The Tooth Worm

Paul looked out over the diastema. He sat on the edge of one incisor and could see the other in the distance about three millimeters away. He saw Stillmouth and the rest of his Frefairy family looking on with anticipation.

The land between the teeth was red and raw with inflammation. He thought, “This world needs cleaning. The rabbits and their sugar will kill this jaw eventually.”

The mist of the Oral canyon made his illsuit slick to the touch. He thought to himself, “This is my last test. I will call the worm and become Frefairy.” His eyes had already taken on the pink-on-pink from his constant exposure to raw Enamel.

Paul steadied his mind for the test ahead. “Decay is the tooth killer. Where there is decay I will drill. Where I drill, the decay will be no more. Only I and the tooth will remain.”

He descended from his perch on the incisor and dropped down onto the red surface. He checked his maker hooks — two lengths of floss with sickle scalers on each end.

Paul reached into his illsuit and produced a waterpik. “The pik will call the maker,” he thought. He filled the reservoir with water and turned it on. The rhythmic “pik-pik-pik” of the water jet was the only sound he could hear.

Then he felt the entire gum line roll in waves. Paul kept his balance by flitting his wings a bit.

“Hadha Mudhhil! Peg has called an old man of the jaw itself!” said Stillmouth to the other Frefairy. A young female Frefairy named Maimiti looked on with concern. She had taken an interest in the possible eumaal-nazafat-min-baeid. More than most others for sure.

From the edge of the gumline, the maker, a toothworm, emerged with its gaping mouth of sharp teeth. Paul could see the knives of the Frefairy there and did not wish to be swallowed whole.

It must have been at least two millimeters from end to end and it was headed for the waterpik in fury.

Paul raced down beside the mammoth and threw a hook into a nearby segment. The beast started to roll away from the pain and Paul held on as he was lifted to the worm’s upper side.

“Get him now, lad, Peg. You have him!” said Stillmouth quietly. Maimiti’s hands grew white as she gripped her own illsuit tightly in anticipation.

Paul struggled against the torrential winds at the top of the beast and he could feel the raw speed and power of the worm under his feet.

“Now to get control,” he thought to himself as the wind tore at his illsuit.

Paul swung his first line overhead and hooked a worm segment. He pulled lightly to set the barb. He repeated his swing to the other side. A vision of an infinite number of fairies collecting enamel across all time and space clouded Paul’s mind as the hook sailed from his hand.

The hook missed and bounced freely in the wind.

“Damn it,” said Paul.

“Ya la-hawl! He missed!” said Stillmouth in shock. Maimiti looked downwards.

“Focus on the now,” Paul recited as part of his Bene Hygiene training. He flung out the second line again and was grateful to feel it hook. He tugged again. The second line was set. He pulled on each line and the worm moved in kind to each tug.

Paul stood in triumph as he steered the worm back towards his Frefairy on the other tooth.

Stillmouth said to all nearby, “Hadha Mudhhil! He is eumaal-nazafat-min-baeid! The prophecy… it is real!”

Maimiti did not look up but was smiling to herself.