A Snake's Life

by Kenneth Arant

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Welcome to the Bifrost

  Please select your next destination from the available branches.

  Uathea: An earth elemental world. Home of massive forests and the “guardian” of the druids.

  Seleth: A wind elemental world. Home of floating mountain ranges and constant hurricanes.

  Jitia: A water elemental world. Home of many small human kingdoms situated on hundreds of small islands.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "Druid guardian? But Lena said the guardian was dead... didn't she?" I asked myself, while I was reading this message.

  "What is it, Master?" Siofs asked, after seeing me pause at the pop-up.

  "Conflicting information." I shook my head. "Never mind, I'll just have to figure this out later."

  "Uathea!" I yelled, and my body went flying forward at high speed.

  When I landed outside of the branch, the first thing I noticed was how odd this world seemed. The sky was bright green and the sun that was just about to reach its peak was a dark blue. Which looked quite strange floating in the green sky.

  On the ground, I saw the blue foliage that covered the landscape. The tree leaves were mostly dark blue like the sun, though I saw several orange and purple leaves hidden among the masses. The grass was differing shades of blue, ranging from almost black to nearly white, creating patches that formed stripes along the ground.

  However, aside from those extreme examples, the world looked relatively normal. The wood was still varying shades of brown. I didn't sense any weird animals skulking around, nor did I see any bad weather or floating lava streams. So all in all, not a bad place.

  After looking around to my satisfaction, I ordered the puppet to stand in front of me and the goblins to jump off, so they wouldn't be hurt from what I was about to do.

  "What are you doing, Master?" Holstig asked in a bored tone.

  I let out a sigh. "I'd rather not scare the druids too much, so I'm going to possess the puppet."

  "Oh..." he finished lamely.

  One thing that made itself apparent during the two months I’d spent traveling with the goblins: They were an odd bunch.

  I'm assuming it's because they've gotten used to my presence, but each one of them has begun to show more and more of their personalities.

  By observing Holstig, I'd come to understand some truths about him. For starters, he's a very dull conversationalist and prefers to keep to himself unless he's around Siofs, which brings us to point two. He's very protective of Siofs, but he refuses to say why. However, from what I've witnessed, his desire to protect her isn't weaker than my own desire to protect Sarah, so he must have a reason.

  Moving on to Hogunn. He's become more cooperative, ever since he evolved into an orc. And he's no longer the standoffish one. I'm assuming it's because I allowed him to evolve and catch up to his peers, but you never know. It could be for another reason.

  Siofs is still the strait-laced one of the group and is usually the first to fall into the leader role whenever I'm not around. I had, however, learned a few things about her.

  For instance, I learned that she is a goblin “princess” and is the youngest daughter of the goblin king. But that led to my questioning why the king would send his own daughter to accompany me.

  "I'm a goblin princess, and as such, I'm expected to one day form a nest of my own, as are my siblings. But with you showing up and demanding some goblins accompany you on your journey, I figured this would be a good opportunity for me to travel to an acceptable planet to form my nest, so I volunteered. Oh, but don't worry. I was going to ask for your permission before I started the nest," she replied in a straightforward manner with a slight smile on her face.

  I didn't question her further about her nesting plans because I honestly had no issues with her starting up a nest. In fact, a goblin horde could be extremely useful one day, so why would I reject it? No, I definitely wasn't going to deny her request to form a nest, though I might have a suggestion or two for her when the time came.

  And then there's Findral, our resident pyromaniac and ball of explosive energy. Ever since the meeting with Prudens and Gorre, Findral has become a bit... sharper?

  No, that isn't right. It's more like she just isn't hiding behind the facade of innocent exuberance as much as she had before. I've been seeing more and more of her serious side, and I have to say, I'm impressed. It's obvious that she'll never be a natural leader like Siofs, but Findral is a definite second.

  However, with this more serious side came a feeling of familiarity that I just couldn't seem to place. Now, I knew that I'd never met her before that time in the goblin nest. So why was I feeling this way?

  "Just another thing to add to the 'figure it out later' list. Now that I'm thinking about it, that list is getting pretty long. I should probably make some time to think over things before I start forgetting them altogether," I whispered to myself, as I touched the puppet with my jewel.

  Solon

  A BRIGHT RED LIGHT flashed over the treetops as I and a group of elven hunters were returning home from another successful day of hunting.

  "Did you guys see that?" Alok Norro, a dark elven kid around my age asked.

  "Yes... Ruehar and Rathal, you two head back to the village and tell the Elder that we've gone to investigate." Elwin, our de facto leader and veteran hunter told the twin trackers.

  They gave him a salute, then ran off.

  "Form up on me and remember, at the first sign of trouble the young hunters need to flee."

  "But Elwin—"

  "No, Einar! Either follow my orders or you can go back to the village with Ruehar and Rathal," he told his younger brother Einar.

  Einar's lip trembled a bit, but he swallowed down his frustration and nodded.

  "Good, now... Move out!" Elwin ordered.

  We assumed our positions and began running towards the red light's origin.

  We'd been running for around fifteen minutes when I smelled something I recognized... Torga.

