Universe's End

Chapter 238: Viper II

Back, one week prior.

Eia was agitated.

First, she was not fond of so many… hatchlings all over her space.

Second, the tidings they brought were ill.

An attack on her place of birth was unacceptable.

And yet, she was expected to be the guardian of the mountain, so many hatchlings in need of a nest guard, their congregation a potential bait for the monsters that called the volcano home. By all rights, entry should have been impossible, but it was a role her Brood Father had given her.

I do not like it, though.

Therefore, Eia had accepted her role, even if it agitated her to no end.

Like that, a week passed.

A week of utter annoyance.

Curled up around the magma whirlpool, Eia had temporarily chased away some of the hatchlings who’d been working on some armor or weapons.

“Just go back,” The elemental said, poking her scales.

“The Brood Father requested I remain here.”

“Uh-huh,” Jinn said, crossing his stubby arms. Had one not known better, they would have never guessed the elemental, a small reptilian cherub, was actually a tier seven, and a frightfully dangerous one when he wanted to be. “Disobey.”

“You have spent too much time listening to Metal Scales.”

“No,” The small elemental said, eyes swiveling around suspiciously. “Maybe a little.”

Eia flicked her tongue out, the long-forked tip smacking the elemental in the forehead; the blistering heat it exuded was nothing more than a comfortable heat lamp to Eia.

“Ow,” Jinn muttered.

“That didn’t hurt you, don’t be dramatic.”

“But big sissss,” The elemental said dramatically.

“I am not your sister. We have been over this for decades now.”

“And it’s just as fun every time,” Jinn teased, before diving into the whirlpool as Eia mentally sighed.

Off to pester the inhabitant of the Heart, I suppose.

Before her thoughts could turn further toward the mystery beginning that lived within the Heart of the mountain, Eia nearly jumped in surprise.

Nearly, because she was far too composed to ever really be startled.

And she had no legs.

“Fuck,” Metal Scales said, appearing with a loud pop sound as if existence itself was startled. “That really wasn’t fun.”

“Metal Scales?”

“Oh, hey, Eia, nice to see you,” Metal Scales, the Founder known as The Vanguard, or more simply Zoey, waved at her, “So, catch me up to speed.”

“Regarding?” Eia asked, never bothering to ask how exactly Metal Scales had just popped into existence, brushing it off as Founder-related shenanigans that her Brood Father had likely made possible.

“Oh, you know, maybe why I got a notification that an enemy faction was attacking an ally?” Metal Scales said. “I thought this was supposed to be wave one hundred, so uh, what the hell? Talk about cutting off my vacation time.”

While most would have taken her reaction as that of a woman entirely unfazed, Eia could taste the dissonance between her outward composure and the disquietude within.

“The Bird timed an attack on Ehkorrus to coincide with the one hundredth wave.”

“Alright, I guess that was actually pretty straightforward,” Metal Scales said. “So, why exactly are you here? Shouldn’t you be back at Ehkorrus, all hands on deck? Err, well, not hands in your case.”

“I understood the meaning,” Eia responded. “My Brood Father instructed me to remain here and protect the inhabitants who evacuated here.”

“Oh, didn’t realize there were more people here,” Metal Scales looked around, surprised. “Don’t feel much.”

“Hatchlings. Low tiers.”

“Ahh, civilians, got it,” Metal Scales nodded. “So…. Wanna disobey him and head back with me?”

“Jinn was just attempting to convince me.”

“Perfect, love that little rascal,” Metal scales grinned. “Well, let’s get a move on, time is wasting.”

Back in the present.

As soon as the two of them appeared within the city, Eia felt it, the utter chaos of battle beyond the city walls.

And, more importantly, several tier eights in proximity to her Brood Father.

“Race ya’ there,” Metal Scales said, before fully inverting her attributes and launching herself skyward.

While said playfully, Eia could still taste the anxiety in her voice.

Eia wasn’t any better. Turning her body into its energy form, Eia dove into the earth, entering the very ley lines of power, like the veins of a vast living organism.

Which, in some form, Ehkorrus was. The Grand Tree had assimilated with almost every single aspect of the city at this point.

Whatever the case, Eia took advantage of the sprawling roots of the Ehkorrian Grand Tree, crossing miles in mere moments, sensing her Brood Father just above.

Metal Scales beat me here.

