A Snake's Path (A Snake's Life Book 2) Read online

  "Then we'd best not keep my future sn... son-in-law waiting, should we?" I turned away from the girls and began eyeing the people I didn’t recognize briefly, but I was still too rocked by the recent revelation to care. What else did I miss in eighteen months?

  Chapter 2

  WHEN THE GROUP WAS ready to move, Fenris, Solon, and Findral helped everyone climb onto my back—a not insignificant feat, considering my current size—and I began to move.

  Soon, various groups formed from my companions. Findral, Ayla, and Hali headed away from the others to do some light combat practice. The relative newcomers to the group headed off on their own to set up tents and a campsite, after asking Fenris to make sure I didn't mind. Solon and Talia went off to help wherever they could, and Lena and Fenris were sitting on top of my head and trying to have a conversation with me. However, my mind was currently preoccupied by something far more interesting.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Survive for 100 years: Magical Hydra

  Consume 5 different dragon breeds, at least one of which must be 1,000 years old: Legendary Dragon

  Consume a Mana Storm & 600 Naga: Draconic Naga

  Consume a spark of divinity: ???

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  There's always been a "hidden" evolution to accompany the others. An evolution of much greater difficulty than the rest, so... Where was it?

  As if summoned by my words, a new pop-up appeared.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Kill the old Serpent King: Serpent King

  Consume a planet: ??????

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  I sighed aloud and dismissed the pop-up.

  "Torga! Have you been listening to me?" Lena yelled into my ear.

  "Not really, no,” I admitted without thinking.

  "Why do I even bother with you sometimes?" she sighed.

  "Because you're a busybody who has a soft spot for strays."

  She went silent at my words and left without replying. I split my focus between where I was going and thinking about the evolutions. My plan was to keep my attention divided so I wouldn’t accidentally think about the fact that I now had a soon-to-be son-in-law—I shook my head and hissed away the thought.

  What do I get if I reject these evolutions?

  *Ding*

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  If you pass up the Serpent King evolution, you will get: *This is a special evolution that cannot be passed up should you unlock it. Once you embark on this path, you will either succeed and become the Serpent King or perish in the attempt.*

  If you pass up the '?????' evolution, you will get: *Note: There is not enough information available at this time.*

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  That's... ominous. And what in the nine hells is up with that one evolution? There’s no way I can eat a planet. A flashback of some of my past meals raced through my mind: A giant deer, an army of Kobolds, a literal mountain, the Titan, the Leviathan, the Kraken... And, more recently, the dragon. Okay—Maybe I could eat a planet if I was given enough time. I stopped moving and dropped my head to the ground, then banged my forehead against it several times. Even though I did it gently, my colossal weight caused minor earthquakes to rattle the area with every hit, knocking over a few trees and startling the remaining animals away.

  I thought I heard Fenris yell something like: "It's alright everyone. It's just the Fatass being weird. Return to your business." But I wasn’t sure.

  "What's the matter Torga?" Lena asked once I’d stopped.

  "Just my luck being shitty as usual, is all," I replied, then began moving again.

  "Want to talk about it?"

  "I'd rather talk about the little prick that decided to ask for Ayla's hand." That made both Lena and Fenris decidedly uncomfortable.

  "Well, what do you want to know?" Lena asked after a moment of thought.

  "Who is he?"

  "He's a prince, actually."

  "That doesn't answer my question. I said 'who' is he, not 'what' is he."

  "As far as I know, he's a son of the Asgardian royal family."

  Asgardian? Why does that name sound familiar? Lena must’ve mistaken my silence for anger, because she quickly assured me that he was Ayla’s age and wasn’t some old man. I shook my head at her words. “Good to hear. I’m curious about the name, though. I know I’ve heard it somewhere before, but I can’t seem to place it.”

  “Understandable. The Asgardians are certainly... memorable,” she allowed. “Thankfully, Thor doesn’t seem to be like the rest of his family.”

  "Thor, so that is his name. Is he strong?" If the little shit is going to marry my daughter, adopted or not, he damned well better be able to protect her.

  "They say he's an accomplished warrior. Supposedly killed a number of giants, though I can’t attest to the accuracy of the story. "

  I stopped moving at her words and twisted my head around until I could see her. "By 'Giant,' do you mean the Jötnar?”

  She nodded her head. “And though it may not seem like it to you, for a normal person that’s an incredible accomplishment.”

  "Are you saying I'm not normal, Lena?" I quietly laughed at her blank expression.

  "Do you want an honest answer to that question?" she finally asked.

  I thought over her words for a few moments, then turned around and started moving again.

  "Probably not," I admitted.

  "I didn't think so."

  Chapter 3

  EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, we arrived at the branch and settled in for breakfast. Lena wanted to use the free time to formally introduce me to the newcomers, but I wasn’t interested in meeting them since they would be gone soon. Besides, I had other stuff on my mind.

  "Will you calm down already?" Lena asked for the third time in twenty minutes.

  "I am calm," I replied while staring into the portal.

  "Torga, I know you're eager to meet the kid, but if you don't calm down, you're likely to do something you'll regret."

  “I appreciate your concern, Lena. But I. Am. Calm.”

