Chapter 2: Aya Sasaki Awakens in Another World
◇ Aya Sasaki’s Perspective ◇
It was freezing. This bus had no heating, and I was shivering.
Why did this happen...?
The heat had stopped working in the middle of a blizzard, and now, a freezing wind was blowing in through a broken window.
My hands were numb as my breath plumed into white clouds. The air was cold enough that it hurt my lungs.
No one would be able to bear this.
Well, Takatsuki’s still playing games.
He’d been my best friend in class since middle school, and he was currently playing a video game, just like he would always do during any lunch break.
He’d been having some silly conversation with Fujiwara until a few moments ago, but they’d quieted down now.
Fujiwara probably didn’t have the energy anymore.
The only sounds were the howling wind and Takatsuki tapping the buttons on his console.
Maybe I should say one last thing to him?
Come on, don’t just play. Look over here.
It’s super cold, right? Are you shivering?
Hmm, maybe something cuter?
Are you enjoying that game? I can never get into RPGs.
I wanted to play games with him again.
I’m jealous of him. Both his parents work late, so he gets to play on his own into the night.
Takatsuki...
Hey...
Look...this way...
Let me...hear you...one last time...
The words came to my mind, but none of them left my lips.
I can’t...
My mind descended into darkness.
◇
There was no light when I woke up. Pitch black. I couldn’t see anything, but I could still think.
What? This is scary.
I couldn’t move my hands. Or my legs. It was like I didn’t even exist.
Am I alive? Or have I died?
Oh, I can move my body. That’s good—I’m probably alive.
It feels bizarre though.
I turned over and it felt like I’d twisted twice. Almost like my body had gotten really long...
I’m probably just imagining things, I eventually thought. I just need to ask someone where I am.
I’d been trapped in a bus before I’d passed out, according to my memories, so this must have been a hospital or something.
No, it couldn’t be. It wasn’t anything like that.
Anyway, I need to get out!
I wasn’t entirely sure how I was moving, but I thrashed around nonetheless.
Crack!
I heard a harsh sound as I broke through something and leaped outside.
Yeah, it’s dark. I can’t see anything.
It wasn’t the complete blackness of earlier; I could see some faint light. Not enough to tell where I was though. I crawled forward with a fuzzy feeling in my head.
I heard a voice from above. “Oh, so you are the fastest of your sisters, my child.”
I peered up to where the voice had come from.
There was a huge, beautiful woman up there. Someone that looked like a Hollywood actress. Despite her beauty, she gave off the impression of being somewhat harsh. I didn’t recognize her either.
“My adorable child, show me your face.”
No, no, no.
My mom’s more Japanese-looking, and she’s of a more normal height. She wasn’t someone that could turn literally every head as she passed in the street!
But this woman... Her figure was like a westerner, with the chest, waist, and hi— Hang on?
Wasn’t she a bit too pale?
And...not wearing clothes?
With...a strange...lower half?
She had, uh, scales, and, well, no legs...
“Oh my, it would seem that your siblings are awakening as well.”
My siblings? I was the eldest and had four younger brothers. They used to play with me a lot but stopped wanting to hang out with their older sister as we got bigger. I’d felt a little bit abandoned by them recently.
They used to be like, “Siiiisss! Let’s play!”
But now, they wouldn’t even play video games with me anymore.
I’d complained to Takatsuki about that a fair bit, hadn’t I? Oh, I wonder if he’s safe?
The sight of him playing his handheld right ’til the end came back to my mind. Seriously, he’d always been so focused on his games, tee hee.
While I was pondering that, I turned around, not really thinking about anything else.
And that’s why I couldn’t understand what was happening.
There were many, many, many of my siblings, right there in front of me.
They had no limbs.
They were crawling along the ground.
They had slick bodies and long eyes.
Their tongues flicked out...
They were snakes.
All around me were...snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes. Snakes.
Snakes as far as the eye could see.
I screamed. I couldn’t accept what I was seeing, and I felt my consciousness start to fade.
Even as I passed out, though, I could vaguely understand one thing.
I’d become a snake... A snake monster.
Come on, god. Don’t you think this is a bit much?
