A Snake's Life

by Kenaren

  * * *

  When I came to the next day, I realized that I was alone outside the cave and the goblins offered to me as a sacrifice had fled.

  Shaking my head from left to right, I slowly fought to stand up. First, I climbed to my knees, then into a kneeling position. And from there, I stood up. Though I fell many times while trying to stand. Once I was actually on my feet, it became much easier… Until I tried walking for the first time, and repeatedly fell after making the first step.

  It took me another five hours of repeatedly falling on my face or butt before I managed to successfully walk around without issue. And another two hours for me to learn how to run and jump. However, I did discover something a little… disconcerting. My weight didn’t appear to have changed from before. Though it was incredibly easy for me to move around, with every step I took the ground would cave in.

  “Hmm… It seems like I’ll need the stone Fenris uses to change his size after all. Even if it’s just to get rid of my weight.” Following this decision, I slowly made my way over to the goblins and requested that a stone goblin is given as a sacrifice to replace the ones that ran away.

  “We aren’t giving you anything!” One large goblin yelled after hearing my request.

  “Why not? Are you saying that you are going back on your word?” I asked with a tilt of my head.

  “We only agreed to your ridiculous demands because of what you are..” He stepped up until he was towering over me. “Now that you’re just a Metal goblin we have nothing to fear.” He finished while glaring into my eyes.

  I stared at him in complete shock… Then I started laughing.

  “What’s so funny!?” He yelled then he continued in a quieter voice.” You think I’m joking, but I’m completely serious. You will leave now, or we will kill you.”

  I laughed for a while longer, then I looked at him with a smile on my face. My metal fangs glinting in the light of the sun, and the serious look in my eyes must have given him some warning because his face turned pale… I grabbed him by the nose and pulled him down to my eye level.

  “I’m ever so glad you decided to refuse my demands because the list just got longer…And I’m starving” I tore his nose off, causing him to scream and attempt to backpedal away from me, but then I grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into my knee, bursting his head open and splashing blood and gray matter everywhere. Then my jaw unhinged itself from my skull and I shoved his corpse into my mouth. I chewed his body into unrecognizable mush, then I simply swallowed it down.

  I gave the other goblins a smile, making sure to show off my gore covered teeth, then I asked. “Now, who wants to take down my new demands?”

  The same tiny goblin as before came running not long after with his sheet of leather and quill. “I’m dreadfully sorry about the inconvenience sir!” He yelled as he bowed his head repeatedly.

  “Yeah, yeah. Here is my new demand. I want a stone goblin, a metal goblin, and a flame goblin to also come with me, bringing the total up to four, and they must be two female and two male goblins… Understood?”

  Nato nodded his head and quickly ran away, while I turned on my heel and began walking away. “I’m going out for awhile, I expect my demands to be met by the time I return…” I said while looking over my shoulder at the now terrified goblins, then I began my hunt to find a ‘river of fire’ that I could test this new body on…

  Chapter 28

  After leaving the goblin nest, I discovered another ‘problem’ with being this small… It took forever to get anywhere! Though I could walk for hours at a time before I needed to stop to eat, my travel speed was slow enough for that not to matter. In the five hours since I started walking, I doubt I’ve gone further than twenty miles… And that’s a high estimate.

  “Note to self… don’t travel while using ‘body possession’. It only leads to aggravation and slowed down travel speed.” I said with a small sigh.

  Another thing I discovered, is the longer I spend in this body, the more uncomfortable it gets. At first, I believed the feeling of my skin being too tight was a temporary thing and it would go away after I’d gotten used to it… It didn’t. In fact, it got So. Much. Worse, that it’s almost unbearable at this point. It felt as if my skin was going to strangle me… or would burst trying.

  Luckily for me, I’d remembered a lava river not far from the goblin nest and I should be there soon, then after performing my experiment, I could ditch this body…. And about an hour later, after walking up a steep incline and falling down several times in the process, I finally made it to a magma river.

  I stood on the precipice and looked at the flowing magma that was about a hundred feet below the crust… I breathed in through and looked up at the sky above. I held my breath for a few seconds, then slowly exhaled… Then I jumped.

  I rotated my body in the air until I was facing the cliff wall, then I reached out my arms and shoved them into the stone. They easily penetrated the wall and as my weight dragged me down to the awaiting magma, my arms ripped great swaths of stone from the wall. After falling for approximately fifteen feet, I spread out my legs until they were just past the width of my arms and I shoved my feet into the wall as well.

  My massive weight dragged me down at a rapid pace and treated the wall as if it were paper… But it did slow me down enough, that when I finally reached the bottom I was able to completely stop myself by leaning forward and pressing my arms further into the wall. The result of this action was me dangling just inches above the magma with my toes brushing against it every few seconds… Which proved part one of my experiment. Though I could feel the heat, and it did seriously hurt… No actual damage was done. My toes passed through the magma like it was water and the only thing I had to show for it, was a slight discoloration at the tips of my toes.

