The delicate current focused around the little snake began to slow, coming to a stop as the little creature stirred, causing the surface of the moat to ripple as it slowly slithered from the putrid waters. The body emerging from the toxic waters was starkly different than the body that went in, its stunted growth having surged with the intake of so mush precious food, many times did it shed, the shed skin then quickly dissolving in the toxic moat. The body was that of an older youth, stretching just a little less than a foot long, taking up much more of the small hollow's space.
Instead of dull dark grey scales, those that emerged from the moat were lustrously pitch black, seemingly small and soft like bubbles, offering little in the way of protection, just like those of a young and healthy Softscale Snake.Unlike the scales of a normal Softscale, the scales of the little snake were covered in an oily sheen as something ominous permeated the little creature’s skin. The little snake’s eyes, under the transparent scales, seemed to momentarily glow with a pallid grey light before returning to blind white orbs. A forked, crimson tongue flicked out of the little snake’s mouth, bring a myriad of scents to the little creature’s senses.
As per usual, the miasma of death was oppressively thick upon the air, becoming even stronger as the little snake slept. Fascinatingly, the little snake could distinguish a great deal from the horrid miasma, giving it a vague sense of its surroundings. Both the walls and the moat had a variety of smells emanating from them, however these smells mixed in a way as to create a distinct contrast, creating two scents very familiar to the little snake. The roots and mushrooms at the edges of the hollow were also clearly distinguished, particularly the mushroom's, which scent was among the many emanating faintly from the moat. A new smell which the little snake had never experienced before seeped into the hollow, with the disturbance of the turbid air by the Cormic’s invasion, many new scents leaked from the tunnel, catching the little creature’s attention.
Attracted by the new scents and no longer fearful of the moat, the little snake began slithering toward the enlarged tunnel and entered the moat once more. It quickly slithered through the putrid waters, only slowing as it neared the tunnels entrance. Beside the entrance grew one of the lustrous white mushrooms that were scattered along the edges of the hollow, its scent piquing the little snakes hunger. Despite the sense of danger emanating from the little mushroom, which was obviously poisonous, the little snake gave no heed, having never skipping out upon a meal, no matter what it was. The feeling of dying from hunger left a far greater impression than poison ever had, so without hesitation the little snake felt out the location of the little mushroom and grabbed the succulent morsel in its mouth. Unable to pull the mushroom from the ground, the little snake broke the cap from the stalk and swallowed it.
As the mushroom entered the little snake’s body, a three-pronged attack of toxins, chill and spores began within the little snake. If the little snake was normal, it would have instantly died, as would have the Cormic and the Verro, even a Zin Frog would not dare ingest such a thing. With the body under attack the chill within the little snake activated, easily supressing and absorbing the pitiful amount contained in the mushroom. The effect of the poison was also mitigated thanks to the changes in the little snake’s body, and the damage was restored as the chill swept through the body in the toxins wake.
The spores were the most insidious of all, and had the little snake been weaker, it would have died and become the perfect incubation ground for these violent little spores. in the end, they were also suppressed by the chill within the little snake and were soon broken down to be digested. With the danger supressed the mushroom cap began to slowly be digested, and the little snake seemed to merrily continue on it’s way toward the tunnel.
The tunnel entrance was a partial pile of rubble, do to the sudden and destructive arrival of the Cormic Rat, and beyond was a steeply inclined tunnel to the surface. Without the ability to see little snake had to fumble around the awkward terrain, only able to use smell and touch, before it started its long trek upward. The time it took for the little rat to tunnel down to the hollow was around half a minuet, however it had relatively extraordinary strength and speed and was going downwards. The poor little snake was physically, very weak, even by the low standards of its species and had never had to move very far before, turning the half minuet journey down into a two hour-long journey to get up.
The little creature discovered many new things on the way up, as the little snake moved up the earth changed, turning from a hard to grip, sloppy mud, into a more firmly packed dirt which increased its travel time. The smell of the earth changed, no longer emanating an overwhelming chill or stench of death and decay, and the air became clearer, the oppressive miasma and chill weakening as the little snake traveled higher, relieving a physical pressure it had never noticed before.
On a dark, overcast day, at the base of a huge withered tree, sheltered in a tangle of roots both large and small was a rodent tunnel. It bore deep into the earth, creeping into the tangle of roots beneath the tree and become pitch black, seeming to suck in any light that dare intrude and a chilling aura. From this hole, a very faint slithering sound could be heard, becoming faster and more intense as it as it neared the surface, seemingly filled with anticipation. Like a demon emerging from a pit to hell, a small lustrously black snake with an oily sheen slithered from the hole, its white orb like eyes faintly glowing with a pallid grey light, and a crimson tongue greedily tasted the new world around it.
The little snake emerged into a world that was completely overwhelming, it was much warmed than the hollow and many of the scents from the hollow below where present here, though they were much weaker, some had even changed slightly, and they were now mixed with many new scents. The little snake’s head was humming with sound, in the hollow the only sounds where made by itself, in this place that now had light, yet it lacked the eyes to see, a myriad of inexplicable noises came from all around it. The little snake began to wander, investigating the scents, sounds, and sensations around it. It never strayed to far from the hole as it felt totally exposed, and eternally mystified by the strange sensation that would irregularly caress its skin, which happened to be small gusts of wind. It traveled back and forth, centimeter by centimeter, scenting, rubbing, listening, and eating almost everything, familiarizing itself with everything it could in any way it could. The area of its investigation soon expanded as it slithered over roots, mud, dirt, grass, bushes and the detritus on the ground.
