52 52 - Snake

Noah momentarily got lost and didn't know how to respond. He didn't know how long he had been looking at that snake, but there was something about it that made him want to look at it over and over.

Something like they somehow... knew each other...

"Sir?" The young woman asked worriedly.

Noah remembered the girl in front of him and flashed a small apologetic smile on his face. "I'm sorry, I'm interested in a monster for my little sister... and one for me..." He said the last part while looking at the snake again.

Since she woke up, the snake never took her eyes off him. Apparently, as much as she was extremely attractive and captivating to Noah, he was also to her. His intention in coming to this store today was just to get a monster for his little sister, but something inside him shouted out to him that he should definitely buy this snake, regardless of the price it cost.

"Great! We have great monsters for children of all ages, but for you, how about I introduce you to some more satisfying monsters?" The girl asked.

"No, I think I already found the monster I want," Noah said as he faced the little snake again.

"That snake? I'm sorry, sir, but it is very problematic. I would not recommend it to anyone." The girl whispered to him, probably so that none of her superiors would hear that she didn't want to sell a monster.

Hearing what she said, Noah was surprised. How problematic was this little adorable snake? Disregarding the wounds she had on her body, she looked perfectly fine to Noah, and because of her small size, he even saw the small black scales as almost fluffy.

"Problematic? How so?" Noah asked as he approached the snake's aquarium.

Noah was not the first customer to become interested in this snake. Even this girl had already been interested in the so small and cute snake when she was hired at the store, but over time she understood why this snake was considered problematic by employees. Her manager had even made it clear to everyone that any opportunity that came up for them to sell this little snake they should sell it without a second thought, even if the price offered was below normal.

At first she thought this was very strange, but with time she understood that what her manager said to the salespeople was completely logical. The nickname they gave for this little black snake was Black Hole, not because she ate a lot, but because she was a black hole of money, absorbing everything that was invested in her and showing no effect.

Normally, she would have jumped at the chance to take advantage of the opportunity to sell the snake to the first customer who came in asking about it, but she did not want to deceive Noah. That was the power of good looks.

While the young attendant was speaking, Noah looked back at the snake and approached the aquarium until he touched the glass. The little snake did the same thing slowly, avoiding touching her injured parts to the ground until she reached the glass and lightly touched it.

Noah strangely felt a connection with this snake, like he had never felt before. He knew she was a monster; monsters were creatures that killed humans just because they wanted to. There were several Fortresses of monsters that did not even eat human flesh, but even so, they were extremely aggressive, even going so far as to sometimes make sport out of killing humans. But that little snake didn't feel that way to him, as if she... wasn't actually a monster.

'What are you?' Noah asked mentally, not expecting an answer, but strangely, another voice came into his mind shortly thereafter.

'I do not know...'

Startled, Noah looked around searching for where that voice came from, but besides him and the attendant, there was no one else so close. That voice he heard came clearly from someone close to him. It was a female voice, very sweet.

'Who said that?' Noah asked himself mentally.

'It was me..."The female voice came up again in his mind. This time he paid more attention and noticed that the voice was like that of a young woman around his age, but she was very weak, as if she were... wounded!

Upon noticing this, Noah's gaze quickly met the serpent's and to confirm, he said again mentally, 'Was it you?'

The little snake, as if it understood what he said, nodded and responded with the same sweet and weak voice. 'Yes...'

'How can you talk to me?' Noah asked mentally.

'I don't know. I've never been able to with anyone before, but for some reason I just knew that I could do this with you. Even more, when I heard your voice in my head...' The snake responded slowly.

'You said you didn't know what you were, so you're not a monster? How did you get there?' Noah asked.

'I don't remember. Since I hatched from my egg I was already hurt and surrounded by humans. They tried in every way to heal me, so I allowed it, but unfortunately none of it worked. The only thing I know is that I am not a monster. The way in which they can communicate with each other, I can't do the same,' she said in a broken voice.

'I see... I am sorry for your situation. I feel a strong connection with you, and from what you said, I believe you feel that way about me too.. Do you want to find out what that means? To me, I feel like this is something bigger,' Noah said confidently.

'I was going to suggest the same thing. In my short life span, I never felt this way about anyone: as much as they were monsters, as much as they were humans. Maybe you have some explanation for what I'm going through, where I came from, what I am, maybe even some way to heal me...' the snake said in a weak voice.

Hearing her confirmation, Noah opened the aquarium and slowly reached inside to pick up the snake. Their conversation seemed to have lasted a few minutes, but in reality, as they were talking through thoughts, from the moment they started talking until then, not even a second had passed.

"What are you doing!? She will bite you!" the attendant shouted at him worriedly as she moved towards Noah in an attempt to prevent him from sticking his hand into the snake's aquarium. Other clients had done what he was doing before and that little snake that seemed to be just cute and harmless when it was calm always turned into an aggressive monster when confronted with people who invaded her personal space.

When the attendant saw Noah put his hand inside the aquarium, she expected the little black snake to bite his hand instantly, but contrary to what she expected, the snake actually looked at the young man's hand with a curious look, without any sign of threat. This completely shocked the attendant. The little snake had never acted in such a docile way even when the most charismatic employees came to treat her, but right now, at that moment, she was there staring at the hand of that human who approached her without showing any sign of displeasure, as if she expected that human to touch her, like she was allowing it.

Seeing what was happening, the attendant was momentarily frozen and did nothing more to stop Noah from touching the snake. In her view, when his finger touched the head of the little black snake and she stuck her tongue out licking his finger, it was as if the world had collapsed. Since when did that little snake act so sweetly towards someone? She had never before treated anyone in the store like that!

For a few moments, the girl felt a little wronged. 'I have tried in every way to win your sympathy. I have brought you snacks, small animals, pieces of meat, everything you could possibly like, but you never let me touch you like that. But him, a complete stranger, you are letting him touch you so easily, even licking his finger like a pet? Where's the justice in this world?!'

Noah and the snake were completely oblivious to the internal monologue the attendant was having with herself, but not that they would have cared. What was on Noah's mind at the time was something else. A familiar window had appeared once again, floating in front of him as soon as he touched the snake's head.

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I've created a discord server, join to see how the characters looks XD: https://discord.gg/pHEzhV2Xyr or pHEzhV2Xyr

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