disgust as they left the rectum and entered the large intestine, trudging along in all reluctance. Their feet often got stuck in the thick, knee-deep mud of this anatomical sewer.

“Patience!” Tesel called out. “We’re almost there.”

Finally, nearing the upper end of the small intestine, where they’d soon enter the stomach and leave the worst of the smell, Tesel’s troops were beginning to revive good spirits. But they noticed a gigantic, long, worm-like animal lying immobile along the side of the tunnel. It seemed to be sleeping.

Lia looked back at the others with her finger to her lips. “Don’t wake it,” she whispered to Fil, who passed the quiet message on to the men behind, who passed it on, and so on.

They all crept by as quietly as they could. They could hear it breathing and softly snoring…or was it snoring? Was it eating? No, it wasn’t snoring, it was making slurping sounds.

The soldiers looked in awe at the size of the beast. Its length was almost the entirety of that of the small intestine. Its diameter was almost twice the height of the average man among them. Even the slightest noise any of them made would cause all of them to shake in fright. If they drew its attention, would it find them appetizing?

Tesel, Lia, and Fil reached the far end of it, by the exit of the small intestine. They saw its head. It was huge. A man behind Fil made an accidental stomping sound of his boot on the muddy floor, loud enough to attract the worm’s attention. It turned its head around to face Tesel and Lia.

“Kappitta,” he whispered to her. “I’ve heard stories about this monster. It’s been eating Gaya’s food…starving her.”

Of a puke-pinkish colour, it had huge, black balls for eyes, and a toothless mouth large enough to fit a man inside it. In fact, just then it demonstrated this ability with the one who stomped on the ground. His scream when put inside was muted as soon as Kappitta closed its mouth. Now the giant parasite was looking at Lia.

“Attack!” Tesel shouted, flailing his sword.

All of the soldiers standing along the great length of the worm stabbed their swords into its side, causing it to let out a deafening wail. It then used its tail to slap the rearguard of Tesel’s men, smashing their bodies against the wall of the intestine tunnel and crushing many of them.

The survivors rushed up ahead to get as close to the front as the space in the tunnel would allow. Tesel, Lia, and Fil were thrusting their swords at Kappitta’s face to keep it from taking another victim into its mouth. The men behind continued stabbing at it with their swords, and it responded by pushing its body against them, crushing more of them against the wall of the tunnel.

It managed to fight past the jabbing of the swords of Tesel, Lia, and Fil to get another screaming soldier in its mouth. It sucked him deep inside its body. As his body traveled through the first quarter of the length of Kappitta’s body, he could be seen punching and kicking bubble-like bulges at the side facing his surviving comrades, all of whom shuddered at the sight. Soon, the punching and kicking stopped, replaced by a disturbing stillness. No more bulges.

Tesel, Lia, and Fil were jabbing and slashing at the worm’s face with greater ferocity and intensity, not only to prevent another soldier from being eaten, but also while stepping closer to it so the rest of the soldiers could pass behind their three leaders and get safely out of the intestine and into the stomach. Not all of the warriors were able even to get to the head: Kappitta kept undulating its snaky body to crush many of them against the intestinal wall.

As the three continued poking their swords at the giant monster’s face, one more man got sucked into its mouth, screaming, kicking, and flailing his sword in all futility. Lia grabbed him by the feet and tried to pull him back while two of the women fighters replaced her at jabbing their swords into its face; but Kappitta gave one huge suck and pulled the man all the way in. It almost pulled her in with him, too, except that Tesel pulled her back with all of his might.

After falling back with her against the wall of the tunnel, he shouted, “Run! Now’s your chance, while it’s feasting on our poor comrade and is distracted! Run!“

They all ran out…except for one of those two women fighters, who got sucked into Kappitta’s mouth. Its mouth closed before she had a chance to scream. She traveled through its body, her life fading away without any struggle, for she was content to have sacrificed herself to help save her comrades.

