Chapter 48: Return Again

It was over.

There was a point when that became the only conclusion - like when I had been suspended within my threads of red, bleeding out my last as I hung from the Aridae's strings. Then, I had given up entirely. I had believed myself lost.

Now, though I knew that I had lost, I knew that all was not lost.

The flames smashed against me, the strength of two flame-gaze bad-things colliding as they met my vulnerable scale-flesh. The fire-death approached.

My scale-flesh screamed as it fell within the flames' embrace, hissing its protest. My blood boiled at its touch, bubbling from within me, causing fire-pain to sear across my insides. But I hadn't yet seen the lesser Core. I knew that it was here, somewhere. I wanted to find it. I needed to find it, that same compulsion, that same overwhelming desire that had driven me only moments before still holding sway over my mind.

I pulled at the heat, throwing it away from my scale-flesh with a desperation born of pure need. My reservoirs filled, emptied, and filled again. Flames shot from my length with a speed that was nearly unimaginable - though I no longer had eyes to see it.

They had already begun to burn away, melting under the great heat that assaulted me.

Still, I tried to fight against it.

As the darkness surrounded me, my vision all but lost, I strived to live.

Suddenly, something wrapped around me, binding itself to my scale-flesh. I thrashed and shuddered with renewed vigor, as if I had found a second wind. I broke free.

My discarded scale-flesh rested on the stone beside me, glowing with the light of the Great Core. The Coreless, awed by the sight, could only stare with wonder. Their mouths worked ceaselessly, forming little noises of astonishment and awe.

The thought-light flickered.

Name: Paradox

Species: Snake, Ouroboros

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

Minor Titles: [Minor Mana Core] [Venomous Retribution]

Innate Traits: [Venomous II]

Blooded Traits: [Paralyzing Venom IV] [Poisonous Blood III] [Illusion Spark III]

Resistances: [Piercing Resistance - Basic IV] [Venom Resistance - Intermediate II]

Level: 10

Trait Points: 3

Core Skills: [The Endless Cycle]

Lesser Core Skills: [Mana Manipulation V] [Mana Venom VI]

Description: A growing Ouroboros, symbol of the eternal.

And then, I knew. I had lost. I had died.

Fire-pain still danced across my length, phantoms of a life - or of a death, really - that no longer was. I turned my head, hissing with relief at what I saw. My tail, whole again, safe from the ravaging of the stone-tendril bad-thing. A hiss of relief worked its way from my mouth, and I finally did something that I had been missing.

I gently reached down, clamping my mouth down upon my tail.

It was really there.

The sensation brought me more comfort than ever before, wrapped in so many implications as it was. It meant that I was [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] again, the creation of the Great Core, whole in the way that I was meant to be. It meant that I had another chance, the potential to do things better this life.

It meant that the Great Core truly, truly, stood by me - it trusted my ability to carry out its will.

My own will hardened. I would need to live up to the faith that was placed in me.

I immediately sent a command to the thought-light, repeating the same action that I had carried out in my previous life.

Available Trait Points: 3

Use Trait Points To Upgrade A Trait?

My resolve seemed to hasten it along, because the thought-light had hardly presented the question before it flickered again.

3 Trait Points Required For Upgrade of [Illusion Spark III] to [Illusion Spark IV].

Upgrade Successful.

My scale-flesh morphed in response to the upgrade, the reservoirs hidden within my scale-flesh expanding and strengthening. They weren't quite as powerful as they had been at the end of my previous life, but, now that I knew how best to lure the Flame Wisps in, that problem could be fixed easily enough.

Despite their reduced size, my reservoirs were filling slowly, reminding me of something else that had changed. [Molten Bite] had disappeared. As difficult as it had been to increase its strength as much as I had, it was relieving. It had become more troublesome than it was worth, the fire-pain that it dripped through my fangs conspiring with the heat of the Lesser Core to ruin me.

In the future, I would have to be more careful. I should have known the moment that I received [Molten Bite] that it might become a problem; even with [Illusion Spark] to protect me, I just wasn't meant to survive high levels of heat. Maybe if I was lucky enough to be blessed with [Heat Resistance] in the future, but not before then.

Still, it had been useful to a degree - a constant source of light and heat to draw upon, ensuring that I always had at least something stored away, small though it might be.

I decided that I would try again - more carefully, this time. [Molten Bite I] would have to be enough. Just enough to have something in case I needed it, but not enough to doom me.

The Coreless jabbered on around me, repeating the same actions that they had in my past life. It was strange, watching them move through life unawares, ignorant of the things that had happened and yet no longer had. They didn't know of the Flame Formicans. They didn't know of Will's death. They didn't know of their own retreat, nor of the stone-tendril bad-thing and the flame-gaze bad-things that hid within the large-tunnel.

As I watched, the other Coreless gathered the organs of the defeated bad-things while Will retrieved the hunk of ore-flesh that floated upon the fire-water. Meanwhile, I thought. The male Coreless bent down beside me, picking up my shed scale-flesh that glowed with the light of the Great Core as they all continued in their jabbers. Still, I thought.

Somebody had to, if I was going to reach the Core in this life.

Finally, I had an idea. A brilliant one. Genius, even, worthy of the greatest creation of the Great Core. It almost made me want to hiss in glee - in fact, I did just that.

"We'll have to find another way out. This one's blocked off by the lava; looks like it spilled right into the exit tunnel," Will jabbered, repeating the same noises that he had in my previous life. I didn't know what they meant, but I did recognize them, genius that I was.

As he spoke, I quickly absorbed as much light and heat from the nearby fire-water as I could, filling the reservoirs beneath my scales to the brim. My scale-flesh began to feel sluggish, becoming vulnerable to the heat around me as my reservoirs found themselves full, but I was ready.

Ready to enact my plan for victory.

The female-that-was-not-Needle approached me, dropping to a knee and holding out a hand. She hissed softly, the sound once more coming out strangely. “Want to ride on my shoulder again, little cutie?”

“Valera…”

She turned around, her hand still outstretched. “What?”

I slithered past her, ignoring the noises that she made towards me. A few seconds later, I found myself at the feet of Will, the one who had perished.

I concentrated, pulling upon the familiarity that I had gained in my last life. The light that I had stored within, mixed with some of the heat that I had gathered, released from my scale-flesh with methodical slowness. Everything else fell away, victim to the focus that I required - until, finally, I was done.

I looked up, admiring my handiwork.

I hissed with glee.

The way that the light layered over Will's body, covering his form with flickering - and, admittedly, crude - images of Flame Formicans was a welcome sight. So too, was the sight of blood that ran across his body, the way that I made his skin of ore-flesh appear twisted and mangled. It was beautiful. Then, as quickly as it had arrived, it disappeared. My stores of light ran dry.

I looked around, catching the gazes of the Coreless.

For some reason, they looked horrified.