Chapter 100: 100: The Cave

Was it callous of him to dump the furious feline monster on an innocent pair? 

Maybe, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

To him no monster was innocent, only the weak died, while the strong survived.

He moved away from there but soon heard a startled yelp from the feline, followed by the heavy thud of something flying across the ground, accompanied by more anguished yelps. 

It seemed to be suffering?

What the heck was happening over there?

He looked back in the direction of those creatures and hesitated for a while on whether to just leave, or find out what was happening.

The snake did smell oddly familiar.

However in the end, he paid them no mind and continued to track the scent trail left by his brethren. The thought of wasting more time simply to spectate a battle, when his sister might be in real danger was inexcusable.

Soon he arrived at the place they faced off against the large monster but there was no sign of the snakes. Only traces of blood and footprints from unusual tracks in the ground - they were clearly followed. 

He grew anxious and chased after the trail as fast as he could. The tracks were small but numerous and he wondered what sort of creature had left them.

Before long it came to an end and there was still nothing - no trace of the mysterious creature nor the corpse of a nestling. Like they had all vanished into thin air. 

The misty grounds of the forest were somewhat empty, but the nocturnal sounds of small creatures and insects could still be heard. Anxious and confused, he looked around for any signs but paused and slowly raised his head up to look into the never ending trees.

Dangling down from one of the thick vines, staring unblinking, was a green and purple hairy spider. The male guard trembled at the sight but he glared at it fearlessly. The spider's eight yellow eyes flickered back, clearly unfazed. 

Behind it, numerous yellow eyes lit up the trees as more of its kin revealed themselves. He counted three, then six, then ten - just how many were there? 

His anxiety began to manifest his worst fears. What if these monsters captured the snakes and...

With the injured snake as a burden, getting away was near impossible. This was one of the rare times he got angry at his sister's stubbornness.

One of the spiders scuttled forward with frightening speed, launching itself off the vine to land before him with a soft thud. A sticky web shot past his body, spreading out into a lattice behind him just as another shot sped towards his head. He ducked and launched himself at the spider, coiling around it without mercy. 

The spider struggled against his grip - numerous legs pelting him like bullets as its large mandibles snapped erratically. And with a weak crack it stopped its resistance as its limbs lay still. 

The male guard, emerging unharmed, slipped through the webbing as the second spider lowered itself from the tree. It shot out a series of webs to deter his approach, but the sturdy snake evaded them all, and sunk his fangs into it before turning around to flee. 

A third spider descended, its swift legs clattered across the ground trying to skewer him with its sharp edges. But its attacks were simple and he was able to get closer and injected it with poison. 

As the spider fell, the remaining watching in the trees became wary. 

On the contrary, the male guard was on high alert. If they rushed him all at once, it would be difficult to fight through them all. But as he waited, none came down and he realised they lacked combat experience. That gained him a few seconds to hide himself. 

By the time the spiders realized their mistake, he was already a distance away, concealing himself under the sands of the undergrowth. They came down in droves but he had already disappeared from view. 

Surrounded by dense jungle he was unsure where to begin, he had lost the spiders but also the scent trail of his brethren. Rather than continue cluelessly, he scanned with the full range of all his senses to find traces of them again. 

With injured ones, it would be difficult to move - if they had succeeded in escaping the spiders, they couldn't have gone far. 

In his quiet focus, the sensations of the misty forest speeded through his tough scales in waves of vibration. Until suddenly everything went quiet.

The once bustling forest became unnaturally still as hidden creatures from every direction collectively held their breaths. Something was wrong.

His danger perception rose to its peak as the feeling of intense dread crept through his skin. It was a clear warning sign that a very powerful creature was passing through and he too fell into complete silence as he observed through the leaves. 

Within the blanket of silence over the area, it wasn't long before he picked up the vibrations of something approaching him from behind. Something cool touched his scales and he lashed out on instinct, but stopped short when he saw a familiar white snake. 

It was the female guard, who urged him to follow her as she slipped further into the shrubs, disappearing to a cavity in the ground. He followed, eager to get away from the sense of danger, and as soon as he vacated the spot, he felt vibrations of what sounded like a stampede. 