The last of Tesel’s men scrambled out of the intestines, and the survivors got into the stomach. They collapsed on the swampy floor in exhaustion and just lay there, panting and gasping. As they looked all around the large, dark, empty cave, they noticed the conspicuous absence of something–digested food.

“Kappitta must have sucked all of Gaya’s food into its body,” Lia said. “It didn’t just kill our comrades; it’s killing her, too.”

“And look around us,” Fil said with despondency in his eyes. “Look at what else is lacking: so many of our comrades!”

Tesel was counting the heads of all the survivors with a frown on his face. “We must be reduced to about half of our original number,” he said with a sigh. He heard a loud collective groan from his men. “Yes, the rest of our campaign will be harder…but not impossible!”

He now heard an even louder collective groan from them.

Then, they all heard voices from high above:

Damnissheevergonnawakeup?Ineedhermybusinessisgonnatakeadivewithoutherstarpowerifshedies.C’monGayasnapoutofit.
Isthatallyoucareabout,Asa?Makingmoneyfromfilminghertitsandassandfuckingandsucking?Youaresuchacreep!
Shutup,Lila.I’mabusinessman.Ihavetocareaboutthosethings.
AndGaya’smyfriend.She’salsoahumanbeing,andIcareabouther.

“Do you hear that, comrades?” Lia said, standing up and reenergized. “The gods are telling us that we mustn’t give up hope!”

“How do you know they’re saying that?” one of the weary soldiers said. “You can’t understand their muddled speech any better than we can. For all we know, they could be saying that we should give up on Gaya.”

“I know through the feelings in their voices,” Lia said, hearing a harrumph from the soldier. “I also know that we mustn’t give up hope precisely because things are looking so hopeless. Look around you, you slothful soldiers! Look at the lack of food in Gaya’s stomach, its emptiness apart from our presence here; there’s a lack of food because Kappitta has been eating it all. We must find the strength to carry on, because if we don’t, she will die, and then we will all die!”

“We’ve passed through the worst,” Tesel added. “Now we will go up, out of her stomach, and to her breasts, where we can feed from her mammary glands. That nourishment will give us new, needed strength. Then we’ll go to her heart, to feel what she feels, to make our pity for her grow, to motivate us to fight harder for her sake. I assure you, troops, that things will only get better for us from now on until we face Kappitta and Aisa’s men for the final confrontation. That final battle will decide, once and for all, everyone’s fate: will that giant worm and the enemy die, with some of our own, or will we die, and then everyone dies, including not only our enemies, but Gaya, too.”

“Now, will you give up like the cowards that Aisa’s men called us as we retreated here, or will you stand up and fight for Gaya?” Lia asked. “There’s milk in her breasts, waiting for us.”

Hungry to be fed, the soldiers had motive enough for the trip; so they got up and marched out of the stomach and up towards Gaya’s breasts.

After a long march along the tunnels inside Gaya’s legs, the two separated bands of Tesel’s army reached her knees. In exhaustion, they all fell on their knees, hungry and despairing over the prospect of facing another ambush of Aisa’s army in the pelvic region.

“We can’t do it,” one of the men said to Fil.

“We’ll all be killed,” a man next to him added.

“It’s a miracle that as many of us survived as we did,” a man said to Tesel.

“Aisa’s men are sure to attack us again, as soon as we emerge from these leg tunnels,” Lia said. “Still, we can’t give up. Gaya is depending on us.”

“I know,” Tesel said to her. “But look at these men. They are completely demoralized.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

“That I don’t know,” he said.

Tesel and Lia looked out at all of their tired, miserable soldiers, as did Fil in the tunnel of the other leg. They couldn’t give up, yet they could only give up.

Just then, they all heard a female voice from up above. Was it a goddess’s voice, or that of a heavenly, female angel? The soldiers all listened in total silence.

