The kind hearted worm

The worm was humongous, with barely his head penetrating the soil, it already towered over the children.
The kids started to scream, but they soon heard a soothing voice.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, please, stop crying.”
It was the worm.
The children screamed even harder, and started running away, some even fainted.
Later on, the adults came running, just to find those who’ve fainted protected by the ground itself.
The weather was both windy, and a storm was about to start, thus the worm thought that the younglings needed protection, thus created small earthen caves around those that fainted.
 The adults were dumbfounded by the small shelters that were protecting their kids, while the worm slowly made its way up.
The ground shook, and its head was once again towering above the humans.
“M-m-monster!”
One of the adults shouted.
“I mean no harm, human.”
The worm transmitted with its soothing voice.
This action calmed the adults a bit, but they were still shivering, getting their hands on rocks, and sticks.
“W-w-what do you want?!”
One of the braver adults asked.
“What year are we in? Did the deities neglect their duties? I can sense great deprivation from Mother, and her very body is exhausted.”
The worm said.
“I…We…Gods do not exist, at least not on Earth…”
One of the adults stuttered.
“So…you have no knowledge on the regulations of this very planet?”
The worm asked.
“No?”
The adults answered uncertainly.
“I’ve slumbered for far too long… The planet…Mother herself is dying…I shall execute the restoration plan. Farewell humans.”
The worm said, before diving back to the underground realm.
“Wait, who are you? What are you?”
The adults shouted.
“A land deity…”
The worm’s voice echoed through their minds, even though the worm itself wasn’t on the scene anymore.
The worm afterwards, travelled through the entire planet, waking up several dozen other land deities, creating quite the aftershocks.
Humanity thought a doomsday scenario is coming, since the awakening of so many deities shook the Earth to its very core.
But humans were wrong, the land deities gathered outside the planet and encircled it.
“So this is it…”
A cicada of the size of a country said.
“This is our calling.”
A bear the size of mount Everest hummed.
“Let’s begin, brothers and sisters.”
The worm said, in its soothing voice.
All the land deities started chanting, and their bodies started shining brightly.
Soon, their bodies collapsed into small particles, which entered deep within the Earth’s core, and started revitalising the lands.
Forests grew anew, soil fertility returned and increased all over the world.
The air was fresher, and purer, while the water sources increased in quality as well.
Through the sacrifice of several dozen deities, Earth was healed to a certain degree, giving humanity centuries to live in peace, without the fear of their planet collapsing.