Valerian did not know how many days it has been since he fell unconscious in the woods. When he slowly opened his eyes, he found himself staring at a stone ceiling.
The ceiling was not very high but it was not a problem for him to sit up, gradually when he retained his focus, he recalled the last thing in his line of sight. A pair of menacing yellow eyes staring at him.
At first, Valerian was confused about whom those eyes belonged, however, at this moment all the confusion was cleared. In front of him lay a big snake, and big was the only word that Valerian could come up with at the moment.
The snake was black in color, the body covered with shiny scales, and it was coiled up on the ground. Valerian did not even dare to take a heavy breath, he did not know anything about this beast in front of him and the aura radiating from the snake was enough to make the crocodile from earlier reduce to a lizard.
The snake seemed to have sensed his movements and raise its head. There it was again, the menacing pair of eyes staring right at him.
Valerian gulped and tried to slide back. The snake flickered the snake tongue, 'Hmm, awake I see. I wonder if he is feeling alright.'
Valerian habitually replied by making a slithering noise, 'I am alright, thank you.'
The menacing eyes changed, the snake opened them to the limit. It hissed again, 'Indeed, you are different from other humans. How are you able to talk to me?'
That said, the snake uncoiled itself and began to move toward Valerian, animals were very simple, if they feel curious about you, they will approach you.
Valerian closed his eyes and after raising his hands in front of him, the boy hissed again, 'Why are you coming here? I do not taste good. I swear they call me cursed, I am poisonous, please do not eat me.'
The boy never expected that being called a curse could save his life one day. His sudden plea made the snake stop, or more like freeze in its path.
It raised the head to look at the boy again and hissed, 'What do you think of me? How can I eat a human? Your kind really says anything that comes to your mouth. Also, what is this poisonous stuff, I am a snake, are you sure you want to tell me that poison will harm me? I just want to know, how you are talking to me. Do not over-estimate yourself, I do not eat human meat, you guys are rotten.'
Valerian could sense the disdain radiating from the speech of the beast but he did not care, he was fine as long as this guy does not swallow him whole. He let go of the pressure in his mind a bit.
He asked, 'If you do not want to eat me, then, how did I come here?'
'Oh that, I had an intuition that you are not a normal human, so I dragged you here and cured the poison in your body. Yet you dare to accuse me. Humph.', replied the snake.
Valerian nodded and said, 'I apologize, also thank you for your help, can you tell me what happened to me?'
The snake nodded humanely and said, 'You were bitten by a Subita Morte, an insect that can kill anything it bites within a few seconds.'
Valerian mumbled the name, this name means sudden death, for the first time they had named something very appropriately. The snake hissed again to bring back the boy from his imagination of dying suddenly.
'Now, you will answer my questions, how can you talk to me?', asked the snake.
Valerian replied, 'Ever since I was little, I could talk to all the animals and birds around the orphanage. How am I able to do this? I have no idea.'
The snake nodded and asked, 'What is an orphanage?'
Valerian was surprised but then he replied, 'It is a place where children with no parents go.'
The snake slithered its tongue and said, 'Very interesting, in my kind, the child will hunt the parents and eat them to get stronger or it will die.'
Valerian felt a chill run down his spine at this statement. He did not expect this guy to say such things to him. The snake began to interrogate the boy about how things worked in the human world, and this also allowed the boy to vent out his frustration.
Time passed and Valerian gazed at the opening of the cave as he asked, 'Oh, can you tell me how long I have been unconscious?'
The snake replied, 'Three days.'
Valerian nodded, he did not know what more to talk about, then he suddenly asked, 'What is your name, sir?'
The snake stared at him with hateful eyes and hissed, 'Who are you calling sir? I am a lady, look at my tail, is it not slender and delicate. How dare you call me a Sir?'
Valerian hurriedly apologized and asked, 'What is your name?'
The snake lay down on the ground and said, 'Do you think we are all mammals? Snakes do not have a name.'
Valerian nodded and asked, 'What kind of snake are you? I can tell you are not a normal snake. You are a magic beast, right? Also, can I give you a name? It is awkward to call you snake.'
The snake nodded in a humane manner, and said, 'I am what they call Illusionis Serpens. You can give me a name, although, I find it to be useless, but fine, whatever.'
'Then I will call you, Gleam. Also, can you make illusions around you?', asked the boy.
The snake nodded and asked, 'What is your name and what can you do?'
'Valerian, and I am a battlemage.', as he said.
The snake nodded and said, 'I see, so what brings you to the forest of Acies, Valerian?'
Then the child was about to explain another story but he was disrupted by his rumbling stomach. He had not eaten a decent meal in three days.
Given that he was bitten by that insect at night. He was embarrassed, the snake said, 'Hmm, hungry I presume, you can go out and collect some fruits, do not try to take down big preys yet, the herbivores are not actually vegetarian.'
Valerian was confused and asked, 'What do you mean?'
'The animals will fight for their lives, and you cannot imagine how powerful one is when it comes to the point of survival. This is something you need to learn. I will give you a tip, never hesitate. Now go.', said the snake.
Valerian nodded and after thanking the snake. He crawled his way out of the cave. He found that the sun had almost set, and the forest was about to get lively. He was hesitating when suddenly, he recalled the tip given to him by the snake.
He recalled how he was able to take down Gloria, Emundatio, and even the first prince. It was all because he did not hesitate at all.
He recalled his training with Priscilla, every time he hesitated, the traps will get the better of him, during his spars things were the same if he held back from attacking.
He recalled his days inside the orphanage, then he recalled how he decisively left the city palace. All these memories gave him strength like never before. Affirming his mind about the things he was about to do, Valerian moved and soon he vanished into the woods.
After he left the snake also came out of the burrow and crawled into the woods. It was going to look for prey of his own.
While young Valerian was exploring the woods. Rectus, Quies, and Priscilla were given a task, they were to find him in three directions, and the fourth direction was taken over by Azula, herself.
The first prince also wanted to do something to help them find Valerian, however, Azula had shut this guy inside a room so as to not raise another storm.
Azula sat on a chair and asked, "Do you all understand the plan?"
The other three nodded, and Azula said, "Do not try to bag the glory, call for all of us when you find a clue."
That said, Azula stood up, and then all of them moved to look for Valerian in four different directions.
…
Rectus stood at the edge of the forest and mumbled, 'Child, if you were wronged, then you could have told me so, if you needed help then you could have come to me. However, you do not trust me yet.
Well, since you wish to stay outside and learn on your own, I will watch over him in silence.'
Just as he entered the forest, a small red bird noticed him and started chirping and tweeting. It was not just one bird, but all the small birds started to chirp.
Valerian had asked the birds, to tell him if they find anyone from his kin entering the forest. The birds agreed to help him, after all, the free creatures had nothing to do, so why not help this different human?
…
Somewhere deep inside the forest, Valerian was collecting wild fruits when he heard chirping sounds, and his eyebrows were raised. A gleam passed through his eyes.