This is what they heard: GayathisisLilayourfriendpleasedon’tdieonmeIwon’tbeabletobearitIneedyouIloveyouInever toldyouthatbeforebutIreallydoI’vealwayslovedyoueversinceourfirstscenewefilmedtogetherandit’snotonlyyourbodyit’sallofyouyourmindyourheartyourpaineverythingIwanttoshareallthosethingsofminewithyoursandIcan’tdothatifyoudiepleasedon’tdiewakeupsweetiewakeup

Though it was hard for the soldiers to understand what the goddess was saying up there, the sobbing in her words voiced what language couldn’t. Tesel was inspired by the pain he heard, and he strove to translate it to the men.

“Men!” he called out in a voice so loud, even Fil’s men in the tunnel of the other leg could hear him. “I know you’ve suffered, I know you’re tired and hungry, I know you’re afraid, but you must remember that Gaya has also suffered, she is also tired and hungry, and she is also afraid, because she is dying. And if she dies, we will all die, too. This horrific reality is why we must not give up hope, as hard as not giving up will be. Did you all not hear the weeping of the goddess from up in the heavens? She was weeping for our dying world!”

The men were now looking up at Tesel, those on both sides listening with love in their hearts for their land. They were beginning to feel ashamed of themselves for their weakness and selfishness.

“Now,” Tesel went on, “if we die in our next battle with Aisa, then we’ll die; but we’ll die fighting–we’ll die having tried. If we just stay here, afraid to die, we’ll still die in the end, because Gaya will die. We’ll have allowed Gaya to die. But…if we go back up there and fight, and win…or fight, and retreat on the other side, and enough of us survive, there is already great honor in that feat alone. What’s more, our survivors can move up her body, feed on her breast-milk, feel the love of her heart, gain fighting skills from her hands, and gain insight from her mind. All of these together can be used to defeat Aisa’s army once and for all, and to save Gaya, to bring her back to health! Men, are you with me?!”

“YEAHHHHH!!!!” all of the men on both sides shouted.

This speech gave all the soldiers renewed strength and hope, and after having had enough rest, they all rose and continued their march in the tunnels of Gaya’s upper legs. Those led by Tesel and Lia, having heard his speech louder and right before them so they could see his encouraging eyes, were all the more inspired and energized, so they reached Gaya’s pelvic region sooner. Fil’s followers were slowed down all the more by his sporadic swigs of wine from a cup he’d been hiding from Tesel’s sight in a bag tied to his belt.

Aisa was watching the approach of Tesel’s men. He was pleasantly surprised to see so few.

“Is that all?” he asked his second-in-command, Lew. “Surely more than that retreated from us.”

“The other half went down the other leg,” Lew said.

“Yes, but why haven’t they returned with Tesel’s men?” Aisa asked.

“They may arrive soon after,” Lew said.

“Or they were so intimidated by our strength that they rightly don’t dare try to fight us again,” Aisa said with a proud smirk.

“That could be, but just to be sure, we should station some men to watch the entrance from the other leg.”

“Very well. Have three men wait there, and they can call out to us if the rest of Tesel’s men emerge. I suspect, all the same, that they’ll be too cowardly to face us again.”

So three of Aisa’s men were put at the other leg’s entrance. while the rest of them, grinning with ravenous teeth, watched Tesel’s group approaching.

“All of them are going to fight our half of the army?” Lia asked. “We cannot take on all of Aisa’s men at once, not without Fil and the others.”

“I suspect they think the half that Fil is leading won’t come at all,” Tesel said. “Fil is probably slowing them down with his pauses to drink wine. You know how he is. After all, I’m not with him to stop him from doing that.”

“Then the drunken fool won’t lead his men into battle!” she said.

“Oh, he will,” Tesel reassured her. “Fil may be a drunk, but he’s trustworthy, we know that. He and his men will just be a little late.”

“Late enough for us to be massacred!”

“I don’t think so, Lia. Aisa’s men have a hungry and overconfident look on their faces, as you can see before you. They’ll take the fight lightly. We know Aisa’s pride. Meanwhile, Fil’s tipsiness will bring out his aggression, and his men will charge right in as soon as they see what’s happening. They’ll surprise Aisa’s men, taking them all off guard, and this just might aid us in a victory, or at least a severe weakening of Aisa’s men, which will be an encouragement to us.”

