Hunger. It consumed and confounded the small snake. Confused, it burrowed. Instinct guided it as it desperately descended into the earth. Its small head shoveled and compacted earth into a tunnel, until, there was no earth to burrow through. The soil’s texture changed to something far more… slippery. Maybe incorporeal? The Barbados Threadsnake did not know. It was, after all, incapable of conscious thoughts, and barely capable of unconscious thought. It was a being driven by instinct, and, currently, hunger was all that consumed its mind.

The slick walls surrounding it gave way, and it floated in nothing. There was nothing to touch, nothing to smell, or even to taste. There was nothing except hunger. At least until the small snake was yanked forward, and new slick walls enveloped it once more.

When the slick walls surrounding it ended, it was aboveground. It expected nothing, but when the ground was covered with liquid, some instinct registered confusion. However, another, more pressing instinct made itself known. That instinct screamed of an emptiness greater than itself, an emptiness that desired to be filled.

Liquid on the ground meant water. Water could be consumed. So the snake listened to instinct and drank. Then, when the liquid stopped flowing, it started searching for more.

Its blind hunger took precedence over all else. So it ignored the shaking of the ground beneath its body. It ignored the roars of anger, the panicked screams of fear. Instead, it feasted on the odd, filling water that surrounded it.

When it was full, and hunger no longer filled its small mind, it searched for the hole it had emerged from, but could not find it. So it tried burrowing, but the ground here was... strange. It would not crumble before it, nor would it allow for tunneling. The only thing left to do was to search for other holes, other burrows, after all, it had emerged from a burrow.

After searching, it was rewarded with a hole large enough to enter. So enter it did. Its walls were slippery, if a little bit squishier than the one it had emerged from. The only downside to this burrow was the liquid that was in it as well, but this was not as much a concern as the need to find shelter. With sustenance readily available, the small snake burrowed.

As it went along, the burrow began to merge with many other burrows and passages. The hole became wider and more spacious. Breathing became impossible as the tunnels widened, and the Barbados Threadsnake’s body no longer made a seal with the tunnel. The air pocket that had been pushed in front of the little snake escaped into the surrounding liquid. With the need for air beginning to make itself known, the snake tried to turn. To escape, and breathe but was unable. So it kept going.

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Its tunnel emerged into a chamber that rhythmically shook, but the need to breathe was greater than any curiosity at the vibrations. So as the liquid pushed it forward, the snake went with it. Another tunnel enveloped the snake, and this time, instead of getting bigger, the tunnels got smaller, until force was necessary to open the tunnels. Pushing with all of its little body, the snake from another world burst into a space full of air instead of the normal ever-present liquid.

There was air, and safety. It was warm, and it could feel walls all around it. As it breathed and explored this new environment, Exhaustion took it by the tail, stopped it in place, and forced sleep upon the small baby.

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The ever-present liquid is what the snake awoke to. It was lapping at its nose in rhythm with the plodding THUMP THUMP THUMP that shook the walls. So it moved to higher ground with less liquid. There, the air shifted up and down as it constantly moved.

Nothing could be done, or understood about either vibration, however, the quaking had been going on ever since the liquid sustenance had been found, so the shaking was ignored. A blind eye was not turned to the liquid, however. The snake drank its fill, then slept once more.

Occasionally, there were bigger, or fewer, vibrations, but nothing ever happened because of them, so life went on. Eventually, however, the liquid disappeared, so it hunted for the smell of the liquid, and it eventually found it behind a wall, close enough to be reached when burrowing was attempted. So sustenance was found once again.

Life went on. Vibrations started and stopped. Great noises were heard, but nothing ever occurred because of them. Food was eaten until it disappeared, then it would be released from the walls. Sleep occurred, and safety was found.

Time passed without registering, but eventually, despite the safety, the small snake felt something new hovering in the back of its brain. Most call it discontent or boredom, but it did not call it anything, it merely felt something to be wrong and became restless. Food and safety were no longer enough. It needed to move. To find something else. To feel as walls pushed it from all sides. It wanted to roam and feel the earth give way before it as it burrowed.

There was a lot of unexplored space above the floor, but the walls were slick and unclimbable. So the snake searched for more tunnels. Not finding any, the decision was made to burrow. Finding food behind a wall, the little snake opened a hole and widened the opening until it was wide enough for entry. Then into the tunnel, the snake went. As it went, its tunnel merged with other tunnels and got bigger, but this was not noticed. Breath was important, so the snake rushed through the passages, searching for a new exit. As the tunnels started to branch off and shrink, the snake kept going. There were no large caverns of liquid this time, only passages that kept narrowing. Soon enough, the passage walls closed in, and the otherworldly Barbados Threadsnake had to force the passages wider. Not long after, the passage would be forced no wider and the passage snapped. As it kept burrowing, the tunnel was no longer the same texture, but it still did not feel like dirt, it was far too squishy, but it could easily be burrowed in, so on it went searching for a way out. The liquid flowed into the new tunnel and seeped into the walls.

Breath ran out. The need for air overwhelmed the desire for freedom and dirt. Thrashing in panic, the suffocating snake knew only blackness.