NOVEL WEB [Arc I] Chapter 17 – leaving the nest
I accidentally moved only a tiny bit closer to my sister, but at the moment of emergence, all those pent up thoughts seem to have flooded outside. Happiness, sadness… and most importantly, some status information. “Stronger!” “No more stuck!”
Firstly, it seems that the level of data released by the skill is strongly dependant on your intelligence. Even the descriptions get simplified for… well, lets say she is no egg head (“obviously, she didn’t spend the past weeks with snout stuck in one”)
“Oh how sweet, snake hugs? She isn’t trying to strangle mother is she?”
Fortunately, it was just a goodbye snake-hug (as scary as it might be). The two biggest snakes parted, and the newly evolved Clearsky snake went around its siblings, “saying” heartfelt goodbye to each. It might have been literally heartfelt when she came to the biggest brother, their hug dangerously close to the strangling move used by some of our cousins.
Satisfied with her victory, she also passed by me, though instead of hugging she performed a strange dance. “Strange brother. Goodbye. Me like your weird move, look!”. Sniff. Let the world know of the might of the proud Drunken Snout my disciple!
And so she left, only her molted skin remaining. Reminding us of her, and reminding me, that time is running short.
***
I have barely slept over the past few days (“I practiced a lot of meditation””). Short rests plagued by nightmares of dying, going crazy, and… being a weird huge snake (“beautiful selfish snake”). These last dreams are especially worrisome, as they seem to be related to the mysterious “Will of the snakes“ skill. Taking into consideration my current state, all mind affecting skills are a potentially lethal danger.
“Is it night yet? Time for a walk?”
“I don’t know…”
“No sun is peeking through! Let’s go!”
I went on a walk, once again looking around. Only the slightest part of the moon still giving a slightest sliver of light. In the center of the nest, there was now a pair of molded scales. I did my best not to look at them while slithering to the lake (“corward”).
Moonfish, hungry for moonlight, even today continued their dance. But they are no longer spread out. Seemingly afraid of the dark, they school close to the surface, bigger and more evolved members defending the perimeter. On the edges of my mana and soul vision, coming to the surface from its depths, I could see creatures I haven’t seen before. The fact that I haven’t noticed them until now makes me wonder how big it is. (“How deep it must be! Hundreds of meters!”). While I can sense one of the shores using my more esoteric senses, the other edge is too far to know. Similarly, I don’t think I can see to the bottom. What if it’s no lake but an ocean? I was always scared of open sea (“I think we should go for a swim!”). No, the waves and tides are too small for that.. But then this is another world.
(“Someone is looking”) (“Someone can see us from the depth!”) “I” sensed before myself. A creature was looking. From the deep. It was the lizard from the last time. Half submerged, it looked. (“Did it smirk?!”) And then it went back to its depths.Isn’t it obvious there would be creatures with better senses than me? A small snakeling? That they would be adapted to hunting all day and all night? There is no time for rest in the Jungle, death is always open for business. I froze.
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Fear resistance: -5.5-> -6.1/10 |
They are watching! I could feel the tingling sensation on my skin (“They see!”). Flickers of distant souls, now looking like eyes of a predator. And look how huge some of them must be! How strong! I tried running back (“THEY CAN HEAR!”). I stopped. I slowly crawled back, trying to keep as low of a profile as I could.
***
Another sleepless night. Or two. Not sure, time flows weird now. (“Look we have hungry status now!”) Indeed!
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Condition: Sleep deprived, hungry, Incomplete Reincarnation, forming core, hallucinating |
...
(“Has the mother left us?”)
…
(“Maybe it’s just time for us to hunt ourselves?”)
…
I froze. I suspect I would have felt fear in normal situation but by now I was just too tired.
“Hunt! Bird!” - a random dream thought came from one of the last two remaining siblings, sleeping nearby. Egg now covered in holes, no longer much of a protection. As if that wasn't enough, they started sleeping closer to me, most likely feeling lonely knowing they will too soon leave.
(“Indeed! It’s time to hunt! Be a grown man!”)
Yes, If life doesn’t give you lemons, go pick them up yourself to make lemonade! Or bug-o-nade!
I got out of my egg.
(“But it’s dangerous!”) said a quieter voice. But it was right, walking at night is dangerous. I suddenly remembered my mother, who told me to always look both ways when passing the street. And to wear a helmet!
But where will we find a helmet? I looked around. Siblings? Not a helmet. Shedded skin? Not a helmet. A big piece of the egg shell that fell to the ground? Not a helmet (“HELMET!”) (“In these hard times, better helmet we will not find!”). And so, with some difficulty I put my new piece of equipment on, and left the nest.
I stopped for a brief moment next to the roots, delimiting the protective perimeter, small voice in my head saying “Stop! It’s dangerous!”. But that voice, felt fear, and the negative fear resistance, made it too scared to think anything.
For the first time, I was outside the nest at night. I looked for a rabbit. (“Or a bug”) (“Or bird”) (“Or lemons”). And in the distance, two reptile eyes, looked at me.
