A Snake's Life

by Kenneth Arant

  I threw myself over the edge.

  It was slow at first, but as I fell, my mind began to clear. That was also when I saw IT—a colossal creature, or the remains of one, that was holding the city on its shoulders as it stood in the ocean. The water only came up to its calves, which emphasized just how massive the creature was.

  The only things I could clearly see were its dark blue skin, which was covered in tribal tattoos, long black hair that almost reached the water below, the two curved horns on either side of its head, and the thick chains wrapped around its huge chest that served to hold the island in place on the creature's shoulders.

  I hit the water with the force of a cannonball and was lucky the impact didn’t kill me. It might have been due to the lower gravity of the planet or the increase in durability my skill granted me. But slamming into the water at terminal velocity only managed to knock me unconscious and left me at the mercy of the waves. When I came to, I discovered that the waves had carried me far away from the creature and the paradise—or rather, the hell—it carried on its shoulders.

  Chapter 13

  I WOKE UP SOMETIME after dark and found myself floating on top of the ocean. The waves were slowly pushing me up and down, and side to side... Honestly, it was the most relaxing thing to happen since I'd come to this planet.

  I don't know what that island was, but it was terrifying. I think I’d only been semi-conscious since the day after I arrived. I was aware of what I was doing, but there didn’t seem to be any purpose to it. I knew I was supposed to be looking for a way down. My heart was never really in it though. Maybe I was right about it being a prison, after all?

  However, that left me with a few questions: What was that place? Why was my mind so cloudy? And what was that creature carrying the island?

  "If... Or rather when I see it again, I'll have to be much more careful about keeping track of the amount of time I spend there. I have zero interest in being trapped in a mental stupor until I die." Deciding to push all thoughts of the island to the back of my mind, I ducked my head under the water. The water was crystal clear, but it was currently too dark to see more than a couple dozen feet in any direction. And with the thick rain clouds in the sky above, I wasn’t likely to get any assistance from whatever moon was in the sky above.

  I completely submerged myself after relaxing for a few more minutes and began exploring.

  After swimming straight down for a few minutes. I found an expansive coral reef and bevy of ocean life. Fish of all sizes, colors, and breeds seemed to call the reef home. I could see a few decently large sharks swimming in the distance. "Guess I won't be lacking in food anytime soon." I swam closer to an expansive piece of orange coral and found a hole large enough for me to squeeze through.

  “Hmm... not bad." I swam inside and “introduced” myself to the occupants, a family of bright orange-and-black fish that were about the size of a house cat. They numbered in the dozens, so it took me a little while to catch them. But since my coiled tail performed its job as a cork admirably, they were easy, and more importantly, tasty prey.

  After properly introducing myself to the fish, and throwing my compliments to the chef, I returned to the surface to breathe for a few minutes before heading back down. This was a long and tedious process that consisted of me searching the reef for as long as I could hold my breath, returning to the surface to breathe, then diving back down again.

  As I currently lacked any sleeping quarters of my own, I’d catch a few winks during the many times I came up for air, then continue exploring. Luckily—or unluckily for me, I suppose—I accidentally intruded on a long lost cousin.

  I'd been searching a massive piece of red coral that could have housed a small building, when I found the entrance to a rather large chamber. I poked my head in to look around, but I didn’t see any creatures swimming in there, and my heat sense wasn't detecting anything either.

  Naturally, I assumed it was either empty or the owner was out. I was wrong.

  Only once I’d swam inside the chamber and something moved to cover the entrance did I suspect that I may have been in trouble.

  At first, I thought it was one of the many sharks I’d seen during my time exploring the reef, coming to suggest a particular recipe for shark fin soup for me to try. Or perhaps it was a school of fish swimming past the entrance. The absolute last thing I expected to find was an enormous white serpent with beady black eyes staring at me from the entrance to the chamber. Its head was large enough to completely fill the hole I’d come through, and I briefly saw a pair of gills on each side of its neck before my attention was pulled back to the matter at hand... which were teeth so bright I’d swear I could see my reflection in them.

  "... Hello?" I offered my greetings with a slight bowing of my head.

  "Greetings, little one," it replied, its fish-like eyes never leaving mine.

  "Oh, you're friendly?" A loud rumble followed my words and I winced.

  "So long as you provide me with a reason to be," it returned, a gleam appearing in its expressionless eyes.

  "Well, uh... I mean you no harm?" I tried.

  It shook its massive head. "Try again."

  "I can help you?"

  It shook its head again. "Still no. Last chance to convince me or you're going to be a late-night snack."

  "I taste awful?" I sighed. This wasn’t going to end well for me.

  It shook its giant head once more. The water inside the chamber rolled from side to side with such force that I was almost slammed into one of the walls. "I'll be the judge of that," it finished, its mouth growing even wider as more teeth appeared.

  I quickly turned and swam deeper into the chamber.

  "Oh, goodie. I love fast food!" I could hear it crash into the walls in its haste to follow me. But with my smaller size, I had a much easier time getting through the narrow passages of the coral than it did.

