Chapter 7: [The Endless Cycle]

Name: Paradox

Species: Snake, Ouroboros

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

Minor Titles: None

Innate Traits: [Venomous II]

Blooded Traits: None

Resistances: [Piercing Resistance - Basic I] [Venom Resistance - Basic I]

Level: 0

Trait Points: 0

Core Skills: [The Endless Cycle]

Lesser Core Skills: None

Description: A nascent Ouroboros, symbol of the eternal.

The thought-light shone upon me, yet I was still trapped. It wasn’t for long.

In the next moment, I broke free - but not from the threads that had bound me. I broke free of my own scale-flesh, leaving a tiny snake-shaped bundle on the ground. The Great Core had blessed me in a way that made the sacred fast-spots and slow-spots seem pointlessly weak.

It had pulled me back from the edge, I was certain. It had twisted time into a loop upon my death, bringing me back to the moment after we had become one.

Now that I had escaped, I could see a familiar cavern. I could see clusters of glow-caps, each casting shadows upon the empty walls. I could see the Great Core’s glow again, suffusing me with its light; it spilled from my shed scale-flesh with a soothing glow, easing over my terror and loss.

It did little for my shame.

I had seen a Coreless once, shaking over the remains of one of its own. I had watched from the wall-cracks as the two battled against a near-endless stream of bad-things. In the end, one of them had died, sacrificing itself to save the other. Rivers of fluid had spilled down the survivor’s face, falling carelessly onto the stone. I hadn’t understood, at that moment. I hadn’t felt such powerful shame in my short life.

Now, I knew what it was like.

Rivers might have fallen from my own eyes, had they the ability. They did not.

Instead, I coiled into myself, chewing the tip of my tail. I rested in the light of the Great Core. I prayed. I begged for forgiveness.

The Great Core had saved me when all was lost. I would never doubt again. I could never doubt again.

It had brought me back from death.

I was thirsty again - yet, this time, I would wait. I would bear it. There were things that I needed to do.

***

Resistance: [Venom Resistance - Basic I] Increased.

[Venom Resistance - Basic II] Acquired.

Resistance: [Venom Resistance - Basic II] Increased.

[Venom Resistance - Basic III] Acquired.

Resistance: [Piercing Resistance - Basic I] Increased.

[Piercing Resistance - Basic II] Acquired.

By the time that I had finished, the thirst was maddening - yet, it still could not compare to the intensity of my desire. My desire to prove the greatness of the Great Core by defeating the Aridae, as well as to make up for my shameful lack of faith as I lay dying.

Though I had hoped to train my venom resistance further, there were limits to what I could do by myself. I had been forced to inject myself with my own venom. The pain had been terrible; agonizing, even. Yet for the Great Core, I had done it.

For our revenge, I would do it again. I did do it again; again and again, I sunk my own fangs into my scale-flesh, until the venom hurt no longer. The Great Core had gifted me the ability to do so; it would be unthinkable to ignore its will.

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

Description: A snake that embodies the cycle of renewal. Heavily increased passive regeneration when biting its own tail.

[The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] had given me the ability to heal. When caught by the Aridae’s threads, I had almost cursed at the Great Core for that. Why, I had thought, had I been caught in a situation where I couldn’t even reach my own tail to heal? It had felt as if I was being taunted; as if a way out was being dangled in front of my fangs, only to be pulled away at the final moment every time.

The Great Core must have known, though, that the ability was for another time. It must have known that [The Endless Cycle] would protect me.

It must have known that.

Surely.

I let my venom course through me again, releasing it from my fangs. It did little, that time. Hopefully, that meant that my resistance had increased enough. Still, I wasn’t entirely sure. The Aridae’s slow-venom was more powerful than my own, in a way, even the infant’s. While it did not kill as mine did, it achieved much the same purpose. Even before it had taken effect entirely, it had prevented me from moving easily. Under its effect, the infant had managed to feel as threatening as a bad-thing more than twice its size. If our fight had gone on longer, it might have even won; I had been helpless once the slow-venom finished setting in, unable to move or defend myself at all.

I could not let that happen again.

The Great Core had given me another chance. I would not waste it. When it sent me back to the beginning of the cycle, I had lost a few things. I had lost the level that I had gained. I had lost the resistances I had suffered for.

I did not lose the memory of that suffering.

I would not forget - and if I had to, I would cause myself to suffer even further, should it let me achieve our revenge against the Aridae. That, too, would be added to the things that it had done. It had caused this.

I chewed on my own tail. The act was no longer comforting in the way that it used to be. Instead, it was more of a means to an end; it was a step towards revenge, a symbol of my hatred. A precursor to my victories.

I was ready for the first of those.

I slithered my way around the forest of glow-caps once again. Though I hadn’t seen any bad-things until I reached the mana-water last time, I still kept a watchful eye on my surroundings. It had taken a bit of time to finish my preparations to reduce the effects of the terrible slow-venom. Things could have changed.

Eventually, though, I found myself exiting the final small-tunnel. The scent-taste of mana-water touched my tongue; it was more tempting than ever before. Part of me wished to throw aside all sense of caution, to charge the pool of mana-water as fast as possible. I held that part back.

Instead, I silently slithered around the edges of the cavern. Last time, I had failed to do so. I had failed to wonder why the mana-water had not attracted bad-things from all around the area. It had been a crucial mistake. Had I thought about it, I might have recognized there was a nearby danger. This time, I kept near the wall-cracks, ready to slide inside them at the first sign of the mother Aridae. I wasn’t ready to fight her. Not even close to it, really.

The cavern’s edges were split in places; numerous small-tunnels dotted the walls. The sight was comforting, though I knew that each was an area from which a bad-thing could emerge. Still, each was a place that the mother Aridae could not follow.

I needed that comfort, after our deadly first encounter. The thought of it still made my scale-flesh tremble. I think it likely always would.

Less numerous, but still of note, were the larger tunnels that dotted the cavern’s edge. The stone around them was weathered with scratches and claw marks, each cutting into the rock with enough force that I could almost hide my entire length within them.

I ignored the marks of the bad-things that littered the stone, choosing instead to search up high. It didn’t take much searching to find the networks of shimmering thread that crisscrossed the stone-spikes above.

They spread from the alcove where the Aridae mother made her home, sweeping across the cavern’s ceiling. Were it not for the light of the glow-caps and the mana-water, the threads would have been nearly invisible. With the light, however, they were clear to see.

Aridae of assorted shapes and sizes scrambled across the strong bundles of thread, winding across them as easily as I might wind across the Great Core’s sacred spots. It was their home, their place of power.

I had slithered right into it.

I hissed in displeasure with myself. I had been so eager to drink in the mana-water that I hadn’t even seen the threat that waited above.

This time would be different.

The scent-taste of something new touched my tongue. Soon afterwards, a behemoth of a bad-thing pulled itself through the opening.

It wasn’t the Aridae mother.

It was something else.

Something that I could use, if I was careful.