A Snake's Life Read online

  After watching them for about an hour, I noticed they rotated in opposite directions. The orange moon was moving from East to West, and the green moon was the opposite.

  “That’s amazing…” I watched the moons move across the sky for a few more hours. Before I called it a night and went to sleep underneath the light of the moons.

  * * *

  When I woke up the next morning. My first instinct was to head down and eat, but the deer was gone.

  “Okay, either the deer became an undead and left on its own, or there’s another scavenger around.”

  Moving around the tree. I began looking around to see if I could spot another heat signature, but I didn’t see any.

  As I was worried about being ambushed by something I couldn’t see. Instead of heading to the ground, and looking around for the scavenger. I moved along the tree branches.

  I searched for a while before I detected trace amounts of blood with my tongue.

  I followed that trace until I found the culprits. A group of rather large bugs was carrying the deer along the forest floor.

  “…*sigh* You know what? It isn’t worth the trouble it would bring if I attacked them.” Deciding to leave the bugs to their prize. I moved away from them and headed in the opposite direction.

  Every now and then, I would see one of the large bugs. Their six legs and dark carapace were standing out amongst the green of the forest.

  “I’m curious as to how they taste.” So the next time I found a solitary bug, I snuck up on it.

  It was in a tree, above the branch I was on, so I slowly climbed up until I was behind it.

  They were even bigger up close. It looked to be about a foot high without its antenna, and over two feet long. They had a set of large pincers, which were being used to strip the bark from trees.

  “I’d rather not get bitten by those pincers, so I’ll have to kill it quickly.” Getting even closer to the bug, I waited until it bit into the bark again to strike.

  I tried to bite down on the back of its carapace, but my teeth couldn’t pierce it. After my failed attack, the bug attempted to turn around, but I stopped it by switching my target to one of its back legs.

  Still unable to pierce its armor. I gripped it as tight as I could, and lifted it off the tree, before slamming it back down.

  Since I was unable to bite through its armor, and since I didn’t want to take the chance of wrapping myself around it. I planned to slam it into the tree until it could no longer move.

  After about ten slams. The bug stopped squirming and was leaking a bright green fluid.

  “Is it dead yet?” I held it for another minute or two while being ready to slam it again. Before I wrapped myself around it, and rearranged my head in order to swallow it whole.

  I was successful in my attempt, though it now sat in my stomach like a rock.

  “I can already tell, this one is going to take a while to digest.” I moved on before one of the other bugs could see me, and call for reinforcements.

  I traveled through the forest for another few hours, before I found one of the most wonderful things I had seen yet.

  It was a large fruit tree. The fruits were red, star-shaped things. That had a sweet scent even from my position over a hundred feet away.

  “Jackpot!” Moving to the base of the tree. I first found a few fruit that had already fallen to the ground and ate them.

  The taste was extremely bitter despite its sweet scent, but it was still fairly good.

  “Hmm… Not bad.” I ate another, then another. Before long, I had eaten all of the fallen fruit and was making my way up the tree to eat more.

  Over the course of several hours. I ate every fruit on or around the tree. Then, I ate the leaves as well.

  After I ate the last leaf. I got the Pop-up I had been waiting for.

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path. Gluttonous Tree Boa Would you like to Evolve?

  “No!” The pop-up vanished and was replaced by another.

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path. Gluttonous Titan Boa Would you like to Evolve?

  “Yes!” The pop-up vanished, and yet, nothing happened… at first. Then a severe pain assaulted me, it was so intense I fell out of the tree.

  I writhed on the ground in pain as a milky white substance covered me, and I was left in the dark again.

  Your Evolution is underway, and a shield has formed around you until it is complete. Time remaining until completion is 23h 59m 47s

  *Sigh* “I’m going to be here a while, but at least I’m safe for the time being… I hope.”

  Chapter 5

  I slept through most of the evolution countdown, and I only woke up to read the pop-up on the bug.

  You have eaten the following race for the first time. Obsidian Beetle: Tier 1

  I dismissed the pop-up and went back to sleep. Not being about to see or hear anything for an entire day, would have driven me crazy, otherwise.

  When I awoke for the final time. The pop-up I had been waiting for an entire day to see was there.

  Your evolution is complete, and the Growth trait has been added.

  A rare trait only certain races may acquire. Your body grows by one foot every year you live.

  Warning! Due to the Gluttonous trait, you also grow a small amount with every meal.

  “… While that may be a good thing. I get the feeling, this will become a hindrance later on.” I don’t know why I believed that to be the case, but I was getting the feeling that things will become annoying because of it.

  I dismissed those pop-ups so the last one would pop.

  Name Torga

  Race Titan Boa

  Classification Tier 3

  Skills Minor Stealth, Heat detection, Minor Durability up, major strength up

  Traits Gluttonous +2, Growth +1

  “Hmm, the trait section is new, but what’s with the plus numbers next to the traits?” Surprisingly, another pop-up followed.

  The Titan Boa is a tier 3, Non-venomous serpent, and is said to be the king of the non-magical serpents. Adults can grow as long as 50 feet, and weigh over a ton.

