Records of Rebirth

|[Amazing!]|

I gazed at everything in an excited stupor, alongside Cassio and Andromeda who had similar looks of wonder. 

I'd never seen so much gold in my life.

The lair was quite pungent, but either way I was happy, because my Pit was made out of money!

Just how much could it all be worth?

Was this what being filthy rich felt like?

[Following the worm's tunnel was worth it!] Andromeda gushed, her eyes sparkling even brighter at the sight of the gems.

[I'm glad we never gave up!] Cassio grinned at his own golden reflection.

It sounded like they had been through a tough time, but now the two were in perfect bliss.

Their operation was quite extensive and I noticed a good portion of the gems had been separated from the rocks and left lying around.

Typhon must have been down here previously to help, as there were even light crystals scattered around to illuminate sections.

[What do you think?] Andromeda recovered from her glee and turned around to ask.

|[You've done a great job.]| I replied, and the two serpents were ecstatic.

They already did most of the work by finding the smelly cache, and now all that was left was to gather everything that had been removed.

There were noises coming from inside the lair where several nestlings sorted through the rubble below to gather up the precious materials in piles. Nestlings that I assumed had lost against them in some wager or another, much like Arsinoe.

But instead of joining them, their newest recruit was hanging back from the edge of the deep lair, in an effort not to touch anything. And when I called her forward, she reluctantly approached.

|[Go inside.]| I instructed her. |[The rocks are sharp, so be mindful on your way down.]|

There was no room for arguments as it wasn't a request, and Arsinoe looked about to cry. Nonetheless, she made her way down the tunnel, squirming uncomfortably as Morgana snickered. 

Unlike Arsinoe, Morgana didn't seem to mind the stench at all and was in quite the good mood. The two clearly had a good relationship, so I didn't understand why they kept being hostile to each other.

Once inside the lair, rather than gathering the fallen ingots with the other nestlings, Arsinoe made her way deep inside to an untouched section of the lair.

Using her magic, she generated a concentrated propulsion of water and aimed it at the rocks, slicing through them in an attempt to separate more ingots herself.

Perhaps she thought merely gathering ingots lying around was too boring?

But, not long after, her water jet sliced through a particularly thick bedrock which erupted in a small explosion that sent Arsinoe flying back to the nestlings. 

I frowned at the sound, wondering what on earth she hit – but that was not the end of it. 

Large tremors could be felt beneath the ground, and I immediately blinked below, generating a mass of darkness around the confused nestlings who were staring at Arsinoe's body.

Yet even with that, I felt the tremors of numerous rocks striking my darkness shield.

A chain of explosions had been set off after the first, and the blasts were erupting everywhere, much larger, and far deadlier than Arsinoe's. They decimated the ingot piles my nestlings had gathered and buried everything else under a thick layer of dusty debris.

Under my darkness barrier, the nestlings cowered in fear at the loud bangs, and Arsinoe who fainted after being buried in dirt, had begun to stir. 

I was afraid the entire tunnel would collapse because of the explosions, but after the first few blasts closer to us, they seemed to continue further inwards, widening the cavern even further. 

Eventually, the explosions stopped, and I released the barrier to see the lair had completely transformed as the dust settled down.

Most of what I saw was rubble, aside from larger bits of rocks that landed behind my barrier. The golden ingots and gems were still glimmering brightly around us, but the walls that housed them had collapsed.

Fortunately, the tunnel above was still intact and I could faintly hear Cassio, Andromeda and Morgana calling down to us.

I was glad they were safe, and I didn't regret leaving them to come here. If I hadn't, I was certain all the nestlings down here would have died.

It seemed Arsinoe was destined to cause trouble wherever she went.

The entire lair was now completely dark, with all the light crystals completely buried under rubble. It made sense that they could barely make us out in the thick dust cloud and if not for the green blue luminescence of my scales, the nestlings with me would have been the same. 

Still, I wished they would stop being so loud.

The nestlings I saved were struggling to get up, each one coughing up a dust cloud. Arsinoe was still dazed on the ground, partially buried from the initial explosion that threw her, she was perhaps the most injured of them all.

While I waited for her to recover, I called up to the nestlings above to tell them everyone was okay, and eventually their cries stopped.

But what exactly happened? 

I headed towards the area where Arsinoe's water blade started the explosions and looked around.

Most of the wall had been blown away, but instead of more ingots I found numerous crystals shaped like raw sapphires - crystals that glowed in a peculiar shade of cyan. 