  "Wait!" I yelled, causing my group to slide to a stop.

  "What is it, Solon?" Elwin asked, while raising his head to sniff the air. Like me, Elwin and his younger brother were demi-elves, but I was half Warg and they were half fox.

  "A friend," I replied with a smile on my face. Then I motioned for them to follow me, while I followed my nose to Torga.

  "Who's this friend of yours, Solon?" Alok asked.

  I simply smirked at him and refused to answer as I continued to follow my nose until I arrived at a break in the trees. The area had been completely flattened, as if a mountain had been dropped on the area, and standing in the center of the destruction was an extremely tall snake-man.

  It towered over its companions at around fifteen-feet tall and was almost as wide as two men standing side by side. It was bald with a thick crest on its forehead that housed a bright red jewel, two yellow eyes with slitted pupils, and a mouth that I just knew was filled with razor-sharp teeth.

  Its scales were almost completely dark green, except for a patch of dark gray scales around its stomach... and it was naked.

  "Oh my!" Alata, our resident dryad exclaimed with her eyes locked on a certain part of the snake-man's body.

  "My eyes are up here, girl." The snake-man said in a dual-toned voice.

  Alata quickly covered her eyes and turned around. "Sorry!" she yelled once her back was turned.

  The snake-man softly chuckled as it held out its hand to a blue goblin standing to its right. "Pants, please." It said to the goblin.

  "Sorry Master, but we don't have any in your size," she said with a contrite look.

  "I'm aware, Siofs. Still, there must be an extra pair in there from the orc, yes?"

  "Well... Yes, but what good will they do you?"

  "Just hand them over."

  She wordlessly passed over a pair of extremely large black pants and the snake-man slipped them on. Then he tore a long strip out of the left leg and wrapped it arou
nd his body to form a makeshift belt.

  "Much better!" it said with a smile as it looked down at the pants.

  "Torga, is... is that you?" I tentatively asked.

  The snake-man raised his head and looked me in the eye. "Hello, Solon. How's the family?"

  A smile grew on my face and I ran over to him.... And drop kicked him in the chest. "You're late!"

  Torga

  I FOLLOWED ALONG BEHIND Solon and his group as they led us back to the druid city. And while I was walking, I made it a point to look at each of them in turn.

  Solon still looked the same, though he was a little taller and his hair had grown more wild, so I passed over him and looked at the others.

  The first was a plant woman. She had blue skin covered in green foliage, which led me to believe she wasn't from this planet originally. Her “hair” was made of vines that hung down to her lower back and she had orange eyes, and she walked around naked. Because of course she did.

  Then, there were the fox siblings. Both of them had short red hair and long fuzzy tails that ended in white patches. The taller brother was wearing a suit of brown leather armor that covered loose fitting pants and a shirt. The shorter brother was wearing a simple brown robe with leather accents.

  And finally, there was the young dark elf. He had long silver hair that hung loosely around his neck, except for one long braid that hung past his temple, and he had bright red eyes. He was wearing a green robe with leather accents and carried a wooden staff.

  "So, Solon. How's your family?" I asked.

  He turned to look at me with a sad expression on his face that he then tried to quickly hide. "Oh, they're fine! Mom and Dad are the same as usual. Hali's been acting a little weird, but she's a girl so that doesn't count, and Talia's been causing as much havoc as her little body can handle."

  "I see... So, there's nothing bad going on? You and your family are safe?"

  "Well... We've had some issues, but there's nothing you can do to help in that regard."

  "Try me."

  "There's—"

  "Solon! The Elder’s already explained this to you!" The taller fox brother yelled.

  "But—" Solon tried to say something, but he was again cut off by the fox.

  "No buts."

  "How about if you interrupt him again, I'll shove your head so far up your ass, you'll have a reason for that brown nose of yours?"

  The fox-boy clamped his mouth shut.

  "Now, what's this problem you're having?"

  Under the glare of fox-boy and his younger brother, Solon told me everything that had happened since their return.

  Three years ago, the druids adopted a new guardian. However, this guardian required something for its protection: live sacrifices. And in an effort to delay his own sacrifice, the city’s Elder had been sending out young children to be sacrificed to the guardian.

  This, I understood and could accept. But something Solon said later truly pissed me off.

  "When this Ayla girl was to be sacrificed, her grandmother took her place and was sacrificed in her stead. But even after her grandmother's sacrifice, Ayla is still set to be sacrificed within the next few days... And then it’s supposed to be Hali's turn," Solon said dejectedly.

  "I see... And what exactly, is this guardian?" I asked through clenched teeth.

  "It's an earth dragon, " Solon replied, looking at the ground.

  "Solon."

  "Yeah?" He turned to look at me.

  "Does your dad have what I asked for?"

  "Oh! Yes, he does. We stopped to get them in Neonia before we came here."

  "Then go get your father and tell him to come meet with me... We have some planning to do."

  Solon nodded, then ran off into the forest, leaving me and the goblins with the hunting group.

  "You can't stop Lord Arroth's will—"

  "Shut up before I eat you."

  "Hey! You can't talk to him like that—"

  "Silence!" I roared, causing everyone to take several steps away from me.

