White Flower, Black Feather

Snake! Escape!

‘Ok, I need a moment to think’ my heart is beating like crazy

The old woman raises her broom to hit me with it!

Smack!

‘I said! I need a moment to think!’ I barely can move, but she missed me, another hiss and she jumps back, giving me space

She is very agile for her age…

She raises her broom again, ok I need to move!

…

‘How do snakes move again?’

Another voice screams something distracting the hag

‘Ok a chance! A snake is a head with a long neck, right?! Come on muscle memory! Move the neck!’

…!

The old one starts talking back to someone in the bed, but I have no idea what they are saying

…!

‘Ok this is not working, my ‘neck’ is actually a short part of my body… I am mostly torso, or at least to me that is how it feels… good to know…’

I look to, well, me, and stare…

…!

‘Make an ‘S’ as I move! Push against the ground! Thanks Snakeguy! (biology teacher)’

Motion! Progress! Dodge!

Smack!

Hiss!

‘And stay away! You…! Hag!’ this is a gigantic stone room, the floor has some rugs around the bed and the wooden doors of the windows are closed, instead of sunlight there is something in a beam in the roof that gives light, there is also a lit fireplace, and a table with a lot of things above it

There are two doors, one is in the wall behind the old woman, the other is to my left, but if I got there right now, she will sweep me into the fire of the hearth, she just lowered the brush part of the broom to the wooden floor, so I can read her intentions clearly

The table is to her right against the wall, and the bed is to my right, both are bad places to hide, the table is far too tall to be used as a hiding spot and doing that will corner me, I need to flee, not hide

The bed on the other hand…

“Aaahhh!” a young brunette, barely old enough to be called a woman, screams holding her enlarged belly and is pressing herself against the corner of the room above the bed

…

‘Did she just… gave birth to… me?’ I really hope I am the only snake she has in there…

She looks terrified… of me… just like…

‘I need help…! Please! Mordauntless at least once! Show me the path! Ah!’ as I think that, a screen appears in front of me

The old woman, raises her weapon again

‘Intimidate!’

HISS!

My warning this time sounds stronger and the old woman looks really scared now, she drops the broom behind her, clutching her hands against her chest-!

‘Please don't get a heart attack now! I don't want you to die!’

“AAAHHH!” mom? In the bed screams harder, now looking equally scared as… grandma? She is also holding to her belly… because of my… sibling?

‘Lets get out of here’

I look at the wooden door to my left and there is a small opening in the bottom left corner, not big enough for a hand… but I am a snake!

Pushing against the ground I slide myself to it… looking over my “shoulder” I see that “gran” moved towards “mom” and is holding her hand as she whispers something, she is looking at me and her belly the same way…

The girl on the bed is just clenching her eyes and jaws while shaking her head…

‘I did enough damage here’ the hole is barely my size and leads me into a small walled garden, I move to the grass that is a bit tall and next to the wall in front of the door there is a variety of herbs, all of different types each in their own row, they must be for seasoning, or medicine, because they smell good, but-

‘So goooooood!’ I stop once I am out of the room and fully basking in the heat, the room was good, but the sun against every single one of my scales feels… Awesome! ‘If euphoria feels half as good I am feeling right now, then life is not fair! And I demand compensation! Dysphoria is the worst-!’

“AAAHHH!!!”

Another scream from my mother snaps me out of my sunlight induced trance

‘Right, this is not a safe place’ lifting my head above the grass and looking around reveals that the stone room is an add, of an even more gigantic mansion, covered with white plaster, that leaves wooden beams to be seen

The sun is right above me so I don't really can see what is covering the roof, the walls around are almost as gigantic as the mansion and at the top, there are metal spikes at an even distance from each other. I don't think they can really keep anyone out… that space is massively wide and…

I am a snake…

I am a baby snake…

‘Everything is of a standard side here… I am the small one…’

I shake my head

‘Ok. Lets get out of here. Now.’

Current location, a corner of a (possible) square. Search for the gate? Discard, I am white against green, way too easy to spot. Hide and move at night? Discard, big place, possible pets, cold blooded too, need to escape now with the heat. Search local space, the outer walls are white plastered too… smooth, no visible cracks in the local zone, ability to climb unknown… garden of herbs… none of them grow in vines, they are all close to the ground… drainage? A garden that close to the walls could weaken the base if the water accumulates…

I slither to the garden and move between the rows of plants, the dirt is pleasant to the touch and I am touching it a lot, it doesn't take me long to see a channel between the garden and wall made of clay, is dry but following it leads to a hole that goes down and to the wall

‘Bingo… please be dry too…’

Ok, problem… I can’t slither (or was that sidewinding?) in the tunnel, after a few moments of trashing against the hole I figure it out, I push my head all I can, then I push it against the ground, to drag my ass in…

‘Ugh… what kind of snake am I?! How can I have a problem with tunnels?!’