  Lena growled in frustration and used her magic to raise the land around her until she was staring me in the eye.

  "You're acting like a child."

  "Am not," I muttered without looking at her.

  Lena hopped down from her perch, and had just begun to storm off when I asked, "Did Uriel manage to acquire a jewel for me? I meant to ask him earlier, but I haven’t had the chance yet."

  "Oh, so now you want to listen to me?" she sneered.

  "Look, I apologize for being difficult. Truly, I do.” I sighed. "It's just, I'm, well I'm—"

  "You're, what?"

  "I'm hungry,” I hissed. “It's been ten years since I had a good meal and all of you smell so damn delicious, it’s driving me crazy," I growled. I slammed my head into the ground to calm myself down.

  "Oh—Oh!” She exclaimed as my words registered in her mind. “Why didn't you say anything?" she hollered.

  "What exactly am I going to say? 'Hey, guys? Mind if I eat a few of you?' Oh yeah, I'm sure that would've gone over soo well," I snarked.

  "Well, no. But you could've stopped to eat something, at the very least!"

  I was quiet for several seconds. My eyes landed on each member of my party in turn, then moved on to the newcomers. As I looked from person to person, my hunger grew until—"Alright, new plan. Everyone out. Get your asses over to the other planet. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, still here in thirty seconds is getting eaten.”

  "Torga, you can't just—” Lena began, but I quickly cut her off.

  "Twenty-five."

  "Hey Fatass, don't you threaten my—" Fenris yelled, but he too, was interrupted.

  "Twenty."

  The group stood around in shock for another ten seconds before they saw the truth of my words, and they realized I wasn't kidding around. Once this realization hit them, they left behind their equipment, and all but Findral practically dove into the portal.

  "Ma
ster, do you remember which planet we're going to?" she asked while slowly backing towards the portal.

  "Asgard. Six."

  "Okay, just checking!!" After confirming, she dove into the portal and I was left alone.

  "Finally, I can finally let go—" It started out small, a leaf here, a blade of grass there. But eventually, the full weight of my hunger made itself known. The monster buried just beneath my scales, always so close, yet kept at bay by my will, was finally set free.

  Like a man dying of thirst, the monster began to rapidly pull the surrounding magic towards me and gulped it down again and again.

  Not five minutes into this cycle of consumption, the surrounding forest was completely drained of magic. The plants had lost their previous bright green color and were now a sinister black. Not even the animals were saved from this fate as they too were quickly drained of their life-giving magic and were left as mere husks of their former selves. Their bodies exsanguinated from the loss of magic, not even the strongest among them lived for more than a few seconds under the assault of the monster's insatiable appetite.

  Soon the destruction spread beyond its immediate surroundings and stretched further into the forest, where more and more plants and animals were drained of their magic until they too died.

  The monster continued to feed for thirty minutes and in that time, over ten miles of forest was drained completely dry. The plants killed; the animals turned into husks. Death permeated the area long before the monster receded, and I returned to my senses... For the first time, I was forced to face what I was truly capable of—and it terrified me.

  Trees were felled under their own weight, their leaves missing or blackened. The grass and other such plants were also reduced to shriveled husks. As I turned my head towards the portal, something caught my eye: It was all that was left of a deer after its magic was sucked out. Its fur had fallen off leaving it bare, its eyes were missing, and its bones were showing through its skin.

  *Ding* Ding*Ding*Ding*Ding—*

  Pop-up after pop-up appeared before my eyes, each detailing a creature I’d consumed in my madness. I couldn’t bear to look at them, at the evidence of my loss of control, so I dismissed them almost as soon as they appeared.

  My jaw tightened as I began to scan the area for a sign—any sign of life. I found none. After scanning the area for a few minutes and seeing exactly what I'd done, I shook my head and let out a defeated sigh. Thank god. If I hadn't forced them all to leave when I did, that would've been them lying on the ground instead of a deer. I gazed at my surroundings for a few minutes more, then my eyes narrowed. Let's see if I remember how to do this.

  I closed my eyes and thought back to all the times Lena had tried to teach me to use my Magic Manipulation skill. I could almost hear her say...

  "FOCUS, TORGA. BRING forth that colossal amount of energy inside you and push it into your surroundings. Bend it to your will. You are the master of your energy, not the other way around." Lena said.

  "What about the magic that's around me; the magic I don't create?"

  "In that case, you need only to push your will outside yourself. Then the magic in the air will be yours to command as well."

  "Outside myself?”

  Lena shrugged, "It didn't make sense to me at first either, but you'll understand it eventually... Probably."

  I OPENED MY EYES AND did exactly as Lena said. Reached deep within myself and pulled my magic to the surface, or at least I tried to. What actually happened was I accidentally tapped into a slightly different skill. The ground beneath me began to violently shake as I used the elemental manipulation skill to reach deep into the planet and pull the earth towards me. The result was me being bodily thrown into the air by a massive pillar of stone and sent flying.

  I crashed into the ground, slowly rolled over, and lifted my head into the air. I glared at the pillar. I opened my mouth and activated my energy breath skill and released a blast of energy that easily disintegrated the pillar.

