Serpent World Story 1: Shadow's Hood

Serpent World: Story 1
Shadow’s Hood
Written by Gordon12767 (yes, I changed it.)
Author's Note
I will be
updating this every time I make a lot of progress. The author’s note, for
example, is new, as you may have realized by reading this. All of my writings
may contain bits of gore here and there. And I am well aware that snakes can’t
technically “hear,” per se, but that would ruin the story. Therefore, please
don’t beat me up in the comments about this. Also, sticking with the hissing
effect by adding extra “S”’s is rather annoying, as they have been removed.
Oh, before you start reading, this is a picture of Shadow. It was done in pencil and, well, colored pencil. It's actually one of my best pieces aside from the WoF character headshots I did once.
== Prologue Queen Asha’s den, Cobra City ==
=== 4 years ago ===
Silence. There wasn’t a single sound coming from Asha’s clutch of eggs. The seven pearl-white balls weren’t moving, but on the inside was another story completely. Inside of those fragile, oval-shaped shells, you could see long shapes moving around, bumping the inside of their eggs.
The two moons shone outside, in a way seen only once in 5 centuries. The larger of them was almost invisible, if not for the smaller of the two in front of it. For reasons that would baffle serpentine Astrologists for many decades to come, the smaller shone as a reptilian eye, a bright, point-tipped oval in the center of a shining globe. An event that could tip the balance of power.
Asha slithered in a figure-8 of worry. Every snake on the continent had heard of the legend of what had happened when the last snake had hatched during this phenomenon. He’d gone mad with power, to the point of the entirety of the continent’s population, from mambas to rattlesnakes, dropped borders, allowing everyone to go anywhere to spread updates on the crisis. Asha’s panic was well justified.
The curtain behind her slid open, and a figure slid in, quieter than the still night. A chakram was held in a coil in the figure’s tail, poised and ready to be thrown. In the dark, a darker still pattern was all that could be seen.
Asha heard a strange noise, sshhhh sound that came from behind her.
“Who’s there? Show yourself or I’ll come and find you! And I promise, you don’t want me to come after you!” She warned, coiling into a defensive position in front of her clutch, just as a small crack came from the smallest of the eggs. Another small crack, followed by a little hs.
The figure, realizing he was too late to stop the hatching, did the second-best thing he could think of: he threw the chakram at Asha’s neck. Moving in the blink of an eye, Asha moved her head to the left of the round-edged projectile. She almost got away without a scratch. Almost. It caught her on the edge of her hood, slicing cleanly through the point of impact. A scar would soon replace the wound there, and would stay for the rest of her life.
Wincing and seething with rage, Asha took a moment to adjust to the pain before refocusing herself on the danger before her. But by the time she had turned back to her adversary, the figure had vanished into the night, never to be seen again. Hissing in frustration that anybody would dare attack her, attack her children and got away with it-
Asha decided that, considering the hatchling had been born with death standing over him, ready to claim another soul, to call him Shadow. Cradling the young cobra, Asha let her emotions through.
“I can’t keep you, Shadow. I wish with all my heart, and by the Eye under which you were born, but I cannot. It’s for your safety.”
Torn, Asha allowed Shadow onto her back and carried him to a safe place. To the very center of Cobra City, the epitome of average. To Shadow’s foster parents, and the only parents he would ever know for years to come.
== Chapter I ==
==== Cobra City, Present Day ====
========
Shadow was an unusually colored king cobra, as were all hatched by the royal family. He just didn’t know it. Everything about his body disagreed with his species, starting with his size. In fact, he only knew one snake his age that was smaller. His scales were dark grey, almost black. Along his body he had a leopard-spot pattern, black as a trench at midnight of the double new moon.
Shadow’s eyes were a strange shade of grey, and they would change the shades ever so slightly depending on his mood. If he was happy, his eyes would turn a dull silver. If he was sad, they would turn to the color of a rainstorm far from shore. If he was mad, they would darken, and stop reflecting light. Rather, it appeared that they would absorb it.
Shadow was raised in the center of Cobra City, and in the middle of the middle class. Nobody thought anything special of him. Nobody but his foster parents. Shadow didn’t know who his real mother or father was, or if they cared about him. Maybe, maybe not, he thought to himself each day.
