by Peter Fang
Someone from the crowd yelled, “But who can go? Who has the most knowledge of what's going on up there in the human world?”
“I will go,” a voice murmured to Toherd. He turned and saw a skinny serpent looking up at him. The serpent was very, very slender and long. He figured the serpent probably measured at least ten feet long up in the human world. It was certainly long enough to swallow one of the toads. Toherd didn’t recognize him and wondered if this serpent may be responsible for the disappearance of some of his fellow toads recently. “Thank you for your sacrifice. If you and Su Wei make it to the top and finish your mission, you two will forever be enshrined in our memories.”
“Name is Liu Zhu, sir. There is no need to enshrine me in anyone’s memory. I’m already a prisoner like everyone else here in this forbidden pit. One prison in a lifetime is enough; I don’t want to be imprisoned in someone’s mind. This is purely a selfish act. I dreamed of going back to the surface. You have no idea how many times I dreamed of my old self walking on solid ground, feeling the breeze, and tasting the rain. It’s been so, so long that I don’t remember what a flower smells like.”
Yhawri whispered to him, “Don’t we all?” He then pointed at the three engineer toads in the back. “Show us the way, please. We have a toad to swallow, and a queen to save.”
The three engineers led almost the entire party to the top of Lão Chóng's back. As they got closer, the space got narrower, and eventually, only Toherd, Yhawri, and the two volunteers were left following the engineers. They finally arrived at a chamber covered with hundreds of holes, all undulating in unison. The small party couldn't resist but show their appreciation. The room was run by a group of small toads, all working feverishly with squeezing containers in their arms pouring golden liquid into each air hole.
The trio said, “Nectars from the grubs and mushrooms we grow. It calms Lão Chóng, but it works only to a point. Lão Chóng lost contact with Manfred and the queen, and it is panicking. If it doesn't make contact with the queen soon, it will deep dive into earth to cocoon itself. It may not come back up again for a hundred years and we will perish.”
“Do what you can, and tell them that we need to control Lão Chóng and open up the air holes,” said Toherd.
Liu Zhu and Su Wei looked tense because they knew it was time. They moved into position next to a large, slimy air hole.
One of the engineers warned, “Once Liu Zhu swallows Su Wei, we will push you through the hole. Once you are out, make sure you spit her out. Try not to breathe as you go through the hole, or else the slime will choke you.”
Liu Zhu nodded, and he opened his jaws and moved towards Su Wei. Liu Zhu dislocated his jaws so he could make it wider. His maw was wide enough to devour Su Wei. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Liu Zhu pushed forward methodically with his open jaws and slowly devoured Su Wei without scraping her skin with his sharp fangs. The scaly skin stretched thin as he finished wrapping Su Wei with his mouth. He licked his lips and nodded to the rest of the engineers. “Now push me into the air hole.”
The engineers in the room were briefed by Toherd about the plan. They were stunned at first but quickly helped out the team.
Once Liu Zhu’s head got inside the air hole, the engineers pushed the serpent from behind. With great labor, the bulging serpent was inside the air hole’s tunnel. Liu Zhu felt the heavy slime covered over his body. He wiggled forward but his body refused to move––-the slime prevented his body from gaining traction. He tried harder but to no avail. He felt a panic rising inside, and there was a strong urge to breathe. He fought back the urge and continued to push, but his body had very little movement. At the same time, the engineers were pushing from behind, but Liu Zhu’s body started to go limp as he drifted into unconsciousness. Liu Zhu felt the walls around him closing in on him, and it was hugging him tightly like a spring roll to the point his muscles were useless against the slippery slime.
