A Snake's Life Read online

  I glared at him, and I lowered my head until we were nose to nose with each other, then I asked… “Oh… I’m sure a piece of you might make her very happy indeed…. Maybe I’ll rip off that ugly mug of yours and make her a glass out of it? Or better yet… You can just become my food!!” I opened my ‘eyes’, and though he wasn’t affected by the petrification ability like I thought he would be, he still staggard away from me while holding his eyes… And I used the opportunity to snatch him up in my mouth, then I crunched down on him. His bones snapped, his blood gushed inside my mouth, and I bit down on him until he was little more than mush inside my mouth.

  After eating him, I set my sights on the remaining kobolds… Though most of them had ran away after the explosion, a good amount of them remained…

  “Ding ding, Dinner time…”

  * * *

  After falling asleep that night, I was visited by someone in my dreams… He was a tall thin man in a red tuxedo. His slicked-back hair and thin mustache would make the average person think him a man of nobility… Except both his hair and eyes were pitch black without the slightest bit of color… And he was a skeleton.

  “Greetings ol’ chap. Amaar’s the name, and Death is my game.” He said with an over the top flourish. a few seconds later, a top hat and a cane appeared in his hands. He placed the hat on his head and slammed the cane’s end into the ‘floor’.

  I stared at him for a few seconds, then looked down at my body, only to realize that I was back in the ‘shadow’ body. I let out a sigh, then asked. “Why are you here?”

  He snapped his finger and Nargas appeared between us… Though he appeared to be bound by a thick rope and had a gag in his mouth.

  “It has come to my attention, that you killed my champion.”

  I looked between the two, then said after a few moments pause… “You’re the god of death?”

  He gave me a nod. “Indeed I am.” He paused for a few seconds to look me over, then smiled… somehow. “But fear not mortal… I have no desire for revenge. In fact, you actually did me a favor by killing ol’ Nargas here… isn’t that right… Francis?”

  Nargas’ eyes grew wide, and rage built within them. He began to thrash around in an attempt to free himself, but it was to no avail…

  “You see, Francis here made a deal with me ten years ago… In exchange for allowing him to reincarnate as a powerful monster, he would champion my cause.”

  I nodded so he would continue.

  “However… I don’t really have a ‘cause’ per say. So, I told him that as long as he entertained me… I would grant him his wish. But, ol’ Francis here isn’t the most humble man around… So, I turned him into what he is now.”

  “Why?” I asked while tilting my head in confusion.

  He shrugged his bony shoulders and replied with… “Because I just love pissing people off… Which is why I’m going to help you this once.”

  “I’m guessing that if you help me, it will annoy someone?”

  He gave me a slight chuckle. “Oh… You have no idea how many people this will piss off. There are gods and goddesses, Heroes and Villians, Kings and Queens, and a hell of a lot of monsters that will despise me for this… which is why I’m going to do it.”

  I scrutinized him for a few seconds, then finally asked… “Why risk yourself to help me?”

  His eyes glowed an ominous red and said. “Because my boy… I’m Death, and I don’t give a flying fuck what they like.” He snapped his fingers and both of them disappeared.

  A few seconds after they vanished, I received several pop-ups…

  You have gained the following skills and trait, due to consuming ‘Nargas, The Kobold Hero.’

  You have unlocked the following trait. Immunity to mind control. No one but you may control your mind.

  You have unlocked the following Skill. Puppet maker The ability to consume the mind and turn the body into a puppet under your control. *Note: You must touch the target with your jewel to use this skill. *Note: Because of the gluttonous trait, you gain a small amount of energy from consuming the mind of your target.*

  You have unlocked the following Skill. Body possession The ability to consume the soul and possess the body.* Note: your body will be drawn inside of your target for the duration of this skill* Note: You must touch the target with your jewel to use this skill. *Note: Because of the gluttonous trait, you gain a large amount of energy from consuming the soul of your target.*

  “Oh… Well, that certainly solves some problems…” Just before I tried to wake up, I received yet another pop-up…

  Note from Amaar… Oh, I’m also not supposed to tell you this, but~… Your theory is correct. If you eliminate the ‘Heroes’ that are in line before your wife, then she can be born sooner. However, despite the entertainment, I would no doubt receive from watching you interfere with my ‘siblings’ plans… This course of action will draw unwanted attention on to you. So, be absolutely certain, that this is what you want to do before you take action against them.

  They aren’t as nice as I am…

  A few moments after reading the note, I finally drifted off into a deep sleep….

  Chapter 27

  When I woke up the next day, the first thing I decided to do was test out my new skills. However, I, unfortunately, ate the last kobold in the area before I fell asleep. As such, I needed to find another… ‘Volunteer’, to test my powers on. But, I had a pop-up to read before I could do anything…

  Because of gaining an ability pertaining to souls, you have unlocked a new evolutionary path.

  Consume 100 souls to unlock Dark Serpent *Warning: Continuing down this path may lead to corruption.*

  I was rendered speechless after reading the warning… What was it about this path that could corrupt me? Another pop-up gave me my answer…

  The Dark Serpent The dark serpent, otherwise known as the ‘demon serpent’ is a creature of ancient power. This race is believed to be responsible for the corruption, and eventual fall, of the angels… and is known as the first demon.