  "I just found out a friend of mine was killed and two more of my friends are on the chopping block... So the next person to open their fucking mouth will get their tongue ripped out! Understand!?" I snarled, then I headed over to a tree and sat down to wait for Fenris to show up, with the goblins immediately copying my actions.

  The hunters were frozen in fear for ten minutes following my outburst, then they too, settled in to wait.

  Chapter 33

  APPROXIMATELY TWENTY minutes later, Fenris in his Demi-Elvan form, Lena, Hali, and Solon ran up to me. Lena and Fenris slid to a stop to stare at me, Solon made his way over to the goblins and started chatting with Findral, while Hali slammed into my side and hugged me.

  "Torga!" She cried out as she attempted to burrow deeper into my scales.

  I stayed frozen there for a few moments. Then I raised my right hand and began to softly rub her hair.

  "It'll be alright..." I whispered to her.

  She lifted her head and looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "I didn't think you would make it in time..."

  I heard someone clear their throat off to my left. When Hali and I turned to see who it was, we saw Ayla standing there with a devious smile on her face. "Sooo, Hali, this the man you've been talking about?" she asked in a teasing tone.

  "Ayla!" Hali yelled, then she quickly extracted herself from my side, blushing a brilliant shade of red. Ayla giggled in satisfaction at her embarrassment, then she turned to me. "So, what's your name—" She began, before pausing midsentence.

  "Haven't we already done this, Ayla?" I asked.

  "Wait..." She squinted her eyes. "Old man?"

  "In the scales." I said with a chuckle. Then the humor left me. "Ayla... I'm sorry I wasn't here to—"

  She did an almost perfect imitation of Hali and dove into my side so she could hug me.

  "Those bastards killed her, old man!" All traces of her previous amusement were gone as she cried into my shoulder. Her long hair became a tangled mess as she rubbed her face into my neck.

  I repeated my earlier action and reached up and patted her hair. "Ayla... Listen to me, Ayla."

  She stopped long enough to look up at me.

  "The people that did this... the ones who made the deal with the dragon... Can you take me to them?"

  The first emotion to appear on her face was confusion, but that was quickly replaced with all the anger her tiny body could muster. "Will you kill them?" she asked.

  "With extreme prejudice."

  She watched me for a few seconds amidst the watchful eyes of our audience. Then she nodded her head and stepped back.

  Hali quickly walked up to her and grabbed her arm, then she dragged her off to the side. She apparently began to question Ayla, but I couldn't listen in as my focus became occupied by Lena and Fenris.

  "Well, now that my daughter has had her moment, I think we need to have a talk," Fenris said with the most serious expression I'd ever seen on his face.

  "Of course," I agreed, then I stood up and began to follow them. "Siofs!" I called over my shoulder.

  "Yes, Master?"

  "Guard the children..."

  "Of course," she nodded.

  We walked just out of earshot of the children, then we began to plot.

  "DO YOU HAVE WHAT I asked for?" I asked, as soon as we were alone.

  "Who do you think you're talking to? Of course, I have them." Fenris replied with a scoff as he tossed me a small brown pouch.

  "Thanks, Fenris." I said, as I snatched the pouch out of the air and dumped its contents into my palm. Multiple colored gems and stones fell out, then I quickly threw them into my mouth and swallowed them whole.

  With my potent stomach acid, the stones were dissolved within moments and I got the pop-up.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path: Elemental Naga

  Would you like to evolve?

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "
No." With my hatred for a certain dragon influencing my actions, I declined the Naga evolution for two reasons: The first was because if I accepted it and began to evolve, then by the time I was released, it would most likely be too late to save the few people in this world I cared about.

  And the second reason, If I didn't at least severely injure that damn dragon, then I just might go crazy.

  A few seconds later, another pop-up appeared.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

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

  Please select your reward for unlocking it:

  Magic Manipulator

  Telepathy

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Because of my ability to communicate through the puppet, I chose Magic Manipulator.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have been granted the Magic Manipulator trait due to unlocking and rejecting the Elemental Naga path.

  *Note: You now have the ability to use magic, but without learning the spells, incantations, and movements of the differing magics, you will be unable to use this trait to its fullest potential.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "You done yet?" Fenris asked as I finished reading the pop-up.

  "Yeah, I'm done." I replied, while waving off the pop-up. "Now, tell me everything you know about this situation and the dragon."

  "Why do you want to know about the dragon, Torga? What are you planning?" Lena asked.

  "That should be obvious, Lena. I'm going to kill it."

  The two of them stared at me in shocked silence for several moments, then, "What!?" "Are you fucking joking, right now?!" they simultaneously yelled.

  "No, I'm not joking."

  Fenris scoffed. "Then you're just suicidal."

  "What the fuck is your problem, Fenris!? What did you think I was going to do? Just let it live?" I yelled at him.

  "I was expecting you to help us leave this damnable planet, not run off to commit suicide by dragon!" he snarled back at me.

  His words caused me to pause. "Why can't you leave?"

  Lena and Fenris glanced at each other, then Fenris motioned for Lena to take over while he went to check on the kids.