Is this how I’m going to die? The thought crossed his subconsciousness. He felt a twinge from within his stomach and remembered Su Wei was still inside his stomach. He almost laughed as he realized it was likely the stupidest way to die in the strangest place. He snickered in a barely conscious state, remembering the world that he was used to just a day ago. Like most of the other serpents living inside Lão Chóng, they were second-class citizens working in the underground farm. “The farm,” as the serpent clan called it, was a glorified term for a series of chambers where they grew various edibles grubs and small mammals. Ironically, he remembered himself working as a coal miner in his former self as a human. One day the mining cave collapsed, trapping him and twelve others inside the cave. They started to die one by one, and he was the last to go. When he woke up, he had been transformed into this serpent identity. They told him that it was his second life, that his body has been reused by the master above. For some reason, he retained the memories of his past life. He learned quickly that not all his kind kept memories of their former lives. Someone told him that it was a form of punishment for the sin of his human life. There were others like him who remembered their past life. They all yearned for the chance to be human once more. Soon he learned that once in a while, someone would be chosen and be reborn as human after a deed was performed. There was no rhyme or reason, but you would be chosen for your ability. He felt no regret that he was about to die, but he feared that if he didn’t accomplish the work, would he be reborn as human or would he be forgotten, like so many others before him?
The unease brought him back from his unconscious state. He struggled to open his eyes and saw a hazy film obscuring his view. He pushed hard to lift himself against the tight cavity. He inched forward. He wanted to look back to see if the hole behind him was shut tight––-maybe he could still make it back to the chamber if he could not make it across? No! You are a proud member of the serpent clan, and you shall not fail! So he kept pushing. At first, every twitch of his muscles was countered by marshy cavity, so he decided to twist his body into an s-shape and pushed his scales out to give him leverage. The sharp scales bit into the wall and gave him the leverage to move forward. As he squirmed, the oxygen in his body drained, and he felt himself falling again into unconsciousness. At last, he felt a small window of fresh air as his nose poked through the other side of the air hole. The fresh air filled him with an instant boost of energy. He kept pushing and finally cleared half of his body through the air hole. It was enough for him to regurgitate Su Wei from his stomach. Liu Zhu collapsed from exhaustion, and Su Wei was still unconscious. He almost tried to cover her up with the slime to protect her from the curse, but he remembered that the slime would neutralize her ability to cast spells. He managed to pick up a nearby rock with his jaws and threw it at Su Wei.
The impact woke Su Wei. She sat back in the tight space and looked at the exhausted Liu Zhu. The burn was eating into her skin, and she quickly cast a spell to slow down the curse.
“Go now!” Liu Zhu urged her.
Su Wei blinked her eyes at the serpent. The spells she learned were surprisingly effective against the earth. The rocks and earth broke loose from her hands as she moved up against the gravity. She took a quick look back at the serpent and saw a crumpled motionless coil. She suddenly felt a quake and realized Lão Chóng was moving. Half of Liu Zhu’s body was still inside the worm’s air hole, and it was getting dragged back into the earth. The force pinned him against the hard rocks and sand––-he was getting ripped apart. She wanted to go back to help him, but she turned her head forward and moved on. She never felt sorry for the serpent clan before because they were the competing enemy vying for power inside Lão Chóng, but out here, they were united by a single goal. It was up to her now.
With a prayer under her breath, Su Wei dug through the layers of dirt and rocks and kept moving up without stopping. A hint of regret was peeking through her thoughts––-perhaps she should have stayed back inside Lão Chóng. No––-she would rather die trying than returning to that hell hole––-even
if it meant only a few minutes on the surface. It meant freedom from the lockdown, endless drills, and the bland food. She overheard countless times by those that remembered the human lives above the ground how different and beautiful it was. She wished she could recall what her life was like as a human and was told that she would remember everything one day. But it never came.
