[Osiris & Apep Doodle]

His aggressive hiss thundered through the cavern's walls, and Zephyr soon found himself nose-to-nose with the black beast's purplish maroon eyes. He felt the grand cobra's gaze inspecting him, and as small as he was, he bet it'd only take one quick gulp to have him as lunch from his massive maw. The snake narrowed his eyes, temperamental his question wasn't answered yet.

"Do you think you can just take anything that's lying around for yourself?" The cobra's black scaled tail swung from behind Zephyr, who never saw it coming. The force of the tail's blow tossed him with ease a few feet to his right, and he yelped when he landed near some unfriendly looking foliage.

The blow wasn't strong enough to knock the wind out of him, but it did hurt, and Zephyr saw something dart across the paved road of pillars as he sat up from his tumble. It was the small green snake from earlier, and it stood poised in from of him, facing the grand cobra.

The grand snake focused on the smaller creature and lowered himself to meet him at eye level as best he could. The small snake flicked his tiny tongue and shook his tail, as if trying to talk to the much larger cobra.

"You know this thief?" The grand cobra questioned. He swung his head back and forth between the two smaller beings, unsure if he should believe it. The little green fellow flicked his tongue again and slithered from the sanded path over to Zephyr, wrapping himself around his boot like he had done before. The grand snake's menacing gaze softened.

"Oh goodness, I'm so sorry!"

Zephyr saw the giant black cobra move towards him and he winced, not looking forward to another unfriendly blow. He tried to pull his right hand away from the foliage but felt pain as he did so, and upon inspection, there were small, cactus-like barbs that borrowed themselves along his forearm. His instinct was to pluck them out, but the small green snake unwrapped himself from his boot to take a look, stopping him from doing so.

"Oh no, I know how much those hurt! I'm so sorry for knocking you into those!"

Zephyr looked up from his arm to find the black cobra had vanished, and a man now stood before him, who outstretched his hand to him. His hair was black with golden dyed tips, and slightly longer than shoulder length. Atop his head protruded curved golden horns, and one of them was wrapped in maroon fabric at the very tip with a multicolored feather swaying gently from it. His eyes were the recognizable maroon color the black cobra from before had shared, and he boasted a black scaled snake tail that was just long enough it almost trailed behind him.

"Well? Surely you don't want to keep those barbs in your arm forever." The stranger was waiting for the olive-haired male to take his hand, and he did so only after he spoke. After standing up, Zephyr gripped his arm gently, not wanting to move it too much.

"Who are you? What happened to the big cobra I saw?"

The stranger laughed, but not with ill-intent. He picked up the brown satchel Zephyr dropped, patting its contents back down inside.

"I am the 'big cobra,'" The stranger made quotes with his hands for that part before he continued.

"And my name is Apep."

He reached down to pick up the little green snake that sat at his feet in the grass, and it instinctively curled up and around his arm.

"And this is Apeypei. He watches over my stuff when I'm in here."

He booped the snake on his nose before he handed Apeypei to Zephyr, who took to him and curled around his non-wounded arm.

"He only does that to people he trusts, which is how I knew you weren't stealing from me. What's your name, my green-haired friend?"

"It's Zephyr."

Apeypei looked at Zephyr's wounded arm, flicking his tongue. He seemed quite concerned.

"Ah yes Apeypei, I have something in here for that," Apep buried his hand in his satchel before pulling out several items, including an aqua blue plant and some bandages.

"If I were at home, I could make something a bit better, but this will do for now," He gathered up his materials before motioning Zephyr to the pond. "Shall we sit over there?"

Zephyr followed Apep a short way before they came to the pond, and the black haired male dropped his satchel near its edge. Both he and Apep knelt in the grass, and Apeypei jumped from Zephyr's arm to the ground, where he stuck his head in the bag and gripped a small cup in his fangs. He brought it to the water's edge, dipping it until it was full, and brought it back to the two males. He spilled some water along the way, but was still proud of himself, and set it on the ground in front of Zephyr.

"If you're thirsty, don't be shy. Apeypei can always bring more."

"Oh, that's alright," Zephyr answered, and thanked the small snake waiting for his approval. "I'm not thirsty really."

"Well, then let me see about your arm then."

