Chương 15: The Serpent

Atzi felt terrible. Her head was pounding and she didn't understand what was going on. I must be really hurt. She twisted her neck, trying to get a look at her shoulder. It was perfectly fine.

"Did someone somehow heal me…?" The old woman gave a disgusted, "Bah…" before moving past. Did that crossbow do something to me? Wait, shit, V's gonna kill me! And… where did Cory go? Atzi slowly trudged over to a guard tower, her head still throbbing all the while. She went up to the wall, moving past where Cory had untied the rope, looking to make her way around to where she remembered Cory taking her. She had to be stealthier than usual, as it was light out, making it a lot easier for someone to notice her.

She didn't think Cory had done it on purpose. Or maybe she had a good reason? Along the way, she passed by the temple district, where she noticed a large crowd was gathered. Out upon a balcony was Jewel. Oh great, it's Vance's sister. That jackass… wait. I don't know where Cory went. If I just leave the city, I might not be able to find her. What if I use the fact I know her brother to get some help? I'm a genius! Atzi scampered down a nearby guard tower and approached close enough to hear.

"T-tragically passed away!" There were gasps from the crowd. Atzi's curled her tail in confusion. Huh? She found the nearest person nearby - a woman, covered in warts - and asked her, "What's with her saying it a second time?"

"Second time?" The woman looked back at Atzi in equal confusion.

"Yeah? She said that before like a half a week ago?" The woman backed up slightly from Atzi.

"... Have you been smoking swamp weed?"

"What? C'mon, did you miss it or something? The little shrimp's the new Novae prophet. Hells, I know her brother."

"Good for you?"

"She said it right at the start of the festival."

"... You mean today?" Atzi thumped her tail.

"It started half a week ago."

"Uh huh…" The woman started backing away. What the hells is going on? Atzi wondered. Jewel announced she was the new prophet.

"Why did she act like that?" asked a soft voice, seemingly addressing Atzi. She turned around, surprised. Yet, she didn't see anyone. Am I hearing things? Atzi shook her head. I know, I'll go ask Hemm about the prophet. Very straight-laced. She wouldn't lie to me. She made to leave with everyone else, only to see Hemm. She's here too? Atzi approached her.

"Ah, Atzi! I was wondering where you were all night." Hemm smiled.

"Oh... yeah, I was busy. Hey, are you doing anything for the rest of the festival? You know it's been half a week of it and all."

"Are you okay?"

"Of course I am, why do I keep getting asked that? I'm not smoking swamp weed or whatever. The new Novae prophet, she did the same announcement twice. A few days ago."

"Atzi. I'm pretty sure this is the only announcement she's done."

"But I.... I remember her doing it before. I woke up on the street, I went to the temple, then I came here-" Atzi shook her head.

"... Hemm, how long have I got left on that room?" Hemm quickly calculated on her fingers.

"Four days, which includes today."

"I… I think…" Atzi's head pounded.

"I think I need to talk to a priestess." Hemm gave her a concerned look. Atzi turned and ran to the Water temple. What the hells? Why does everyone think it's earlier? If Jem gets to bug me about sermons, then I get to bother her about a… really detailed dream?

"Jem!" Atzi called out. Jem looked up from an old lizard she was talking to.

"Atzi? What's wrong?"

"Can we talk in private? I had a weird vision." Jem made an odd expression.

"Of course." She walked over to the back of the temple - waved goodbye to the old lizard - and used a key to unlock a door. Atzi followed her through the door, coming out to a hallway. On either side of the hallway were one door each, and the hallway went further into some kind of storage room. Jem opened the door on the right, opening up to a humble bedroom. She took a seat on the small bed, and patted the space next to her.

"Tell me more." Atzi sat down. She launched into a summary of what she did over the past few days, carefully adjusting the parts about criminal activity to 'visiting some friends and doing some work together', keeping it all very vague.

"... but I fell off the wall. Then I woke up and it's still only the first day of the festival." Jem frowned.

"I see… that is worrying."

"Is it a sign of something? I've never had a sign before, I dunno what to do!"