The shrubs where he once hid, were split apart by a flurry of fast moving bristly legs where groups of spiders both large and small, tore through the vegetation in swelling numbers. 

The larger spiders each carried thick bundles of thick webbing above their heads with hordes of smaller spiders crawled between the spaces.

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Hidden in the ground, the male guard was relieved to see all the snakes present and huddled together in their makeshift shelter - including the injured one. 

He was more relieved to see his sister was fine - although she looked paler than her already white form. He wanted to know what happened earlier, but she gestured to him to be still. 

He didn't risk peering out of the shrubs, and the nestlings huddled together in silence until the vibrations from the stampede were over. 

With the danger past, the noiseless forest soon regained its sound and the tired and worn out group of snakes emerged from hiding to make the sobering trip back home. The injured snake, who had lost a lot of blood, was helped along by the sprinkled snake while the stronger snakes both guarded their backs while on the look out for predators.

Their arrival at the cave was awash with cheers from the rest of their siblings. Like heroes returning from a journey, they were welcomed with greetings and encouraging words, while those that could not yet speak contented themselves to perform that ridiculous dance. However, the returning snakes remained quiet. 

The male guard didn't think the injured snake would survive the night and he wanted to scold his sister for her recklessness, but he stopped when he saw the terrible look on her face. It seemed she was already feeling down and decided to let her be. He only hoped she would no longer underestimate how real the danger was outside this cave.

But that did not deter the snakes around from clinging to them. Even though both guards acted cold and strict, they had each succeeded in attracting a following of snakes who regarded them as leaders. 

Two snakes began to help the injured snake, but they could only do so much - surviving the night was entirely up to the wounded snake's determination. 

[He looks very pale] One of the snake's asked worriedly. [Why won't he wake up?]

[He's hurt.] The female guard answered shortly.

[What will happen to him?] Another snake asked pitifully.

The female guard was trying to figure out how to explain death when a slender snake with spade-like markings came forward from the crowd. 

[He'll die.] The snake answered and she sauntered over confidently with a flash of disdain in her eyes. [We shouldn't waste time on such a failure and try to get stronger instead. I don't understand why you bothered to bring him back when he's going to die anyway.]

[You don't know that. Stop spouting nonsense.] 

The female guard glared at her and turned to her brother for support, but her mood darkened when the male guard looked away, showing he agreed with the spaded snake. 

[But I'm not wrong. You're avoiding the main issue instead of saying it outright.] The spaded snake's words were reasonable, but her forked tongue held layers of mockery. 

One of the little snakes gasped in horror, looking tearful. [Won't he be fine if he wakes up.]

[The weak die first, that's how it is.] The spaded snake answered and moved in close to the injured snake laying on the floor. [The only thing we can do for him is to put him out of his misery, instead of letting him suffer.] 

Then she swept forward to grip the wounded snake's head between her fangs in an attempt to crush his skull. 

[Get away from him. That is not your decision to make.] The female guard's voice was filled with unspoken danger. But the spaded snake did not look at her, and turned to male guard instead, as if waiting for his signal. 

The Female guard flared up in anger on seeing this. She moved quickly to intercept the snake in hopes of saving the wounded snake's life. But before she could attack, the male guard spoke up.

[Release him.]

The simple command was all it took 

The spaded snake released the wounded snake with a disappointed sigh. [If he starts to stink, you'll be the one to throw it out.] She added, before sauntering away, leaving the female guard feeling very uncomfortable. 

[You said you would keep her under control.] The female guard turned to glare at her brother. [If she keeps acting like this, our leader will kick her out when she returns.]

He spoke after a brief silence. [We can't afford to think like that anymore. We'll need snakes like her more in the future.]

[What are you trying to say?] The female guard bared her fangs with rage.

[Isn't it time you understood. The master isn't returning - she probably died a long time ago. We're alone from here on out. We need to look out for ourselves.]

[How could you say that?]

[Wake up and stop daydreaming. You saw how crazy it was out there. Do you think she's still alive after all this time?]

The male guard turned away from her to make an announcement. [No one is to leave the cave from now on without my orders. Not to hunt, not even to train. Am I understood?]

His command was met with a chorus of agreement, much like he had become their new leader and the female guard was left speechless.

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