Spurned Luna’s Return: On Your Knees, Alpha Chase

The young Vulkhaen finally reached its destination. The part of the cave that was very specious had a lake below. The lake’s water was refined and of great purity.

In the big lake, 25 snakes of different sizes and colours- big and small- swam with glee and the largest of them- a black-coloured snake- was on the shore just watching. Suddenly it perceived a familiar smell and its golden eyes lit up.

Turning its head, it found to its delight that its suspicions were correct- the runaway youngling was back!

“Father!” the runagate snake flew down to the shore of the lake and coiled its head around his father’s.

“You finally know to come back, huh?”

“Yes, father. I’m so sorry. I won’t ever defy your orders again. Please forgive me,”

“It’s ok, son. As long as you know and acknowledge your wrong, it’s fine. Hey guys, Tamesis is back!”

Immediately, all the snakes left the water and flew to shore the moment their wings sprouted.

“Son, you finally returned,” a feminine voice was heard from the giant pink snake that had four golden glowing horns on her head.

“Mum,” Tamesis left his dad’s embrace and glided to his mother.

“Sorry mum. I won’t ever run away again. I’m sorry, everyone. It’s my fault!”

“Mph! I’m not hugging you today. Until you soak in that spring for a full week,” the pink snake said with an icy tone.

If it was on a normal day, the young Vulkhaen would giggle and then do things to please its mother.

But now wasn’t the time to remain lovey-dovey. Time was ticking, okay?

“Mom, Dad, everyone, please follow me outside the cave. There’s a big present I brought here for you guys. You’re going to like it for sure,” Tamesis said, trying hard not to let a bit of the nervousness he truly felt inside slip onto his face.

“A big present?” the pink snake wasn’t convinced.

“Come on, Mom. It won’t take long. Come see it. If you don’t like it, you can use your tail to smash it to pieces. But I truly worked hard to bring it here,”

The father snake eventually agreed, speaking softly to his wife, “It’s the first time our son is doing this. Let’s see what’s exactly the ‘big present’ he’s talking about. And I promise, if it’s not a good present, I’ll let you punish him and also… you know… make you feel good,”

“Fine. Lead the way, Tamesis,” the pink snake commanded.

The young creature quickly put on a phoney face full of excitement and led the way while praying things turned out well for them.

…

The moment Tamesis glided out of the cave, he found no trace of the sorcerer. Had he decided to leave them alone and just go find another Silgioth’s base? Would he be that kind?

The other 26 snakes also came out of the cave, retracting their wings.

“Where is the present?” the pink one interrogated.

“Be patient, Echidna,” the black snake consoled its wife.

“Mph!”

After a few seconds had passed, Phoenix spoke from the branch of a large tree, not too far from the cave, “Are these all of your people?”

“Yes,” Tamesis weakly replied.

At that, Phoenix flew towards them and landed close to them, arms folded.

Seeing that it was a flying human that Tamesis had brought, the snakes began to hiss in a bid to intimidate the unwelcome fellow.

“You clod, how dare you bring a stranger to our abode?”

“Mom, I’m sorry. If I committed suicide, he said he’d come find you guys and take away your lives. But he promised that if I showed him our place, he might reconsider,” Tamesis explained with fear.

“You damn Vulkhaen. I don’t have a son like you!” the black snake spat in ire as it glared at Phoenix.

“Head Vulkhaen, don’t be mad. I indeed asked him to bring me here. Here’s what happened. I wanted to get the head of a Silgioth and its core, then, go back home. I didn’t plan on making big waves in this forest. But your son was the one in the cave surprisingly, and without letting me speak, started attacking me. Many times, he almost bit my head off. People back home are watching me. I’m not supposed to use any of my powers,”

“You’re a wiz blood,” the pink snake commented.

“Yes,” Phoenix nodded and continued his explanation, “Because of your son, I revealed to my people that I’m not a wizard but a sorcerer. I wanted to escape, but your son still wouldn’t let me off. He hit me many times with the tail. If I hadn’t fortified my body before today, I would have become his food. I have a bride waiting for me at home. I didn’t want her to be sad, so I was forced to use a lot of my strength to take him down. I asked him to take me here, so I can complain to you,” Phoenix looked aggrieved as he complained, trying so hard not to cry.