"Visions of the future are not the domain of the Water. So either some other God has something to do with this, like the Crow, or you're having a magical experience. That, or you have a head injury."

"H-head injury?"

"It's unlikely. Let me check to remove that possibility."

"Please!" Jem took Atzi back to the main temple. They were both frowning deeply. I don't want to be dying of a head injury. I have so much to live for. Like… the job? Wait, is that real? Did I imagine it? I'm so confused… Jem gestured to the fountain.

"Dunk your head in the water and hold your breath for as long as you can, until I pull you out."

"Got it," Atzi said, kneeling in front of the fountain. She braced her arms on either side before dunking her head in. She could vaguely hear a distorted chanting. She tried to make out the words, but she couldn't seem to distinguish them from the movement of the water. Several long seconds passed. Her lungs burned as she tried to hold her breath, but Jem gripped her by the shoulders and pulled her back. Atzi gasped for air a few times, and pushed back her wet hair.

"W-well?"

"You are fine, physically. Though you should probably get some better sleep. Would you like to stay here for a night?" Stuck around a load of priests during the festival? No way.

"I'm staying at an inn. Ah, does that mean it's something magical?"

"Most likely. Have you experienced anything else?"

"I…" Atzi scratched her head.

"Wait, something weird did happen before I fell asleep! There was a load of pain, out of nowhere, then I blacked out! And there's some woman's voice, I think that's who I heard earlier, and she was there in the dream." Jem furrowed her brow.

"She keeps saying she doesn't know anything…"

"This woman's voice... well, it does sound a little similar to the way the gods can speak directly to the mind. But that only happens for their chosen prophets. It must be something magical."

"So.... I need a mage to diagnose it? But the only mage I know is- oh. Oh..." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Jem took Atzi by her claws, smiling.

"I can introduce you to a mage I know." Atzi nodded, relieved. More people should be this nice to me!

"I'll contact her. Come back here tomorrow morning and I'll tell you what she says?" Atzi winced as the pain in her head pulsed.

"Morning? Well... I'll try..."

"You will be okay Atzi. It is just a trial. You will become stronger."

"Uh… yeah." Atzi awkwardly took her claws out of Jem's.

"Thanks." Ugh, I need to head back so I can go to sleep. She stumbled out of the temple.

"I'm magic…?" The woman's voice sounded again, reverberating in Atzi's head.

"You're a voice in my head, what else could you be?" Atzi walked quickly so no-one stared at her talking to herself.

"... I don't know."

"Yeah, that's your favourite line alright." Atzi headed back to the inn. There's one thing I can test to see if I actually know the future.

"Hey Marco!" Atzi shouted.

"Huh?!" Marco looked up from his cooking, startled. He flung a porkchop from a pan onto the floor.

"The prophet - she's Vance's sister, isn't she?"

"... Have you met her before?"

"Call it intuition." Atzi grinned like an idiot. I have foreknowledge! I can... cheat at the arena with this! She was going to head up to sleep off her headache, when she overheard some kind of cheering outside. Atzi opened the front door and looked out. A group of Artaxtian dancers cartwheeled in sync. They were half-naked, the other half only barely covered. Atzi stared at the women of the group. Humans and serpent-blooded alike, the latter ones shaking their tails in a way that enticed her.

They aren't as good as lizard tails, but they are soft… The dancers rolled out of their stunts into a group motion, dancing their way up the street. This revealed a human priestess of the Serpent. She was throwing food into the crowd, mostly bugs. She was grinning playfully in a way that reminded Atzi of Cory. Cory… Atzi was momentarily distracted, until she saw a beetle being thrown near her. She snatched it up and ate it.

Then she pushed her way to the front of the traveling crowd, grabbing several more and stuffing her face- -only for the food to fall from her open mouth, covered in her poison, as she saw the Serpent. And the Serpent. And the Serpent. Wait, there's three of her? All three of the goddess's bodies were average height, with long white hair and pale yellow scales. She wore assortments of jewelry and small scraps of expensive silk - two of the Serpents had only their lower bodies covered, tits out just like the statue.

