Chapter 3: The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail

The sacred-spots shifted their locations; a slow-spot pressed against the side of the male Coreless, sending him spinning to the ground when he brushed into it, each half of his body moving at different speeds. The Great Core was not going out without a fight.

Neither would I.

The female Coreless was startled by the shifting of the sacred-spots; she did not understand the might of the Great Core. For all of the many days since my creation, I had watched as the Great Core’s room constantly changed, fast-spots and slow-spots slithering about as if in a never-ending hunt. They moved at the Great Core’s command, for the small room was the Great Core’s nest of power. She had not seen that.

I took advantage of her blindness.

With a forceful twist, I pulled myself from her loosened grip, aiming for a new fast-spot. The Great Core’s blessing was upon me, and I was loosed like a needle-fanged bad-thing’s needle-fangs at the unsuspecting skin-mouth.

I landed upon the skin-mouth, sinking deep with my fangs. It did not cry out; it did not even make a noise. No blood spilled from its wounds. Still, I knew that it was injured; I could see the gashes that I had made in its flesh. Before the male Coreless could stop me, I had torn the Great Core from its stomach.

“Shit, Doran, it’s getting the Core!” the female Coreless made noises. Though the male made noises in return, I was filled with too much battle-high to hear it clearly. Not that it mattered; they were just noises.

Nothing mattered but the Great Core’s safety. Despite that, I knew that I had no chance to kill the baddest of the bad-things. They were covered in powerful ore-flesh, forming both a protective skin and dangerous fangs. They were giants, almost as big as the large-winged bad-thing that I had once seen. They were ruthless, able to ignore the beauty of the Great Core within its own nest.

I did the only thing that I could, powerless little snake that I was.

I opened my jaws and ate the Great Core.

“Uh oh. That’s not good.”

“I thought you said that he wouldn’t eat his own Dungeon Core. I guess you were wrong about that. Huh,” the female jabbered. “What happens now? Is the little guy still going to Ascend from his own Dungeon Core?”

My scale-flesh was on fire, even hotter than the time that I had watched a battle between two hot-breath bad-things. The power of the Great Core was too much for my body to bear. It was unimaginable.

Even the thought-light couldn’t bear it, flickering in and out of my vision.

Integrating Dungeon Core (Aspect: Time)…

Analyzing Base Species…

Analyzing Titles...

Revealing Ascended Species...

I didn’t have time to understand what the thought-light tried to teach me. There were more important things to worry about. I had to escape with the Great Core. Nothing else mattered for the moment.

Not the Coreless that closed in on me. Not the fire-pain that had taken over my scale-flesh. Not the flickering of the thought-light.

Nothing.

I slithered as fast as I could. To my horror, the sacred-spots had slowly begun to disappear. Did that mean that I was too late? Had the skin-mouth already harmed the Great Core so severely?

No, I decided.

The Great Core was far too great. If the sacred-spots were disappearing, it must be a good sign - a sign that the Great Core had faith in my ability to escape with my own power. I had slithered slightly closer to the nearest wall-crack when I heard the noises of the Coreless behind me.

“Shit, grab him before he gets into the walls!”

I slithered faster.

The fire-pain was making it hard to think. I could only slither endlessly, focusing on the Great Core that rested safely within me.

Giant hands tried to grab me; I coiled myself and leapt away, feeling the air swish by in their passing. A fang of ore-flesh came down, nicking my side-scales. I ignored it as best I could, focusing on the wall-crack that would be our escape.

Another set of hands came down. This time, I was too slow. They wrapped themselves around my length, holding me tightly as I wriggled. With no other option, I sunk my fangs into their flesh. Though I had only a few drops of venom in my sacs, it was better than surrendering.

My fangs sank easily into flesh. I smelled something burning before I was suddenly released.

“Ow!” the female made a noise. I ignored it. “Why’s it so damn hot?”

“It’s going through an Ascension; the energy of the Dungeon Core is overheating its body,” the male made a noise, too. Just as before, I ignored it. The wall-crack was before me, climbing the stone in a web of tiny fissures. As quickly as I could without the aid of the sacred fast-spots, I slithered inside.

By the Great Core’s grace, I made it.

I was filled with joy; the Great Core was safe. Despite that, I was tired. I was in pain.

And the thought-light was still flickering. I curled upon myself, in my little world within the wall-cracks, chewing my tail in distress.

Base Species: Snake

Revealing Ascended Species: Ouroboros

Revealing Major Title: [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail]

Analyzing Ascended Species For Core Skill Creation...

Notice: Dungeon Core Aspect Matches Ascended Species Aspect

Readying Core Skill...

The pain was overwhelming; I had accidentally injected what little drops were left of my venom into my tail, furthering the damage. I was too injured to understand the thought-light, but I knew that it was trying to tell me something. I knew that I was changing, that the Great Core was reshaping my body into something that could better serve and protect it.

The need for sleep had begun to overcome me. The battle-high had left; even the pain was doing little to beat back the darkness. I tried to stay awake, but there was little that I could do.

Still, the little that I could do, I did. I slithered deeper into the wall-cracks, sliding down when it dipped and furrowed. Sometimes I even dropped through the air, landing on sharp edges that cut into my scale-flesh, leaving lines of blood that dripped freely. The wall-crack widened, emptying out into a large open space. It pained me to leave the room of my birth behind, but it was no longer safe for us. I did not know if a new nest could be created; something told me that the Great Core’s pedestal was important. Not just any old nook or cranny would form into a nest.

As was only right. The Great Core deserved a Great Nest.

My thoughts were interrupted by a greater spike of pain than ever before. It was followed by something far, far worse - a worrying change in the health of the Great Core.

The Great Core had disappeared from its hiding place within my stomach; despite that, I could still feel the hot-fire of its light, greater than I had ever felt from it before. It slithered from my stomach, traveling up my length, before coming to a point at my head-scales. The fire-pain grew, pushing back all thought, needling through my head-scales as if they had been pierced by an ore-flesh fang.

It broke the surface. Pain greater than I had ever felt sunk its fangs into me. I saw the thought-light flicker again.

Dungeon Core (Aspect: Time) Integrated.

Blooded Traits Unlocked.

Core Skill Created: [The Endless Cycle]

The darkness of sleep stole me away.

In the darkness, I dreamed. I dreamed of the forever-cycle, of the snake that ate its own tail, chasing itself endlessly through the ages. I dreamed of the snake that shed its own skin in a series of never-ending rebirth. I dreamed of the Ouroboros.

I dreamed of the Endless Cycle.

I dreamed of myself.

Finally, I woke, surrounded by a pile of my perfectly-shed skin. I pulled myself from its embrace, ripping free of the dead scale-flesh. I was slightly larger than I remembered, though that was the last thing on my mind. Instead, I could only stare at the scale-flesh that I had shed.

It glowed like the Great Core itself.