  There have only been three ‘Dark Serpents’ in history, and all of them have been attacked and killed before they could control their power.

  This race is the natural enemy of the gods because only this race possesses the ability to consume the vital essence that all gods need to maintain their power.

  This evolution does not cause your physical body to evolve, and instead, it evolves your soul. Should you continue down this evolutionary path, then your soul will never be the same again, when you die, your soul will be consumed by your power and you will never know peace… You will also forever be forbidden from becoming a god… But with great risk, comes great reward.

  The antithesis of a ‘God’…The ancient power of a Devil is what awaits you instead.

  I read through the pop-up several times, just to make sure I understood exactly what was being said. Then I asked if I could pass up the evolution and gain something from it…

  No, if you unlock this path, then you will evolve.

  The ‘Dark Serpent’ was likely some form of demon, like the kind I’d eaten back on Iorus… Only, this one seemed to be different somehow. From the description, the pop-up had given me. This wasn’t just some evolution I could unlock to gain power, then forget about. If I gained this power, then it was for good.

  Which meant, using my new powers will have consequences. If I use the ‘body possession’ skill too often, then I could accidentally unlock this path and then I’ll have no choice, but to evolve. The only good thing about this is if I do decide I want this.. ‘Devil power’ Then even if I evolve, it won’t affect my current evolutions.

  According to the description, this path will evolve my soul and not my body. So regardless of my choice, my evolutionary paths will remain the same. Whether or not that’s a good thing… I honestly don’t know.

  If I go down this path, then it’s fair to assume that I will eventually gain the power to kill anything, even the gods… But is
my desire to protect Sarah, really worth my soul? I stayed where I was for approximately five hours before I decided that I needed to take a break from this train of thought. So I got up and followed the kobold’s directions to the goblin nest…

  * * *

  I searched the area until I found a large stone totem pole, then I searched more until I found a… peculiar scent. Though I had prepared myself for an ‘awful’ smell, what I actually found surprised me. The smell of burning flesh, mixed with that of a pig is what I was currently smelling…. In other words, I smelled burnt bacon.

  I rose my head into the air and had to tilt my head back to keep my venom from leaking onto the ground. The ‘smell’ was so appetizing, that I actually forgot what I was worried about. However, that same smell kept me from realizing that I’d been seen until a literal army of ‘goblins’ had appeared in front of me.

  I stared down at the army and took the opportunity to look the ‘goblins’ over. The creatures varied in size, build… hell, most of them weren’t even of flesh and blood. But those that were ‘normal’, had green skin, a long hooked nose, pointed ears, and black eyes. Most of them were naked, though some did wear loincloths or a tunic made of ‘leather’. And the largest ‘goblins’ even wore skulls on their heads, as if they were helmets.

  The other ‘goblins’ were even more bizarre looking. Some of them were made of a dark stone, and had white glowing eyes. Then there were ‘flame goblins’. These creatures were composed entirely of a bright orange flame that turned blue at the top of their head. And lastly, there were ‘Metal goblins’… Goblins composed entirely of a reflective metal, that would reflect the sun with every movement.

  Individually, I doubted that any of these creatures were much of a threat. But when they teamed up to attack a singular foe?… Then they were dangerous. Which is why I was further surprised when instead of attacking me, they just held their position, and a single female goblin, wearing a large skull for a helmet stepped forward. This goblin advanced on me until she was about ten feet away from my mouth, then she took a quick bow and began to speak.

  “Please serpent, be at ease for we mean you no harm.” The goblin said in a squeaky voice.

  I focused my attention on the goblin. “Is that so?” I asked after a few seconds pause.

  She gave me a quick nod and continued. “It is. Our spies saw what you did to the kobold and their ‘god’.” She said the last part while rolling her eyes. “And we have no desire to see our own nest be destroyed in such a way, so I have been sent to make a deal with you.”

  “What kind of deal?”

  A small smirk flitted across her face before it disappeared and was replaced with a blank expression. “One where we give you whatever you want, in exchange for your word that you won’t destroy us.”

  I scrutinized her for a few more seconds, then asked. “You’ll really give me whatever I want?”

  She shrugged. “It’s what the king declared.”

  I turned away from her and looked at the goblin army that was blocking their cave from my sight, then looked back to her. “Very well, you have my word.”

  A small goblin came running out of the depths of the army and only came to a stop when it was standing beside the female. It gave me a quick bow, which is when I realized that it was a little boy goblin.

  “Greetings lord serpent, I’m Nato, and I’m here to deliver your demands to the king.” The tiny goblin was carrying what appeared to be a quill and a sheet of very thin leather.

  “Greetings Nato.” I nodded to the little goblin. “I only want a few things, then I’ll leave you alone. Are you ready?” I asked while looking down at the sheet he was carrying.

  He nodded then brought the quill up to the sheet.