They seemed familiar and then I realized they were stones I'd seen as part of the magic circuit on a certain elf's ring. And I burst into laughter as my day had just gotten better!

"Aren't these magic power crystals?!" I exclaimed in excitement. 

If elves used them to power their storage rings, they must be worth something!

«Ether crystals.» Sensei corrected with a sigh.

"Same thing!" I chuckled.

Arsinoe's intensely vibrating water blade must have resonated with them somehow, causing the Ether inside the crystals to explode.

"But aren't they a bit too many though?" I pondered.

The ones embedded into the ring were quite tiny, the smallest being only slightly larger than a grain of sand. Yet together they could power up an entire storage ring. 

Meanwhile, the smallest crystal here was as large as a human fist, all arrayed next to each other and all perfectly volatile.

It was no wonder one crystal set off an explosion and I carefully backed away from them - this place could become a death trap if we are not careful.

However, before I could leave, I felt another rumble coming from the ground.

It didn't sound like an explosion, but it belonged to something else that I also didn't want to encounter.

A purple worm burst out of the ground, its gaping maw and hideously sharp teeth, rushing towards my terrified nestlings – In particular, Arsinoe's petrified figure.

Before it could take a bite out of her, I blinked in front of it, tackling the slippery creature away from Arsinoe. 

We crashed into the rubble, the armoured worm proving to be quite strong, but I forced it between my curls and sliced through its armour with my razor sharp scales as it gave a loud screech.

But that scream was abruptly cut off as the worm's body went limp.

Multiple bleeding holes had opened up throughout its armoured hide, where my pronged tail stabbed in quick succession.

I attacked its soft tissues with equal parts darkness and poison, and the body of the purple worm collapsed from the inside before it could properly attack, dying soon after it came out of the ground.

When I released it, the hideous worm landed near my terrified nestlings, covering them in dirt and purple slime much to their shock.

They were trembling like leaves, including Arsinoe, whose jewel pink eyes were wide open, with a terrified look frozen on her face, as if the creature was still heading for her.

But I assured them it was very much dead – and I even stabbed the creature's body once more to prove it. 

When this didn't calm them down, I decided it was time for us to leave the tunnel. The Ether crystals weren't safe, and more worms could be heading here the more time we wasted.

However, Cassio had climbed down the tunnel, Andromeda following quickly behind him. The two were quite anxious to see me and to my disbelief, they apologised for the appearance of the worm.

[They rarely come here.] Cassio said. [I didn't expect one to come out now. Forgive us!]

He and Andromeda were quite apologetic, seemingly even more fearful than the nestlings who had encountered the worm themselves.

But why did he think he was at fault for that? If anything, it was Arsinoe who caused the whole incident.

|[They are drawn towards noise.]| I replied. |[It has nothing to do with you! But just work quietly from now on.]|

It was only then that Cassio relaxed, and I glanced at Arsinoe who still had a surprised face. Perhaps bringing her here wasn't such a good idea.

But then, I felt more rumbles, this time coming from above us where a smaller purple worm had appeared near Morgana. She did not to come down with Cassio and Andromeda, and as a result she became an easy target.

I was about to launch a darkness blade to kill it when Morgana called back.

[I don't need help. I can take care of it.] She said, her voice steely with resolve.

Oh? Could she actually do it?

They soon began to battle with Morgana barely dodging the creatures attacks before it took a bite out of her.

And since she didn't want any help, I decided to sit back and watch the show.

I then noticed Arsinoe staring at me while still sprawled on the ground.

|[Aren't you going to get up?]| I asked.

The speckled serpent seemed to have forgotten where she was and simply blinked at me in confusion.

[You're really strong!] Arsinoe said in surprise. [Can you teach me?]

I had to wonder if she hit her head in the explosion.

As I was about to answer, the corpse of the smaller purple worm came crashing down towards us, its armour carapace riddled with horrible wounds, Arsinoe immediately recovered from her shock and glared at Morgana's figure.

Morgana was covered in injuries, but she was extremely excited, even delighted.

Was she perhaps preparing for her battle with the scorpion queen?

Seeing this, I couldn't stop grinning. 

Of the two serpents, one was perhaps the most troublesome and shamelessly brazen, while the other was proving quite determined to live. 

Why did they have to be the least loyal?

Yet, it seemed Morgana had overestimated herself, because she fainted right after her victory, falling into the tunnel much like the worm she defeated.

And I frowned. 

Did she expect me to blink over there and catch her?