I woke up to a screeching noise. Unlike the days before, my fatigue got to me and I wasn't the first to wake up that morning.
Yellow.
I saw a flash of yellow as layers of dried mucus flaked off my body as I tried to focus on what was around me through my drowsiness.
Blinking rapidly - ie sliding my eyes back into my head rapidly, my vision cleared as I felt a wet foot slap against my body.
"Huh...?" I expressed out loud while in a daze.
A felt another slap.
I looked down.
A ring of sharp pointy grey-coloured pebbles backed by multi-coloured ones had surrounded me. Sticking out of the pebbles were shades of beige. Bodies... my siblings and the Spiked-shells.
Seeing that their size was smaller, I knew I grew larger during the night.
I heard another screech.
The circle of Spike-shelled snails that surrounded me opened up and a line of snails slid through to face me.
'7, 11, Mistra, 60...' I thought as I stared down at the area in front of me. My shadow covered almost the entire colony.
Quickly, my eyes shifted specifically to 7. Tiny, but confident he stared worriedly at me from below.
If my name was also a number, I would be 48. Why? I was eight times 7's size. But unfortunately, I was still a nameless snail. The unique super brother gluttonous rainbow-shelled snail. If you were hoping to learn of my name so early, you're going to have to wait because I haven't told you about "her".
She was the one... who gave me a name.
But anyways. Let's continue with day 22.
What? You want to know about her right now?
No way. I'll tell you later... We'll get to her when we get to her.
...
Surrounded completely by my siblings, 7 was the first to approach me that morning. Instead of concern for my safety or surprise at my growth, I was met with a stern question.
"Why did you do it?"
"What do you mean?" I asked as I didn't know what he meant.
"Why did you eat Sim?" 7 asked me.
His statement surprised me.
'Sim.' I thought as stared around at my shell.
...
As you expected, I didn't eat Sim on the day before. No. I didn't listen to the gluttonous voice. No matter how convincing the voice was I would never eat one of my siblings. Never! Instead of eating him, I stuck Sim on my shell with a thick layer of mucus. I wanted to bring his body back to our colony. Despite all the complaints from the gluttonous voice, I wanted to give our family the last chance to see him before I dropped him down into the abyss. I wanted to give him a proper burial surrounded by our family.
Well, that was my intention.
Once again, it was like the heavens were against my good intentions.
...
I continued to search my shell and couldn't find anything. No shell, no Sim.
"Sim... Well, Sim's body was attached to..." I tried to explain while looked more carefully. I still didn't know why he would have thought that I ate Sim.
Turning my body around carefully as to not poke myself against the shell of the Spike-shelled snail's bodies, I twirled around in an attempt to find Sim once more.
I found nothing.
"Okay. I don't know where his body is... but you have to trust me. I... I just wanted to give you all a last chance to see him. I wanted you all to know that he was a hero of a snail through and through. In the Labyrinth, he used his life to save mine..." I began to explain myself.
Ignoring my explanation 7 continued as he gestured at me wildly.
"One of the other snails said they saw you come back in the night." 7 started. "She saw you and wanted to welcome you back... but didn't want to wake you up... Curious of your size... she slid up and she saw... she saw Sim.
"I was trying to tell you... he died while trying to save..."
But before I could finish, 7 interrupted me.
"The dead body of our brother... strung across your shell. Scared she ran backwards and woke me up... When we came back to see if she was telling the truth and he was gone."
"But how did you all come to the idea that I ate him?" I asked loudly as I didn't understand how they put those two ideas together.
"I spent all this effort to bring him back with me. Why would I bring him back to eat him?"
"YOU!" I heard suddenly from behind 7. The shout was followed by a high-pitched screech.
As if hearing and order, the circle of Spiked-shelled snails that were surrounding me began to cave in on me as they inched forward as I felt their spikes stick into my body from my sides and back.
Another screech was bellowed out. This time it was from 7. It seemed that 7 had learned the Spiked-shelled snails' language while I was gone.
"60 STOP!" 7 gestured as he slid between her and me. He wasn't quick enough as 60 barreled through at top speed and appeared in front of me.
"YOU MURDERER!" she yelled out as she began to pummel my body. Tiny stings - my body shook with each of her hits as my health bar ticked ever-so-slightly lower.
Quickly the adventuring team slid up behind her and pulled her back as she yelled profanities that I had never heard of at my face.
"We know what you did." 11 said as she slid up towards me.
"11... not you too. I told you all, I only brought Sim's body back because I wanted to give him a proper burial - one final moment with his family. I'm sure you all can agree right? We lost so many. Blown off by a wind, fell off with a leaf, kidnapped by black-coloured six-legged creatures. We couldn't say goodbye..."
"Not that." 11 replied. "7 told us... Brother... We trusted you... so how could you?"
"What do you mean?" I called out. "What do you all mean?!?" I asked while I looked around at all my siblings and the Spike-shelled snails that were around me. Nothing made sense. I didn't understand why my siblings would suddenly turn against me.
Instead of 11, 7 replied. "I told 60 first... 60, I told the rest of them. I told them of your plan to get rid of the Spiked-shelled snails. How you did something to their leaf... How you killed hundreds of Spike-shelled snail's lives a few days ago."
Reacting to 7, 60 begun to bawl out loud. "I TRUSTED YOU, BROTHER! I GAVE YOU A CHANCE. BUT YOU ALREADY KNEW THE TRUTH. YOU MURDERER!"
Stunned, I looked at the snail's around me as I started to feel a pressure boil down against me.
Of course, I ignored the voice.
"Well... that... might be true." I said meekly. I already regretted my actions, but since it already came to light, I couldn't deny it. It would have made my situation worse.
A wave a shock and panic spread through the crowd that surrounded me.
"It... wasn't my intention at first. It was a last resort... It was to protect you all in the case we had to go to war." I explained. "I did it to protect all of you. Please believe me."
Voices of displeasure rose up from the crowd as 7 slid up towards me.
"Brother... you should leave." He said with a hint of regret.
"But..."
"We just can't trust you... anymore. Don't worry I'll protect our siblings in your place..."
"But..."
"LEAVE!" 60 screamed out loud.
'Leave...?' I thought as I watched the group of Spiked-shelled snails that blocked me in regroup beside me leaving me only one path to tread forward on - The Labyrinth of White.
Unsure of what to do, I turned around.
"LEAVE!" 60 screeched even louder.
...
I paused to look at the faces of my siblings. Disappointment on some, anger on others. I knew I couldn't stay any longer. 7 was right.
I looked behind one more time before I left my family behind. After everything I did for them, I was forced to leave...
As I slid towards the White Labyrinth, the gluttonous voice spoke once more.
[Quest: Protect the colony!]
+ [Status: Exiled]
+ [Title acquired: The Exiled Leader]
[Quest: Train a new leader!] (updated)
Current progress: 65%