There is a light on the other side of the long tunnel and after a long, tiring and excruciating process of crawling in my stomach, I reach it, but instead of an afterlife I go up and see a cobble street, a carriage just moves out of sight to my left behind the corner of the wall

‘Noisy!’

On the other side of the wall I could only hear the screams of my mother, here, with my head just coming out of the hole, on the other hand I can hear and see a multitude of people… against the stone I would be too visible

Right now blocking direct line of sight is a tall wooden box… with wheels? That uses squares of wood as “brakes” to the right of the box is a metallic handle and judging by the four, boot covered feet in that side, a couple of humans talking in the local language… probably resting before pushing this thing somewhere?

‘Climbing in or coil around the axle, are out, I had motion sickness and I have no evidence I didn't keep that particular attribute…’

I lower my head to the hole, to my left and right the tunnel goes on, but I see no other lights… oddly enough, inside the tunnel I hear nothing happening in the street, unless I rest my head against the ground, only then I can perceive what happens above…

‘UGH!’

And resting my head against the floor above was a bad idea… so… loud!

‘And snakes don't have ears…! Yes, I can ‘listen’ but this… an organ, or bones, so sensitive to vibrations that act like ears…? Does that means I am weak to really loud sounds?’

Back to the hole. Like the street above it, it’s in a slight incline to my left… the left side stinks, there is also something that gives me a bad feeling in that side and the right side smells like the tunnel I am right now… a proper sewage system? Looking up the hole I focus on the clothes…

‘That looks like linen… leather for the boots… nothing looks like the soft cotton I am used-’ the clanking of metal against stone becomes apparent and eventually I see someone in armor going down the street… well, I see their metal boots behind the wheeled box… I go down again ‘Ok, got reincarnated as a snake in a low science place… hopefully there is magic, or I don't see a way of speaking to a crow… wait… smell?’

Focusing in front of me I see a long forked purple tongue appear and disappear, giving me another ‘taste’ of the smell coming from the left

‘Ew! Yeah, no. I am not taking on a sewer level as a snake, nope!’ I look over my shoulder and see that all of me is inside the tunnel, I can’t be seen from the other side (I am not long enough) so… ‘This is safe… safeish… Status!’

A shiver of joy runs from the tip of my face to my tail, as I finally see gender and sex having the same word…

‘It IS euphoria…! Finally…’ I want to curl up and cry of happiness… but I can’t… ‘Crocodiles may cry, but I don't think snakes can… what is EP?’ a small windows appear with two words on it ‘Oh, evolution points…? Ok then I will evolve into something that can cry as soon as I’m able… name… later… the one I wanted before was… is not fitting anymore…’

I want to sigh, but manage to hold it back… I don't want to hiss and alert everything around me

‘Spells… Deeds and… Deeds done… are empty, understandable I was just born, but: hey! Magic is a thing! Species… “must reach level cap”? Ok… can I get someone to say that word for me? I am not even gonna try, State… does nothing, must be for paralyzed and poisoned announcements… poison…? Traits!’

‘That… is less than useful…ok I can’t harm myself by accident, but can another snake envenom me? Does that means I produce poisons too? Or is a general message? What kind of venom do I make?’

Focusing on both traits, or touching the window with my tongue (it goes through it, like a hologram), doesn't reveal anything else, just that…

‘There was that System Helper before… but it probably would have been a screen saying “you should have picked the intimidate” and I get smacked to death… Shop? “Earn EP first”…? Fine… can I do something else, before doing something really stupid…?’ I can just, “will” the screen close and it does

I turn my head to the side and open my mouth to see the shadow of my fangs in the ground… they are to the front of my mouth, I can move them flat to close my mouth and separately from one another… considering how big (relative to my size) they are, I deduce that I am a venomous species… that means that my fangs are on the fragile side…

No matter how and what I moved in my head I can't “milk” my fangs (and even with immunity, I am not biting myself!) so I have no idea of how to measure my main weapon…

‘If I need to eat something, before I am able to make any venom…’

Looking up from the hole, the sky is a pristine blue without any cloud in sight…

‘Ok… stupid time’

I get out of the hole and slide below the wheeled box… if I don't focus in how I move, then I move better? Or this is me getting used to my body…? Ok, me feeling good after saying “my body” is new, but not unwelcome!

