Queen of the Sandworms

Chapter 12: Queen of the Sandworms

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When the Sandworms arrived back at The Nest, there was a lot of screeches amongst them. Edgar dropped Lydia and Beetlejuice back to Lydia's room. The two jumped off the Sandworm's back and looked down at the sea of black and white below.

"Why didn't you tell me you lost your powers?" Lydia asked as she turned away from the commotion. Beetlejuice placed his red finger tipped hands up in an innocent manner. "I didn't know, Lyds! I really didn't! I mean...I kind of did, but I wasn't sure if they would come back or not!" he said with wide, sunken eyes. Lydia narrowed her eyes and looked away.

"We lost so many..." she muttered. Beetlejuice lowered his pale hands and narrowed his eyes in the process. "You did not lose many, they lost many! The Sandworms! To those...those..." he looked down at his worn, black shoes as he tried remembering the name Lydia called the leech creatures.

"Perolayx. The Ones Who Feast," she said. Beetlejuice slowly lifted his head back up to her. Lydia fully faced him, her face frozen in the firm, serious look, inside the mouth of the dead baby Sandworm carcass. The winds inside the Nest rustled her striped tattered disguise.

"The perolayx are our enemies-" "The Sandworm's enemies," corrected Beetlejuice as he got up from where he sat. "You are not a Sandworm. You are Lydia Deetz, a young goth girl who comes over to the Neitherworld when she says my name three times and is my best friend!" he said, raising his voice. Lydia narrowed her dark mascara eyes, but didn't say anything. Beetlejuice continued.

"You lost yourself to these hideous beasts! This whole world warped your brain! You need to get out of here before the Sandworms decide to eat you!" Beetlejuice shouted, making Edgar growl, baring his sharp teeth, but Lydia silently waved her arm to stop him. The second head of Edgar disappeared back inside the first mouth.

Lydia came up to the striped clad ghost, inches from his face. Her pale face had hardened. Beetlejuice started to feel scared as he glared back down at her, but held his ground. After a couple seconds of silence, Lydia finally spoke.

"You think the Sandworm's are the worst things in the entire universe. You are wrong. The perolayx are far worse then the Sandworms. They are mindless machines that eat and eat till there is nothing left in Sandwormland! Because of them, it's hard for us to find food and survive! Our planet is dying...we are dying because of them! We won't be able to live here for long when the perolayx find this place and eat us till there is nothing left!" Lydia said. Beetlejuice didn't say anything as her insane words sank into his head.

"I am willing to fight for my kind and to put an end to this misery and suffering we are having to survive through," she added. Beetlejuice glared at Lydia. He was starting to get tired of her saying "we" all the time. He felt like he was not included, and was considered a threat. He didn't want her to die just for a bunch of stupid striped overgrown worms. He wanted her back to the Neitherworld with him.

"You don't know what I had to go through when I encountered the Sandworms, Lydia," he snarled. Lydia snarled back. "I think I do. I had to survive on my own down here. The only way to live another day was to befriend the Sandworms..." She was quiet for a moment.

"Come. I want to show you something," she said. She turned toward Edgar. Edgar lowered his head down for her as she climbed on. Lydia looked down at Beetlejuice who didn't move from his spot.

She held her hand out impatiently for him to take. Beetlejuice took a deep breath and exhaled before accepting her hand and climbing onto Edgar's head. When they were both on, Edgar lowered his head down along the sand wall till he came to a huge opening of a tunnel.

The glowing green rocks were seen sitting just outside of the entrance. The cave was dark, and didn't have any glowing rocks to light up the place. It was as if the glowing rocks were scared to venture into the tunnel itself. Edgar rested his scarred head against the cold, sand ground. Lydia and Beetlejuice jumped off.

Lydia grabbed a small green glowing rock from a cluster and pulled out a thick stick. She made the glowing rock touch the top of the stick and waited. Soon the tip of the stick began to glow and instantly ignited into a green fire. "Follow me," she said.

Beetlejuice followed the Sandworm girl into the cave. Stalagmites and stalactites were seen all throughout the huge tunnel. "The first couple weeks when I was sent here, I survived on my own. I ate the fruits from the small jungles, and wore the body of a baby Sandworm." Lydia lightly ran her finger across the dark green lip of the baby Sandworm's dead carcass above her head before continuing.

"Later, I met Eldthegar, or Edgar as I call him. He was surrounded by the perolayx, weak and wounded. I was able to help him fight them off. He was weak and left by the other Sandworms to die. I fed him and nursed him back to health. Edgar became loyal to me, and brought me back to his clan," Lydia explained as she continued to walk further down the tunnel. Beetlejuice was quiet as he listened to Lydia's story.

"I was brought before their ruler, Golth. Golth was the biggest and oldest Sandworm in The Nest; a legend. He had fought against the perolayx during the Great Sand Storms of Saturn; before the time Saturn's moon: Titan, was struck by a meteor. When he first saw me, he didn't like me, and wished me gone. Edgar tried reasoning with him, but got hurt in the process by Golth. I intervened, and found myself fighting for my life."

Lydia lifted up her hand-made spear in her other hand. "I was able to save my own skin with this," she said. Beetlejuice's eyes widened in surprise, then noticed the whole tunnel open up into another huge room. The green light from the flames illuminated the whole place.

Stalactites and Stalagmites were seen all over the ceiling and the ground, like being inside a shark's mouth. The only area that wasn't with the teeth like formations was a path that ran along to the other side of the room.

A poorly made throne carved out of a cluster of stalactites and stalagmites was seen on the opposite end of the room from the path. It was adorned with old Sandworm fangs and a huge Sandworm skull mounted on the top.

Lydia walked up to the throne before turning around and looking down at Beetlejuice's shocked face. The Sandworm skull seemed to hover over the girl's head. "I was the one who killed their recent leader...and now...I am quetzileth-baruba, their Young Queen Awaken from Death," she explained. "And now, it has become my responsibility to take care of my kingdom, and to keep my kind safe from the evil that lurks out there upon the surface of Saturn."

Then, she cried out a long,Sandworm-like cry.

Right as she finished, all of the Sandworms of The Nest appeared in the room from the ground. They saw their queen at her throne. Then, they arched their backs backwards and cried their creepy, long cries before lowering their heads, bowing.

Beetlejuice spun around and moved away from them, then he looked up to Lydia. She lifted her hand up. Beetlejuice stared at the scene before him in horror. It was too late...Lydia was gone. She was now the Queen of the Sandworms.

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