The third was wearing scraps over her chest… and nothing below. I guess when you're a god, you just don't give a shit. Not that I'm complaining… The Serpent, ruler of Artaxta. Atzi barely knew anything about the goddess - Cory never really discussed religion, part of the reason Atzi liked her. She knew more about the place itself, how families related to the Serpent basically ran the place. That Cory had ranted about all the time. Humans would get lizards and serpent-blooded confused.

They didn't even know the scales and tails were different! Only the Serpent herself had any claws, the rest just had scaled hands. The Serpent happily waggled her long forked tongue, winking at people in the crowd as she sashayed by. She winked at Atzi, too. Atzi gained an interest in religion. So this is what a divine experience is. On a whim, she winked back. One of the Serpents whispered to a very tall lizard that was walking next to her.

He had scales entirely covering his right eye, like an eyepatch, a scale pattern Atzi had never seen before. He sighed and walked directly over to Atzi. Did I mess up?

"The Serpent would like to invite you to dine with her," he said, bowing slightly.

"S-seriously?"

"Do you accept this holy opportunity?" he asked in a strange tone of voice. Like he didn't want to ask. Do not mention you go to the Water temple usually! She repeated to herself a few times, to make sure she didn't mess up.

"Yes!" He glanced back at the Serpent, then at Atzi again.

"Are you certain?"

"Of course!" He turned around, leading Atzi to join in the parade, right next to the Serpent herselves. I'm standing next to a god. Atzi wasn't sure how to handle herself. Do I... Do I say hi...? She walked along, searching for what to say.

"Hello, friend." One of the shirtless Serpents leaned over to her.

"A-ah! Hello, uh, friend!" We're friends?!

"Miss… Serpent?" Atzi gave an awkward laugh.

"I'm Atzi."

"Ah, Atzi… a beautiful name for a beautiful woman." No-one will believe me that a god is saying all this stuff to me. The other shirtless Serpent stalked up behind her and sniffed.

"Mmm, you smell delicious." Atzi laughed awkwardly, then again when she first tried to speak.

"Th-thank you."

"I've never quite… smelled anyone like you." She sniffed her more.

"It's… intoxicating." Atzi hoped she was clean even though she had passed out in the streets.

"W-well, I have dragon blood, maybe that's why?"

"Oh, I've had my share of dragons." Of course she has. Atzi said the first thing that came to mind, "It's… an honor?"

"What's your favorite food, Atzi?" Atzi answered immediately.

"Grilled Pomarian jewel beetles! Y-you can't get them here usually, they wither too fast when they're taken from the marsh, o-only the fanciest places have them." The Serpent laughed.

"Excellent choice. Andrew, go get some." The tall man who had invited her over bowed, before walking out of the parade. Why couldn't I have gotten a vision of this! This is great!

"Is he, like, your butler?" Atzi asked, fascinated at the idea of someone waiting on her.

"He's my prophet," the Serpent replied, shrugging. Atzi found that strange. She'd only ever heard of people being scared or respectful of Malus. That there was a prophet who was just a glorified butler… she began to laugh. She had abandoned all desire for sleep, caught up in the revelry of the situation. The Serpent flirted with her some more before wandering off to interact with the crowd. Atzi overheard the Serpent invite someone else, too - but they turned her down, loudly. Wow, what a sucker!

Atzi traveled with the parade to the Serpent's temple. It was much fancier looking than the Water's temple. Larger, too. The thing Atzi found the strangest was there wasn't anywhere to really sit down, just mats on the floor. There were three statues of the Serpent, striking a pose together in front of a giant stained glass window depicting a giant wyrm. Atzi followed the Serpent herselves into the back of the temple.

Unlike in the Water temple, the back was larger than the front, with a huge table already laid out in an opulent room. The table was stacked with food - chicken, pork, bugs, and other meats she couldn't identify, not to mention a large number of side dishes from rice to fruit to some kind of round pastry. Of course, the jewel beetles she asked for were stacked high on a plate, right in the center, surrounded by several bottles of expensive looking alcohol.

