Chapter 55: 55: A Place Within The Stories

Valera couldn’t help but let a smile creep onto her face. It was only natural, she thought, after everything that had happened in the short while since they had defeated the Flame Salamanders.

She couldn’t help but feel just a little smug - like a proud parent, almost.

And while that wasn’t quite the correct description for what she was, for the relation that she had to the cute little snake that had led them so effectively through what might have easily been the deaths of some - if not all - of her and her friends, she felt that it was close enough.

She had been the one to suggest taking the little guy along. Though it may have had nothing to do with the apparent ability to see the future that the snake had displayed, she wasn’t above pretending that she had known something like this might happen.

So yes, she felt just a little smug.

Or a lot, really.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the little guy peek his head cautiously over the lava, bearing the heat that it gave off far better than she would expect a cold-blooded creature to be able to. His glossy black scales glinted in the light that the lava gave off, and the air continued to visibly distort around it as gouts of flame continued to be released from his body.

His tiny tongue flicked from his mouth in a cute little hiss, almost causing her to squeal with delight. The little guy was just so adorable - and he became even more so once she realized that he had most likely saved her life. First the Flame Formican colony, then the Stone Bulb - which, admittedly, would have likely not been a problem unless they had been caught by surprise - and finally the two Infernal Cyclopes.

And, those would have most certainly been a problem. Without the warnings that they were given, the fight could have gone very differently. In fact, if he really could see the future - and she was certain that he could, after everything that had happened - it would have gone differently.

Erik would have been drowned in a tide of Flame Formicans.

They would have been crushed by falling stone.

They would have died.

And the only thing that stood between them and death had been a tiny snake - a monster, by most people’s definitions. Even by her definition, Valera had to admit. As cute as she thought he was, she didn’t forget what he was.

Still, she had hope for what he could become. Though the images had been rough, crude, and almost abstract in their representation, they had been accurate. The Flame Formicans, Stone Bulb, and Infernal Cyclopes had all existed - just as promised. Even more, it wasn’t just their existence that the little guy had predicted. It had shown them the steps to victory somehow - or, at least, how to avoid defeat.

He had shown them that Erik would die against the Flame Formicans, and led them silently past the danger. He had warned them of the Stone Bulb’s ambush, and they had crushed it with ease. He had notified them of the strategies that the Cyclopes would attempt, of the way that they would send stalactites toppling down from above in a maneuver that would have crushed their bones and pulped their flesh.

But it didn’t - because they already knew it would happen.

It was a little funny, really. Like a gruff, crotchety old man that pretended to be annoyed at the affront of your very existence, hissing and spitting until something happened that forced the facade to fade away. Or, in this case, forced a tiny and irritable little monster to show that he cared. Same thing, almost.

Okay, she had to admit it, she was very smug. And it showed.

“And you thought it was too risky to keep him around! Shows what you know, Doran.” The words were light, more teasing than anything else. Despite their opposing views on the matter, she knew that Doran only had their best interests at heart. He was just a little too worried, sometimes.

Still, even he would have to admit that she was right this time.

He did so with a rather noncommittal grunt, but she translated it for him.

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“Yes, Valera, you are wise beyond your years. Thank you for saving all of our lives with your foresight,” she said in a gruff voice, pitching it low in a poor mimicry of her friend’s voice.

“You’re welcome,” she replied to herself.

He raised an eyebrow at that. “First, I don’t sound like that. Second, you just got lucky. Third, it was the snake’s foresight. Technically.”

“Speaking of the snake’s foresight,” Erik interjected, eager as always to talk about monsters and their abilities, “I am curious as to what would happen if he did manage to eat another Core. I’m not saying that we should let that happen, but...I can’t help but wonder.”

Valera was curious, too. Like the rest of them, she had learned under the stern tutelage of Erik’s father - and while Erik had been the most dedicated of the group, she had done her fair share of studying. Granted, she had also done her fair share of not studying, but hadn’t everyone?

Regardless, there was a part of her that couldn’t help but try to imagine what might happen if - as Erik said - the little snake managed to eat another Core. Though there was a certain degree of mystery that surrounded Ascended minions, owing mostly to how dangerous observing them tended to be, a few things had been discovered over the many years that they had been studied.

The first, and most obvious, was that a monster’s first Core was the most important. It determined the path that an Ascended monster took, with many factors that affected it. Though scholars weren’t entirely certain on the whys of things, the results were much easier to observe. Because of that, a few theories were established.

Among the recorded Ascended monsters, the strongest tended to be those that first consumed a Core with an aspect that matched the Core that created them - possibly due to some sort of synergistic effect, or maybe just because they already possessed an affinity for whatever power the Core bestowed.

The second was that each additional Core allowed an Ascended monster to grow in strength - which had the obvious effect of making them increasingly likely to consume even more Cores, becoming more powerful each time.

According to what had been observed, that happened in a few ways. With each Core that was consumed, an Ascended monster gained another ability - and that was on top of whatever abilities it gained from simply consuming other monsters, as she had already seen their little snake manage. It certainly hadn’t been able to shoot flames or create illusions when they had first brought it along, after all.

Even more, it was believed the first Core ability changed somehow as well, typically increasing in strength slightly with each additional Core consumed.

That had been far more difficult to confirm, what with how hostile most monsters tended to be, along with no way to really know for sure what abilities had come first. Still, there were enough records of certain Ascended monsters - legends, really - to be sure.

Nemeah, Cetus, Caladria, Garuda, Scylla, Jinn, Tiamat...the list went on - name after name of legendary monsters strong enough to destroy entire cities on their own. Ones that had destroyed entire cities, that very act being what had earned them a name and a story in the first place.

A place within humanity’s nightmares. Of course, as nightmares tended to, they only grew over time - the primary ability that defined each of them becoming stronger with every new Core that they consumed. They gained new skills over time, of course, but it was the first that seemed to define them.

And now, Valera hoped that she was witnessing the birth of something new. Of a monster that would one day receive a name of its own. A place within humanity’s stories, but not its nightmares.

Not this time.

After all, this particular monster hadn’t just let them be, avoiding a fight after recognizing that they had the strength to overpower it at a moment’s notice - it had actively sought to keep them alive. It had seen the future, witnessed their deaths, and it had changed it.

It had saved them.

As the little snake hissed again, peering closer at the lava nearby, she let herself hope for a better future.

She smiled again, wondering if he could already see it.

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