Snippets

Good, Evil, Where's the Line?

He growled, "You had no issue all those other lifetimes. You coward, you're scared!"

It hissed sharply and he thought it was going to finally do it, but when he opened his eye with a panicked Yelp, he found the fangs were about 20 feet away instead of plunged into his flesh. It's tongue flicked in and out and it closed its mouth sharply, "I am pained."

He became outraged, "OH YOU ARE PAINED! YOU KILLED ME IN THE FIRST PLACE! YOU ASSHOLE! YOU CONDEMNED ME! THEY SAID SO!"

It rolled its eyes and gave something alike to a whimper, "Always. Always. I must. Do you not know? I am as condemned! They say and say and say! And we die! We die! We die! And are born! And are born! Over and over!"

The serpent was wailing, "NEVER DOES IT END! SO CLOSE WAS LAST! BUT DO YOU NOT KNOW!"

His mouth was sealed shut, alarmed before wearily he spoke, "Where is this coming from. I do not understand."

The serpent huffed heavily, "You die and I die. We live. But I am tired. You think you are the only to die but that is the thing. I broke this time. The trainers did not get to me you see!"

It laughed and laughed and he was alarmed, "W-what?"

It looked at him, eyes widened, "They lied. They lied. They lied. We are game. They are players. They erase when we win so we fight for no loss. They put the story and we continued it!"

He was shaking his head, "No."

It drew closer, whimpering again, "I broke. I don't remember when. It was clear but I did not let them know. I don't want this. Think. Think. Think! We both die, both live. That's the game! The trainers keep us this way, I don't know how, but when we die, they grasp us. They throw away what they are angry about and seal it away. That is why we are changed. They play as gods when they are abusing power that should be none's toy."

The hero shook his head faster, "LIES!"

It looked closer, "Yet you stayed quiet while I spoke. You don't trust them."

He looked away, tears pricking his eyes, "No! I mean! I trust them!" He was close to sobbing, the grip around him becoming more comforting than suffocating, "But..."

"But then why let you die?" The serpent watched him before looking around, "We must work together. They let us be. Until one dies. I saw memories which I was slain by you, and then it's started again."

The hero gazed up, now challenging with a snarl, "Show me. Tell me how to break it. Kill me and when we meet I will know."

The serpent watched the hero, though his faith in that title was fading slowly, "When they tell you your name, decide no. This is what they have. The name is what controls us. I am the serpent to you. You call yourself the hero. They told me that I was hero and you were demon. But I didn't want to call myself hero. I am Typhoon. They say my name is Serpent. What do they call you?"

"Child." His breathing was catching in his throat. He looked up, "But if they erase us how'd you remember your name?"

The serpent had eased him to the ground, the two eye to eye now, "I didn't, but when the trainers called me Serpent, I wondered why they called themselves other names instead of just trainer. I wanted more, I was tired of dying. I started to think of what it'd be like to be a trainer."

It seemed to give a smile at the boy's shock before hurrying, "So I gave myself a name, and that's when things broke. I started remembering things and hearing things. I told my trainers I merely hurt myself during training and was having pains. But I was waiting. I was waiting for you to be sent. I lost myself in the fighting, but now I have you here. We can do this please. I am sorry for what I will do."

The boy nodded sorely before stating lightly, "Then kill me brutally. I always remember those best, and if they want me to remember the losing then that will do. But will they not know we conspired?"

The serpent shook its head, "That's part of the game. They let us fight and fight and then spread our stories. It is like a puzzle trying to figure out from questions they ask and returned whisperings from those that hear our battle how we killed each other. I believe in the first few times they did watch us, then later merely watched our memories, but now they are being creative. Did you notice how we have become more and more isolated? More and more powerful? It is twisted. It is twisted. We are twisted."

The boy closed his eyes briefly before staring the serpent in the eye, "Kill me now, and we will figure this out."

The serpent reared its body and struck out.

When the hero became aware again, in the body of a female toddler, she watched the flashes of his body being flung across the stone. Blood splattered yet he still breathed, and when he finally caught his last breath he saw a gaze of sorrow and anger before the words came flooding back. The trainers would soon be here to retrieve them, they always seemed to know when they awoke, but this time things were different. 

When she faced the serpent next, the two stared at each other in silence before she whispered, "My name is Peytron."