  Eventually, though, I found an exit and re-entered open water, where I quickly lost any advantage I had inside the reef. The four large fins I caught glimpses of during the few moments I was brave enough to look back and its massive size helped it cut through the water at a much faster pace than I could ever hope to achieve.

  I feigned going left, before swimming down and to the right. Then I used my smaller size to dodge around the serpent’s gaping mouth and back towards the coral reef.

  "Where are you going, little one?"

  I glanced over and saw the serpent casually swimming next to me with its teeth glowing in the darkness.

  "Nowhere important!" I ducked beneath a large piece of coral and hugged as close to the ocean floor as possible, while still maintaining my speed.

  I caught glimpses of the Serpent through cracks and holes in the coral above me. But it was its voice that would’ve raised the hairs on the back of my neck, if I still had any hair to raise. "Is that so?” it asked in a voice reminiscent of a small child. “Then how about joining me for dinner, my treat?"

  "I'll pass, thanks." My mind latched onto the way the Serpent had said, “my treat,” and the chills returned to racing down my spine.

  "That's not nice. And here I was hoping to have you for dinner." Its voice brought to mind the image of a child pouting.

  "I'm sure a nice guy like you can find a dinner date. No need to drag me into it—" A loud *Bang!* startled me so much I almost ran into the cause of the cave-in. The white serpent’s head had crashed through the reef and was now mere inches away from me.

  "I'm a woman!" it hissed. It opened its mouth and sprang at me faster than I thought possible for a creature its size.

  I turned tail to run, but it was much too fast for that trick to work a second time. Its mouth closed around me. "Fuck!" I was lucky enough to turn my head in time to avoid the teeth now occupying a space a hair’s width from my face. But this time I was inside the creature's mouth and a low rumbling sound, followed by a powerful sucking force, told me how screwed I really was.

  I was pulled deeper into its body, thra
shing against, and biting into, whatever I could to keep myself from being completely swallowed.

  "What do you think you're doing!" the creature yelled.

  Though I couldn't answer it out loud, "Something incredibly stupid." was my response.

  I tore off a chunk of the uvula and was pulled deeper down the throat, then into the esophagus. I swallowed the piece of uvula and bit into the esophagus wall. I heard the creature yell again, but I was too focused to understand what it was saying. I held on until the suction stopped and then I began eating my way through the esophagus wall. The serpent began swallowing other creatures in an attempt to stop me, but I sunk my teeth deeper and held on.

  Even when creatures slammed into me and knocked me loose, I quickly reattached myself and continued holding on. I was not dying here, in the belly of some overgrown sea worm.

  I eventually made it through the esophagus wall, and into the muscle tissue beyond it, where I continued to eat my way out. I did run into a problem at this layer, however. More and more blood began to fill up the esophagus and splash on me. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem. Except the serpent’s blood felt like acid on my scales—acid that was slowly eating its way through them and into my own muscle tissue.

  I started eating even faster than before, only stopping for a few seconds at a time to spit out what I'd ripped off once my stomach was filled to the point of bursting and I could no longer just swallow it.

  Finally, after about twenty minutes of eating, I bit through the final layer and was just inside the serpent’s scales. It took me another few minutes to dig through them because they were so thick, but at least the acid blood had stopped spraying on me, so I had that going for me, at least.

  Once I’d eaten my way through the final barrier keeping me from the outside world, I blindly swam as far away from the now royally pissed off serpent as I could. The creature was thrashing around on the ocean floor in severe pain, so I could have taken this opportunity to try killing it, but I was too tired. My body ached too much for me to care at this point.

  I managed to stumble into the walls of the reef after swimming for who knows how long. I dragged myself into a little hole near the top of a piece of coral poking out of the water. I could finally rest in relative safety and breathe a sigh of... and that’s when I noticed what kind of shape I was in. Large swaths of scales had been either completely dissolved or severely damaged and the muscles beneath were open sores that burned fiercely beneath the onslaught of saltwater. The severity of the pain I’d managed to ignore through a mix of adrenaline and shock hit me like a ton of bricks and I passed out.

  I woke up sometime later to a pop-up floating in front of me.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have eaten the following race for the first time.

  Leviathan: Tier 7

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path: Gluttonous Water Basilisk

  Would you like to evolve?

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "No..." I groaned before trying to go back to sleep. But then another pop-up appeared, surprising me.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path: Gluttonous Dual Element Basilisk

  Would you like to evolve?

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "That's... new?" I thought for a few seconds before asking, "Can I add the other elements later?" A secondary pop-up answered me.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Provided you do not evolve to a new race, you can add the missing elements later.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Well, that makes this an easy choice then. "Yes, I'm ready to evolve." Just like the first time I evolved, a white shield formed around me and I sunk to the ocean floor.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Your evolution is underway, and a shield has formed around you until it is complete. Time remaining until completion is 6d 23h 59m 42s.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "Hopefully, I'll heal during my time in here... because saltwater stings like a bitc—" was the last thing I could think before blissful unconsciousness took me.