  “My desires are as follows. Number one, I want ten goblins of various elements to be offered as a sacrifice. Male or female, it doesn’t matter. However, I would prefer them being without child or partner and around the age of maturity.”

  Nato wrote on his sheet, then looked up at me.

  “Number two, I want you to give me several tonnes of the tortoise metal for my personal use. Though I may decide to leave the metal with you to safeguard until I can come to retrieve it.”

  More was written down on the sheet.

  “Number three, I would like for one goblin to become my assistant and to travel with me, for there are plenty of things that I am unable to do because of my size, and I need someone who can move about, where I cannot.”

  He wrote this down as well.

  “And lastly, I want to know if you have a hero hidden among you?”

  Nato looked up at me in confusion, then said. “Not as far as I’m aware.”

  I stared into his eyes, as I thought over his answer… Then I shrugged and brushed it off. “Oh well, fulfill my other demands, and I shall leave.”

  Nato nodded, then he and the female turned and walked back to the army. The army parted like water to let the two pass, then closed up to continue guarding the entrance.

  “Now, the waiting game begins.”

  * * *

  An hour after I released my demands to the goblins, the first demand was met. Ten goblins were now standing before me. Three of which were normal goblins, two were flame, two were metal, and three were stone. Each of them was male and appeared to be young adults. I appraised each of them in turn, then told them why I needed them.

  “You are going to help me test out my skills, understood?”

  I got a simultaneous nod from each of them.

  “Good, then we’ll start with the base goblins and work up from there, shall we?”

  The first of the goblins stepped forward, and though he appeared to be terrified, he didn’t complain as he followed my instructions. I tilted my head down so it could touch the jewel on my forehead, then I activated the ‘puppet maker’ skill. A dark energy traveled down the length of his arm and then pierced his head through the nose. The goblin fell to the ground and began convulsing…. He thrashed around for almost two minutes before he finally stopped and laid still. He stayed like that for another minute or two, then he slowly climbed to his feet and I felt something… It was almost like I’d gained a limb, that I hadn’t quite learned to control. I tried to make him walk around, but he stayed still with a blank expression on his face.

  A frown appeared on my face as I attempted to work out how to control him when an idea came to me. I focused on that ‘feeling’ and tried to send energy to it… And it worked. The blank expression vanished and a look of focus entered his eyes. I mentally ordered him to pat himself on the head, and he complied. Then I ordered him to jump up and down, and again, he complied. A few seconds later, I received a pop-up

  You have consumed the following race for the first time. Goblin: Tier 2

  And then another.

  Goblin Puppet Classification Tier 2

  Skills Night vision, Consume and Adapt

  After reading through both pop-ups, I ordered a stone goblin to touch the jewel and the same thing happened to him… Though the first goblin turned to ash after the second had been created.

  “I can only have one puppet at a time, it seems…” I turned one of each element into a puppet and read their pop-ups in turn…

  You have eaten the following race for the first time. Stone Goblin: Tier 3

  Stone Goblin Puppet Classification Tier 3

  Skills Night vision, Major strength up, Major durability up

  “Hmm… Good for manual labor.”

  You have eaten the following race for the first time. Flame Goblin: Tier 3

  Flame Goblin Puppet Classification Tier 3

  Skills Night vision, Fire Control, Explosion

  “Alright, they could be useful as well…”

  You have eaten the following race for the first time. Metal Goblin: Tier 3

  Metal Goblin Puppet Classification Tier 3

  Skills Night vision, Absorb and reflect energy, Major strength up, Superior durability up

  Afte
r reading that pop-up, a smile grew on my face and I ordered the remaining metal goblin to step forward. He reached out and touched my jewel, as the others had done before… But this time I activated the ‘Body possession’ skill, instead of ‘puppet maker’. Almost instantly, my body became a beam of ebony energy and penetrated his skull. Over the course of the next hour, the energy that had pierced his skull was drawn inside and mutated his body to fit my mentality… First, his metallic body formed shiny silver scales that further increased his defense. His head became more snake-like in appearance: losing the nose and ears altogether and his eyes turned bright yellow with a slit pupil.

  Following this, I received another pop-up.

  Name Torga

  Race Metal Goblin (Gluttonous Elemental Basilisk possession)

  Classification Tier 5

  Skills Minor Stealth, Heat detection, Superior Durability up, Superior strength up, Petrifying Gaze, Detect concealment, Energy Absorb/Store/Release, Resist Elements, Night vision, Puppet maker, Release body possession

  Traits Gluttonous +3, Venomous, Strong Willed, Sturdy, Immunity to mind control

  Once the transition had ended, I gained as much or perhaps, even more, energy than I did from eating the magma tortoise. However, with this energy came a feeling of extreme pain as my mind fought against itself while trying to adapt to the new form… My instincts were telling my mind that I was still a snake, but my new body wasn’t sending the signals my brain was expecting… Hence the pain. I collapsed to my knees and grabbed my head in a futile attempt to suppress the pain, then I started screaming.

  The goblins had frozen in place after I’d collapsed, my puppet turned to ash because I lost the necessary focus to keep it active. And I blacked out not long after…