Her gums would not stop tingling, and it was pissing her off. She had tried everything she could think of in an effort to deal with this annoying issue, but the fact remained that she could rub her gums or use the old expired toothpaste all she wanted, but her mouth would continue to annoy her for hours to come.

She didn’t know what to do about this whole situation, and it honestly seemed as though simply trying to catch some shut-eye might not be a bad idea. At the very least the situation might end up resolving itself once she woke up, for better or for worse.

Maybe Lyrhea would wake up with her mouth feeling fine. Maybe she would wake up and start begging anyone who could listen to give her a root canal. It was really something that she could not tell the outcome of, and she was suitably annoyed by that.

She laid herself down on a side of the embedded and tilted building she called her current home and pulled a few blankets that she had stolen over her body and tried to sleep. Thankfully, sleep came quickly, though whether she actually should be thankful for that given what she was about to experience may end up being debatable.

…

Lyrhea opened her eyes and found herself back inside the empty void-like space filled with ambient fog that she had been in before becoming what she was now. This was a cause for alarm, and this alarm was not merely because she feared she would undergo another painful transformation.

There was, after all, a planet-sized snake hiding within the ever-present fog, and Lyrhea very much desired to avoid being crushed and/ or eaten by the colossal beast. And so, in an effort to preserve her life, she stayed stock still and refused to budge.

Given enough time, she’d almost certainly be finding herself back where she was when she went to sleep in the first place, right?

[“A wise move, little one.”] the voice of the massive snake purred. [“When faced with a threat of unimaginable proportions comprised of a form larger than you by orders of magnitude, the wiser move is to freeze and make oneself as small as possible. Although, that only works if the potential threat does not know you are there and is not looking for you.”]

The fog blew away and Lyrhea’s eyes locked onto those of the massive serpent, and she immediately felt an impossibly potent fear.

[“But you are in my realm, little one, and I know all that is here. You cannot hide from me, nor should you, my little chosen.”]

A shadow moved around in the void, and another massive snake made itself known.

[“That small one bears the promise of all of us, sibling. She will no doubt choose her true master wisely.”]

Another snake, one with a rough, more viper-like form added itself to the trio of a normal snake, a thicker python-like one, and now itself, the truly viper-like one.

[“Given its disposition towards my line of work, it certainly will choose wisely. One of us will be its master, and the rest will need to suffer for it. There can only be one head of the snake, lest the others drive the body to starvation and death.”]

Lyrhea could barely tell through the fog that the three individual snakes, though al equally massive, were trailing their bodies into the darkness and seemed to mesh together back there. It was a fuck-all long distance, and she could barely see it, but all three snakes seemed to be just necks and heads attached to a much, much larger body.

[“A pity that this is all the time that we have to make our case. Until we meet again within the dreaming, little one.”] the original snake said softly, like a mother cooing its child to bed.

[“Your foes must be ruined, broken, and devoured.”] growled the python-like one. [“Crush them utterly, swallow them whole, and leave not a single trace left alive. The only thing that lives through this is the one who survives, so eat, and grow.”]

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[“But take care, for the hunter does not show itself until its prey is without options for survival and escape.” the rough-scaled viper-like snake said. “A true predator does not leave her mark any opportunity to harm her, striking without a sound and in the dark to deal the deathblow only when the hour is right.”]

[“Now awaken, and hunt your prey.”]

[“Crush them to death.”]

[“Fill their veins with venom.”]

[“And when the hour is right…”]

[“““Strike.”””]

…

Lyrhea bolted awake and felt the cold sweat that she had been emitting for the past few hours result in her bedding clinging to her. She couldn’t stop hyperventilating as the fear that she had felt at all times during that ‘dream’ was still with her even now and was haunting her like an ever-present curse.

Part of her wanted to try and go back to sleep and hopefully either dream of nothing or, maybe, dream of something better, but she couldn’t muster the calm needed to do so and she found herself pulling her legs closer to her body as she processed her nightmare. After what felt like a solid hour of desperately trying to calm herself down, Lyrhea was left simply wondering if she would ever find a decent night’s sleep ever again.

…

[“The poor dear…”] one of the heads cried. [“You two scared her! What will we do if she decides to kill herself? What if-?”]

[“Calm yourself.”] spoke another. [“If she is so weak and frail that existential nightmares can break her forever, then she was not worth the time, and neither was our involvement in the affairs of the great game.”]

[“Fear and pain are powerful motivators.”] spoke the third as a fourth head appeared from the neck. [“They drive one to great heights, or great lows. She will either rise above or fall prey to them. The fear and pain will make her stronger.”]

[“And how exactly has that worked out so far for the others we chose, hmm?”] argued the first before a fifth and sixth head manifested. [“Fear and pain make for strong tools, but in the hands of so many others, it has led to their own ruin! We have not a single force dedicated to us because of that tactic!”]

[“No worlds bow to us yet, but if she can overcome her fear and pain, as well as the current trial, then she will begin to tread the path to greatness. Perhaps we should change things, though… Maybe reveal our will sooner than before?”]

[“That may be best. They have been saying that we are insane to try the same path over and over again while achieving the same futile result each time, so let us direct our new child a bit more... personally this time.”]

[“For once we agree. Le the others cower in fear now that the Serpent has chosen to get directly involved.”]

[“Not like they can say anything about it, either, seeing as how they’ve all gotten their own fingers in a bunch of pies.”]