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Discovering the trunk of the tree, it slowly slithered around it, feeling the aura exuding from the hole, the little snake kept track of it while investigating everything around it. After circling it, the little snake tried to climb it, fumbling before successfully gripping with is belly scales and begun concertinaing up the trunk of the tree. During its climb it discovered mushrooms and flowers poking from the trunk, eating them when it could to fill its stomach, the poisons contained within were resisted by the little snake’s body and any damage restored when the chill in its body swept through afterward.
Surprisingly there were small traces of chill within the flowers and mushrooms, though not nearly as concentrated as in the mushrooms of the hollow, the little snake began hunting them, finding the small bit of chill to be quit satisfying. It started taking bites out of the tree when it reached the canopy above and found parts that were quite rotten and leaking pungent liquids, discovering again, minute traces of chill. The little snake began a feeding frenzy as if ate out many greatly rotting parts of the tree, even taking pieces of the roots if they were rotten enough. As the little snake climbed up and down the tree it discovered that the air became cooler and the sensation caressing its skin grew ever so slightly stronger as it went higher, it even carried scents with it.
When the little snake reached the bottom of the tree, it followed some newly discovered scents and started slithering toward the hole, circling it, feeling the aura it gave off, as it became more comforting the longer the little creature stayed outside. The little snake slithered away from the hole and the withered tree, the terrain shortly began to decline, and the air grew cooler and damper. As the little snake advanced different sounds came to the fore, a constant soft sound that was only faint background noise before became much more pronounced, there were also strange sharp sounds that came from all around and low sounds that came from in front. These noises were the swaying of the marsh grass in the breeze, the chirping of birds and insects around the marsh and the jumping of fish in the waters beyond the grass. When the little snake heard the chirping of the insects and the birds, it felt hunger and danger both, for though it did not know what made them, the delicious taste of the rat faintly played along its palate.
The ground soon became softer and sparser, just small stalks of grass sticking up from the mud, before suddenly turning into a dense wall of marsh grass. The little snake analyzed the wall of grass, before tentatively entering, becoming surrounded by the soft swooshing of the grass in the breeze, oddly enough the little snake seemed quite pleased as it slithered through the sea of grass. At the edge of the sea of grass, where it meets the open waters of the marsh small, low sounds could be heard as tadpoles surfaced and dived, some had even began growing feel and climbed on to the shore of loosely packed mud and marsh grass roots.
As the little creatures played the little snake stuck its head out of the wall of grass not far away, sensing the activity, it shifted its head and flicked its tongue, scenting the tadpoles, slowly it retracted its head and moved through the grass, only to reappear among the group of tadpoles. The smaller tadpoles that had yet to grow any form of feet scattered, however, the larger ones paid the snake no mind, not as it drew closer, not as it flicked its tongue. The little creatures only reacted when the largest tadpole, about the size of the snake’s head that was mostly purple with blue rings filled with green found itself in the little snake’s mouth and swallowed.
It had to be known that, except for some small differences, the little snake looked exactly like a Softscale Snake, which was below even these tadpoles on the food chain. One touch from these tadpoles would be toxic enough to kill a dozen Softscale Snakes, meaning that even if one fell into the little snake’s mouth, the little snake should be dead before if could swallow it. Most creatures, even stronger demon beast, instinctively avoid the little tadpoles, one can forget about the weak Softscale Snakes, even though the little tadpoles sensed the poison it on the little snake, it could not hurt them, so they ignored it. The vicious little snake felt the instinct to avoid the little creatures, however, paradoxically, the little snake had grown up learning to ignore most of its instincts in favor of hunger. Feeling hungry now, the little snake swallowed down the little tadpole, having killed it with the chill as soon as it grabbed the tadpole.
When the little snake made its move, the rest of the tadpoles finally felt a sense of danger, and swiftly disappeared into the waters of the marsh before the little snake could react. The little snake was about to move on when it suddenly stopped, where once the marsh was full of sounds now only the waving of the grass could be heard, as if the marsh was holding its breath, pitying the stupid little snake. From the eerie silence a lonely croaking began to sound in the distance in front of the little snake. Feeling danger the little snake swiftly turned around and retreated as fast as its weak body would allow.
As the little snake retreated the croaking closed in behind it, soon followed by a splashing sound as something moved up behind it, filling the little snakes mind with terror. In its crazed escape to the hole, it managed to exit the grass sea and reach solid ground, however, before it could move any farther a thump sounded in front of it, followed by an ominous croak and a noxious scent. Before the little snake sat one of the infamous Zin Frogs, this one had sickly yellow eyes that seemed to glow with an inner light and had a green body with blue rings filled with purple dotted across it. The little snake felt terribly exposed and threatened, unable to move under the killing intent of the Zin Frog.