◇ Several Months Later ◇
Dear mom, dad, and my little brothers,
Are you well? I’m doing fine and working hard in this distant other world. My mood, though...
This is the worst...
I’d been reincarnated as a snake. At first, I’d thought it was some nightmare, but this was no dream.
Lately, I’d also come to realize that this wasn’t Earth. I’d thought that maybe I’d been reborn as some kind of cryptid, but I was sure these creatures didn’t exist in my old world.
Lamia. That’s what kind of monster I was now. I’d heard that term from the “great mother” who, I suppose, had birthed me. By now, I’d gotten used to being surrounded by snakes all day, but it was still terrifying if I do say so myself.
I was so glad that I was fine with reptiles. Also, the greatest difference from before was...
“Hey, hey, that frog was great!”
“I prefer insects though...”
“Worms are gross.”
“They’re kinda muddy-tasting, yeah.”
My sisters had all been tiny snakes when they’d been born, but now, their upper halves looked like cute little girls. The things they would talk about were far from cute though. They eat frogs and bugs!
I wasn’t an ordinary snake anymore either. I’d shed my skin several times, and now, I was also a human from the waist up.
“Come here, little sisters. It’s dinner time,” we all heard.
We young children were fed by our sisters (older lamiae), and we ate whatever they brought back.
Our great mother didn’t work, as a rule. After all, she was our alpha and our pillar!
We didn’t seem to have a father. I’d asked an older sister about it once, and she’d looked at me with a scary face and had told me not to mention it in front of mother. I guess there’s a story behind that?
Right, dinner time. We were growing kids, after all, only being a few months old.
Food for us youngsters consisted of... Rats, frogs, lizards, spiders, caterpillars, songbirds, some carp-looking fish, and a mound of fruits.
“Yayyy!” my sisters cheered as they swarmed the food. I gave it all a sidelong look and considered for a moment.
I guess that looks edible...?
I selected a bunch of fruit and nibbled away at it. This wouldn’t give me enough nutrients though. Helplessly, I looked over the rest, trying to find something that I could eat.
I just can’t... I thought with a mental sigh.
Lamiae didn’t use heat to cook their food—they usually just swallowed things whole.
I chewed on a little fish that I thought I could eat while watching my sisters gulp down rats and frogs. Ugh... this is awful. I was a full lamia, so this food wouldn’t harm me, but it was far from appetizing when compared with memories of meals from my previous life.
Then, one day...
Oh, they’re carrying something with them? I thought. I saw that my older sisters were dragging a sack that seemed to contain some heavy creature. They must’ve been taking it to the great mother. I’d seen similar things before.
Rare foods were always taken to Mother.
Last time, it had been a huge cow. A bipedal one though.
“It’s called a minotaur!” one of my sisters had proudly explained to us. “Our second sister is the only one that could’ve slain something like that!”
Our “second sister” was essentially our leader, the most important after Mother. She was our second-in-command.
“Mother, we have acquired superb food.” She opened the bag.
Guh!
“@#%!#@$~~@!#$?!!?!”
Out from the sack sprung an armored man. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he yelled something.
“Oh, he is a lively one,” the great mother purred, wrapping her long body around him and gently stroking his hair.
The human’s face paled in fear and he started to shake.
Mother’s mouth split into a grin before, in the next moment, she swallowed him whole.
“Wha?”
M-Mother just...ate...a...human?
Ahhhh... Ahhhhh...
I didn’t know what to do.
I’d thought that this world might just be full of monsters, but no, apparently there were humans as well.
Also, it seemed like they were part of our diet.
“I wonder what humans taste like?”
“I bet they’re super nice.”
“Our sisters have eaten some.”
“No faiiiirr.”
“I want to head out hunting already!”
My sisters’ voices all sounded so innocent, but the actual topic of their conversation was just the worst.
“I’m never going to be able to live with humans, am I...” I sighed.
I’d considered that, if humans were around in this world, I might be able to sneak out and head for a town. The food here is just depressing!
But I saw how scared that human had been. Also, Mother had eaten him in a single gulp.
At this point, I realized that coexistence was a pipe dream.
“You seem down. What’s wrong?” the second sister asked me.
