After eating a couple of the stinging creatures himself, he felt a strange power welling up inside him and he noticed he was able to use his abilities for longer periods without tiring out.

Ophelia had also felt her strength growing in the same way, so she tried to 'compel' the lizard into following her.

However, when it didn't work and she learnt there were limits to what she could do.

Her abilities seemed to manifest differently from one creature to another. With her brother, it didn't make him do anything, he only reported feeling a sense of danger.

With the lizard, he simply blinked at her – seemingly laughing at her efforts. She was sure it wouldn't work on their leader, so she tried it on the spaded snake instead.

The result? The stubborn spaded snake went over to rest beside the lizard she so despised, only waking up when the lizard's large paw came to rest on her head.

[So, if it works on snakes, what's the difference?] Ophelia asked Typhon who looked thoughtful.

[Maybe it has something to do with their levels?] he suggested.

[I thought so too, but some of those stinging creatures were stronger and I could still control them. It must be something else.]

They both looked at the spaded snake who hissed fiercely at the sleeping lizard.

[Maybe, their intellect?] Ophelia suggested.

Typhon tilted his head and stared hard at the spaded snake. Was it possible she wasn't as intelligent as the lizard? Without knowing her stats, it was difficult to confirm but she was certainly impulsive and even acted stupidly sometimes.

If anything she was just like their leader whom she disliked.

Both were impulsive, the only difference was that one had the power to back up her behaviour.

And when 'she' left soon after, he'd thought nothing of it. Until Ophelia informed him the spaded snake had followed after her, much to their annoyance. If their leader was hunting, she was sure to get in the way.

So, he roused the lizard and they went after her into the stretch of forest below.

There, they found the spaded snake who was sick, but Ophelia who had been next to him, completely vanished into an area much to his shock.

One moment she was there and the next it was like she had been swallowed.

Rather than panic, he'd ventured further in with them to find her, and for a moment, his vision had become warped as he experienced severe nausea. Until the effect cleared, and he found himself somewhere else entirely.

It was a clearing devoid of trees and he quickly spotted Ophelia, who was hidden behind some bushes. She hushed them as they arrived and they all stared at the scene before them.

Their leader was looking around mischievously, as she observed a group of creatures. Fortunately, the creatures were all asleep and they weren't spotted. And then they watched in astonishment as her figure vanished into her surroundings. Typhon quickly activated his [Heat Sense] but that too faded quickly.

He could make out faint imprints in the ground as she moved and as things began to disappear from the clearing and he knew it was her doing. They all hid and watched in exasperation as their leader, rather than attack the creatures, decided to 'hide' their possessions with one of her strange abilities.

Typhon sighed with relief – why did he automatically think she was going to kill them? And why was he relieved she didn't? As a snake shouldn't he be rooting for blood and slaughter.

It was the spaded snake who scowled at their leader's behaviour instead. [Is she an idiot, they are all asleep. Why isn't she attacking them?]

Ophelia defended her. [Can't you see, it's because they are all strong.]

Then they watched their leader break away from the clearing like a thief in the night and as they followed her back to the cave, the spaded snake scoffed in distaste. [She's so scared, she couldn't even fight them.]

Typhon scowled. If that was all she took away from this interaction, perhaps she was truly an idiot. As for him, he was displeased to realise that not only was their leader impulsive, she was also a glutton.

Was the lure of food that appealing to do something so risky?

With the incident over, they parted ways with the lizard and prepared to return home. Typhon was glad, he didn't have to get tormented by the annoying lizard anymore. Finally something was going right.

--------------

Meanwhile back at the cave…

The nestlings were panicking in the absence of all their leaders, and after waking up to see the forest flooded with rain, they had turned to Ophelia's progenies, Artemis, and Morgana for answers.

The two snakes quickly took control of the situation and were calming the frazzled snakes who kept staring at the creatures rampaging outside.

But some saw this an opportunity to vent their frustrations. Even in the absence of the spaded snake, the rebellious snakes questioned their authority and refused to listen, which only made Morgana smile.

She was furious on the inside, but none of that showed. Rather she approached one of the rebellious snakes with an innocent smile.

[Don't bother trying anything else. Do you see those things outside?] She gestured towards the swarm of bottom feeders that were attacking a creature whose body was submerged in mud with only its bones visible. [Keep acting stupid and I'll feed you to them next.]

Artemis shivered in fear from her words while the rebellious snake turned pale and looked about to faint. They both knew she would do it if they angered her anymore.

Without the spaded snake, the rebels weren't as brave, and they soon fell silent.

However, Artemis soon heard a scream from inside the cave and they both rushed in, fearing the worst – had something entered while they weren't aware?

But when they arrived, they saw the culprits were the two snakes that were always around the injured snake. Ophelia had called them twins, since they were mirror images of each other, and so the name had stuck.

Artemis and Morgana rushed over to the injured snake wondering if something was wrong with him and saw an absurd sight.

He was still unconscious but there was blood on the ground and the twin snakes were crouched in front of him.

[What the hell are you two doing?] Morgana panicked as she thought they had harmed the snake in some way. But when the two turned to stare at her, she saw they were both bleeding from their nostrils.

[Look! Look! We fixed him!]

[We made him better!!]

They both rambled on as they tried to explain. There was a faint glowing light around the two bleeding snakes who were giggling madly.

And when she looked, the unconscious snake had opened its eyes to stare at her.

Morgana stared at the twin snakes in disbelief. [Just what the hell did you two do?]