I blinked a few times until I realized that yes it was actually dark outside and my eyes weren’t actually stilled closed. I groaned as I rolled over and pushed myself to my feet. That’s when I remembered I didn’t have feet anymore. I looked down at my large muscular appendage that served as my lower body now and groaned again. I gripped my head in my hands and squeezed hoping to force away all that had happened. It all came back in a rush as I remembered waking up in this form and then I killed people. I had actually killed people. The horror of that hit me full force and I retched. Thankfully I had nothing to vomit back up it seemed.

Now I’m hungry. That’s another terrifying thought. I murdered people in cold blood and now I want food. Monster. That’s the only word to describe me. I didn’t want this. I just wanted to live. Did I deserve to live more than those that I had killed? Did they have families? I have no idea. The only real truth is that I’m alive now and they aren’t. I don’t have any other way to look at it. I might go insane otherwise.

I looked around at the place where all the violence had happened. There wasn’t even barely any grass crushed. It looked more like people had just walked through here and had a picnic. Food. My entire body shuddered with hunger. I need food badly. I doubt there is a fast food joint within any kind of distance to this place though. I don’t know how to hunt for food. I rubbed my chest and felt the bowstring of the bow I had stolen. I guess it’s time to learn how.

Dark thoughts of what I had done and what I had become were my only companions as I followed the trail the humans had left back towards where they came from. My assumption was that there would be more people there eventually or at least maybe a road or something. More people who hopefully weren’t as immediately violent as the people I had first encountered. I shied away from that thought. Thinking of the people I had killed made me feel wobbly and my vision started to waver. I don’t think I can even cry anymore. Monsters aren’t allowed to cry.

I slithered over a small hill and there in front of me was a beaten path. I paused as I looked at it. It was a road in name only really. More like a bike path. I don’t think they have bikes here though. I had hit it at a curve and I looked down both ways but the trail the people had left went straight on ahead so I slid my way on to the path and continued to follow. More unhappy and dark thoughts pushed into my head and I just wanted to curl up into a ball and hide from the world.

I have a problem. I’m cold. I figured if I just keep moving I would warm up but I just keep getting colder. I look up at the dark sky and see a tiny sliver of moon. I blinked and looked back down at the road I was following. I could see somewhat well even though it must be pitch black outside. Or was it? What if this world didn’t get fully dark? Or what if I can see in the dark now? That would actually be a nice bonus and almost worth being a fucking snake monstrosity. No more stubbing toes on furniture. And then I remembered I had no toes. For some reason that actually made me feel even worse than I had before.

I followed the road for I have no idea how long. My plan had been to find a forest or something and try to hunt for food but I had just kept slithering my way forward. Maybe I’m dying. That was a sobering thought. All the terror I had been feeling and horror at what I had done melted away slowly as I thought about freezing to death. I probably deserved it but damn I don’t want to die and freezing to death sounds like it would suck. I was running through all the ways I knew that people warmed themselves and the only real idea I could come up with was fire.

I don’t know how to make a fire. I vaguely remember something about rubing sticks together and blowing but I don’t want to stop and try because I know it wouldn’t work and I would probably freeze to death while trying. Clothes would probably work to warm me up a little but where the hell was I going to get clothes in the middle of a forest? I stopped moving. When the hell did I get into a forest?

I looked up to the sky but all I saw where dark masses of leaves. I looked back on the path but I was deep in the trees now. I don’t even remember seeing the trees start. I scrubbed my face and ran my hands down the thick flares on the sides of my neck. I’m tired and I’m freezing and trying to navigate woods with just a shitty little path to guide me in the middle of the night. Super dead. That’s when I saw light ahead.

I slithered a bit faster as the light grew brighter. It was odd to be seeing light like this. It wasn’t really light it was more like… head vision from movies. Everything was a dark almost bluish color but the light I see is like yellows and orange and red. It has to be fire. Fire means people but it also means warmth. I started to wonder what I would do if the people wasn’t friendly but damn I’m so cold I might kill them just for the warmth. My inner self whimpered at the thought but he would die too so I ignored him.