I gave a hurried excuse. “N-Nothing, I just want to head out as well.”
“Hmm, you were the quickest to hatch. I suppose you should all start to catch your own food soon.”
Oh? Would I be able to leave? I’d actually never gone beyond this nest.
My home was essentially just a gloomy cave. It was large enough, but we weren’t allowed outside because it was “dangerous.”
“I think we can take you all out tomorrow,” the second sister said. “Tell your sisters.” With that, she left.
What? Do I need to tell all of them? Ugh, what a pain. Still... I want to leave this place!
When we finally ventured outside, my sisters were all cheering and playing around.
“Wooow.”
“It’s so big!”
“Look at that lake, it’s huge! Sister, can we swim?”
Personally, I was staring at the sight in front of me, dumbfounded.
“Whoa...”
It seemed that our home was a cave behind a huge waterfall. The rumbling noise from vast quantities of gushing water became noticeable as we headed toward the entrance. The spray and mist made everything take on a dull white hue.
If anyone tried to leave our cave directly, they’d get beaten down into the basin by the flow of water, so instead, we followed a path along the side.
“Niagara Falls?” I muttered.
I’d never seen it myself, but the utter wall of water in front of me brought to mind the biggest waterfalls from my old world. The huge downpour had created a massive lake as well. I’d have never believed that there would be such a large body of water underground like this!
Wow! Just, wow! This world is incredible!
An older sister soon called to us. “Come on! Don’t space out—get over here!” Her words hurried me along and didn’t give me the chance to admire the scenery.
Once we’d all gathered, our sister began to explain the situation. “These are your hunting grounds.” She then pointed out an open area near the lake, but this spot didn’t have water falling on it.
“Waheeey!” my other sisters cheered together before scattering.
“Don’t go too far! There are monsters in the deep water!”
Aren’t we monsters too, though? I thought, but I didn’t say anything. That’d be stupid.
So, I proceeded to hop and spring across the rocks. I wondered if there would be any fish, but the turbulence from the falling water made it hard to peer into the depths. I jerked my head upward. Multiple waterfalls surrounded the vast lake, cascading into it, and above them, I could see the sun shining down.
Things must be open up there.
I gazed vacantly up at the first sunlight I’d seen in ages. Black silhouettes were flying around up there as well. Maybe they were large birds? The black shapes were flying in circular arcs.
“Girls! Back inside!” our sister suddenly called in a panic. “Harpies!”
By the time I’d parsed out what she’d said, it was too late.
“Gyaaahh!” came a strange cry. In front of my eyes was a monster with the top half of a woman and the bottom of a bird.
“Wha! Whaaaa?!”
Before I knew it, the harpy’s feet had wrapped around my body and I was high in the air.
“Everyone, back inside. She’s done for!”
Hey! That’s me you’re talking about! Aren’t you giving up on me too quickly? Sister?!
The woman-bird carrying me had a beautiful face that soon twisted into a vicious laugh.
Damn... She’s messing with me because she thinks I’m a kid!
“Take that!” I yelled out, forcefully wrenching her talons apart. Huh, she’s totally weak!
“What?!”
While she was stunned by surprise, I wrapped my snake tail around her, then began to constrict.
“L-Let go!” she screeched.
Well, that ain’t happening. Entwined together, we both fell toward the water and impacted the surface of the lake without our positions changing. The landing was a little rough, but I was unscathed, and I managed to escape the harpy’s grasp.
Great, now time to run!
I swam through the water, heading for home behind the waterfall.
“Gyargh!”
I looked behind me and witnessed the harpy being eaten by a huge crocodile-looking monster. The poor thing had been dragged under, and blood was pluming in the water, alongside feathers from her wings.
Whaaat?! What’s that?! Get it away! Where’d that thing come from?!
I frantically fled and met up with my sisters. They all congratulated me for bringing down a harpy on my first hunt.
That’s nothing to be happy about! What’s with this world?!
It was the day after my fight to the death(?) with the harpy. Apparently, I was now seen as an asset, so the second sister had brought me on a hunt with the older lamiae. The trip wore fairly heavily on me, and I just had to sigh. There were so many dangerous monsters outside! Still, I was able to finish off some orcs and goblins with my older sisters.