  I let out a sigh, then slowly pried one arm loose from the wall… It took a few tries, as my arms were lodged in much deeper than I’d originally thought, but I eventually got it loose. Then after resting for a few minutes, I pull my other arm loose and allowed myself to fall in… The magma splashed on the walls and melted through them almost instantly, and I quickly sunk to the bottom. I kept my mouth and eyed shut once I was under and I covered any other places the magma could breach with the palms of my hands, lest they be damaged…

  I floated along the bottom for several seconds, until I heard something ding… I forced open one eye while keeping the other lid tightly closed and read the pop-up.

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path. Elemental Wyrm Would you like to evolve?

  While I was reading the pop-up, I felt my eyeball burst from the heat of the magma… Just when I was about to scream in pain, I clamped my mouth down even tighter and inside my mind, I screamed out… “No!”

  A few seconds later, I heard another ding…. Against my better judgment, I forced open my other eye and read the pop-up.

  Very well, you have passed up the ‘Elemental Wyrm’ path. As a result, this path has forever been locked to you.

  Please select your reward for unlocking it.

  Superior Elemental Resistance Spike Scales

  “Superior Elemental Resistance!” I quickly replied as my other eyeball burst, and I felt the goblin body begin to die…

  You have been granted the ‘Superior Elemental Resistance’ skill, due to unlocking and rejecting the ‘Elemental Wyrm’ path.

  I activated the ‘release body possession’ skill, just as the new skill was granted to me. The goblin body I’d been possessing exploded into ashes, that was quickly melted away… And I reformed inside the magma.

  However, I was no longer in pain. In fact, I didn’t even feel the heat coming off of the magma anymore. I knew that I was still completely submerged, but the magma flowed around me as if it were water. I rose my head out of the river and looked up at the sky above.

  I let out a deep sigh, as my mind fought to recover from the shock of my eyeballs bursting… After taking a few deep breaths and doing my bes
t to forget the pain I’d just endured. I lifted myself out of the river and onto land, once again.

  “Ok, I am never. Doing. That. Again…” I laid down a few hundred feet from the river and passed out.

  * * *

  When I woke up the next day, I made my way back to the goblin nest to collect what I was promised. However, when I arrived I received some… disappointing news.

  “So… You’re saying that you can’t get the metal for another three years?” I asked Nato.

  He gave me a tentative nod. “Yes… The metal can only be mined for one week every ten years… And we still have three years to wait before the next ‘harvest’.”

  I gave him a slight nod. “I see… Can you explain why that is?”

  He swallowed, then answered. “Every ten years the ‘Magma tortoise’ stops swimming through the earth and goes to sleep for one week. During this time, the metal behaves like any other ore. It can be mined, melted, even broken… But once the tortoise wakes up, it goes back to being nearly impossible to mine.”

  “I see… And how does this affect the metal outside of the tortoise? Once it’s outside, can it be smelted into armor?”

  He nodded. “It can, though for whatever reason the same rules apply. The metal seems to be linked to the physical activity of the tortoise, and even the metal that has already been mined follows the same principles. For one week every ten years, the metal loses its unique properties and will become little more than iron armor… So maybe it’s best if you keep that in mind?” He finished with a nervous laugh.

  I smiled down at him. “I will, thank you for the information, Nato.”

  *Weak laugh* “No problem… Sir.” he quickly shook his head, then continued. “In the meantime, the goblins you have requested have been prepared and are ready to go at any time.”

  “Good. Good…. Please bring them here to meet with me, then I will be out of your hair for three years.”

  “Right away!” Nato nodded his head, then ran away.

  I watched him run inside the cave, then I turned my eyes up to the floating magma streams… I let out a deep sigh. “Sarah… I’m getting closer to the power needed to keep you safe, but…” I shook my head. ”*Sigh* No matter what happens from this moment on. I swear, that the world you will be born into will be a safe one…. Even if I don’t make it to the end, I promise that you’ll get to live your life, as you wish…” I silently prayed that Niabus would pass my message on to her, but I doubted he actually would…

  About half an hour later, the goblins showed up. There were five of them, six if you count Nato, who was leading them. I took a close look at them and realized that I recognized one of them. The base goblin walking beside Nato was the female goblin I’d spoken to the first time.

  I nodded to her and she returned the action with a slight smile. “Hello again.” I said after they’d come to a stop in front of me.

  “Greetings.” She replied in her squeaky voice.

  The other goblins remained silent as they stared up at me… At least they didn’t seem to be afraid of me for the moment. In fact, one of the stone goblins appeared to be quite hostile towards me. Just from his facial expression alone, I could tell that he would betray me at the first opportunity… So I rectified that problem immediately.

  “You’re going to be my new puppet.” I said while looking directly at him, so it was clear which one I meant.

  His face instantly switched from angry to worried… Then he felt a hand on his back. He slowly turned his head and saw the other stone goblin standing there with a smile on his face.

  “Sorry about this.” He said in a gravelly voice, Then he threw a right haymaker into the chosen goblins jaw, causing stone and blood to fly out of his mouth and onto the ground. Then he grabbed the chosen goblin by the throat and dragged him over to me.