His foster parents had an unusual routine. Each morning, they would cover a certain patch of scales on his forehead with a plain, dark grey salve, and Shadow had never bothered asking why. They had explained to him thoroughly to never remove the paint, especially in largely public areas. So, he never removed the patch. Specifically, he had been told: “If you EVER remove that salve, you will be hunted down by every colony, from the mud-drinkers to the Royal family; from rattlesnakes to boas.  And WE will be the ones to stab you in the heart. Your body will then be sliced, diced, and burned and your ashes will be scattered far and wide. NOBODY will ever hear about you ever again. Oh, and whatever parts of you don’t burn will be ground to dust or mushed to jelly.” Shadow didn’t object to that threat. Nobody did.
He was also never given a mirror. Or taken anywhere that had glass, aside from his den, which had a chandelier; it didn’t have any surface that he could see himself in by looking at, though. Or learned anything about astrology, until one afternoon after school at Bright Hoods academy.
It was a normal, mid-sunny afternoon. A few clouds sat in the sky, slowly changing shape. In fact, one of Shadow’s favorite after-school activities was to watch the clouds from the top of the building. A gentle breeze blew by, catching in his hood. Shadow closed his eyes, breathing deeply, when a voice broke his calm from behind him.
“Well, well, well! If it isn’t Mr. ‘I’m not allowed in the water’! What brings you here?” A mocking tone called out. Shadow knew that voice, and loathed the snake it came with form, from the smug snout to the tail that laughed at him without a single word.
Shadow inhaled, exhaled, and pretended there was nobody there.
“Hey, vole-face! I’m talkin’ to you! Whaddaya think you’re doing, ignoring your superiors?”
“Can’t a snake get five minutes of peace?” Shadow muttered, turning his head to look at the king cobra before him. He fired a frozen, calm, black-eyed gaze of pure hatred straight into the other snake’s eyes. Not only were king cobras the largest species, they happened to be the snootiest, most stuck-up kind of cobra, maybe even of all snakes in the world. At least he’s alone. I can’t deal with his 5-snake crew right now.
“Go pick on a rat-brained, mud-drinking idiot of a worm like yourself, Sunhood.” Shadow hissed, pouring as much venom into the king cobra’s name as he could. He followed this up by shooting venom from his fangs right in front of his classmate and nemesis. With a small sizzle, the venom started eating its way through the stone. Neither of the two had noticed.
“Tough words coming from a midget like you, Shadow,” Sunhood mocked.  Why don’t you slither on home to your li’l ol’ den in the mediocre parts of the city ’fore I throw you there, eh?”
Shadow knew that no snake on the planet could throw that far, and it was barely possible for a snake with his powers (although he didn’t know about them yet). In fact, he had never even seen the pattern resembling a dark eye on his forehead, let alone heard of such a thing.
Shadow, knowing that trying to fight Sunhood would end badly, simply turned with a glare and slithered away as fast as his small body would allow. He quickly then coiled himself inwards and used his body like a spring to escape into a low-hanging tree. Faking to hide behind a thicker part of the trunk, he then leaped off of the tree and onto a dark stone building. His evasive maneuvers, coupled with his scale coloring, allowed him to effectively vanish from Sunhood.
“That worm better watch out tomorrow... He’s gonna regret not taking a beating when I gave him the chance...”
Shadow heard all of this, and decided that he was going to get to school early, but wait until enough positions on the floor were taken so that there was no way that Sunhood could get close to him all day.
“Yea, right, like he could take me anyways...”
== Chapter II ==
“I’m home!” Shadow called.
No answer came from inside, so Shadow slid into the den through the curtain.
The den Shadow’s foster parents lived in was certainly nothing special; it was so ordinary that Shadow had gone straight past it on multiple occasions (not his best moments). The only thing special about the exterior was the silk purple curtains.
Inside the den was a nice chandelier, with a single torch that threw flickering firelight through clear glass and all throughout the den (aside from each smaller sleeping branch, because... you should know). He calmly slithered his way down to his room, where he put his book bag down, and with a soft sound of rustling started to read his textbook on patterns of the night sky.
                                                       Chapter 4: Eyes of the Moon
 
There are 4 major events that take place at night, which are as follows (details to follow):
·         Darkest Night: double new moon
·         Shade’s Eye: when the larger of the 2 moons is completely dark, and the smaller in front takes on an unusual oval shape resembling a white pupil in the middle of a black eye. This pattern will be found on a snake’s forehead, regardless of their species
·         Brightest night: Double full moon
·         Sol’s Eye: when the larger of the 2 moons is completely full, and the smaller in front takes on an unusual oval shape resembling a black pupil in the middle of a white eye. This pattern will be found on a snake’s forehead, regardless of their species.