That hunt had really taken it out of me today...
“Wooowww,” the rest of my broodmates cheered, looking respectfully at me. This wasn’t something I was really celebrating, though. I wasn’t great at fighting, but I’d realized that I was much stronger than a normal lamia.
Mother had even said, “Your stats are rather high compared to the others.”
Stats? What are they?
Mother didn’t tell me, and instead, just looked away at something.
The following days were spent with the second sister training me to hunt.
Once we were done each day, I always had some free time, and I’d look out through a gap in the waterfall. I could faintly see the sunlight from this spot, and it was a much more comforting scene than the gloomy place where I slept.
At least the completely majestic view and the roar of the crashing water blew away my depressed feelings.
There was a huge splash as a massive reptile broke the surface of the lake. It was a sea serpent.
What’s one of those doing here?!
The lame quip didn’t leave my lips because, after all, this was a fantasy world. But incidentally, sea serpents were snakes in the same way as lamiae, so they weren’t aggressive toward us. A peaceful reaction to our kind was far from the norm, though. The dungeon was usually full of enemies.
There were arachnae, harpies, lizardmen, orcs, and ogres. All of those monsters treated the lake as a sort of rest area, and so we all fought over it. Us lamiae and the harpies were on particularly bad terms. It was odd, as I’d have thought we could get on well since both of our species were demi-humans.
Regardless, the “queen of the harpies” and our mother the “queen of the lamiae” clashed like a cat and dog. They’d been fighting for years.
“Takatsuki would like this world...” I mused, remembering my game-loving classmate. He’d adored RPGs. I know that he’d have been overjoyed to come to a world like this.
“Sasa! Let’s explore a dungeon!”
Yup... That’s definitely something he’d say...
A smile made its way onto my face as I thought of my friend from junior high.
I wonder what happened to him? Maybe he was reincarnated as some other monster? It’s all so overwhelming.
“Gyaaah!” came a piercing scream.
Oh, the sea serpent got a goblin.
This world was actually really bloody, despite the fantasy setting.
Sigh... I want to go to bed.
“Human disguise magic?” I asked. It was several months after our first outing, and my sisters and I were now all used to hunting.
The second sister had brought up something rather interesting. Something that I was excited to hear.
“Humans can sometimes defeat us if we just attack them upfront. Their strength varies. There are weak humans, but also amazingly strong ones.”
Right, right.
“So you need to use human disguise magic when hunting so as to not let your guard down. Like this.” She murmured something and a pale beauty appeared in her place between one blink and the next.
Ooooh! Wow! She transformed into a human!
She had legs now, and there was no indication of her being a lamia. She was also naked, by the way.
“You need to wrap some cloth around yourself when you’re disguised as a human. Wearing nothing will shock them.”
Obviously! I thought, but my sisters were nodding and taking it in stride. I suppose it was a difference in species... Anyway, could I use this?!
If only I could master that magic... I eagerly asked her to teach me.
“You’re good at this,” our second sister commented, impressed with my progress. My sisters were still working at their glamours, but I’d succeeded easily.
“I can’t picture a human.”
“We’ve never seen one properly.”
“How do legs work?”
I ended up needing to teach them. Well, I used to be human after all, so I could thank my previous life for this knowledge.
I’d have rather been a human in this life as well...
“Are you going to come on human hunts, then?” my sister asked.
I panicked. H-Human hunting?!
“N-Not yet. I was actually attacked by a human before, so I’m scared...”
It was a barefaced lie that I could only use because I’d been allowed out on my own recently. I’d not actually met a person yet, but sometimes I saw them when my sisters caught one.
I really don’t want to become a monster that attacks humans...
I didn’t have the resolve or the courage to be that. Besides, I’d given up on coexistence with humans before, but with disguise magic, it seemed possible again.
If I put on my glamour, I’d just look like a pale-skinned girl.
Maybe I’d even be able to live in a human town!
The disguise did have a time limit, though—when my “mana” ran out, the illusion would come undone. It was lucky, then, that I apparently had higher stats than my sisters, so my glamour would probably last a long time. Was this my chance?