  Chapter 14

  I HEARD A DING THROUGH the darkness, which caused it to recede, and I was allowed to wake up. Upon opening my eyes, I was greeted with a pop-up.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Your evolution is complete. You have gained two new traits and a new skill.

  Name: Torga

  Race: Gluttonous Dual Element Basilisk

  Classification: Tier 5

  Skills: Minor Stealth, Heat Detection, Gluttony, Major Durability Up, Major Strength Up, Growth, Minor Mental Resistance Up, Petrifying Gaze, Greater Acid Venom

  Traits: Gluttonous +2, Growth +2, Strong Willed, Venomous, Aquatic

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  I went over my new information and was honestly surprised I'd gotten to the fifth tier so quickly. Focusing on my newly acquired skills and traits brought up the expected pop-up.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Venomous: As a basilisk, you have very potent venom.

  *Note: Due to the Gluttonous trait. your venom also possesses acidic properties.

  Aquatic: Due to the water element, you now possess the ability to breathe underwater as well as outside of it.

  Petrifying Gaze: Due to the earth element, you have gained a second set of brille. This set is capable of being opened or closed like an eyelid. Should it be opened, anything of your tier or lower that meets your gaze will be turned to stone.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  “Finally, I’m venomous. Thank God for that.” I internally sighed.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Congratulations on making it this far!

  After the fifth tier, your deeds become more important than what you eat. Also, you can no longer combine races should you complete their requirements. Instead, by completing the race requirement you will gain a random trait or skill of that race.

  Consume a creature of Fire to unlock: Flame Basilisk

  Consume a creature of Wind to unlock: Wind Basilisk

  Complete the requirements of all other Basilisk evolutions to unlock: Elemental Basilisk

  Survive 100 years to unlock this path: Dual Element Hydra

  Consume a Ruby, a Sapphire, a Tiger’s eye, a Diamond, an Emerald, an Amethyst, and a piece of ebony ore to unlock: Dual Element Naga

  Crush five ships to unlock: Dual Element Leviathan

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "So, I can become the same as that monstrous serpent, I can also become a Naga or a Hydra... Can I get a description of each?" Like before, it either ignored me or couldn't accept my request for further information. "I thought not,” I sighed. “Well, it’s not like I have to decide now. I can't get access to the Hydra path for a hundred years, and I still need to unlock the remaining elements for the basilisk path. Rushing myself now won’t do me any good in the long run, so I might as well take it slow and do things the right way." I broke out of my shield a few minutes later and immediately swam to the surface to expose my newly healed scales to the warm air.

  I also took the opportunity to check myself out for the first time since I became a snake; I had dark green, dinner plate sized scales that covered my sides and back. These scales were much thicker than the thinner gray scales that covered the underside of my body. The places where I remembered having exposed muscle and damaged scales were now merely white patches that gave my body an odd coloring.

  “At least I’m alive,” I muttered, while staring at a particularly large white spot on my chest. The scars would be a constant reminder for me to always remain cautious. I'd let my guard down upon coming to this new world, because of how well things went for me on the last one. "I won't be making that mistake, again."

  I continued inspecting my new body by focusing on my eyes. They were deep maroon with vertically elongated pupils that perfectly separated each eye into two halves.

  I ran my tongue along the inside of my mouth and what I felt surpris
ed me. I had fangs... huge fangs! I probably shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, venomous snakes had fangs, didn’t they? But my fangs were exceptionally large. And when I opened my mouth, the newly created venom would drop off them and splash into the water. Fangs aside, I also saw rows of razor-sharp teeth lining the inside of my mouth. They reminded me of shark’s teeth, only thinner and curved like hooks.

  I wasn't sure how much I'd grown since I began evolving. But I could definitely spot a difference in length and overall size, so it was more than likely a decent increase.

  My gills were on prominent display on either side of my neck, much in the same way the Leviathan’s had been. I also played around with my new “eyelids.” Opening and closing them repeatedly became something of a game for a few minutes. When I was done playing with them, I ducked my head under the waves and swam back to the bottom. Once there, I began looking for something to test my new abilities on.

  "Hmm... That should work." Three sharks were swimming just outside of my temporary home in the coral reef, so I put them to good use. Waiting until one of them drew close enough, I shot my head out and sunk my teeth into the back and belly of the shark. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about my new teeth as well as the fangs, so I accidentally bit the shark in half.

  "Whoops." My mistake alerted the other two sharks. I opened my “eyes” and watched in horrid fascination as the two turned the color of sand, then sunk to the ocean floor like a pile of rocks. I closed my “eyes” after seeing the two sharks' demise and vowed then and there to be very careful with that particular ability.

  I consumed the two petrified sharks and what remained of the first one before I started looking for something to test my venom on. A few minutes later I found a large shark with three eyes on each side of its head swimming around near my temporary home inside the reef. I swam up to it and quickly coiled around it while it was facing away from me.