‘Why is everyone with a hat?’ now that I can see above their knees, that is the first thing I notice, everyone has a wide and colorful hat, even all the children playing down street have one and when they run, they do it while making sure it doesn't fall off… ‘Are they that worried about skin conditions…?’

That is probably not the why…

‘Anyways I need to cross the street, waiting is a bad idea and moving with this box is a worse one, I don't know what kind of speed it, or me, reaches, I also don't want to end getting stored with it somewhere’ I look at the people moving up and down the road ‘I must cross, then, somehow, go up one of those single story houses on the other side and look around for the closest edge of this… town? City? So! Don't step on me! Or I’ll bite you-!’

Dong! Dong! Dong!

‘OW!’ just as I coil and get ready to dash, the sound of a bell rings through my head, three, painful, times ‘UGH…! Need… to… evolve… some defense against sounds…’

Everyone in this place must have heard the bell, because from the two closest houses on the other side, two women come out and call to the group of kids, everyone complains, but separates in different directions as the kids go inside their homes

Of the two… guys? Resting against the box, one moves briefly to the side I am going to dash through, I heard them dig inside a bag and move to their companion again, before both of them start chewing after saying something… the street is mostly empty now

‘Lunch time…? Not gonna complain! Moving out!’

I move quickly forwards, the alleyway between the two houses in front of me is my route, a couple of kids went that way, but they are already out of sight… this is definitively a side road, is not as well maintained as the cobble street and by comparison is way thinner

The houses here have a wooden roof, that overhangs and is connected to channels that lead to tubes that point to the drainage… as I move down a couple of steps to the shade cast by the roofs in the side road, I can’t help, but wonder, why there is so much focus into moving the water away from the humans…?

‘Worried about insects, like mosquitoes? Or is related to the bad smell from before…? I don't think I can get up using these tubes…’

As I move along the lone street I try to look for a place were I could realistically go up to a roof, but the buildings are well done, the plaster is old, but without any cracks, a few of the houses are even painted! Mostly light blue, but I just passed by a red one that was kinda loud…

The first “damage” I see in the houses, is a small hole by the third row of buildings I pass, is small enough that I don't think a human would see it, unless they are actually looking for it… I stop in front of it

‘I could go inside and try to find a way up inside the wall, but… this smell… it reminds me of wet fur…’ I keep my distance and try to see inside it, but is completely dark… is at this moment I realize I don't have infrared vision, but I discard that thought for later ‘This hole, also smells like the sewage tunnel…’

I move closer to the opening and move my head in a way were I could go in, our pull away if needed, a medium spring to either side and place my head in the ground

‘Yep, this is a burrow’ I can hear the vibrations of humans talking inside the house, there is no way for me to understand them, but closer to me, I feel multiple hearts beating so fast that are almost like a buzz, there isn’t any close to the hole, so I go a bit closer

Hearing the rats (or mice) inside move away, but not completely, lets me confirm that they must be aware of me… I taste the air of their nest for a bit, before pulling away and resume my march in the street going slightly down hill

‘Going in their home turf, against an unknown number to both sides and above, with only an intimidating presence and no idea of how much venom I have? Yeah, no, I am not that stupid, besides… ugh, that smell… I want poison resistance before eating anything that smells like that!’

I move up a stone step to another cobble street… still empty, I cross it and slide along it to reach another side street going down hill

‘Another arguments against fighting, even if I kill them all in the scuffle, I get a cut? That is an infection, or they could get me a tick, or worse… the humans would heard us and they would hunt me down afterwards’ I want to sigh… ‘So, the second guessing everything I do, wasn't because I was in a male body before… why couldn't that part of me die and not reincarnate with me?’

