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.