  Your Gluttonous trait has gained a level. As a side effect. Your stomach acid is now capable of dissolving some metals and you must now eat more often.

  “Damn! I was already perpetually starving, now you’re saying I need to eat even more!?” I raged inside the darkness. My stomach made its displeasure known as well, as a loud gurgle could be heard.

  I started thrashing around inside the darkness. My body felt incredibly heavy and was much bigger than before, but I was ready to get out of here!

  Not only was I starving, but my body was seriously itching as well.

  Eventually, my head hit something hard, and a crack was formed in the darkness.

  “That’s my way out!” I repeatedly slammed my head into the hard thing, with each hit making the crack bigger. Until the darkness, finally shattered… And what sounded like a tree falling over, could be heard.

  Lifting my head out of the milky-white shell. I began looking around for whatever had knocked down a tree but I couldn’t see anything around me.

  Until I looked back at the fallen fruit tree and saw how close the shell was to the trunk.

  “Was… Was it me?” I did hit the shell on something hard in order to get out, but… was I seriously that much stronger?

  Deciding to try out my new body. I raised myself out of the shell and lifted my head up… And up… And up.

  “I guess, it wasn’t kidding about the size of my new race…” While at my maximum height. My head was almost reaching the tree tops!

  And my weight was nothing to scoff at, either. I tested it by knocking my head against a branch, and the branch was easily broken off.

  A testament to just how heavy I was, as I could climb across those branches before my evolution.

  “Maybe, I’m the one who should go on a diet…” Though there was nothing I could really do about it, I was still c
oncerned about predators now that I couldn’t hide in the trees.

  “Guess I should also test out my new strength. I would hate to run into another large Alpha Deer, and get killed by it. Because I didn’t know how strong I was.” The last time I ran into one, I barely got away. The next time, I may not be so lucky.

  I wrapped my body around a tree and squeezed as hard as I could. *Crack!* The tree was crushed beneath my new body, and as I unwrapped myself from the tree, it collapsed.

  “Well, that’s certainly useful.” Though I shouldn’t need to break down trees often. I was going to assume that most creatures were easier to break than a tree. So I should be able to kill them, even if they were too large for me to eat.

  “Now, I just need to know what my next evolution choices will be, and I can be on my way. A few seconds later, a pop-up gave me the new list.

  Consume 1,000lbs of anything to unlock Basilisk

  Consume 1,000lbs of anything and a creature of Fire to unlock Flame Basilisk

  Consume 1,000lbs of anything and a creature of Wind to unlock Wind Basilisk

  Consume 1,000lbs of anything and a creature of Earth to unlock Earth Basilisk

  Consume 1,000lbs of anything and a creature of Water to unlock Water Basilisk

  Complete the requirements of all other evolutions to unlock Elemental Basilisk

  “Well, I can easily consume a thousand pounds of food, but… What are the creatures it wants me to eat?” I knew I could eat over a thousand pounds of food before I left this clearing, but a creature of an element was something I was unsure about.

  A creature of the Elements, Is something born into an area saturated with that magical energy. For example.

  A Large Alpha Deer is a creature born of an Earth saturated zone.

  A Wyvern is a creature born of a Wind saturated zone

  A Mermaid is a creature born of a Water saturated zone

  A Flame Salamander is a creature born of a Fire saturated zone

  “Hmm, Looks like if I want to evolve. I’ll need to have a round two with that big deer. I’ll worry about the other creatures later.”I left the clearing after that.

  My goal was to find that deer to unlock the Earth Basilisk, then find the other listed animals. However, right now I only had one thing in mind.

  “I’m so~ Hungry!”Moving to a bit further up the tree I had broken. I found a section that had been completely broken apart, and started eating the pieces. Then I snapped off the remaining branches and ate them as well.

  “That took the edge off, but I’m still hungry!” I moved out of the clearing then. My destination was the river that I would then follow back the way I had come from.

  “I’m going to grab a few of those Beetles as a snack for the trip.” Though hunger was a major part of my decision. I also wanted to be as large as possible, for when I met the Alpha Deer.

  “I wonder how much eating affects my growth?” I had yet to notice a big change, but I didn’t want to suddenly grow ten feet because I ate a branch, either.

  “I’ll figure it out later, I suppose.” This stomach of mine was going to be a problem in the future, I just knew it.

  Chapter 6

  I retraced my steps back through the forest and managed to find my way back to the Obsidian Beetles. With my new size, crushing and eating the Beetles was incredibly easy, but also left me unsatisfied.

  Because of their small size, I had to eat ten of them before I felt anything. Even then, my stomach acid was dissolving them at a rate, I couldn’t possibly keep up with. So, I added tree limbs to my meal in an attempt to slow down the hunger pains. Though it did ease off a little, no matter how much I ate, it was never enough to completely subdue the pain.

  I left a path of destruction in my wake, as I ate everything in my path in an attempt to ease the pain.

  Beetles, tree limbs, not even the smaller trees were safe. If I could swallow it, I ate it.