Eventually I reach, what must be, the main street, a very wide open road, with trimmed bushes to either side and planters filled with different flowers and herbs next to them. To my sides the houses that are next to the road turned into a couple of stores, I have no idea what is in the one to my left, but to my right the smell of meat makes me realize I am ravenous

‘Ugh… this is bad…’ I move to the bushes that are closest to me and look to the other side of the street

I haven't seen a scrap of food, or a death animal, anywhere since I started to move… and because I am a snake, that makes me strictly carnivorous, unless an evolution changes that, but I am not counting on it. So, I must find a single small animal ‘No, I am not going back to the burrow’, bird ‘That is probably a bad idea, considering that she is going to become one’, fish ‘In what water?’, insect ‘Ew…’ or reptile ‘Maybe…’

This street is also temporally(?) Empty, except for a group of armored knights… that also have wide hats, walking away from me

‘Did I got born during the hat appreciation day?’ looking away from them, I see something good

Horizontally in a planter to my right, looking away and close to the ground is a lizard, judging by my shadow, its wider part is about the size of my head, so its the perfect food for a growing Xetowhatever

‘Ok, make, no, noise’ I aim my head in its direction and “smell” it, focusing in memorizing the scent of my prey for the future-?! ‘Ugh! Yeah, difficult to tell them apart from the flowers! Bleh, that is a lot of them… Ok, I got it this time… I never smelled anything like this as a human, so I have no good point of reference… the flowers are probably the reason I manage to sneak up to it… but that means that the lizard can eventually detect me’

Using my tail as an anchor, I coil it around the roots of the bush next to us and pull back aiming to my prey, the plan quickly forms in my mind, attack, bite, hold it, pull it back using my anchor, curl around it and constrict

‘No second guessing this! Aim! Ready! With! One! Strike!’ I launch forwards and bite

Smack!

‘Ow!’

I used too much strength into the launch… I did bite the lizard, but I also hit the planter with my neck and torso, not enough to hurt or to lose my grip on my food, but I don't decelerate as fast as I wanted and end becoming completely horizontal in the air

What pulls me back, is not my muscles, but my anchor and the bush pulling back, I have to let go of the bush once I am back, smacking the ground, to do the constrict part of the plan, all the way while ‘hearing’ the heart of my prey as it struggles in my mouth as I squeeze

Crack!

I let go of it, once I stop ‘hearing’ its heart and a screen appears in front of me, but I ignore it to look at it…

‘Yes, is a lizard… I didn't felt any venom being injected… and the stab wounds on its torso only smell like blood… I honestly felt worse by scaring my mom, up there, than by killing this, but…’

I focus on its dead lizard eyes and nod at it

‘Thanks you… I will do my best moving forwards, so this moment doesn't becomes meaningless’

As I orient and open my mouth to eat it, head first, I turn my attention to the screen in front of me

‘Oh, that way I don't have to worry about screens in my face, while in combat… nice’ my mouth can open a fair bit, so I have no problem with the size of the green lizard, but I have to use my fangs to push it in, until I realize that I have smaller fangs in my bottom jaw and use them to push it… it took me a while… ‘Well, this place is more exposed, but during the constriction I got under the bush, so, Status’

‘Oh fuck you! It was a good kill! Don't insult the memory of my first lunch!’ I glare into the screen as I finally swallow my food

‘Tell me something new…’ this trait also doesn't show anything else by focusing on it, closing the windows I move forwards next to a planter on the main street… this is not a safe place… so checking the shop… is… ‘So… sleepy…’

The sun against me, while full and starting digestion, my body relax, enjoying the heat, feeling the vibrations in the ground

Vibrations that, gets louder and louder

‘I… need… to… move…’

Suddenly a black horse with shiny red eyes, gallops loudly in front of me towards my right, its rider was lightly armored, but it was so fast that I couldn't pick many details

But is enough to make me stressed and that stops my digestion

‘MOVE! YOU ARE NOT SAFE! STAY HERE AND DIE?! NO!’ a small hiss escapes me ‘WE HAVE SOMETHING TO DO!’

To the right of this “main street” next to the meat smelling building, is a bigger building that is adorned with big bones… I don't want to say that is an adventurers guild, but it looks like one, so I am not going there. To the left is a… roundabout? Uh… interesting… but in those directions the amount of houses and shops to the sides seem to go on forever

‘Forwards then’ on the other side of the wide road are more shops, but behind one of them I see a “tower” that looks easy to climb ‘Lets see from there, what road is the fast way out of the city’

Quickly, or as quickly as I can go while carrying food inside me, I move to the bushes to the other side, looking warily to the sides, and reach them as I hear doors opening

Inside the bush I don't move, but placing my head in the ground I feel the vibrations made by hundreds of steps, is not long before I see the humans that make those vibrations, walking to and on the street next to me

‘Stealth time’ I look to the store next to me, like every other store in here it has the main door open, the air around it taste… like the homemade dye project, we did a few years ago ‘Either a dye maker or a… tailor, maybe…? Left or right?’ the building has other two stores touching it to both sides, beyond them is a side street, like the ones I have been using so far

The one to my left looks more open, but the one in the right is closer to the building that screams “we kill monsters for a living”

‘Left it is!’