These patterns are extremely rare, Shade’s Eye & Sol’s Eye occurring every 5 centuries, with a precise 250-year gap in between.
These patterns can cause unnatural abilities, such as...
Shadow was so intrigued by the fact that there were such events that happened that, without even realizing, read the whole chapter, and he didn’t stop until he had finished the entire book. There were plenty of shocking discoveries in the next few chapters, which went into further detail of each special occurrence. Shadow was only interested in chapter 7, though.
Chapter 7: Shade’s Eye
Shade’s Eye is the most dangerous occurrence of all. Any who are hatched under the moonlight of Shade’s Eye will lose their original coloring, only to be replaced by a dark grey and black pattern. Somewhere on their bodies one may find a pattern that resembles Shade's Eye.
Curious, as the description had matched his coloring, Shadow removed his hood patch, and went in search of a mirror in his foster parents’ larger, shared cave. He searched every nook, cranny, hole, and crevasse until, eventually, he found one. Flaring his hood, he twisted his head so that he could see his reflection. He was rather startled by what he saw.
Staring back at him was an imposing yet small figure, and Shadow edged closer to the mirror until he was almost snout-to-snout with his reflection. Well, that’s certainly interesting, Shadow thought. He noticed that his reflection’s eyes changed color ever-so-slightly, to a slightly more reflective color.
The following traits are giving to any who are born under such circumstances:
·         The ability to manipulate the being, physical or otherwise of anyone or anything, be it living or no (this includes the creature who would cast such spells). This allows them to enhance their bodies to tremendous sizes, or give them fighting abilities beyond any seen before.
·         A grey-and-black coloring pattern, and a symbol as seen previously.
·         The ability to see clearly at night, albeit darker slightly darker than day.
The list went on, but Shadow had closed the book before he had finished the chapter, knowing what he needed to know.
Despite the description of seemingly endless power, Shadow resisted his urge to make himself invulnerable. He decided to only use his power in dire circumstances. He came to break that promise about five minutes later. Shadow was just coiling up to sleep when he heard a soft, muffled scream.
== Chapter III ==
Shadow’s heart and mind went to war. His mind screamed at him, calling him a vole-brained worm. He spent the next ten seconds convincing himself that he would be fine before making his scales invulnerable and shooting out the curtains. He took a left, orienting himself with his bedroom’s position. Going slowly, he searched looking side to side. Everything was clearer than he had anticipated, and he flashed back to the fact that snakes like him could see well in the dark.
What he found was his foster parents’ bodies, throats slashed and still bleeding on the street. His foster mother still had the chakram used in the murder lodged in her neck. Shadow would have burst into tears had snakes been able to. Instead, he simply coiled himself into a tight spiral  until he calmed down enough to think straight. He saw a small slip of paper attached to the chakram which read:
I know who you are, Shadow, as well as what you are. You cannot hide. By the time you are done reading this sentence you will be dead, and will have been saved…
Suddenly, something struck him on his hood.
“Touché, young one, touché.” A dark voice called from behind him.  “I suposed that would be your first move, but couldn’t really be sure.”
Not yet turning around, Shadow took a good look at the weapon thrown at him. Suddenly, his mind was racing backward ad millions of mils per hour until suddenly he was in a substantially larger den than his own.
A hiss of rage-filled pain came form the cobra who  had wrapped  Shadow into a bundle in her tail, and a small spray of blood hit his face. Shadow had no idea what was going on, but the female cobra said… something, but Shadow was too young to understand. Her tone calmed him, though.
A small, round, shiny thing was embedded in the ground. It had a dark circle with a thin-looking circle in the middle. Shadow turned to try to find the figure who had hurt the female, but it was nowhere to be seen. All Shadow could keep in mind was the shiny disk, and the symbol on it.
Soon he and the female had arrived at a small den, and a male slithered out. The female gently rested Shadow on the ground. Her eyes were sad, but she turned away and disappeared into the night.
Suddenly Shadow was back on the street ,in the middle of the night, staring at the chakram that would have killed him if not for his caution.
Without turning around, Shadow whispered, “Why?”
The figure edged out of the darkness ever-so-slowly.
“Because, Shadow, you area threat,” he spat. “A danger. Something that could end my very existence. Being over five centuries old does something do you.”
