"And so I did Child. I took on the challenge of training your mother and her mind. Years passed by and she grew larger and larger, but something inside her was changing as well. We all feasted upon the fruits of the Ancient tree and grew larger and stronger, but your mother seemed to take in more of its essence and grow even stronger. Her spots on her shell slowly faded away just light the light green shell that all snails of our lineage had."
"It was like her true colours were showing through beneath her shell. It was a palette of hues and rainbows... and I guess that was where your lineage began."
...
"Mind games. I taught her how to play mind games. I taught her how to lie to manipulate... I guess that was my mistake Child. I raised her too well. She was cunning too cunning and it took way too many deaths for us to realize why..."
The blackness that surrounded me gave birth to another world once more as creatures were dashing about the branches.
They were gathering. Thousands of them.
The ancient snail, surrounded by hundreds of other snails with the same shell as her slid towards gathering as well. On particular snail stood out from the group and I knew who it was.
'Mother.' I thought as I continued.
...
They were all gathering in what looked to be the centre of the tree - the little cover situated at where all the large branches grew out from.
A council of different beasts and insects stood in the centre and waited for the Ancient Tree's denizens to gather.
Thousands of different bodies and hundreds of species began to file in. Most of them I recognized from the war, some, however, were new.
...
"We have gathered today because there have been murders within our colonies."
Crowds of creatures murmured around in response.
"These deaths aren't random deaths, they have been targetted."
"And our adversary is strong. Strong enough to kill ancients. Yes, ancients."
"Many leaders have been found completely dead to poison. Bleeding out in sparsely populated areas of the tree. Mutilated beyond recognition."
The crowd grew rowdier as they whispered to each other. Fear started to grow within their eyes as they continued to talk among themselves.
"There has been no activity from the outside. Nor have there been reports of suspicious activity on the tree... so there is a murderer."
"Rest assured we have already started to investigate each and every death. We have consulted with the Ancient Spotted-Shell snail and she also helped us analyze our findings. Unfortunately, she too was unable to determine who the assailant was. But she did confirm one thing.
"It was one of us."
Instantly the crowd burst as mass hysteria began to spread. Worried faces appeared everywhere as creatures looked towards their leaders for reassurance. Sensing the growing panic, the leaders immediately reacted and calmed them down as one of the council began to speak once more.
"Calm down. Fear not. The general populace isn't in danger or in harm's way. The murderer seems to be only targetting the strongest among us. You all, the general public are safe."
"What we need to do now that we know is to survey the situation. Monitor those that seem suspicious. Report any deaths of leaders and Ancients. We will find this miscreant and eliminate them with no doubt. We just need a clue of some kind. That's why we implore all of you to help out. No killer can make every kill perfect. They are bound to make a mistake and we will catch them."
"You are all dismissed."
...
Soon the groups began to disperse as I was drawn to the location of my great-grandmother.
"Do you think we'll be targetted too?" a spotted snail asked her.
"I'm sure they would think twice about doing it," she replied with certainty.
"Should we set up patrols?" asked another snail. The same snail that appeared in one of the scenes that I witnessed previously - my grandmother.
"Yes. We should." the ancient snail replied. "Place guards around the leader's posts and tell them to group together for safety..."
"What about us?" a smaller and tinier snail asked. "What if they switch from leaders and ancients to us? Will we have to live in fear all day? What will I tell the children?"
"I wouldn't worry too much." the ancient snail replied. "This will be over soon. I know it."
"How can you be so certain, leader? Didn't they just say that even you don't know who the culprit is?"
"I just know." The ancient snail replied as she began to smile creepily.
Then the scene began to fade as another replaced it.
It was dark. The moonlight shone downwards on the branch and there were two beings... two snails that were still awake. Both of which I knew. It was the ancient snail and my grandmother.
...