I decided to wait in secret for an opportunity to escape. The next problem, though, was language. I couldn’t understand when humans spoke in this world. I was worried about what to do, but my sisters solved that as well.
“Here, this will teach you human language,” said a sister, handing me a book.
You have books for that?! I thought, but it made sense—use their language to trick them.
“You just need to tell a human man, ‘Help me, I’ll do anything in return!’ and you’ll be fine.”
“I...I see...”
Men were easy to understand, weren’t they? I guess that’s how it was, though.
Since my goal was to live in a human town, I worked extra hard on learning their language. Even my sisters wondered why I was putting so much effort into it.
I’m sorry, everyone, but I won’t be here for much longer.
I was getting better at hunting, and I seemed to have some kind of strange ability; when I slithered, I was so much faster than my sisters, as long as I put in a little more effort. I could even double-jump in the air, and if I held my fist tight and built up my strength for a while, I could punch a harpy about a hundred meters back.
“How can you do all of that?” my sisters had wondered. It wasn’t an ability that lamiae had, in general.
“Well, that’s what we call a skill,” Mother had told us. She knew everything. Well, she had been alive for three hundred years after all!
That’s right. Mother was three hundred years old. She just had this presence about her, and however strong I was, I was nothing in comparison.
Whoops, I got off-topic.
“What’s a skill?” I asked.
“Monsters are sometimes born with unusual powers. Humans have them too, but you shouldn’t get involved with a human that has strong skills.”
Oh, that sounds important! This power was a skill, then. Humans have them too, so maybe I got it because I used to be a human. Well, whatever, it meant that I could take on anyone around here.
“My children have been attacked less since you were born. You’re a good girl,” praised Mother.
Survival of the fittest was the rule in this world. It was no metaphor since weak monsters were hunted and eaten. We lamiae weren’t fragile creatures, but we weren’t the toughest either. There were lots of monsters stronger than us in this dungeon.
So, we had to band together because of that. Mother, our second sister, and all our older sisters had said the same thing.
We younger sisters nodded.
Sorry, I won’t be here for long, though.
I gave a figurative bow to my family.
My initial reaction to my new life had been fear. I hadn’t known where I was, and I’d been suddenly reincarnated as some monster I’d never seen before.
In my mind, I’d cursed god. Why was I a snake of all things?
After I’d lived it for a while, though, I realized that lamiae were actually a family-oriented species.
Life in the dungeon was difficult, but we all helped each other. Eventually, I became glad that I’d been reincarnated as a lamia.
I’ll pay this family back as much as possible.
On one occasion, a huge lizard had been attacking my sisters. “Hiyah!” I’d yelled, throwing a single punch and taking out the beast.
During another skirmish, I’d shouted, “Take that!” before striking down a flock of harpies that had attacked my sisters.
Yet another time, I’d screamed “Die!” as I’d hurled rocks at the swarm of arachnae attacking us.
“You’re so tough.”
“I want to be just as strong!”
“But you hardly eat...”
That was what my broodmates had to say, but it wasn’t just them—my older sisters had started relying on me as well.
Before I knew it, I was third-in-command of the lamiae. I’d probably gotten carried away, so I hadn’t noticed it myself, but the second sister was starting to become jealous of me.
“Soon, I think...” I murmured.
I was strong now, probably amongst the most powerful in the family.
If I faced any of the monsters around the lake one-on-one, I wouldn’t lose.
The sisters who’d hatched alongside me had grown up as well, and they were now all used to hunting.
Mother would be laying the next generation of children soon.
And once that happened, we’d be the older sisters. I was sure that I’d get attached to the younger sisters, and then it would be hard to leave.
I decided that the next time I ventured out alone, I’d escape.
“It’s awful! They’ve been attacked by tundra tigers!”
The yell had been sudden. I wasn’t on hunting duty that day, but when I rushed out, I found several of my sisters dead.
Tundra tigers were blue-furred great cats that possessed an ice breath attack. Our clans normally lived a significant distance from each other, so all of us must have come into contact by coincidence.
The white breath of the tigers slowed my movements.