Tamesis was shocked.

Who was this fake here?

‘I beat him with my tail? I nearly killed him? What tosh! He’s the one who fucking bullied me! Who’s he acting pitiful for? Is it because he’s afraid of my father, so he decided to lie against me?’ thought Tamesis.

And just look at his parents and siblings and other relatives, they actually believed this slick mischief and feel sorry for him.

Just like that?

Why?

“So you caused trouble and brought an enraged soul here. You expect your dad to beat him up, after what you did to him?” the pink snake scolded the trembling Tamesis.

“I… I… It’s not like that…”

“Why are you lying? You’re clearly aware of what you did. I had less than two hours to bring a Silgioth back to my people, but you caged me in that cave for over three hours! Not only have I failed the mission, but my bride might not like me anymore…” a tear slipped down Phoenix’s eye.

At this point, Tamesis questioned if he was dreaming. This magenta-haired bastard was very good at acting. From the look on his parents’ and relatives’ faces, he knew he was more than toast!

‘Thank you for destroying the image I was trying to repair, filthy sorcerer! Thank you very much, scoundrel!’ he cursed inwardly. If only he was stronger, he’d make this sorcerer shut the fuck up!

How can he lie so easily? Did he not feel ashamed?

“Oh dear. Don’t worry, we’ll compensate you in any way we can. As for this Tamesis, I will deal with him!” the pink snake said determinedly.

“Really? I want your assistance in finding just one Silgioth’s base,” Phoenix said modestly.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

The snakes looked relieved; It seemed this guy was a good man.

“That, we can do,” Echidna said with a tone of gladness.

“And there’s two more things I want,” Phoenix quickly added.

“Okay, go on, young man,” the pink snake encouraged.

“I want all your treasures and your horns; they look really shiny. I can just give them to my mate as a waist ornament,”

“What?” the black snake was displeased by the outrageous request. How audacious of this stinky wiz blood!

“I’m not asking for much. If I were a greedy person, I’d ask for your lives. But I’m very kind and that’s why I asked for just a few things. What? Didn’t you say you’ll compensate me in any way you could? Are you going back on your words? Oh, I forgot, you’re beasts. Nothing you say can be taken for real,”

“How dare you speak to us that way you weakling? I’m going to make you regret coming to our sacred place!” The black snake let out a long enraged hiss and lunged at the annoying scoundrel of a sorcerer.

But, before he could get to Phoenix, the latter pressed his palms together and four replicas suddenly materialized. They, with solemn faces, launched spheres of black mist at the black snake, causing it to cease its charge and focus on dodging rather.

The other snakes were shocked. High-level sorcerer!

“Darling, come back. Let’s give him what he wants. He can take our treasures,” the pink snake called out to her spouse in distress.

“I want to. But these copies won’t let me,” the black snake cried. The four replicas had already surrounded him. He was the strongest of the Vulkhaens here and now he was trapped. Echidna, his spouse was pregnant with his 6th offspring and so couldn’t make any big moves for fear of hurting the child in her womb.

“Please, we can talk this out,” he was forced to beg.

Phoenix shook his head, “No. I gave you a chance but you didn’t take it,”

Tamesis and his family could only watch the black snake get beaten up to the point it questioned the meaning of life.

Then the four copies vanished while the black snake directly passed out. Seeing this, the other snakes were convinced that they stood no chance against this guy.

“So about the treasures and the horns,” Phoenix rubbed his palms together, wearing a smile that didn’t settle well with the creatures who were already scared of him.

“About that… our horns are very important to us. If you take it, we’ll die,” the pink snake pleaded.

“Oh? So that’s your weakness. You should have said so earlier, Tamesis,” Phoenix chuckled.

“Please, Sir, let my family go. You can take my horns and the treasures we have. Just let them go, I beg you,” Tamesis pleaded, gliding in front of the other snakes.