Within the leylines of the Ehkorrian Grand Tree, Eia couldn’t sense the physical world above, only able to make sense through her ‘tasting scent’ of the auras. Above, Metal Scales had crashed into what tasted like a powerful monster, cauterized by light and changed to match its brilliant nature.

Eia followed suit, tearing through the ground as she flowed upward once more in her physical form, slamming into the underbelly of one of the tier eights, its taste particularly rancid to her tongue, the second-worst-tasting aura she’d encountered behind her Brood Father’s Bane and its ilk.

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“Sorry for being late,” Metal Scales said with a grin before flipping a hand gesture to the most eye-catching of the opposing tier eights, a tier eight monster that burned with judgmental light, none other than the Founder-Usurper, The Bird. “Hey there, KFC.”

“As she said, apologies for our late arrival,” Eia said, turning her attention away from the Bird and her Brood Father to the disgusting monster she was literally looking down upon. “I believe this one will be my opponent.”

“Try me!” The disgusting monster hissed at Eia. “Legless spawn!”

How cute. If only it weren’t so revolting.

“Snappy,” Eia purred. Whatever the case of the revolting monster, it was strong enough to provide Eia with proper nourishment for the first time in what felt like ages. “You will feed me well.”

One final person joined them, an aura Eia hadn’t spent much time around in many long years, but she would always appreciate the companionship he’d brought toward her Brood Father in those early days.

“Sorry,” The Suns Disciple huffed. “I tried to race over as fast as I could after I felt the appearance of two extra tier eights attacking, but there are a lot of monsters out there.”

“Hah,” Her Brood Father laughed before his eyes landed on the Bird. “It’s fine.”

“It does not matter the-”

“Shut up,” Her Brood Father interrupted, vanishing and reappearing in front of the Bird, grabbing it by the beak and yanking it through space as they flickered back into the skies above.

With her Brood Father stealing away the Brilliant Usurper, it was the signal for everyone to split apart, not wanting another battle to get in their way.

Slithering through the air, something she had learned to do only a decade prior by buoying herself upon the natural energy currents of existence, Eia was amused by the sense of the disgusting-one chasing after her like a mere beast.

Putting enough distance between herself and the individual battlegrounds of the others, Eia looked down upon the disgusting one, lording over it from her rightful place above.

“Why?” The Disgusting-One said, bristling with contempt that Eia could taste. “Why follow an enlightened?”

“I should ask you, O disgusting one,” Eia sneered, or at least the feel of her aura sneered, given the lack of reactive facial expressions. “Marked, a vile oath breaker and brood-slayer.”

It had taken a few moments for Eia to place the taste, but after she’d realized the source, her disdain for her ‘peer’ turned into utter execration.

“I found a greater purpose,” The Disgusting-One said, Eia never bothering to seek its true name.

“You broke with your Brood,” Eia said as if it were the greatest sin she could imagine. To her keen senses, she could taste the echoes of the one betrayed, her final thoughts of confusion, of how her trusted partner had turned on her. It would be akin, if not worse, to turning on her Brood Father, sacrificing him. No, it would even be worse, Eia had never formed a true covenant with her Brood Father, whereas from the Disgusting-One she could feel the bitter jagged edges of a shattered vow.

“And you shackle yourself!” The Disgusting-One mentally yelled out, decades of second-guessing its choices, the constant chaffing of guilt, causing it to finally lash out as countless black needles were fired from between its scales, shooting toward Eia like heat-seeking missiles.

“Pathetic,” Eia scoffed, as her royal crest flared out in tandem with her aura. “You and your attack.”

Shifting the ‘color’ of her aura, it took on traces of pure thermal energy, incinerating the needles. Shifting back to its neutral state, Eia continued to stare down upon the Disgusting One, making it a point of asserting her superiority.

“Bah!” The Disgusting One vanished before appearing out of thin air, directly opposite Eia’s line of sight, some form of ambush skill.

“Pathetic,” Eia repeated. Perhaps against an inferior monster -natural prey- such an attack would have worked, but she was supreme. To her senses, the attempt at vanishing had failed; she could perceive the world as a perfect sphere for a hundred meters in any direction, with her aural senses.

The Disgusting One suddenly balled up, spinning through the air as its elongated dorsal spines and blade-like tail propelled it forward like a saw blade.

While Eia could have easily dodged, she saw no reason to. Instead, her scales turned crystal, the Disgusting One’s attempt failing to do more than scratch her scales.

In response, her tail swept out, coiling around the Disgusting One’s neck and holding it aloft as her gaze paralyzed the thrashing monster.

