As we entered the museum we were greeted by a silver banner that hung from the roof. It read, “Welcome to the Museum of History of the Tunnel Digger Worms.” Underneath the words was a long snake-like thing that looked like those medical cameras doctors shoved down your throat to check the inside of your body, except the end of it had a drill, not a camera.


    We proceeded forward and turned down a short hallway which led into a massive planetary sized room. The room was circular and slanted down to a hologram of a brown planet with orange splotches in random places. Along the wall were various paintings, sculptures, vases and other types of art. It was hard to make out exact details in the low light, but it was safe to assume that they were all dedicated to this worm species.


    “This is kind of cool,” I said, stepping into the room.


    “Down here.” Grinny led me down to the hologram. Up close I could see that the planet was a rocky desolate place with no oceans to speak of. The orange splotches turned out to be massive craters on the surface of the planet. “Hold out your hand.”


    I did as I was told and a small tingling ran through my fingers. A screen popped up above the planet. It read, “The History of the Tunnel Diggers is written in the stars.”


    “Huh.” I lowered my hand and the message disappeared. “I thought it would be more cryptic than that. “


    Grinny crossed her arms. “Oh?”


    “Yeah, it’s pretty obvious what needs to be done to solve the puzzle.” Grinny looked at me expectantly. We need to search these art pieces for stars and then, um…”


    “And then what?”


    “And then, I don’t know. Let’s just find the stars first.”


    Grinny motioned with her hand. “Search away.” I gave her a quizzical look, but then shrugged and walked up to the nearest painting.


    In my freshman year of high school, I had decided to take an art history class to fill out one of my elective slots because after my first two choices, nothing else really interested me. On the first day, the art teacher, Mrs. Fletcher stood in front of the class and proclaimed that there was no such thing as ugly art. She went on to say that every piece was beautiful in its own wasy and it was our duty to see that beauty. Had she been standing next to me and looking at the painting as I was, I’m pretty sure she would’ve changed her opinion.


    The picture was called “Life. Life. Crawler,” and it depicted a pink tape worm looking thing tied together with an elongated green slug. One could only assume what those two things were doing. What made it worse is that whatever material was used to paint this made the whole picture look wet and slimy. It was almost enough to make me upchuck the kebab I had just eaten. But despite its appearance, there was no sign of any stars.


    I moved down the wall to a series of gray stone busts of worm heads, each of them sitting on top of a black marble pedestal. Each one of them had bladed pincers. Above them was a plaque that labeled them as the, “Lineage of the Undergrand Elders.” This seemed promising, so I examined each head more carefully, including the pedestals and the wall. Again, I found nothing. I even tried to pick up the heads to see if anything was underneath, but they were too heavy to move. Frustrated, I looked to Grinny who just stood there staring at me with her arms crossed.


    For the next while I checked every inch of every art piece in that museum. About halfway through my search, I had given up hope on finding anything, but at that point I was too stubborn to stop. When I had finished with the last painting, which was a moon with a worm coiled around it, I awkwardly walked back to Grinny and half-heartedly shrugged. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    “Did you really think I hadn’t tried that already, Little Worm?” In this place, that term of endearment almost sounded like an insult.


    I threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t know, I just thought, I don’t know okay.”


    Grinny laughed. “It’s alright. I actually wanted to see if you would’ve found anything new.”


    “Well, I didn’t. We’re obviously missing something.” I stood there for a moment fuming, before an idea came to me.


    I walked back over to the hologram planet and raised my hand towards it. The clue popped up again. I then tried swiping my hand back and forth but nothing happened. Then I tried swiping my hands up and down, and then diagonally and then every other way I could think of. Unsurprisingly, the planet did nothing.


    “What are you doing?” Grinny asked with a bit of amusement in her voice.


    “You know how in science fiction movies, characters can move holograms by interacting with them?”


    “What are you talking about?”


    It took me a moment to remember that Grinny wasn’t from Earth. “Never mind. I was just trying to see if I could get the planet to rotate.”


    “That won’t work,” a voice snorted. The pig person from before stood in the entrance of the room. Brown leather straps covered their body in a weird amalgamation of a bathing suit and a BDSM outfit. “I tried that earlier.”


    “What do you want?” Grinny asked.


    The pig person walked up to us and stood in front of me. “The same thing you do. I was hoping you’d have figured something else out, but I know better than to rely on humans.”


    “That’s pretty dumb,” I said. “What about solving things on your own.”


    The pig snorted again. “I said you couldn’t say things out in the open. And we’re not out there anymore.”


    “Whatever.” I yawned. “I think I need a nap. Maybe we can figure this out later after I’m refreshed.” I went to walk back up to the entrance but the pig person stood in my way.


    “No. We’re figuring this out now. I want that sword.”


    “Then figure it out yourself.” I tried to walk past them, but they stepped in my way. I tried going around them the other way, but they kept blocking me. “Leave me alone.” I tried to fake out the pig by going one way then the other, but they were able to step in front of me and push me back. As they did, I stumbled and fell backward into the planet.


    “What the hell is wrong with you porky? If you’re so smart…” I stopped as I got up and looked around. The room had disappeared and had been replaced with a series of lights surrounding me. These lights formed lines and shapes that looked like a connect the dot puzzle. “Grinny, where are you?”


    “What do you mean? I’m here.”


    “I don’t see you.”


    Before she could respond, the pig person appeared beside me and snorted with surprise. “Well, looks like humans aren’t so useless after all.” They did a full 360 before smiling. “These are constellations.”


    “I can see that, but…”


    The pig raised their hand. “Quiet.” They looked around again. “I know the answer.”


    “What is going on?” Grinny asked. “What are you two looking at?”


    “Be quiet Solarem. And be thankful that you have me here.” The pig raised their hands in front of them and began moving the constellations around, lining them up against each other. After a few seconds every single one of them were connected. “It’s a map of the Dragon’s Highway,” the pig pointed at a particularly bright star where several of the constellations intersected.


    Words appeared over it. “The Tunnels of the Tunnel Diggers.”


    “That,” the pig said, “is where the scabbard is.” Without another word, they ran out and disappeared leaving me staring at the stars and wondering how the hell they figured that out so quickly.