“Five centuries? Wouldn’t that mean…” Shadow would have gone to the other end of the continent to get away from the next words that he heard
“Yes, Shadow.” The other snake hissed.
“I am like you. I was born under the glare of Shade’s Eye. And my name is Eclipse.”
== Chapter VI ==
Eclipse slithered out of the darkness fully into Shadow’s vision. As he got closer, Shadow took in the full size of the centuries-old snake opposing him. It turns out, he was a viper. Shadow remembered that sometimes they were called adders. Then, suddenly, Eclipse’s body became less visible, fading slightly.
“They called me a shale adder, able to vanish from the naked eye,” Eclipse explained. “Only 2 of us were ever born.” As an example, he disappeared right in front of Shadow, before reappearing right beside him a few moments later and whispered, “You could be dead.” 
But that’s not true, Shadow thought, I met one last year. We still send notes.
With his musings, he nearly missed the challenge thrown at him, but his mind caught it. What Eclipse had said was simple, traditional, ancient, and honorable: “Have at thee.” It was a challenge that none would refuse, for it was considered cowardly to ignore the metaphorical gauntlet being thrown down.
Shadow replied with such formalities. “Very well, and luck to us both,” before they both launched at each other at blinding speeds that an observer wouldn’t be able to follow. As it were, they began trading blows until they eventually parted, both shaky but ready, fore more when suddenly Eclipse disappeared.
Shadow’s view abruptly changed. Suddenly he was looking behind himself, where Eclipse soon reappeared. Too caught up in battle, Shadow decided not to ponder his sudden ability to look behind him, but rather to use it to his advantage.
Eclipse vanished again, and Shadow’s view shifted back to in front of him, just as Eclipse launched himself out of the dark, fangs bared. Shadow coiled himself flat, before using himself as a spring. He flew high, sighting his target, only to find nobody there.
From the trees to his left, on the boundaries of the village, Eclipse’s voice called, “We aren’t done. I know where you live. You cannot hide. If you try, I will  know. You can’t escape me!"
“Let’s agree to disagree.”
…….
Slithering back to his den, Shadow contemplated this new threat to his life while being grateful that everybody who lived on the street that he did went to sleep earlier than the rest of the city.
Slithering back to his den, Shadow contemplated this new threat to his life while being grateful that everybody who lived on the street that he did went to sleep earlier than the rest of the city. He wrapped himself around a branch of the tree he was growing in his room, before falling into a nightmare-wracked sleep.
Shadow’s conscience brought him to view… himself? Something was different. The Shadow before him was full grown, larger than average in fact. Behind him, a legion of grey-eyed warriors that seemed to obey the image of what Shadow would become. A thundering war cry rolled over the land. As the dream continued, Shadow thought to himself, Is that who I am? It can’t be. I would never… but he couldn’t look away from the horrific scene before him. 
The two armies clashed, and Shadow’s dream self suddenly sprung into view, figuratively and literally. The grey-and-black body flew into the air, over the ranks of the pythons and boas before ballooning to a titanic monster, 10 times the size of any green anaconda; over 200 tails long, and nearly 15 tails wide. And that was just the beginning.
From the end of his tail grew a spike, a monstrous blade of bone 5 tails long , half a tail wide and a quarter tail thick. (Between you and I in real life, if it were round,  that would be a 3.48  meter, 152.5-caliber bullet, or 6 inches wide. Calibers are measured in mm.) It was sharp enough to have cut the continent in half, had it been large enough. The dream figure that represented Shadow’s nightmare of a snake spun, following up with the new broadsword of bone embedded in his tail. Before him, the first 20 lines of boas and pythons lost their heads in a monstrous spray of blood and gore that filled the sky. The speed the monster that was once Shadow moved at was faster than a peregrine falcon mid-dive , so there was no way to avoid the blow.
Then the forces behind the thing that was Shadow rushed forward in a tsunami of scales, and everything went black.
Shadow woke up with a jolt, nearly falling on his snout from the branch he hung from. He soon was thrust into a metaphysical war with two other sides of himself. The argument went on for five minutes in his head, when only a few seconds passed in the real world. The first part said, I don’t want a giant blade sticking out my tail. I don’t want to be mercilessly slaughtering wave after wave of potential allies.
Allies for what? The other part of him asked.
I don’t know, the first part of him said, exasperated.
BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP! Shadow roared in his mind. I’m not like what I dreamed I would be, and I don’t plan on ever being that way, so go stuff your heads in mud! His mind went quiet after that.
That’s better. Now, what to do with this today? Shadow pondered. Do I go to school and reveal a secret that’s been buried for over 5 centuries? If I did, what would happen?
Or, his mind said back, you could go to the palace and tell the King and Queen:
* You know what you can do and
* Eclipse is still alive.
Oh, yea, great idea. Shadow snapped to himself, but how do I get in?
That’s easy. The guards will notice, and they will try to kill you, and they will fail.
So, fear them into letting me past?
Shadow guessed.
Exactly.
== Chapter V ==
So, Shadow, regretting his life’s choices, made his way around the main body of the kingdom, before giving in to boredom and made himself invisible when a blue poison dart frog landed on his snout. Oh, you gotta be kidding, Shadow moaned internally. It’s gonna make my snout itch, and if I lick the spot I’ll probably die. Wait. I can just… Before making himself immune to poisons. “That should save me some issues for later,” Shadow mused to himself.
Soon, he arrived at the majestic front gates of the palace. Made of the solid pine surrounding the territory, they were painted a beautiful cobalt blue and gold, as was the rest of the palace. There were intricate designs depicting the King and Queen on their respective thrones. They wore no crowns, for their hoods represented their status naturally. Shining in a beautiful golden paint, their hoods were the epitome of the status “royal,” with an intricate pattern woven in silver-
Shadow busted a hole through the bottom of the door without a second thought, right on the seam.
…..
The two guards on watch were rather bored.
“Can’t wait ‘till our shift is over,” one said. 
“Mhm.” The other agreed.  “I was hoping to get a bit of father-son time in this afternoon.”
“Must be nice.”
Just then, there was a loud splitting sound, and dust and splinters flew out from the door. Both guards grabbed the swords next to them with their tails and went into the Scorpion's Patience defensive position, their blades poised beside them. When the dust cleared, there was a grey-and-black cobra, about three years old based off of his size. The dust settled further, and the guards could clearly see that the hood of the snake before them.
There was a pattern that they had been told repeatedly to RETREAT IF IT WAS SEEN! The cobra raised its head and, rather calmly, said: “Good morning, sirs. I hope I haven’t disturbed you too much. I was hoping that you could direct me to the throne room? I need
to have a little chat with Their Royal Majesties.”
…..
Shadow thought it was a
rather splendid entrance, but of course the guards ran. “Was it the door?”
Shadow called. There was no answer, so Shadow slid towards the ramp that
preceded a gorgeous hall that branched off more times than Shadow could count.
Suddenly a horn came from deep within the castle, and guards poured out the
halls by the dozen.
“Well, that’s excessive for
a four-year-old.” Shadow called. I was hoping for some escorts, not-”
“Shut your trap, midget.”
One of the now-sixty guards hissed, clamping Shadow’s mouth shut with his tail.
“You’ll meet the King and Queen, alright. They’ll be the ones to decide how
exactly you will die.”
“That’s great, but could
you just point me in the direction on the guillotine?” Shadow joked, trying to
lighten the mood of, y’know, the death escort and whatnot.
“Ha! That’s rich!” the
“escort” in front of Shadow barked. “But if that’s what you want, it’s the
third hall on the right after the next opening. Then you take a left, then it
should be right in front of you.”
“How kind. I would go by
myself, but I need somebody to pull the blade up.”
The jokes about Shadow’s
execution continued all the way up until they reached the doors to the throne
room. By then, every single guard had made their own suggestion on how Shadow
might be executed. They all had a good laugh, but sobered up just before they
were in earshot of the simi-circle of guards at the pine doors.
Before anybody could speak,
Shadow cut through the silence by being as blunt as the helmets the guards on
door watch were wearing. “King and Queen’s orders. I’m the issue. Now, if
you’ll excuse me, I’m late to having my death chosen,” before breaking the lock
on the doors and sliding in.
“That was unexpected.” Said
the central guard. “What’s his rush?”
“Not sure, commander,” The
lead escort said. “but I’m guessing we’re not allowed to hear this.”
“I was told that it was
classified,” the commander stated. “Not sure why. I mean, we all know what he’s
capable of.”
“It’s just a matter of what
path he chooses.”Category:Original Stories (Unfinished)
Category:Literature
Category:Anything else that I missed, you (the community) can read!