"It's a desert worm, technically.", you corrected as Vi and you hung from the cage dome of the arena.

Gravity already tore at your arms, your fingers were getting sore. Cold iron nestled into the palm of your hands as you tugged your feet through two bars and made yourself hang from up upside down.

(H/C) hair fell into your field of view. Vi eyed you with a mixture of being impressed and unsettled about how smoothly you handled the situation.

"Did you fight one before?", she asked, audibly struggling to keep herself up.

"No.", you crossed your arms in front of your chest. But a former prison buddy did.

Huffing and puffing she tried to pull herself up enough to tuck her feet between two bars just like you did but failed and almost slipped.

With a groan, she threw her head back. Strands of scarlet danced around her bright face that started to slowly turn red. Her fingers were also starting to swell. It was only a matter of time until she had no strength left to keep herself in the air.

"Great. How did he win?", she asked to get her mind off the possibility that she could loose grip any moment.

"He didn't.", someone in the audience tossed an empty can at you.

Baring your teeth, you caught it out of the air and crushed it between your fingers. You let the remaining trash go only for it to fall into the seemingly endless pit of teeth that indicated where the desert worms mouth was.

"We're really gonna die here, aren't we?", Vi managed to cling to one of the metal bars, tugged her legs between another and pulled herself up to rest.

You could feel how blood ran down your legs into your head. It made your toes tingle and your forehead feel like someone had hit it.

Your eyes wandered through the crowd. Men and women in uniforms wherever you looked. These very people were supposed to keep law and order.

Technically they were law and order. And all they had to do on a free evening was to watch some poor kids from the Undercity be eaten by a monster.

"You might. I'm not planning to.", you said and repositioned yourself to regain some stamina as well.

"So what's the plan?", Vi started to get fuzzy, impatient.

She clearly didn't handle critical situations very well. Besides, you doubted she was experienced in battle. Judging by her scruff appearance she must have been in a brawl or two but a fistfight was far from similar to this situation.

Survival.

"There is no plan.", you gestured downwards. "This thing is gonna eat us whole."

She smiled passive aggressively.

"Thanks. I didn't notice."

You rolled your eyes.

"You gotta work with me here, kid."

She shrugged.

"I'm about as positive about this situation as you are.", Vi bit back, but managed to take a deep breath and calm her nerves as much as possible. "What's your point?"

Once more your eyes wandered, however this time not across the crowd. Instead, you examined the desert worm. The thing was enormous, almost as large as the entirety of the arena.

Even though the many teeth suggested that it was some sort of abnormality the body was about the same as of any other worm, soft and a little hairy.

Perhaps it would be possible to cut it in two with a little more force. Blood loss and injury would do the rest. Then again, there was nothing to pierce it with.

Narrowing your eyes, you checked if it were possible to get into the inside and do internal damage. But the rows of teeth went deep into the throat and one unfortunate fall would be fatal.

You'd have to dive into it with perfect precision. Which was not possible in this situation.

Your gaze wandered on.

The metal cage dome that kept inmates trapped inside the arena was connected at the very top. It was up so high that whoever had build this structure had not payed more attention to the stability than necessary.

A pike shaped lantern hung from it, illuminating the scene of fighting. It was large enough to do some good damage. But to use it to your advantage you needed to get it to snap out of its socket.

With a gesture of your head you drew Vi's attention towards the lantern. She looked at it for a moment before shrugging.

"That looks hard to get to.", she stretched out an arm to show just how far away it was.

And she was right, it would need a whole lot of climbing and good faith to get to. If you slipped and fell it was over, at least for the one climbing.

"Stay back.", you grabbed a metal beam above your head and pulled yourself up.

"Hey!", Vi hissed and tried to grab you by the ankle.

Annoyed, you shook her off.

"Just don't fall.", you shook off her hand. "Or climb with me."

Swallowing hard, she checked the distance again before clinging to her hiding spot even more.

"I'll pass...", she muttered with a sigh.

"I figured.", you threw a glance down. "The worm doesn't have eyes, it seems. It must be attracted to sound or something."

She frowned.

"So?"

"Try and attract its attention when I tell you to. If it stretches up, we might be able to shove the entire lamp up its throat."

Vi looked at the spike. Then she nodded.

"Good luck.", she sat up on top of her steel beam.

With a nod, you started to climb further upwards, closer towards the only chance the two of you had. Below, the worm made the entirety of the ground shake, so much so that you could feel it crawl up into the dome.

Chains rattled. The crowd started to mutter and shout in displeasure. Some threw empty cans and containers still filled with scraps of food.

Annoyed, Vi kicked them back only to earn insults in response. It made you smirk thinly as you threw a glance back over your shoulder.

She really would have fought the wind just to prove herself.

Your attention returned to the task at hand. The lantern. It wasn't far anymore, gravity pulled you down by your legs and made it feel like you were heavier than stone.

Just a little more.

The crowd booed.

Just a little more. Now it was within reach.

But all at once an electric flinch chased through your body. And with it pain exploded within your limbs.