She pushed forward, continuing up to the surface. She knew she only had about thirty minutes before the curse would burn through her spell. How long has it been? Twenty minutes? Thirty? She wasn’t sure if she really could stay alive for thirty minutes this time. Her best record was done during a spell training competition, not while digging through dirt and rubbing against sand and rocks. She tried not to think about the time that remained and just focus on digging, but the thought inevitably creeped back into her mind: Why did you choose this suicide mission? She knew from the first day she opened her eyes in her second life that she wanted to get out of the place. The only way to do that was to sacrifice oneself. Inside Lão Chóng, you would never die––-nor really live. All of the trainings and studies to her were just there to convince her that it was a blessing to be one of the toads, that humans’ lives were miserable. But however miserable or inscrutable her human life was, she could not remember a thing from her past life. She was taught that Lão Chóng was a place for them to repent their sins, and a sanctuary to purify themselves by serving the queen. She wondered what the queen really looked like. There were so many renditions of her in the study that she could be anything and anywhere, but no one had ever really seen her face-to-face. One thing was for certain, though: everyone could feel her presence. It came in the form of visions and thoughts seeping into their dreams and nightmares.
Su Wei continued to cast spells and used the digging tools to break through the rocks. She was making good progress until she ran into a large boulder. If she dug around the rock, she took the risk of wasting valuable time; if she tried to dig through it, her speed would slow down, and she might never make it to the surface. She needed to make contact with the queen and deliver the healing spell. Time was running out. She decided to push forward because she didn’t know how big the rock was. The tool scraped against the solid granite rock; she felt the burn on her skin, but she remained calm. Either way, she was not going back to Lão Chóng. If she died inside the rock, she knew she had given the mission her best.
She kept digging until the rock broke loose. A surge of elation overcame her. First, the tool made a small hole, and the light pouring in from the hole blinded her. She pushed herself through the hole and let her eyes adjust to the new environment. The room was so large that her eyes could not adjust to the space’s depth. No matter how hard she tried, her eyes could only focus about a foot away. She took out a spell and dabbed it on a small feather. The feather floated away, carrying a string tied to her waist. The feather floated in the direction of a large structure. She tried to focus her eyes on the feather but lost track of it as it drifted away. Moments passed, and she felt a tug on the string around her waist. She tried the string and was rewarded with the taut line yanking back at her. Someone on top had caught the feather.
Could it be the queen? She was excited and scared at the same time. All the doubts about the queen faded as she ascended into the air. As she labored up the string, she felt the burn on her skin intensifying––-her spell was wearing off. She saw blisters rising from her skin and popped, giving off nauseating smell around her. But she knew that this was a suicide mission, and she was making peace with her final destiny. Then she realized that the queen must be able to keep her alive. Perhaps that’s what the meaning of rebirth was––-to be saved by her queen. The thought reenergized her, and she climbed with every ounce of her energy.
Finally, she reached the top and collapsed onto a small ledge. She was expecting her body to experience scorching pain and unspeakable torment from the curse, but nothing happened. She opened her mouth and gasped for air. There was an intense sense of relief rushing into her head. She kept on breathing and felt nothing. I thought I was supposed to die now. She looked at her skin but the blisters were gone. She almost passed out but heard a voice inside her head; it was a calling of her name––-Su Wei. Her eyes could focus on her surroundings again. She looked around and saw there was a small hole in the large object and blue blood trickling out. She could hear heavy heaving inside the hole, like someone bearing labor. The slot was surrounded by cast iron and elaborate golden trimmings. The voice called her again to draw her closer. She followed the voice to inspect the slot. There was a large keyhole next to it. The setup reminded her of the small prisons inside Lão Chóng for the disobedient. Why is the queen inside a cell? Is this really where the queen lives?
The voice inside her head again called to her. The queen was asking her to get closer.
“Come, child. Come closer. What do you have for me?”
“I have the healing spell for you.” Su Wei knelt before the queen and retrieved a green vial from her skin.
“Do not talk anymore; just come closer.”
Su Wei crept closer to the queen. She kept breathing the air around her. It tasted so different and refreshing than the musky version inside Lão Chóng. It was very confusing to her because she should be dead by now. She thought it must be the queen that was keeping her safe, and it was the rebirth that she had learned through countless whispers.
“Thank you, my Queen, for keeping me safe. Thank you for the rebirth.”
“Child, please come just a bit closer,” the queen continued to whisper. Her voice brought Su Wei deeper into a trance.