Slowly, to no shake the foliage, I move, I pass the other store and its open door, but I don't stop to identify the smell from it, I just move pass it and turn into the street following the bush, then the vibrations of tiny steps reaches me, and they are moving towards me

‘Cute!’ Looking to my right I see an adorable blonde, no older than five, her enormous hat makes her look even smaller and she is smiling at me, extending her hands in my direction as if she were to give me a hug-!

HISS!

‘What are you doing?!’ my warning makes her scream and start crying immediately, it breaks my heart, I quickly move further along the side street to place distance between us ‘You don't move towards a snake like that! Any other “cousin” of mine would already bite you a few-!’

Barking

‘Why she had to have a pet-! Oh crap!’

This is not a wider side street, its a dead end!

Looking fast for a way out I see a crack in the wall next to the floor, I lunge towards it ignoring that is another tunnel and trash against the floor to get in, I manage to pull my tail inside just as a pair of jaws close in my access point

‘Close-!’ the dog begins barking against the crack, shaking my head with the loud noise, I hiss at them when they start trying to dig me out, they yelp and the vibrations tell me it jumped back-!

Barking

‘Aaahhh!!! Shut up!’ I move along the tunnel before the dog can make me deaf, on the other side is a box that leaves very little space for me to move, but it blocks the view, so I am not complaining about having to pull my ass ‘As long I stay mostly hidden moving between the box and the wall, I should be fine, right?’

Doing that, proves to be a good idea because a human got close and climbed above the box to see why the dog is going crazy, letting me move across this street, unseen, towards the building that has the “tower” attached

I do hear the dog trying to jump above the wall as I go away though…

‘Sorry about scaring your little human! But if she does that again, she is going to get hurt by my relatives! So lets call this a life lesson ok?!’

It howls as if answering me…

The building is a pure rock and wood affair, there is no plaster on the walls, just some kind of cement holding things together, as I slide next to it, I don't feel any extra heat on the wall, nor I smell anything odd, except for a bit of… ethanol? But that is probably coming from the bottles on the other side of the street… maybe… the whole street has that smell actually…

The “tower” is in the back of this building, and is… well… weird, it has a pyramidal shape for the base, before becoming almost vertical… and I do mean almost, all its surface is escalonated including the orb shaped room that crowns it, way above the surrounding buildings

‘Going up!’ every one of the ‘steps’ is about my wide in size… ‘At this height I have no idea of my measurements… but since I am a reptile, I have the feeling that even as a humanoid I will be flat… I will hold on to hope and see what the future holds! And hopefully, if she is not attracted to me, I’ll find someone that does…’ why did that last idea… hurt…?

As I finish the pyramid and get ready to go up the near vertical surface, I see a rope tied around the middle of the way up, that goes down to another nearby house

‘Odd…’

The climb is awkward, mostly because I ate before doing it and the weight of my food is making me feel unbalanced, otherwise I feel like I am getting the hang of being a snake very fast… but I am missing my hands, they were convenient, if ugly…

…

‘Do people in this world know about nail polish? If not, I could made money out of that… I could make money out of anything, really, I just need to see what they have and suggest better things… but that is secondary after having a body that they don't want to stab immediately, first is find and make sure my (future) crow friend is safe… then help her become human… humanoid? He said to help her become a person so…’

I reach the rope, and with it and the wall I have enough space to feel comfortable to look around, its also as far up, I can comfortable go, there is no way for me to climb the orb, I move to the direction were the rope goes down to a house…

‘Ok lets call this direction “south” for now, since the sun hasn't move enough for me to tell… and this is another world for all I know in this place the sun goes up in the west!’ at this height I still feel the smell of ethanol and other chemicals as I look to the sides and down to the houses ‘Back to directions, if this is “south” then the main street behind me, goes “west” to “east”’

I look in those directions and… this is a big city… the buildings go in both directions for a long, long while, the south by comparison, is a stone throw to reach a gray stone wall and not long after that, the green of a forest

‘Mordauntless! Thanks for giving me eyes that actually work! If in the future you need something (and can tell me without me dying) I’ll be happy to help!’ I look down and see the humans below… ‘Uh… from above the hats look like… eyes…’ I look up and scan the sky, but I see no birds ‘The hats are to keep the birds away…? Do the humans in this world hate birds…? Or anything that flies is extremely dangerous by default?’ I head a Ding… but nothing around me looks like made the sound ‘Status?’