  When I finally reached the river again. Instead of getting in the water, I moved along the river bank and continued to eat anything in my way.

  After two hours of this, I detected a heat signature in my way. It was small, but as I was so hungry, I didn’t care.

  I circled around behind it. My heat sense allowing me to see it in the darkness, while it remained oblivious.

  “It’s a deer… Good, maybe this will take a little longer to digest.” It appeared to be eating something, so it was sufficiently distracted.

  I lifted my head off the ground and raised it until I was looking down on the deer.

  “Thanks for the meal.” I struck. My massive size made it so I didn’t need to squeeze it to death, and instead, I bit into its back and threw it into a tree.

  *Whimper* “Don’t worry, little deer. This won’t take long.” I lifted it by the neck and bit down until I could no longer feel it twitching, then I leaned my head back and swallowed it whole.

  Moving over to the thing it had been eating. I lifted and swallowed it as well. It wasn’t that big, and as it had been dead for a while before I arrived, it had long since lost any heat. So I didn’t know what I had just eaten, but I figured it didn’t really matter. If the deer could eat it, so could I.

  I move on after that and didn’t stop again until I reached the clearing I started in.

  “It’s not here anymore…” Looking around, I didn’t see any signs of the Large deer, or any deer for that matter.

  “They shouldn’t have made it very far. If I hurry, I may be able to catch up, but which way do I go?” I began to look for clues but stopped when I detected something.

  “Hmm?” I smelled meat, bloody meat, to be specific. And it was close, so I followed my nose… Er, tongue.

  Eventually, I found the source of the smell. A group of deer was surrounding a group of smaller heat signatures, and a battle was underway.

  “Sophie, look out, there’s one behind you!” One of the larger heat signatures yelled to a smaller one.

  The smaller source quickly turned and blasted the deer with a wave of intense heat.

  Another deer charged into the fray and stabbed its horns through one of the larger sources and carried it in my direction.

  “Arnold, No!” Another source yelled.

  “Oh ho, free delivery… You shouldn’t have.” I waited until they were close before I struck.

  I attacked the deer’s head to prevent it from alerting the others. And swallowed both it and the other signature.

  Though the other signature had a metallic taste to it, it wasn’t bad.

  “Damn it, Die you BASTARDS!” The other larger source yelled as it charged at a couple of deer.

  It somehow managed to kill one of the deer, before the other stabbed it in the back.

  The other signatures were quickly overwhelmed by the remaining deer without the two larger signatures to defend their backs.

  “Oh well, more food for me.” As the deer were feasting on their hard won meal. I slowly took them out. One. By. One.

  I would move up to a deer’s hind legs and attack its head. After I had it between my teeth, I would quickly jerk my head to the side.

  *Snap* its neck would break, then I would quietly set it back down, and move on to the next deer.

  I killed three of the five deer before I was discovered, and though one of the remaining deer managed to get away. The other was going to join the rest of the food.

  “Maybe it’s a good thing it got away. It just might bring the big deer to me, and save me the trouble of finding it myself.”

  I ate every one of the bodies lying on the ground. Then moved away, and settled in to wait. If it didn’t bring the Large deer to me in a day, I would continue my search. Until then, however. I could get some sleep, and let my food digest.

  My stomach was pretty full, after all. Aside from the five deer and the four other signatures I had eaten. I also needed to wait for other deer and it’s meal to digest.

  So, I went to sleep, and only woke once I heard the sound of a Pop-up appeari
ng.

  I opened my eyes and saw several Pop-ups floating around me.

  You have eaten the following race for the first time. Wood Elf: Tier 3

  You have eaten the following race for the first time. Dark Elf: Tier 3

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

  “Hmm… So that’s what they were.” I didn’t feel any guilt about eating them, after all, they were just food. Anything that wasn’t my wife, was just food to me.

  I dismissed the Pop-ups and began looking around, but I didn’t see any sign of the Large deer.

  “I’ll wait awhile longer. Maybe it’ll show up eventually…” I lay back down to wait.

  Several hours passed before I saw two heat sources running my way. A small heat signature was leading a much larger signature.

  “Ah… And that’s dinner.” I moved out of the way to let them pass and circled to their backs.

  The much larger deer stood in front of the small one, and it appeared to be looking for me.

  “An appetizer before the main course, eh?” I grabbed the little deer by the head.

  *Crack* and jerked my head to the side, snapping its neck and throwing it away.

  The larger deer heard the impact of the deer hitting the ground, so it turned to look and I attacked its throat.

  I bit down and coiled my body around its midsection. It started thrashing around, but I was holding on too tightly for it to throw me off.

  After about a minute of it thrashing around. It changed strategies and started slamming itself into the surrounding trees.

  *Grunt* “That hurt!” I released my hold on its neck and bit down on its face. Then I pulled its head around into the tree.

  *Bang* whimper* it desperately tried to make me release its face, but I held on.

  I kept pulling on its head and eventually, I managed to pull it to the ground.

  So I repositioned myself to keep it from standing back up. It struggled for a few more minutes, then its struggles ceased, and it lay still.