“That just might be,” she said with a smile.

“All of you back there,” Tesel shouted back at his half of the army. “Fight hard! Fil and his men will arrive to help us soon enough! Take heart! The more of Aisa’s men we kill without Fil’s men, the greater glory for us. Charge!“

All of Tesel’s men yelled as they rushed forward.

Aisa’s men didn’t bother with the illusion of dancing nude women this time. They considered this battle an easy win without the need of tricks, and they knew that Tesel’s men wouldn’t be fooled by that illusion a second time in a row, as enticing as it might have looked. They just charged in as their enemy was doing.

Aisa and Tesel ran straight at each other, their swords raised up high, and their teeth clenched to show their lust for each other’s blood. Their swords clashed with an ear-splitting clang and locked together, and looking each other in the eye, the men struggled to bring the other’s sword down.

Both armies smashed into each other like colliding cars. Aisa’s men imagined they would just eat up Tesel’s but they were surprised–and impressed–to see so much bravery and resilience in such a small group of troops.

Tesel’s army managed to mow their way through a large section of Aisa’s. Blood was spraying everywhere, but Aisa’s men in the back assumed most of it was the enemy’s blood. Lopped-off heads and arms flew in the air.

Tesel and Aisa kept clanging their swords together.

“This is suicide for you and your men, Tesel,” Aisa said when both men paused to regain some strength. “You should not have come back. You have no hope of defeating us. All of this bravery your men are showing will have been for nothing. Give up!“

“We still have a few surprises left, Aisa,” Tesel said, then lunged at his enemy. Their clashing of swords resumed.

Fil’s followers emerged from the top of Gaya’s leg. As soon as they saw the three men stationed there by Aisa, Fil and two others threw knives at them, hitting each dead in the chest. They fell before they could call out to Aisa’s army. Fil and his soldiers could come up and attack their enemy from behind unseen.

They all lined up behind Aisa’s rear guard and began by stabbing each man in the back. The men’s cries of pain were heard by those immediately in front of them, but when those men turned around, swords were stabbed in their guts before they could defend themselves. The next line of Aisa’s men were ready, though, and Fil’s warriors had to clash swords with them.

Aisa’s men had adjusted to fighting on two fronts now, and they were no longer taking the fight easily. They were making all of Tesel’s men feel the full power of their fighting ability. They were turning the battle around in their favour.

Aisa’s sword slashed a deep cut in Tesel’s arm, making him slip and fall. Aisa raised his sword, ready to deal the killing blow, when Lia raced over and slashed Aisa’s left leg. Aisa limped with a groan of pain.

He swept his sword in the air in an arc that would have sliced off her head had she not dodged it. Then he tried a lunge at her guts, and he would have killed her, except…

…an earthquake…

Everyone fell to the side. Luckily for Tesel’s men, most of them–including himself, Fil, and Lia–fell upward in the direction of Gaya’s heart and breasts, farther off from Aisa’s men to be able to retreat. They all heard voices from above:

That’sitletsgetheroverontothisbedoverherethenwecanreplacethesheetswithfreshonestheregoodnowlet’sgetthedirtyoldsheetsandpillowcaseoff

The earthquake ended as quickly as it had started, and Tesel’s men quickly got up and took advantage of the situation.

Aisa’s men watched them retreating. “That’s it,” one of them shouted. “Run away from us again, like the cowards you are!”

“Don’t listen to them!” Lia shouted. “We’ll be back, and we’ll be better!”

“That’s right,” Tesel said, his hand on his bloody arm. “We’re heading for Gaya’s stomach, then to her heart and breasts, where we’ll feed and revive ourselves. We’ll reach her hands, where we’ll improve our fighting skills, then finally to her brain, where we’ll learn a battle plan to defeat Aisa once and for all. Onward!“

His surviving soldiers were tired and hurt, but with much more confidence and hope. They could see a real possibility to defeat the enemy.