Zephyr stuck his forearm out at the command, and Apep inspected up and down it gently. He made a "hmm" sound to himself before taking one of his supplies in his hand. It was the blue plant from earlier, and he placed it atop a small rock near him before grabbing a stick to beat it with. With the plant now mashed to a pulp, he took the small water cup and placed the plant in it, stirring until the water was slightly blue from the plant's released moisture. He grasped another one of his supplies, a wad of cotton this time, and dipped it in the water before patting Zephyr's arm with it.

"What is that?"

"This is nature's numbing agent, at least around this part of the land. It will ease the pain from the barbs and make them remove easier," Apep responded, and continued to dip and pat Zephyr's arm. "The particular cactus you landed in features nasty stingers who like to burrow and sit for a while, similar to how an arrowhead is difficult to yank out. With this concoction, they'll gradually retract and won't shred your forearm."

"Oh," Zephyr acknowledged, and Apeypei slithered into his lap to watch the work closer as well. "He's kinda different for a snake."

"He's my aid in training," Apep explained. "Apeypei helps with my work, all kinds of alchemy things."

"That explains why you know how to help me."

"Yup!" Apep smiled, now finished with dabbing Zephyr's arm with the agent, and placed the cup of water down on the grass. "Now they should be painless to remove."

Zephyr wasn't sure at first, but he soon found Apep was right. The pricks could be taken out with ease, and he tossed them to the side, glad to be finally rid of the painful buggers.

"You're lucky you didn't stick your hand in any of the other cactus' around here though. They may not be as painful, but they are poisonous," Apep watched Zephyr remove the last barb from his arm before standing up, patting his pants to rid of the grass that stuck to it. "Now we can't wrap it just yet, I need one more plant to help clean the area and promote healing, and it can be found way up there."

He motioned to the roof of the cavern, where a small ledge sat. The sunlight shined the brightest through a hole in the ceiling there, and Zephyr could just barely make out the sight of a single pink flower growing on the ledge.

"How are you going to reach that?" Zephyr questioned, noting the ledge was far too high to jump to. "You'd need a ladder or a rope."

"It just so happens, I don't need either of those," Apep told, and in a puff of shimmering smoke, he had become the grand cobra Zephyr remembered, though much less threatening in his posture.

He glided along the ground to one of the pillars near the ledge and curled his great tail around it for a sturdy grip, and then with his robust upper snake body strength, he hoisted his head to the ledge and sat mid-air comfortably, with the pink flower near his nose. He took it in one of his pearly fangs gently and pulled, and it uprooted itself, pulling some clumps of dirt with it.

"So that's why you were that cobra when I met you earlier. It's to gather hard to reach plants," Zephyr called from below. He was impressed, and thankful something so terrifying turned out to be a rather gentle, caring creature.

"Indeed it is," Apep spoke, though it was a tad mangled with his mouth full.

With the flower in fangs, he lowered himself back to the ground, gliding back to the pond. His long body followed suit, in a hypnotizing display of black scales. He set the flower upon the grass before his form was once again a man, and he bent to pick up the flower again, swatting away the dirt that clung to its roots.

Apeypei grabbed the cup once again in his fangs and crept to the water's edge to refill it with clear, fresh liquid. Apep repeated his process from earlier, and took one of the flowers petals to beat it to a pulp before placing it in the water and stirring. This time, he took one of his white wrap bandages and drenched the whole strip in the pink water, wringing it out a bit in the pond. He took Zephyr's outstretched forearm and wrapped the bandage around it firmly, patting it to make sure it was secured.

"There, now we should be done."

Zephyr checked over his arm in approval. The bandage was a slight pink coral color, and it felt soft against his wounds. He felt no pain, as the numbing agent was covering it well.

"If you wear that for a few days, you should heal up just fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have more plants that need gathering."

Zephyr watched Apep phase to his cobra form in another huff of shimmering smoke, and he returned to his spot above the temple doorway from earlier, where Zephyr had first run into his "boulder" tail. He looked below him to find Apeypei tidying up, dumping the used water out of its container on the grass. He gripped the cup in his fangs and dunked it in the pond a few times to wash it. On his third dunk, he lost the grip of the cup, and it sank to the bottom of the pool, which was only 2 feet deep. He flicked his tongue staring at the water, then turned to Zephyr who had been watching his endeavor.

"Lemme get that for you," Zephyr said. He stood up and knelt by the water, reaching in with his left hand to grasp the sunken cup. The small green cobra was happy to see the container rise from the water's surface again, and after setting the cup on the grass, Zephyr earnestly petted the grateful creature. It was then he realized he forgot about his group, and thought surely they must be very worried by now.