“Weak. Is this truly the best you can do? A betrayer of brood, for what?”

In an instant, her jaws snapped forward, her fangs stabbing into its neck before she released the monster back upon the earth.

“Surely such a weak dose won’t be too much for you.”

Eia had seen herself sidelined for decades, decades spent honing herself. Her loss to Metal Scales still stung to this day.

Hunting, practicing her literal and metaphorical skills. Polishing herself so that she would not embarrass her Brood Father ever again.

Then there had been the loss of her true sire, the Khan of Blue Lightning. Even a powerful territory alpha hadn’t been enough; there was no easy answer but to continue growing.

So, she would eclipse her original sire.

“N-no!” The Disgusting One stumbled, bashing its head against rocks and trees. “Out! Out of my mind! Begone!”

Eia couldn’t know exactly what specters were haunting the Disgusting One, even if she had been the cause; the venom she’d injected, not just into its physical body but into its very essence, was a rather potent hallucinogen.

Doubt. Guilt. Regret. Anger. Desire.

So many feelings.

“Your Brood?” Eia asked, having gotten a rough idea of what was transpiring from the taste of the Disgusting One’s emotions.

“You shackled me! Once we hunted, once we strove, once we climbed! But then, you stopped caring! I was your partner!”

Eia continued to observe the thrashing monster. She felt nothing for it; it was long since passed the point of pity.

“Growth! Movement! Action!” The Disgusting One mentally projected the words in a desperate attempt to stave off the ghost of regrets long past. “That is what it means to exist!”

Ahh.

And that was the crux. Monsters, all monsters, heard the innate call to grow. The closer you were to enlightenment, the less the call was an all-encompassing need. For Eia, who’d been raised around Enlightened, the call was merely a whisper that she had long since harnessed for her own goals.

Once, the Disgusting One had been a partner with a Founder, and together they grew, together they climbed. Yet one grew comfortable, and the other, unable to ignore the siren call, was driven to desperation.

Understandable. But not forgivable.

“Enough!” The Disgusting One shouted. “You are dead!”

And with that, Eia felt her venom sterilized as a brilliant heat exploded outward from the Disgusting One, prismatic feathers sprouting from between its scales until one could hardly see the dark scales beneath.

Eia could only shake her head in disappointment.

Power surged from the Disgusting One, power that would make it a threat to her.

Yet for not one single moment did Eia believe she would lose.

To become tethered to another, to become dependent on another to grow, is that not what it sought to escape originally?

A spark of Brilliance had blossomed within its very being. It brought strength, but a strength that was forever bound to another, one who wished to lord over other ‘worthies’ only to inflate its own sense of superiority.

Eia could understand it to a degree, but when done so artificially…

It seems like all ‘Founders’ are created equal.

After all, her Brood Father would never be so moronic as to settle upon such an unstable, insecure foundation.

When the Disgusting One attacked the second time, again vanishing and reappearing from her ‘blind spot,’ this time Eia was momentarily blinded as its aura seemed to flash out, disorienting her aural senses.

Pouncing upon her, the Disgusting One drove Eia back upon the ground, its claws attempting to tear into her flesh, her crystal scales reappearing yet no longer capable of fully rebuffing the assault.

Rather than flee the assault, Eia’s body began to coil around the monster, a contest of strength that Eia was more than happy to engage in. Squeezing with all her might, her envenomed aura stalled against the Disgusting One's brilliant aura, which flared up like an exploding fire, carrying purifying concepts.

No matter.

Rather than relying on her aural toxin traits, she switched the color of her energy once more, the darkness of the void greedily drinking in the brilliant light as the Disgusting One seemed to startle, his assault lessening.

Taking advantage of the moment’s pause, her fangs flashed as her jaws snapped down upon the Disgusting One four times in a single instant. Before she could manage a fifth dose, the Disgusting One vanished, appearing a dozen meters away from her.

“How?” The Disgusting One seemed surprised as she switched the color of her energy again.

Eia, in response, rose up, higher and higher as the royal crest adorning her head temporarily blocked out the light of the sun shining through the trees directly overhead.

“Because I am King, eater of lesser,”

And it was no mere boast. When Eia had crossed into tier six, she had evolved into the form of an Ardent Aural Serpent. Tier eight itself hadn’t brought another evolution. Instead, it was the passing of her sire, the echoes of his significance transferred elsewhere to the only suitable host.

Her.

Aural King – Apophis Serpent

Level: 80*