"WALKING SNAKES? What is with this place?" Kasaki thought when seeing big black Anacondas standing and walking on two legs. They were near a river, on the shore. Kasaki had to cross that river to keep heading north. He wasn’t so naïve this time. He was ready to fight when he first saw them.
He slowed down and kept moving forward. They were doing some kind of dance, and picking apples from the top of the trees surrounding the river. They were at least sixty feet tall each. As he got closer, he couldn’t see their heads anymore, for they were all among the big, frondose trees. He thought that, perhaps, he could go unnoticed and swim across the river without them bothering him. He was wrong. When he began to pass among their weird legs, he heard them whispering, and suddenly, one of them curved its body so fast and put its face in front of Kasaki, looking at him with a surprised expression. Kasaki immediately fell to the ground; he was very scared by the snake’s quickness. “Who are you?” the snake asked him.
“My name is Kasaki, I’m crossing the damned forest so I can be at The Golden Bridge by tomorrow night and begin my samurai training.”
“I get it. Another samurai student. We have eaten twenty of those this morning.”
“Oh, yeah? So I guess you’re not hungry anymore and are going to let me cross the river.”
The snake laughed out loud.
“I like you.”
“I like you, too. Even though you’re very ugly,” Kasaki got up the ground and wiped his clothes clean. “Now, please. Tell me your name. I want to ask it to yourself before I kill you. Last time I didn’t have the chance to know my victim’s name until after he was dead.”
The snake narrowed its eyes.
“Mmmm, so you killed a monkey, perhaps? Anyways, I’m Mara. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kasaki.”
“Nice to met you, too. So tell me, Mara. Are you poisonous or not?”
“Why don’t you find it yourself?”
“How?”
“Allowing me to bite you.”
“No, are you crazy? If you bite me and you do are poisonous, I’m gonna die.”
“But if I’m not, I promise you to let you cross the river unhurt. I will instruct my friends not to hurt or pursue you.”
Kasaki put a finger on his chin.
“Let me think about it.”
Mara looked at Kasaki with an expression of surprise on her face. She thought Kasaki was actually crazy for even considering letting her bite him.
“Would you actually let me bite you?” she said.
“No, I won’t,” Kasaki jumped forward and stabbed her in the eye. Mara shook her body in pain. The other snakes came quickly and began pursuing Kasaki.
“He stabbed me, he stabbed me,” repeated Mara.
Kasaki ran with all of his strength to get out of reach of the snakes. But it was futile. Very soon, one of them reached him. The snake put its body in front of him as he ran, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground. Then, she surrounded him with its body to strangle him, squeezing gradually. Kasaki could feel the increasing pressure. If he didn’t do something, all of his bones would be broken in a few seconds, for sure. But what could he do? He had dropped his knife. The snake squeezed a little more, and Kasaki heard one of his ribs snap. He felt the pain. Desperately, he bit the snake with all of his might. He had heard some time that when snakes were pinched, they loosen their grip on their prey. The snake, in fact, loosened its squeezing a little, just enough for Kasaki to slip out to the ground and take his knife up from the floor.
“You really want to reach The Golden Bridge, don’t you?” Mara said, after seeing Kasaki free himself.
Kasaki was gasping, recovering. He touched the left side of his torso. He thought that maybe his rib wasn’t broken, for the pain was gone.
“I do. And I will,” he said finally, straightening himself.
“Well, we’ll make sure that won’t happen.”
Mara and the other two snakes began doing some sort of dance. They intertwined each other fastly and some blue rays lighted them all. The blue rays blinded Kasaki for a moment. When he could finally see again. There were not three snakes anymore, but a massive, gigantic one, although it had three heads, one of which had only one eye.
“So they can fuse?” Kasaki thought. “What the hell is wrong with this place? It’s just anything possible in here?”
The giant snake was triple the size of Mara, triple her thickness; it had bigger legs and looked way stronger.
“My only advantage now could be my quickness,” Kasaki thought. “That thing is massive. It surely moves slow. But it touches me, I’m done. Its skin looks way thicker than that of the individual snakes. My knife probably won’t get through it.”