‘Hey!’

Nothing else changed so I close it and…

‘Going down… yeah… I should have practiced that part first… I will use the rope to the house!’ said house has another rope connecting it to another… and that one to another… and so on… ‘Thieves guild? Smugglers? Assassins? The houses in direction to the forest look… poorer, but not miserable… cheap to buy silence at least… and since people don't look up often, thanks to the hats…’

I will make a habit of looking up

Walking the rope, like I do for tunnels, is just asking for the wind, that I can feel with my tongue, to push me down, so I do a loose “loop” with my tail around the rope and will drag it with the rest of my body, moving in a spiral around it, when I fall I hope I can tighten the “loop” fast enough

‘Stupid plan… lets do it’ I start moving, slowly ‘Good thing I am not afraid of heights… this kind of heights at least… considering how good are my eyes and my lack of heat vision I will be going up trees in order to hunt or flee-! Aaahhh!!!’

I sliped, nearly hissing and loosing my lunch in the process, the loop was a good idea, but now I have to fight against my stress to keep my lunch while hearing the beat of my heart

‘I think Snakeguy mentioned serpents regurgitating if threatened enough’ I curl up and crawl up my body to the rope ‘Come on, we are half way there…’ moving, slower, I eventually reach the wooden roof of the house ‘Easy… not, it was not… mental note, buy wings if able… or a parachute…’

Moving to the center of this roof I start hearing barking again

‘Come on!’ from my vantage point I see the… “dog” trotting unsteadily down the street with bottles being followed by at least six humans, only one in civilian garb, the rest with some kind of armor and weapon ‘Flee!’ I move to the other rope

The “Dog” looks like a canine, but it has a wild red mane from its head to the tail and its tall, it reaches above the hips of the humans behind it and only the civilian looks small, the rest are very muscular and tall by comparison. So, this is the biggest dog I have ever seen, or the whole population is tiny. It starts sniffing around the base of the tower, as I get ready to cross the next rope… the animal looks wobbly for some reason though…

I manage to cross three more ropes going “south” while the “pet” is mostly barking by the tower, I am debating between going “south” or to the “east” (this roof has two ropes in it), when I heard a male voice beneath the corner I am… the tone he’s using sounds… creepy, so I move my head out of the overhang and look down

‘Really…? At this hour?’ he is slobbering against the neck of a young woman, she is unresponsive and resting against the wall of the house looking away from where I am, while he pins her by groping her breasts in a painful looking way ‘Ok, fuck you in particular’ I go up and move my head to the drainage tube going down next to them…

HISS!!!

And release my loudest warning yet! That is magnified by the tube making him squeal like a pig, I hear him falling against the ground and then run away while screaming

‘Hehehe’ I feel oddly satisfied by it ‘…?’ but the woman made no sounds, and I heard only one pair of feet going away…

I look down the roof again and she is there, still unresponsive…

Hiss!

‘Nothing… is she drunk?’ I release another of my “Little Girl Specials” and she starts shaking, her hands slowly raising ‘What the…’ another hiss and her right hand suddenly, slaps her own face, I recoil and pull back, but keep staring at her

She whimpers holding her face and starts to cry, she looks around for a moment, not seeing me, before moving in direction to the main street, leaning against the wall of the house

‘What did just happen?’ I consider following her, but the dog and the adventurers are moving in the same road as her ‘Ugh! Please be safe!’ I start moving “east” and manage to cross two more ropes

Ding

‘…? Status-?!’

‘Murder time…’ I am furious now, closing the window I look up ‘I’ll find-’

HISS!!!

Squeak!!!

That hiss wasn't because I am angry, its because a bird is about to attack!

The warning makes it recoil in fear and it flaps its wings messing with its momentum and speed, giving me barely enough time to avoid its talons, they sink easily into the wood, but before I can attack, the raptor releases one of its claws from the roof, grabs my tail and takes flight-!

‘Aaahhh!’