  The goblin looked up at me with a slight smile and said. “One puppet for the master.” The other goblin kicked and screamed in a desperate attempt to get away from his fate, but the metal goblin grabbed him by the arms and lifted his hands into the air, while the stone goblin held him still. I tilted my head down, and the metal goblin forced his hands to touch the jewel and I activated the ‘puppet maker’ skill…. The two goblins held him in position until I told them to release him and no matter how loud he screamed or how hard he struggled, the two refused to let go.

  Eventually, the skill took effect and I received the pop-up.

  Stone Goblin Puppet Classification Tier 3

  Skills Night vision, Major strength up, Major durability up

  “You can let him go now.”

  They instantly released him and allowed him to fall to the ground. I then directed my energy into making it stand up and rejoin the line of goblins.

  “Now, I believe some introductions are in order… My name is Torga.” I said.

  The two male goblins and the other female goblin didn’t seem to understand what I wanted, but the larger female did understand. She stepped forward and said. “My name is Siofs: Hobgoblin, and a warrior by trade.” Then she stepped back in line and pushed the large metal goblin forward.

  “Uh… My name is Holstig: Metal Hobgoblin, and a defender.” He said while scratching the back of his head, then he stepped back in line.

  The small flame goblin took a large step forward and gave a dainty salute. “Hi!” She chirped in an oddly smooth voice, then she introduced herself. ” I’m Findral: Flame goblin, and a spy. Pleased to meet you!” Then she stepped back and the last one stepped forward.

  “I’m Hogunn: Stone goblin, and Berserker.” He simply said, then stepped back.

  I nodded my head. “Good, I’m glad that you are a varied group… Thank you Nato, you may leave now.”

  The small goblin seemed surprised that I was actually letting him go, but rather than question it, he turned and ran back inside.

  I watched him go, then looked down at my new ‘followers’. “I would like some details on your classes.”

  As each one stepped up to tell me about their class, I took the opportunity to memorize everything I could about them. The first to step forward was Siofs. She was tall, with a thin build and short black hair that almost covered one eye. She wore a tightly bound leather tunic that covered her body down to her knees, and a large skull helmet that looked almost like a kobold skull. She carried a long rusted sword and a dagger in a belt that she had tied around her waist… She held out her hand and pressed it to my nose.

  “We goblins are used to serving those stronger than us, so we can bond with you and allow you to see our status plates… Is that ok?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

  I thought it over for a minute or two, then asked. “What does that entail?”

  “We bind ourselves to your service until you release us. And in return, you help us to evolve and gain power.”

  “How?”

  She gave me a questioning look, then said. “The same way you gain power and evolve… We need to eat certain things to evolve our bodies and we need to fight to evolve our classes.”

  I nodded, then asked. “How do you bond with me?”

  A smile appeared on her face. “Oh, that’s easy. You just have to allow us to ingest some of your blood and we’ll do the rest.”

  I stared down at her for a few seconds… “If you do anything other than bond with me, and your status plate doesn’t appear within twenty seconds… Then I’ll not only kill you, I’ll turn you into my new puppet…. Understand?”

  She gulped and slowly nodded. Then she pulled a black dagger off of her belt and nicked my scales with it… But it didn’t do anything. She stared at my scales, then at the dagger and gave me a weak chuckle… “Um… would you mind?”

  I rolled my eyes at her, then bit down on my tongue with my non-venomous teeth. Some blood pooled in my mouth and I slowly let it leak out onto the dagger she held.

  She brought the dagger up to her mouth, then licked the blood off… a few seconds later, a pop-up appeared.

  Si
ofs Race Hobgoblin

  Classification Tier 4

  Class Warrior: Rank 3

  The other goblins all repeated her actions, and each of their pop-ups appeared in turn. The first was Holstig, he was tall, with a wide build and cropped black hair. He wore a loincloth to cover his groin and wielded a club and shield combo that he kept strapped to his back via a strip of leather.

  Holstig

  Race Metal Hobgoblin

  Classification Tier 4

  Class Defender: Rank 2

  Then Findral bounded forward. She was tiny and stood at about half the size of Siofs and Holstig at three feet tall and wore a small tunic that went down to her stomach and a loincloth that reached down below her knees and she was unarmed… I asked her how she wore leather without it bursting into flames and her response was…

  “Oh! The inside is lined with metal that absorbs the heat. And I don’t carry weapons because I make my own!” She finished with a smile as she rotated her hand and multiple flame daggers appeared and began rotating around her.

  Findral

  Race Flame Goblin

  Classification Tier 3

  Class Spy: Rank 4

  She stepped back and the final one stepped forward. Hogunn was widely built and was the same height as Findral. He wore a loincloth and nothing else, and he carried around a stone hammer that was larger than he was. He kept it strapped to his back via a leather cable that wrapped around his chest.

  Hogunn

  Race Stone Goblin

  Classification Tier 3

  Class Berserker: Rank 6

  I nodded to them. “Good, then it’s settled. In exchange for your service, I will help you evolve and you’ll have my protection for as long as you serve me faithfully.”