As Su Wei approached, she realized that the queen was not casting a spell on her, and there was no rebirth.
“Why wasn’t I dead yet?” Su Wei asked.
“Child, you think too much. Come help me. I’m badly injured.”
Su Wei could not fight back. Her body kept inching closer to the keyhole. She could now see the queen’s spidery legs just inside the box.
“My Queen, please release me so I can set up the spell for you.”
“I will, but you have to feed the spell to me, so I am pulling you closer. They didn’t tell you that, did they? I am weak and I can’t secure the spell on my own.”
Su Wei got closer, now only inches away from the keyhole. She could see the queen quivering inside the box. The queen sensed the Su Wei’s presence, and in an instant, she lashed out her claws and dug deep into Su Wei’s stomach.
Jolted by the queen’s attack, Su Wei tried to struggle to free herself, but a calming and numbing sensation emanated from her stomach. She looked down and saw the queen’s claws lodged in her stomach. There was a long appendage and it was sucking the blood and innards out of her.
“Queen!” Su Wei screamed in disbelief; a wave of confusion, fear, and anger overwhelmed her. She waited for the queen to reply; perhaps it was a test of her faith from the queen, but it didn’t feel right, and her body was completely paralyzed.
“I need food to heal, not spells!” the queen finally scolded. “You are saving me now by giving up yourself to me. I can’t reach Lão Chóng unless I have strength.”
It was clear to Su Wei now as she slowly drifted into eternal sleep. There was no pain, and she was finally able to experience the world that she had lost, however brief it may have been. Her mind melded with the queen’s and she could see so clearly now of all the things that the queen could see. Then she saw the biggest fear in her life.
“Queen, you lied––-to all of us!” Su Wei cried in her final moment of panic and clarity. “There is nothing to stop us from coming up to the surface; the worm is the one that held us down in the ground. The slime and the spell that cause our skins to blister––-that was not from the curse; it is from the worm! Why did you lie to us?”
The queen coughed with a sinister laugh. “Why does it matter? In the end, you still served me well. Without me, you would have drowned in the darkness long ago. I gave you a chance to dream and live your life with a purpos
e.”
I––-Su Wei wanted to say something, but she was too weak to form thoughts. All she saw was darkness closing in on her.
“Your name is Su Wei, right? Earlier you asked if this whole trip will reward you with rebirth; well, you were right. You will now live in my memory for an eternity; your thoughts and dreams will unite with mine; and you shall see what I see, feel as I feel––-this cruel and decrepit world,” the queen remarked with an absolute finality before slurping up Su Wei’s remains. There was nothing left but the dried-up skin and bones of a toad lying face down outside her prison. After her meal, the queen reached out and grabbed the green vial lying a few inches away. She sucked down the contents of the vial with glee and savored the rejuvenating power expanding inside of her. She felt the injury next to her abdomen was starting to heal, but it was still leaking blood. She realized that even with this meal and the healing spell, it would take a while for her to recover. She couldn’t lose Lão Chóng, and she needed to find a different home to get away from Manfred’s lair––-Meredith was too unpredictable and dangerous to stay for long. She felt she could risk to make contact with Lão Chóng again, but she would have to deplete most of her energy on Manfred’s dead body to send herself closer to Maria. She felt a sigh of relief once she had come up with a plan. Focusing her thoughts into a singular beam, she reached out to Lão Chóng underground.
Down in the burrow nearly sixty feet underground, Lão Chóng's primal brain finally connected with the queen’s, and its maddening tunneling came to a stop––-the connection had an instant calming effect on Lão Chóng. It leveled up and slowly turned around towards the queen.
Inside the worm, everyone cheered.
“Thank you, Su Wei and Liu Zhu. Good job! We will forever be in your debt,” Toherd murmured as he sensed Lão Chóng stop his digging and moaned––-then his mind was connected with the queen again. The thoughts were still blurry, but he could detect her presence. He knew that the engineers always had better integration with the queen through Lão Chóng. It would be much faster to find out what the queen needed by talking to one of the engineers.