My mind was slow to respond, afflicted by the fire-pain of an overloaded mana core. My body was even slower, with the slow-venom that had spilled through its many wounds. Still, I had no need to be fast. Not anymore. Not unless she came.

The weight of the corpses above pressed down upon my scale-flesh, held off only slightly by the larger body of the Aridae father, under which I twirled and twined. I hadn’t defeated him - not really. Instead, I had let his children be the ones to finish him off.

It had been far easier that way.

I had gone for him first, angling directly towards him, trusting in the speed of my strike. It had won out, in the end. Copious enhanced slow-venom did the rest, turning the bulky Aridae into a frozen statue through which I could twist and coil and hide.

In his frozen state, he took fangs that were meant for me - until, finally, it became too much.

From there, my unwilling shields continued to grow, crushing one another with their weight and bleeding one another with their fangs.

The Great Core was truly with me.

Finally, they had all fallen still.

My vision flickered unsteadily. My ears rang. My head split.

My mouth opened, torturously slow. Then again. And again.

Until finally, the thought-light showed me what I was looking for.

Blooded Trait Upgrade Progress: 10/10

Blooded Trait Upgrade Received!

Blooded Trait: [Paralyzing Venom III] Increased.

[Paralyzing Venom IV] Acquired.

Progress Towards Next Upgrade: 0/20

A weak hiss of celebration spilled from my mouth as [Paralyzing Venom] increased. The connected set of venom sacs, now depleted of all but a few drops of slow-venom, shifted and grew in response.

My length twisted and curled as I fought to form into a loop. Unlike many times before, I didn’t need the comfort. The Great Core was with me. I knew that. My victory had proved it. Now, I only needed a few more.

We would have our vengeance.

Still, I couldn’t afford to die. Not with all that I had gained. Not with all that I could lose. I had been lucky, this time around. Next time might be different. The thought-light responded to my resolution, revealing what I had accomplished.

Name: Paradox

Species: Snake, Ouroboros

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

Minor Titles: [Minor Mana Core]

Innate Traits: [Venomous II]

Blooded Traits: [Paralyzing Venom IV]

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

Level: 5

Trait Points: 2

Core Skills: [The Endless Cycle]

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

Description: A nascent Ouroboros, symbol of the eternal.

My mouth found my tail, clamping onto it with a gentle grip as I let [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] take effect. This time, my scale-flesh did not itch and tingle under its healing power. They were far too numb. Far too cold.

Something made a noise, ringing out from the world outside my shelter of Aridae-flesh.

I twitched, losing grip on my tail.

The shelter shifted, a corpse falling with a thud; the light of the cavern pierced through a new gap between the piled Aridae. I slithered and twisted, trying to pull free. Something was outside. If it was the mother Aridae, I needed to hide in the mana-water, where she wouldn’t easily reach me.

I was too injured to fight her. Too slow.

The pile shifted again, and I finally pulled myself free. The slow-venom fought against me, making each slither a test of will. I heard a sharp rush of air to my side, slowly turning to meet its source.

I saw something horrible.

Something terrible.

Something disgusting.

“Hey, little cutie,” the female Coreless threatened with a senseless string of noises, hissing softly. Her teeth were bared wide, exposing her intentions. Exposing her challenge.

I hissed as loudly as I could, baring my own teeth in turn, hoping that it would abandon its desire.

If anything, my response only encouraged the Coreless. She made a long, high-pitched noise, baring her teeth further than ever and smacking her hands together in some sort of threat display. The three Coreless beside her, another female and two males, made their own strange noises. They seemed more focused on each other than me. I thanked the Great Core for that small mercy.

“I don’t think he likes you, Valera,” the second female made a noise while the males hooted in a strange, repeating bark.

I stayed steady, ignoring the stiffness of my scale-flesh, hiding my slow-venom inflicted weakness. The Coreless’ ore-flesh fangs remained at their sides, but I knew they could be bared in a moment’s notice. We were mortal enemies; they would soon attack, I was sure. Just as they had before.

They had given a terrible insult, worse even than that of the Aridae mother.

The Aridae had attacked me, and me alone. It had killed me. It was an insult. It was unforgivable. It was deserving of punishment. But the Coreless had tried to steal the Great Core away from its place of birth.

That was far worse.

Blasphemous.

The female reached into one of the many skin-mouths at her side. My scale-flesh, numbed to near uselessness, was too slow to react. I could only watch as she pulled something from its stomach and threw.

It bounced off the stone, landing in front of me.

It was...a chunk of flesh?

I didn’t understand.

Was it poisoned?

“It’s okay, little cutie. Eat the meat, let’s be friends!” The female made some more noises.

I hissed. Did she think I was stupid? That I would let her poison me so easily? I flicked my tongue, searching for any taste of poison in the air. Not that I knew what I was looking for.

“I don’t think he wants it, Valera.”

She reached into the skin-mouth again, pulling out another piece. This time, she placed it in her own mouth, chewing with a litany of strange noises before swallowing.

...was it not poisoned?

“See, it’s okay. It tastes good!” she hissed in a poor attempt at mirroring my own sibilant sounds. She wasn’t very good at it. Then again, she hadn’t been created by the Great Core. We weren’t all formed with great potential. I felt a moment of pity, but I crushed it.

The Coreless were the enemy. The baddest-things. Evil. But what was going on?

In a moment of genius, I realized what was happening.

She was begging for forgiveness, hoping that her offerings would wipe away her great blasphemy; hoping that the Great Core would show her mercy.

I slithered forward slightly, the movement slow and ponderous, before placing the offering in my mouth.

Then, I spit it out.

You think that you can buy the Great Core’s forgiveness with a tiny offering like this?

It disgusted me. I hissed.

The Coreless reacted with a series of senseless jabbering, realizing that the forgiveness for their blasphemy would not be so easy to earn.

“Does he not like cooked food? I don’t have anything raw…”

“I really think that it’s you he doesn’t like, Valera. Didn’t he bite you, earlier?”

“Well, yeah, but we were attacking his Core at the time. Do you think he’s still upset? He’s the one who ate it, not me.”

The blasphemer reached into a second skin-mouth, retrieving a different offering, and threw it towards me.

At the same time, the second female Coreless tore the needle-fang spitter from her back in a blur of motion. I panicked, bobbing my head back and turning towards the mana-water behind me. I was too slow.

I heard the thrum of a needle-fang being launched through the air. I heard the thump of it landing in place. A few moments later, I heard the squelch of crushed flesh.

But I was okay.

And a few slithers to my side, laying on her back and wiggling her many legs furiously, was the mother Aridae.

Now that was an acceptable offering. I turned towards the second female, offering her a hiss of gratitude. The first female received a hiss of disappointment.

She would have to learn better.

I decided to give the second female a name. She deserved it, despite being a disgusting Coreless.

I decided to call her Needle, in honor of her offering.