  "Stupid magic." I grumbled, then tried again. This time, however, I was prepared and directed the earth to flip over the deadlands; fresh soil was exposed and the deadlands were buried deep beneath the ground, where they would serve as nutrients for new plants to grow.

  I grunted in satisfaction and nodded my head. That should do it. Now to get out of here. I've wasted enough time on this planet as it is. I lowered my head to the portal and allowed it to suck me in.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Welcome to the Bi-frost

  Please select your next destination from the available branches.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  I ignored the choices and blurted out my destination.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  In order to reach Asgard from this location, you will have to make 4 transitions. Do you accept?

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  “Yes.”

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Understood.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  The kaleidoscopic lights flashed brightly for a moment, then the first transition began. A flash of red, a flash of blue, a gaping maw of darkness I didn’t want to think about, and then I was ejected onto a world as different from Uathea as lava is to an ice field: The ground was covered in blades of grass so green, it looked like they’d been individually painted. The golden leaves of the trees swayed in a gentle breeze.

  However, what truly distracted me was the sky: It was pitch black, save for a bright rainbow that split it in half and radiated light. The rainbow somehow projected enough light that I could see as if it were daytime on any other planet. After I finished gaping at my surroundings, the first thing I noticed was that very few people were waiting for me. The priests from Phoria were noticeably absent from the group.

  Findral was the first to make her way over to me, so I asked her what happened.

  “The head priest and Fenris had some kind of falling out; you’d have to ask him for the specifics. But it ended with Fenris giving them half their money back and kicking them out of the group.”

  “I see... Thanks, Fin. I’ll ask him about it later.”

  “Of course, master,” she cheerfully replied.

  “By the way, where’s Uriel?”

  “I think he’s over with the merchants. Would you like me to go get him?”

  I twisted my head and glanced back at my body, then looked down at her. “That’d be helpful, yes.”

  She nodded her head, then walked away with an obvious sway to her hips. The sound of someone clearing their throat caused me to look away from her. Lena was standing next to me.

  “See something you like, Torga?” she asked in a sickly-sweet tone.

  “Not especially. I was just reminded that she was a three-foot tall goblin a few years ago, and now she looks like—”

  “A succubus?”

  “A dark elf,” I replied with more intensity than I meant.

  Lena quirked a brow at me but didn’t disagree. “She’s a good girl, Torga. And she reveres you. It would be understandable if you were to—”

  “Finish that sentence, Lena. I dare you,” I hissed.

  Her mouth closed with an audible snap.

  “I may have only adopted Ayla, but I think of Fin as my daughter too. I dare you to say otherwise.”

  Lena went stiff for a moment, then she relaxed and sighed. She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a half-hearted smile. “Sorry, Torga. I sometimes forget where your heart lies. My bad.”

  I grunted and decided to let it go. I knew Lena didn’t mean anything by it. She was as protective of the girls as I was. Sometimes even more so.

  “By the way, what happened to the priests?” I asked. If anyone would know what happened, it would be her. Fenris always told her everything.

  “The head priest Samuel was—uh—upset about your involvement in our travels. I won’t repeat what he said so don’t ask, but he had some rather distasteful opinions about you and Findral.”

  “Shame,” I sighed.

>   “I know. I never thought a priest would say such things—”

  “Oh, no. I meant it was a shame Fenris kicked him out before I could eat his soul and devour his body.”

  Lena went silent for a long moment. “Torga, sometimes, you scare the hell out of me.”

  “I do believe Torga scares the hell out of everyone with half a brain, Lena.”

  I snorted and turned my attention to the newcomer. He was an older male dark elf. He wore what passed for nobleman’s finery to the dark elves, which consisted of a regal set of maroon robes. His hung loosely off his wiry frame. Black silk trousers peeked out from beneath the hem of his robe with every step he took. His shoulder length silver hair was intricately braided through with bands of gold. And, like most druids that spent their lives in the forests of Uathea, his feet were bare.

  “Hello, Uriel.”

  Uriel took a long drag from his pipe, then nodded his head. “Hello, Torga. I was wondering when we’d have a chance to talk.”

  “On that note, I’ll leave you two to it. I have some merchants to wrangle...” She trailed off while looking at the crowd of people in the distance. I could tell from her body language that she didn’t want to deal with them.

  “Tell anyone that gives you trouble that I’ll eat them if they don’t behave.”

  “There’s an idea,” she snorted. She walked away after offering her thanks, leaving the two of us alone.

  Uriel looked up at me with a blank expression on his face. He took another long drag from his odd smelling pipe. When he exhaled, smoke came out of his nose in a wave of white and the odd smell grew stronger. “You’ve gotten bigger.”

  “Not by much—”

  “I’ve seen mountains smaller than you. Like, seriously, what the hell is up with your growth?”

  “Good question—though, that is why I wanted the jewel.”

  “Ah, right.” He moved his robe to the side and pulled a small pouch out for my inspection. He opened it and poured three stones into his palm. “While I’m positive the enchantment will work as its meant to, I’m less sure of how long it will last. That’s why I’m going to fashion these three into one and use that. Hopefully, that will keep the enchantment from breaking down.”