Atzi couldn't help herself from drooling, which ate through the carpet. The Serpent didn't seem to care.

"Would you like me to prepare a bed for after the meal?" asked Andrew to his god.

"Yes, please," the Serpent replied, and then another of her asked Atzi, "if that's alright with you?" She smiled, showing off very sharp teeth. I deserve this after what I went through.

"Y-yep! It's alright with me!"

"Then enjoy your meal!" The Serpent replied. Atzi rushed to a seat and began digging in without dignity. This is the kind of life I dreamed of. She bit into a jewel beetle.

"They're so fresh! I haven't had these in years!"

"Only the finest for the finest," the Serpent replied, all of her taking seats as well. Atzi laughed, before remembering to swallow her food. They ate. The Serpent was somehow an even messier eater than Atzi, even before having three bodies. She ripped directly into her food like she hated the idea of looking dignified, though Atzi was too afraid of pissing off a god to joke about it. As the meal winded down, the Serpent asked, "Have you ever been to Artaxta?" Atzi swallowed some soup wrong, coughing a bit.

"A-ah, no. But i-if I could live anywhere besides here, it'd definitely be there!" It wasn't even a lie - every Artaxtian woman she'd seen was incredibly attractive.

"I'm sure." The Serpent grinned wide.

"Are there a lot of blood witches in Artaxta?" The Serpent burst out laughing, pounding the table, causing the plates and remaining food to shake. She peeled herself up after a moment.

"Oh yes, a national pastime. Why, my favorite daughter is learning to be one."

"Yeah, I heard you have a lot of kids?" The Serpent's prophet re-entered. One of the Serpents turned to him.

"How many was it again, Andrew?"

"Thirty eight living direct descendents, and countlessly many further descended." How fast does she have kids?!

"Soon to be thirty nine," the Serpent added, winking. Atzi glanced down without thinking, but none of the Serpents looked pregnant. Still, she said, "Congratulations." One of the Serpents hummed happily.

"I love it when they're stupid." Atzi hated being called stupid, but she wasn't going to say anything in front of a god. Andrew cleared his throat.

"The bed is ready," he said. The Serpent grinned.

"Excellent. Come along then, Atzi." Atzi felt like she didn't really have a choice, but if she did, she'd go anyway. Sure, something is weird, but what's the worst that could happen? She followed the Serpent to a huge bathing room. Several servants - also all attractive, she realized - walked up to Atzi, and began undressing her.

"Uh, here…?" Atzi asked intelligently.

"No, they will clean you and bring you to my room when they're done." The Serpent said, before leaning over to whisper.

"Look forward to it." The Serpent left the bathing room. Atzi felt it was a shame she couldn't take her time to get to know the women bathing her better. Some of them kept staring at her with intense eyes. Wow, they're into me too! After the Serpent, hehe… Finally clean, she was ushered through a hall - still entirely naked - into an opulent bedroom that Atzi felt put the bank manager to shame. Most importantly, the bed was huge. You could fit like, thirty women on that thing! She looked over to the Serpents.

One of them walked towards her, lifted her chin up, and kissed her. Atzi was so surprised, she couldn't stop herself from releasing poison. The Serpent didn't seem to care. - Atzi laid in the bed with the two of the three Serpents beside her. The third lay at her clawed feet.

"It's so nice there are still people dumb enough to just follow me to the temple," one next to her said. Atzi turned her head, confused. A pair of fangs sank into her neck. Atzi tried to struggle, but found that she couldn't move a single muscle in her body. What?! Another Serpent traced a single claw across Atzi's stomach, and it split open. Atzi still felt everything as she watched in wide eyed terror. The Serpent ripped out an organ, and threw it into her mouth. Blood splattered against the bedsheets.

She chewed greedily, a look of bliss across her face. Atzi couldn't think from the pain. The Serpent swallowed.

"Your child will be beautiful," another said, as she pulled out more of Atzi's guts. Atzi's consciousness faded, and she died again.