Being pulled by the tail is… the last mistake this bastard will make

I curl up tensing my whole body as a single spring, I am looking at its tail as it flies

‘You are not a corvidae!’ Aim ‘Therefore you are prey! Die raptorial bitch!’ Attack ‘Hellish Technique! Bite To The Cloaca!’

Its pained cry is music to my hearing bones!

‘It hurts right?!’ I remove my left fang from its body and sink it, again, slightly above the first impact ‘Its going to become a lot worse for you!’ as I start doing the same with my right fang and I begin sinking it, my prey lets me go ‘Oh no, you don't! I am taking you d-!’

SQUEAK!!!

Pain

It suddenly releases a shriek that reverberates in my skull and after a sudden shock, gravity takes me down

‘…!’

SQUEAK!!!

I don't know how high we were, the impact leaves me groggy, but alive, the bird is near me trashing against the ground releasing more pain inducing screams, it has an arrow on its side?

One arrow getting shoot, into the ground between us, makes me ignore the pain in my mouth and move away, still in the tall grass that broke our fall

The bird tries to stand, the feathers of its head quickly turning red, as it turns to look at me, ignoring the wound in its side, it releases another of its, skull shaking cries, stopping me on my tracks, with a blinding migraine-!

Another arrow digs into the bird stopping its attack and, as it’s flapping its wings in pain, one arrow to the head kills it

I don't move, fear makes me remain still and two more arrows hit the carcass soon after

Not waiting for long and with my head in the ground, I feel two more arrow hit the place where I landed, two more hit the ground pass me, but closer

Trying to move as little as possible, I look towards my tail and see a small rock, quickly grabbing it, I throw it with my tail and sure enough, the archers fire in that direction

I move, not caring about anything else, just to putting distance between us, the two archers fire again and I barely heard the arrows hitting the ground behind me and I change directions, hopefully towards the forest

Only after a few minutes of movement, without feeling any arrow around me, I stop inside the tall grass, my body is overheating and in pain, and my lunch is about to say “hi” if I don't calm myself

-----

‘Ugh…’ the pain in my mouth is still there, but my heart and stomach are calmer right now, I still haven't relaxed enough to resume digestion, but according to Snakeguy that is going to take up to 48 hours… it varies from species to species… ‘I still don't know what he meant by efficient…’

Ok, I am thinking stupid things again, time to move, raising my head I see that I moved a fair bit from the walls of the city… the flight path of the bird must have gotten us out, before my attack… and the archers shot it down… I didn't get anything from that, except for a broken fang…

‘Is it broken though?’ from the inside of the city I couldn't see that this side, is a plain in a slope down towards the forest and it looks full of grassing fields ‘Cows don't attack snakes, right?’ There is a fence nearby that looks mostly straight and I move towards it

Before doing anything I look at the cows, they are eating the grass in the field and not many have their heads pointing in this direction, so I move up and in a flat spot of the fence I extend and rest my fangs, my left fang touches the wood before the right one, it broke in either the struggle or in the fall, but when my right fang touches the wood a sharp jolt of pain makes me recoil and hiss

‘Aaahhh!’ I move back and point “southwards” as the cows moo in fear and move away ‘Hopefully the shop has a “regrow fangs” that is cheap, or it grows back in its own…’ a series of loud stomps makes me look to the cows, one of them is looking at me and digging the dirt as if… ‘You are a cow!, not a bull!’

The brown furred bovine, emits a loud “Moo” as its back inflates with muscles, that also appear in its front legs, at the same time its horns become… deathly

‘WHY?!’ I move away fast

Super cow seems unstable after its make up, so I am not immediately “cow rushed” and safely “run” away along a dirt path that goes for a bit towards the forest with a couple more houses to the sides… no, no houses, barns. Unless they sleep with the cows, the farmers commute from the city in order to work everyday

…

‘Sorry, that sentence sounds awful…’ I see a lone tree further ahead atop a rock next to the road, its roots opened a hole, by pushing the stone with time, a quick smell check and by listening the ground tells me that is empty and, except for a small leather bag, it is ‘Someone’s stash?’ a quick poke with my tail after I hide inside, makes a metallic sound confirming it ‘Useless to me then. Well… the easy part is done, time to relax for a moment before-’

Ding

After hearing the sound a shiver runs along all my body, my sight becomes unfocused for a moment and snaps to perfect clarity… almost… painfully so

‘What was that just now…? Status?’

‘WHY?!’