The monstrous snake lumbered forth, its three heads snapping at the air. Kasaki froze, transfixed by the bizarre spectacle. Majestically terrifying, it tore through the undergrowth, sending trees splintering with casual swipes. Panic flooded his veins. One blow from those reptilian limbs meant instant oblivion.
But a glimmer of hope flickered. This monstrosity was sluggish, far slower than the lithe individuals he'd fought. And unlike them, it lacked a leader. Each reptilian head, he realized, commanded the body independently. If he could sow discord, confuse their orders, maybe, just maybe, their coordinated movements would falter.
"So, now I need to figure out a way to outsmart them," Kasaki pondered, sprinting away from the enormous snake.
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"Where do you think you're headed?" Mara's head mocked, chuckling. "Sure, you can outrun us, but crossing the river? That's a different story."
"That's a valid point," Kasaki acknowledged in his thoughts, maneuvering swiftly through the dense foliage. "Alright," he reassured himself mentally, as if stumbling upon a solution to navigate past the colossal, nightmarish serpent. "The trick with the monkeys' rocks was my focus. I honed in on each rock, listened to the sound it made slicing through the air, and then pinpointed its direction. I bet doing that with a three-headed creature is way more challenging."
Kasaki swiftly removed his shirt and plunged into the river. Mara's head noticed. "Oh, you believe you can swim past us unnoticed? Well, I have some unfortunate news for you." The three-headed snake lunged into the river, its colossal body obstructing the water's flow. There was no way Kasaki could swim through such a massive obstacle. He had to find another approach.
"Come on, Kasaki, this is getting dull," Mara's head taunted. "You're well aware you can't slip through me. Just step out of the water. If I sense you touching me below the surface, I'll crush you without hesitation."
Kasaki stayed submerged, busy collecting numerous small rocks from the riverbed. He stuffed them into his shirt, creating an improvised bag. With air still in his lungs, he waited, occasionally spitting out air bubbles, watching for any signs of confusion among the three heads. The massive body repressed the water, but Kasaki felt secure in the absence of unexpected attacks. His plan was to launch rocks at each head, prompting varied defensive movements that might create an opening. Perhaps he could get close enough to stab one of the heads or exploit the sluggishness of the snake to escape northward across the river.
"Passed already?" One head mused.
Mara scowled. "Impossible. He couldn't have swum that fast. We cut off the river almost instantly."
"Maybe he's a sneaky swimmer," another chimed in.
"Silence!" Mara snapped, frustration lacing her voice. "He's here, under this water, right in front of us."
"Getting tired of this," a third head mumbled. "He's probably halfway to the bridge by now, while we sit here like lumps."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Mara hissed. "He's here, I can feel it!"
In that instant, Kasaki emerged from the water, sprinting toward the colossal snake, only to abruptly halt and take cover behind a tree.
"There you are," Mara's head said, grinning.
With one hand, Kasaki manipulated his shirt, creating an opening to retrieve rocks one by one. He threw the first, quickly concealing himself. A direct hit on Mara's face.
"What a fool you are, thinking a little rock can hurt me," scoffed Mara.
Undeterred, Kasaki launched the second rock, striking the third head on the opposite side. He continued the assault, pelting all three heads relentlessly.
"This is so annoying," complained the second head beside Mara.
"We should get up and finish him," the third head suggested, enduring another impact on its forehead.
"No," Mara asserted. "Let’s stay here. If he wants to reach The Golden Bridge, he has no choice but to cross this river."
"And keep receiving rocks in my head? No, thanks." The snake's massive body began to rise, but it abruptly crashed down, splashing water everywhere.
"No. Let’s stay here. He’s too fast for us. Let’s just wait. He’ll get tired sooner or later."
Undeterred, Kasaki advanced. Every rock he threw found its mark, hitting at least one of the snake’s heads.
"No, screw you, Mara."
The snake's colossal body rose and awkwardly moved toward Kasaki. He hurled his entire shirt filled with rocks at the three heads, sprinted with all his might, and, as he closed in, he thrust his knife into the snake's leg. All three heads writhed in pain. Kasaki's knife had a strip of his shirt wrapped around its blade. The snake reacted violently to the stabbing, and before Kasaki could escape, he was kicked by the snake's other leg. He soared twenty feet away and collapsed unconscious on the ground.
