I slid forward and opened my mouth to take in the sweet juices of the leave below me as I moved. As I did so, a new horizontal bar appeared below the red, yellow and blue bars. Instead of the bright colours above it, this bar was completely black and it was much shorter than the bars above it.
What was more peculiar was that the bar seemed to shake when I ate. And it seemed to increase in length, if only slightly. 'Is that my stomach?' I asked myself as I slid towards where 60 was interned. I placed that question in the back of my mind as I slid forward. I really couldn't tell and I didn't know what the bars were in the first place.
...
Slowly, I approached a group of snails that had surrounded 60. We didn't have spiked-shells so I had the defence team take shifts watching over her. I didn't want her to escape. She was our bargaining chip.
...
As I slid forward, I noticed that something was odd. In fact, everything looked odd. Without the damned light blue boxes blocking out my vision, everything I saw appeared to be smaller. To me, both my siblings and the leaf itself had shrunk like a grape shrinking into a raisin. Okay, fine not like that, but they did shrink.
And then I realized it.
They didn't shrink. No. It was me. I had grown big. I was huge. I was twice the size that I was the day before. If I could use 7 as a comparison of a large snail, I suddenly grew to 3 times his size. I was massive. I was so massive that me moving on the leaf had begun to tilt the leaf forwards. What I thought was the wind that was moving the leaf was actually me. My weight was actually tilting the leaf itself!
'I'm a fat snail... But I guess now I'm literally the "Big" brother snail.' I thought as my stature towered over my siblings that were sliding around below me.
That was not the only thing that was different that morning. As I approached the snails, blue squiggles began to appear above their heads. I didn't know what they meant at the time so I chose to ignore them. Instead, I went to wake up 60 who was hiding within her shell.
...
"Hello, 60," I said. My voice seemed to boom straight through the leaf and everyone heard me. I'm kidding. It didn't, but I like to think it did, as every snail that was surrounding 60 turned and stared up at me.
Gradually, 60 poked her head out of her shell. "RELEASE ME AT..." Then she paused as she saw me. "Brother... You have... What's wrong with your body?" she asked.
"Ha! Only good snails get to grow as large as me! You and your evil ways have kept you small and weak. Look at me now!" I said as I flexed. "I can take out your Spike-shelled snail leader that you had grown so close to in an instant." I continued to boast as I flexed my well-chiselled body.
60 continued to stare up at me in awe, just like the other snails. They sure didn't expect my sudden growth. But neither did I. I just wanted them to admire me, if only for a moment...
Moments passed and I decided to break the silence.
"So. 60... What do you think I should do in this situation?" I asked her.
"What do you mean, dear brother?" She asked meekly as she stared up at me. I mean I could understand her fear. I was now over three times her size and could crush her at any moment.
"I mean... what should I do about you and the Spike-shelled snails," I asked. "You should have noticed that we can't win in a war and we'll lose many snails even if I can probably take out a third of them on my own now." I continued.
I asked her that question, but I already had the answer in mind. I just wanted to see her squirm a little. What? Am I a sadistic snail?
...
"Um... use me... as an offer of peace?" 60 replied quietly.
"YOU BETRAYED US AND YOU STILL WANT TO LIVE?" I suddenly shouted which caught the surrounding snails and 60 off guard. Instantly, most of the snails around me ducked into their shells including 60. Damn. I was a scary big snail.
60 poked one of her eyes out and replied. "What other choice do you have?"
"Oh, I have lots of choices. Many that don't involve you living... and many that involve you being alive... But how about this..." I said as I paused. I wanted to give her time to think about the possible outcomes and possible consequences of her future actions.
No. I'm not sadistic, okay? I wanted to show her who was in charge of the leaf and the situation, okay?
...
I watched as 60 looked to me with anticipation. Only the heavens knew what was going through her head at the time. I watched as she started sweating mucus as I intensely stared straight at her. After a few minutes, 60 finally couldn't wait anymore. "What? What do you have planned? What do you want to do to me? If you want to kill me just do it! Just end my life. I can't take it anymore!"
"Hmmm? What's that? What's my brilliant plan?"
"YES! JUST TELL ME ALREADY!" shouted 60 in anguish.
"Hmmm? What's that? What's my brilliant plan?" I repeated. I tried to act like the voice that I heard myself from earlier. Yup, that's correct. That same voice that annoyed me to the heavens that morning.
"JUST... TELL ME? Are you going to torture me? Are you going to throw me off the leaf? Are you going to let me be used as the other snail's plaything to relieve their stress? What are you going to do?" She shouted in anguish.
"Hmmm? What's that? What's my brilliant plan?" I repeated once more.
"JUST TELL ME." She yelled as she began to bawl out of control.
"Hmmm? Oh, you can go back to the Spike-shells." I said.
Yup. I wanted her to go back.
"What... you must be kidding me right? What kind of sick joke is that?" 60 asked me quietly through her tears. I mean mucus shower.
"Yup. You can go back. Back to the Spike-shells. Quell the situation. That's your job." I insisted.
"But... why? Why would you let me go back? How can you trust me?"
"Hmmm? Nah, I trust you. I'm a stupid snail after-all. It's not like I didn't set up counter-measures. Nope, I'm your stupid big brother. Your irresponsible brother who lets traitors live. I totally didn't put a plan into place to destroy you and the Spike-snails whole colony in one swoop or anything. I mean it's as easy as one flip of a foot. I can kill you all in an instant." I said fallaciously. Of course the last part was a lie, but killing them in one swoop? That was completely true.
"But I don't understand... Why would... would you let me live? You can just kill me off and then kill off Spike-shelled snails in one go if you could." she asked. 60 was really smarter than she looked.
"Good question sis. Why would I let you live? Well, the truth is I can't kill you. You're my sister! Just kidding. I can, but I won't. What our family needs are allies. As of now we only have ourselves."
"But.." she tried to say, but I quickly interrupted her.
"DON'T QUESTION ME. JUST GO!" I shouted. "GO BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!" I added before I turned around and slid off into the distance. I didn't even look back. I knew I made quite the impression on her.
Yup, I was the boss snail. The snail that gave all the demands.
"Ding. Quest updated!" the voice that had kept quiet all this time chimed in after I slid away. I ignored it. I didn't want to deal with it once more.
'As long as it doesn't block my vision again, I'm fine with an occasional sound.' I thought. 'But what is this quest?'
As I thought about the quest, I slid to go see the adventuring team that I had rescued the day before. But before I got there, 7 suddenly stopped me.
...