As I sent one flying, I angrily yelled, “What do you think you’re doing?!”
The other tundra tigers saw their compatriot downed by a single blow, and so they all turned tail and ran away.
“Everyone...” I mumbled, slowly moving toward the corpses of my sisters. It was a cruel sight; the tigers had torn them apart and eaten their guts. Even those who’d survived were all battered. “Why...why...?”
“Tundra tigers are natural predators of lamiae. Their breath makes the area colder and slows us down,” the second sister explained regretfully.
What...? I never knew that...
Seeing my sisters dead, feeling the surge of sadness and anger...it got me all fired up.
“Why didn’t you tell us ahead of time?!”
“It’s the rule of the hunt,” said the second sister. “You shouldn’t make assumptions until you know your enemy. You’ll get stronger through experience.”
“No!” I argued. “If you’d told them, they wouldn’t have died!”
“So you’re saying I’m wrong?!”
“I am! You’re wrong!”
It was the first time I’d gone against the second sister. The rule of lamiae was to follow your elder’s instructions, and I’d broken it. But I just couldn’t keep calm with my sisters lying there dead.
I could have saved them if I’d been here! I thought, utterly serious.
“You don’t know anything!” the second sister yelled back at me.
“You’re so stubborn!” I exclaimed. “You killed everyone!”
“And you’d have done better?!”
“Well, at least things would have gone better than what you managed!”
Normally, the second sister would have just sighed and waved off my outburst, but this time, she grew angry.
“Why, you!” With a shout, she punched me.
“What are you doing?!” I replied in kind, hitting her back.
At that point, things devolved into a complete fistfight.
“H-Hey!”
“No!”
“Quit it, you two!”
Our sisters tried to stop us, but no one could intervene in a fight between the second and third of the family.
The second sister was strong. I didn’t know how old she was, but she had way more years behind her than I did. She’d led the lamiae for a long time.
Mother’s appearance might’ve been far more extravagant, but the second sister gave a colder impression, and she was more slender.
Her pretty face was warped by rage as she grabbed at my hair and yanked me up.
As for me, I hadn’t even lived as a lamia for two years yet.
Though I was fully grown physically after about half a year, I normally wouldn’t have been able to fight against her. However, my high stats and these “skills” meant that I was now on even footing with the second sister.
We both yanked at the other’s hair and wound our tails around each other, raining down blows on our opponent.
Finally, just as my consciousness had started to fade, I landed a hit that made her collapse completely.
“I...I won...” I managed, before following suit and crumpling.
“What were you both thinking?”
We both got a significant lecture from Mother after that. I didn’t look at the second sister, and she didn’t look at me.
“Come on, you’re both the core of this family, so you need to be friendly.”
Mother didn’t care about the specific circumstances and was just looking at us, disappointed. Neither the second sister nor I said a word until the lecture finished. I eventually gave an insincere apology, and the second sister simply replied, “You’re forgiven.”
After that, though, I didn’t talk with her again.
Since our fight, the family had split into factions.
One was a group supporting the second sister.
The others focused on me.
Her group kept the status quo, where the younglings would take the lead and the older girls stood back and supported them.
I, on the other hand, led the hunts for my group.
At first, I thought my group was better since we suffered fewer casualties. I was wrong, though. The other group had more individual successes.
By contrast, my group all relied on me.
I guess I failed...
I was happy for them to lean on me, but it wouldn’t work in the long term because it meant that I couldn’t leave.
Maybe the second sister was right...
Even when we passed each other, neither of us spoke to the other for days. We’d gotten on so well in the past... I tried to find some opportunity to get her alone and apologize, but I couldn’t find the chance. Lately, she was always accompanied by someone...
But she was paying more attention to me as well.
I should apologize first, right? I’m younger, after all.
Seeing no other choice, I finally went over to her and whispered into her ear. “Hey, I want to talk to you alone, come to the waterfall.”
“Wh-Why?! Here works just fine,” she replied, taken aback.
Ugh, no way. It’s way too embarrassing to apologize in front of everyone.
“Come to the waterfall tonight, sister.”
“Fine,” she nodded eventually, with an unhappy look on her face. But I’d decided—even if she gave me that look, I’d apologize to her anyway.
