I was given an offer that seemed simple... yet it seemed more complicated than I thought, but I didn't know at the time.
I didn't think too much about it. Looking down at the dying ancient I knew that it was in my blood that I had to accept her offer.
And I did.
"Good child... be better than me... be better than your mother." the ancient began. The ancient seemed to glance rotate her head in a circle as she glanced into the distance. "Just let me prepare myself, child." she said gently.
Taking in deep breaths and sighing as if she had conceded to something in her mind. She continued to look around. I wondered what she was looking at... but know that I think about it. I know what it was... it was her family... our family... and her memories.
Minutes passed and she sighed once more.
"Let's begin." She said as she closed her eyes. "Let my body return back to nature and my soul be reincarnated." she murmured quietly to herself.
Soon the ancient's body began to glow. It wasn't a bright hue or a shining light, but a dim grey glow. She coughed as this happened.
I didn't understand the gravity of the situation until the ancient snail began to cough. With each inhalation, spurts of black nearly dried up blood dripped down its face and down her body. As she did, her skin wrinkled and dried like a prune.
"Dear ancestor... is everything alright?" I asked as I watched with complete attention. Any doubts that I had about her sincerity were immediately washed away as the ancient one continued to cough out the jet black pools blood.
"Child... you... you watched the battle I had with... the other ancient, right? You should know... know that we ancients hold seeds in high regard." The snail began to speak.. still with its eyes closed.
"Yes," I replied. Stunned, I didn't know what to do so I kept listening.
"Child... learn from my mistakes... never trust a hare. Expect... what you won't expect... never let your overconfidence... take over."
"Yes... but dear ancestor..."
"Good. Now..." The ancient one interrupted while coughing up another black pool of blood.
She opened her mouth. Lines of glistening rows of teeth stained black from her blood revealed themselves as the ancient one smiled.
"Take it, child..." She said as a tentacle-like structure reached up towards me on the branch.
Shining with her stick black blood, it placed something in front of my body.
A grey coloured shard. It was a seed. It was just slightly larger than my body. Covered in black coagulated blood, it was far from disgusting. It seemed... almost heavenly as it teemed with a power that I had never experienced before. In fact, I had been too young to even be able to experience it had it not for the situation that was placed in front of me.
The ancient sighed once more.
"The bonds of... of fate have been sown." the ancient one declared as her eyes fluttered and so did the blue text over her head as it turned from LV.???* to LV.???.
The last star was gone.
I stared at the grey shard and back at the snail that was in front of me. The only part of her that was keeping her alive was now missing and it had been placed in front of me. Dilapidated, she began to sag even more.
"I lived... a long life," she muttered to herself as she tilted her head upward again as she shook. Even keeping her head upright was a hard task for her. I could see her emotions in her eyes. Happiness. Sadness. Determination. Confidence. And acceptance.
She was reaching the end. She was on deaths doorstep and she looked like she was ready.
Her eyes remained open as she stared up at me with her glowing yellow eyes that had already begun to dim and fade.
They flared up suddenly.
I felt something inside my body change... but I didn't know what until it began to move on it's on. I struggled against it but I couldn't. Slowly, my body was moving closer and closer to the shard.
"No." she muttered. "I won't force you to accept the gift... but I'll tell you... about it..." as her head sunk lower suddenly and her speech slurred. The hold on my body seemed to release as I backed up away from the shard.
A slight anger was growing within me when she tried to force me to take it, but I continued to listen to the ancient snail.
"Tr... trials awai...t you child. I... I have left... my end... deal... inside... mem..." The ancient one tried to speak out but couldn't. It wanted to say "memory". That the fragments of my mother's story... her early life was inside, but the ancient snail just couldn't speak anymore before she completely keeled over across the floor.
"Accept... accept..." she began to say as she did, but it just couldn't.
She was dead.
'She lived a long life indeed.' I thought to myself as I continued to stare at her dead body.
Ding!
[Quest initiated: Memory of the Ancient] (Unique)
+ Watch the memory of an ancient snail.
[Quest initiated: Trials of the rainbow coloured seed] (Unique)
+ Complete the 7 trials set out by the seed for to become its host.
Her death may have felt more saddening if it wasn't a snail that I had just met... honestly, I didn't know what to do.
'What do you think?' I asked in my head to the gluttonous voice.
'I mean do you think we can trust the ancient snail...' I continued. 'Even though she's apparently our great-grandmother... I just don't feel like she's just that trustworthy... I mean she almost made me believe in her, but she tried to control us.'
Thinking to myself and all the desperate measures I took to survive so far... it seemed to make more and more sense.
'Maybe you're right.'
Inching forth... I looked at the seed once more and remembered what the hare did previously. It grabbed the shard and stabbed it within its body.
Easy right?
Wrong. The problem was that the seed was larger than my entire body. I just didn't know what to do with it. I just didn't know if it would physically make sense. Also... how could a snail even stab something that was bigger than its body into itself... wouldn't I die instead.
I slid circles around the shard as I heard screams and cries from the forest as the seed continued to glowed brighter and began sending out waves of power.
It was quite obvious... other creatures had felt it... the power of a seed and they were coming.
Panicking... I knew that I couldn't let some other creatures take my inheritance... my seed so I did the only thing I could think of.
I ate it.
...