Chapter 8: Don't even start about having babies.
The famed Library of Witches held millennia of history, records, and recipes about almost everything. Her life revolved mostly around reading the tomes and analects.
However, she couldn't recall anything about these beings!
Encountering beasts with sentience, and even talking, was a first for her and probably within the witch's circle despite living long for centuries.
Those old reclusive grannies would certainly empty out their rooms and potion chambers to downright flock over these two had they known there were strange species that they had never known existed.
But that's them, not her!
She's not even the slightest bit curious at all let alone wants to be their lover!
Goodness!
Just imagine, waking up every day with a big snake coiling around her body or a massive red bear on her side of the bed is enough to give her a heart attack!
'That's too much for my weak heart, Mister Fang. Please reconsider your claim and just find a suitable mate of your kind! I'll just be your servant and clean your house if you want!'
Don't even start about having babies.
Aella's mind was already occupied with her possible mornings and days, to even think about what was ahead.
Luckily she was quite a simpleton and newly weaned witches who just got freed themselves from their clan's strict rules are rather innocent about worldly matters.
If she did, forget about continuing this story. She would've incurred a hemorrhage at the thought of conceiving snake eggs and cubs for bear!
"Enough. Stop spewing nonsense. Unless you die, you are bound to me, you're mine you hear?" Fang looked her in the eye, locking her with his pair of red scarlet orbs, a playful grin rising on his carmine lips.
"Don't worry, I won't allow you to die so you will forever be with me," he resolved making the girl nothing but uncomfortable.
"F-Forever?" Aella flinched. She only wanted to go back to her family.
What do you mean forever you overbearing, idiotic snake?!
Wouldn't that swearing to be with her for hundreds of years?
'Ugh! I should've just committed the crime with a human, at least only a lucky few live past 50! I would've been free with the rest of my years!'
***
"Since you seem to understand my words now, let me be clear," his eyes remained tangled directly in her line of sight.
Aella gulped, unable to conceal the discomfort of being stared at by the snake's red predatory eyes.
Fang doesn't seem to have noticed and just continued, "Listen. In the past fortnight, I saved you from drowning when the dam broke out. You should be aware that if not for the fact that I've been providing you with my precious energy to help you out from freezing to death you would be a cold corpse at this mom—"
Hearing his story, the crimson bear whom the girl had nearly forgotten existed also chimed in, "Oh I was there as well! I provided heat while traveling back to our lair. But we had to take a detour and stay in this abandoned shelter because of your condition."
A calm and soothing manly voice echoed in her ears, different from the cold, harsh tone of the snake previously.
Thanks to his explanation, bit by bit, Aella could somehow understand the gist of what had transpired.
But...
"A flood? Fortnight?" she knitted her brows and looked at them in disbelief, "Are you saying that I've been with you for two weeks time? H-How is that even possible?"
Was she miraculously flushed into another world with talking giant beasts?!
If it was that long and there was a flood... the group she came with... are they still alive? Were they all dead or perhaps... perhaps eaten?!
"Heuk!" Aella gasped and shuddered.
Then would her parents still be looking for her? Her hope for rescue... Aella felt like her world crumbled.
Mistaking the evident scrunching of her expression as doubt, Fang snorted, "Stop whining. If anything else, you should be grateful that I chose to breed with you instead of wailing like a pig in the gallows," he gushed.
Slowly, Aella painstakingly tried to compose herself.
"I'm... thankful. But you don't need to be needlessly rude everytime you open your mouth," she softly criticized but the snake's keen sense, her voice still fell on his ears.
Fang held his tongue and looked away as if he had just been struck by lightning, seeing the girl's dispirited appearance. Claw had mentally taken note of it as well on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Aella felt guilty and thorn, 'He saved me?' She was quite skeptical of his words, but there must be truth to it, seeing that she was still breathing.
She could hardly sigh, the thing that saved her life, "That... That essence must be precious."
"Of course so be grateful!" Fang unintentionally exclaimed, it could be easily mistaken as him pointing out her lack of gratitude.
For this reason, Aella's face could no longer be painted clear due to irritation.
Why must he behave all arrogant? Can't he at least keep his mouth for a minute like that big bear and stop putting on air? She would gladly thank him had he been keen on his uptake all this while.
He was nothing but rude to her, shouting and terrifying her with his glares.
Fine. He saved her but he also took something precious from her in the process!
Since he was an intelligent being why can't he be a little bit understanding?
Aella felt it was unfair to be treated by him like this!
Although she can't really say but her mana is also a precious part of her existence as a witch. It was hard to part with it since it is connected to her lifeline.
To be precise, it was the Origin Pearl similar to that of a dragon's mana heart that houses her mana that was valuable for witches.
She may be grateful, but a huge part of her wants to protest.
Would coitus be the only way he had to impart his energy and save her?
'Have—Having... an intimate night with a snake. Hic! Just imagining it is just so—oh my goodness Aella!' she immediately scolded herself.
Why on earth would you imagine it? She must have gone crazy!
She shook her head and kept away all the unnecessary distractions from twisting her head. Aella closed her eyes, a shiver of anticipation running down her spine upon checking the truthfulness of his claims.
The sensation of an unfamiliar energy coursing through her meridians was undeniable, as real as the ground beneath her feet. Within her Origin pearl lies another silhouette of an unfamiliar core, dark but soothing.
It was a warmth that spread from her insides, like a gentle balm posing a stark contrast to the fierce and ill-tempered serpent from whom it originated.
Had the snake not confessed, she would have mistaken this energy for the divine blessing often spoken of in hushed reverence within the sacred halls of the human churches.
Yet, she had no personal experience with such holy powers, her knowledge limited to whispered tales and ancient scriptures.
Dark but at the same time felt sacred? Woah! Did Satan start to convert to sanctity?
Aella's intrusive thoughts seemed to spread in her mind like a plague.
Ah, she must've fallen doomed due to her unclean thinking!
Oh, Goddess bless her soul.