Right, it’s time to end the fight between us.
So I went to bed and waited for our meeting. I was tired from the last few days of hunting though and soon nodded off.
Ahh! I thought as I regained consciousness. Damn, did I oversleep?
I shot up in a hurry and noticed something strange.
It’s...cold?
Our home was near a lava flow, so it should always be warm. We were cold-blooded, after all, so this was the first time I’d experienced the lower temperature.
“Hey! Everyone! Mother!” I called, searching around and wanting to warn my sisters.
“Wha...?”
I felt my breath stop.
The sight in front of me was like a nightmare. Everyone’s skin had paled to a pallid white, and they weren’t breathing either...it looked like.
Wh...Why? What happened?
Some of my sisters that were still breathing had been attacked by harpies. They couldn’t fight back in that state.
“Where did you come from?!” I demanded, addressing the harpies. No creature could get inside our nest unless someone from our family opened the way. Our enemies were fully barred from entry.
The harpies just cackled shrilly.
“Damn!”
I tried to take up a normal fighting stance, but my body felt like lead, and my flesh was screaming from the cold.
“Mother!”
I can’t do it, Mother, help!
As I looked for her, I spied an unfamiliar woman on the throne. She was no less good-looking than our mother.
However, the queen of the lamiae had fallen at this usurper’s feet.
“Mother!” I cried again, trying to rush over, but the harpies caught me.
“Let me go!” I writhed in their grasp.
“Oh, are you the little snakeling that’s been tormenting my family?” said the harpy on the throne.
“Who are you...?”
“I’m the queen of the harpies,” she answered before chuckling. “We’ve been fighting the lamiae for three hundred years, and now that hateful woman lies before me.”
“Ugh...” Mother cried as the woman calling herself queen of the harpies kicked her prone body.
“M-Mother!”
“It’s you...? Run...” was all she managed to say.
“Aha ha ha! Watch. Watch and witness your mother’s final moments!”
As the harpy queen spoke, she thrust her hand into the great mother’s chest and gouged out her heart.
“Arrrghh!” Mother screamed.
Stopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopitstopit!
“What a wonderful color,” the harpy remarked. With a vicious bite, she began to consume Mother’s heart!
And with that, the queen of the lamiae fell flat and moved no more.
“You won’t get away with this!” I hissed.
“Now, now, you are all that’s left.”
“What?” I looked around.
My siblings were dead. My elder sisters? Dead. My mother? Dead. I was the only lamia still moving.
They were all gone...
“No...” I protested weakly.
“You sure are a lively one. And yet you are so young. Perhaps you’re a mutant.”
The harpy queen had a point. My heart froze.
I’m the only one alive... I’m the only one that can move.
What was I doing? I needed to get revenge.
“Right! Sister! Second sister, help!” I called. She was our ever-reliable second-in-command. So what was she doing?
Then, the queen of the harpies answered my question. “The eldest daughter of your family, well, she invited us in.”
After a long pause, I only managed to sputter out a brief noise.
...What did she just say?
“And here I thought that lamiae had strong familial bonds,” the harpy queen said, her voice touched with pity.
That was impossible. She would never do that.
The second sister was always protecting us... No matter what, she’d never betray us!
“She just wanted us to kill a cheeky child, but it was you siblings that ended up killing each other. Thus ends the lamiae.”
I couldn’t accept what she was saying.
It can’t be! It can’t be! It can’t be! It can’t be!
My emotions were a mess, and I just couldn’t hold them in any longer.
I flung away the harpies that were holding me, and then I leaped for the queen, but she didn’t panic at all.
“Hey, it’s not cold enough,” she called out.
I looked over to where she’d addressed her remark.
“A human mage?!” I cried.
The mage was holding a staff, and they launched a spell at me.
“We harpies aren’t so good with magic,” said the queen. “Then again, nor are you snakelings.”
The magic hit me, and suddenly, I couldn’t move.
“Goodbye then, final lamia.”
Those were the last words I heard before the harpy queen’s sharp talons bit into my skin.
I died again.
Irritatingly, my second life had also ended surrounded by freezing ice.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login