***
When Kasaki regained consciousness, even the act of opening his eyes was painful. He had been kicked in the stomach and thrown twenty feet, landing on his head. Struggling to rise, he discerned the big snake with its three heads, sprawled on the ground, in agony.
"What did you do to us, Kasaki?" Mara's head inquired upon seeing him stand.
"I told you I needed to get to The Golden Bridge. You wouldn't let me."
"That’s okay," Mara replied. "But I don’t get it. Why was a simple stabbing so lethal to us?"
"It was not a simple stabbing, Mara," said Kasaki, looking down. The memories flooded back. When he initially woke up, the circumstances leading him to that point were a blur.
"What do you mean?" Mara's eyes widened in amazement.
"I put ant poison in the strap tied to the blade. That’s what brought you down."
Mara recalled Kasaki hiding behind that tree for a few minutes, but she hadn’t imagined he could poison his knife blade. A smile finally crept across her face.
"Well played, kid. You’ll be a great samurai."
Kasaki smiled and swam across the river. After traversing two more hills, he left the woods behind. The sunlight was beginning to wane. In the distance, he spotted a group of people gathered around a massive structure. It looked like a bridge! And it was golden. Filled with emotion, he ran faster. Though his breathing became heavy, he didn’t slow down until he reached his destination. He was finally at The Golden Bridge.
He noticed a group of about thirty guys, all looking like seasoned warriors. Exhausted, Kasaki fell to his knees and bowed his head before managing to utter a single word. After a few seconds, he said, "Hi. I'm Kasaki." The others simply looked at him and turned away, offering no response to his greeting. Kasaki frowned and stood up, realizing they were all serious warriors. He was just one more soldier, nothing more.
"Late." The black-haired figure's dark gaze pinned Kasaki down.
"Tried my best," Kasaki mumbled, sweat clinging to his brow.
"Not enough. Dream of wielding a samurai blade, yet can't even conquer a forest? Pathetic." The figure crossed his arms, scorn etched on his face. "We all faced the same beasts, yet arrived before dawn."
Shame burned in Kasaki's chest. He'd pushed himself, fought through that twisted woods, given everything... "You're right," he choked out. "Should've been faster."
The black-haired guy glanced at him indifferently, then sighed. Kasaki observed the other aspiring samurais. They all exuded toughness, bearing visible wounds on their bodies. Despite their injuries, they remained remarkably composed. Most of them, like Kasaki, appeared quite young, while a few seemed older. However, the common thread among them was their strength and mental focus. Kasaki recognized the disparity within himself; he felt like a mere boy, perhaps a frightened one with a deep desire to end Misuki's tyranny and prevent his parents from falling under enslavement.
As the sun finally disappeared, night descended, bringing a chilling darkness. Kasaki shivered in the cold, unlike the seemingly unperturbed others. His teeth chattered audibly. "Mom, dad," Kasaki thought for a moment, his determination palpable despite the visible shivers. "I don't care how arduous this training is. I don't care if they forge me into a samurai through torture. I won't quit. And I won't allow you to become slaves. I promise."
Despite the apparent calmness, an undercurrent of unease pervaded the group of samurai prospects, including Kasaki. Night had fallen, and anticipation lingered as they awaited someone to guide them to the samurai headquarters or training grounds. A palpable hesitation hung in the air, dissuading anyone from posing questions. All eyes seemed to defer to the black-haired boy, who maintained a stern gaze fixed on the north. Intrigued and slightly unnerved, Kasaki couldn't help but wonder about the identity of this authoritative figure. "Who's this guy?" he pondered.
Suddenly, a large black parrot descended from the sky, capturing everyone's attention.
"Congratulations to you all," the parrot announced. "The boss decided to wait until midnight to allow most of you to arrive. Now, head north. Five miles ahead, you'll encounter a crossroad. Turn right, and you'll find the master's house. Hurry up; he's already awaiting your arrival." With that, the parrot swiftly took flight. Without a word or question, the samurai prospects gathered their belongings and set off in the indicated direction.