ORIGIN

She was running, trying to remember what the Collector had told her. Maybe he'd said something about this when he was instructing her on where to go. Maybe he'd told her how to beat these things! Or at least evade them. As the giant sandworm dove back into the ground behind her, it came to her. They sense the vibrations in the sand! Shit, she should have remembered that before!

Immediately, she came to a halt and stood still, as still as possible. It was actually quite difficult, with the pain in her leg, but she barely dared to even breath as the sand below her shifted. She prayed to everything, to Blueberry, to her family, to her own fucking terrible luck that it wouldn't find it. She'd be able to escape its notice.

She stood still, so perfectly still, terrified to move even a muscle. The sand churned around her, searching, waiting for her to move but she was absolutely determined to outlast the sandworm. She could do this. She'd suffered pains before, horrible, brutal, terrifying pain, even if the memories were disjointed and disconnected. She always remembered the pain.

As time wore on, the sand grew still, but she was paranoid that it was still there, just waiting for her to make a move. Eventually, the throbbing in her leg became too much to bear and she decided that she needed to settle herself down. She chose a time when the sand was churning, when it would be less noticeable, and ever so slowly, ever so carefully, laid herself into the sand. It barely moved at all and she let her movement last for as long as she could before her legs folded beneath her. The sandworm probably wouldn't notice. So she let herself feel some relief that she wouldn't be standing anymore.

And then the waiting returned.

It was torturous, both physically and mentally. The heat was searing into her brain, making everything fuzzy and unreal. Many times she thought she saw her family coming to her, horror stretched across their faces, before disappearing in a flash, but she was too delirious at that point to care. The world was spinning around her, but she stayed silent and perfectly still.

She wanted to break. She wanted it to be over. She wanted to scream and rip out her feathers and dig her claws into the ground. She wanted to tear her leg off of her body because it hurt really fucking bad and she wanted to tear that sandworm apart, plate by plate, thorn by thorn, until it was nothing but visceral guts and blood and broken bone. There were a few times that her impulsive urges almost overcame her, but she stopped herself just in time, focusing back on the apatite gemstone that the Collector had held out to her. Focused on the hallucination of Blueberry she had seen not long ago. And focused on all the memories of him, of her family. When she left, she'd have it all again, but without the pain and the blood. It would all be washed away.

And so she sat there, for three long hours, staring straight ahead, moving not a muscle, and hardening her mind against the madness that threatened to creep back into her psyche and against the heat and physical pain that never left for a single moment.

At long last, the sands went still, but Blackberry continued to wait. It could be trying to fool her, trying to get her to lower her guard before attacking once again, but after another 10 minutes had passed and there was no more movement, she realized that she was free.

Carefully, she got to her feet. Her injured leg was actually feeling leagues better, the cramps having finally faded away, but the pain still lingered. It was something, at least, and it made it easier to walk. Ever so carefully, she began to walk across the sands again, putting her feet down slowly and carefully so as not to alert the sandworm if it was still lingering beneath her.

She made her way towards the Crucible, keeping the image of Blueberry's face fixed in her mind as she stepped softly across the sands.

As Blackberry approached the base of the Crucible, she finally breathed out a sigh of relief as she left the desert behind. It was like a weight was releasing from her chest - she was safe from the sandworm, hopefully. Now it was time for the next challenge to begin. She looked up at the ceiling, squinting against the harsh light. There were distant shapes hovering around the top of the mesas, most likely some kind of bird of prey making their nests at the top of the mesas. She very much doubted any kind of mouse would be making its home where there were so many predators with a bird's eye view.

She turned her eyes down at the winding trenches and decided that it would be the best place to start. Before stepping through, however, she closed her eyes and allowed the magic to flow through her body again. But she'd never used this spell so many times before, especially in such a short period of time and it was only a small burst of energy that ran through her limbs, only slightly dampening the pain in her leg. It would have to do for now, however.

Once the spell had run its course, Blackberry stepped forward, quickly scuttling against the walls, trying to keep herself under cover, taking her steps a lot slower then they had been before. If it was intelligent enough, she doubted the quillmouse would stay in darkness if it was always glowing - it was much easier to see glow in darkness then in the harsh light. But instinct would probably tell it to seek shelter. This would be difficult.

She, herself, crept along the darkness, every so often feeling the cramp in her leg returning, causing a few steps to be clumsy and uncoordinated. She watched the canyons carefully for any sign of a glowing mouse as she went.