Before I realized it, I had popped into a clearing in the middle of the woods. I assume its where people would stop and camp or something on long journeys. Or maybe I was close to civilization. Or I had no fucking idea. But there are wagons here. The path I’m on must be wider than I thought to fit these things. Wagons mean people hopefully. Or maybe there were other creatures here who used wagons too. That idea stopped me in place.

What if these weren’t humans and instead some other race? Like some giant bugs or something. What if I have to kill them just like I did the humans? I clenched my hands around the spear I have been carrying as I thought. Did I feel so awful for killing those people because they were humans or because they were thinking creatures? If I ran into something like myself would I attack and kill without hesitation? Probably. I shook my head quickly and pushed away those thoughts.

I heard raised voices as I started moving towards the first wagon I could see. I wasn’t trying to hide or sneak or anything. I was like eight feet tall even slumping slightly maybe even taller. There was no hiding this body so I just slithered forward and prepared myself for whatever I found. The words started to filter through though and oddly I could understand most of it. I heard chanting and a loud male voice saying something about containment. And fire? What the hell is going on over here?

I slithered past the wagon and came out on the other side of what looked like a short wagon train. There were people milling about. Humans. I let out a breathe. I don’t know if I’m actually happy they are human or not but meeting another nightmare creature like myself probably would have thrown me over the deep end. I was close to it already. There was a group of people off to the side who looked to be reading from small metal plates in one hand as they gestured with the other. I looked over to see what they were waving at and finally got to see what had been lighting up my world this entire walk. Slither. Whatever.

A fire raged in the forest. A big fucker too. It looked like something that could take out a city. The roaring of the fire was oddly muted but damn it looked terrifying. And warm. I looked around at the rest of the people but they were all facing the fire and talking. Or yelling. One little girl was calmly going through little pouches attached to a bad she had on the ground. I had to do a double take when I saw her.

That was a schoolgirl. Like a real schoolgirl outfit in this crazy world. I blinked a few times as I tried to wrap my head around the disconnect of seeing something so… modern around all these other people in leathers and rough clothing. Everyone here looked like peasants from the movies but this little girl straight up looked like she walked out of an elementary school somewhere. Maybe a middle school. She couldn’t be more than ten or eleven at most.

“Cmon magister the wards won’t be holdin much longer. You got to put it out now or we lose the chance.” The largest man there was standing next to the girl almost yelling down at her bowed head. She nodded a few times but didn’t stop going through the pouches. Magister huh? With the creepy chanting group in the corner and mention of wards I have to guess magic is totally a thing. And she must be a mage of some form. I scratched my chin as I watched. I wanted to see actual magic.

The little girl jerked her hand out of her bag and held a small tube that she held up. “Sorry for the wait. I could not find this page in all of this clutter.” The little girls voice was high pitched and very sweet sounding. She also sounded super cultured. Like a college student trying too hard. She picked up something next to her bag and slapped it on top of her head. I almost busted out laughing when I realized it was a giant fucking hat. Like, real witch hat, but enormous. A good three or four feet, it was just hilarious looking on her tiny little body and the fact she was wearing a literal school girl outfit with a witches hat just made it worse. I held in my laughter but just barely because I really wanted to see what happened next.

The little girl turned towards the raging fire and popped open the tube. She flipped it over and a small piece of paper slid into her palm. She handed the tube over to the larger man and slowly unrolled the paper. The moment she held the paper fully open I swear every single scale I have on my body started itching madly.

East to West, South to North, winds blow hither and gather unto me. Deep as night, cold as ice, waters flow and crash with my voice. Combine and spread and show your might. Deluge!

The girls chant was kind of creepy with the oddly stilted way she spoke but the moment the first few words were out of her mouth I could feel the winds pick up. I assumed she was trying to bring water to put out the fire but damn the way she said it made it sound like she was trying to drown the whole place. Maybe that’s what it would take to put out a fire like this. I expected to feel water or moisture or anything like that as I had the wind but instead everything suddenly felt dry and dusty.

Sand. It just started to storm in around me. I actually felt a moment of warmth as the sand swirled and caressed my body. The sand slid across my scales like a warm embrace but soon that embrace turned into a raging storm. I heard screams over the grinding sound of the sand swirling but everything was soon drown out by the absolute crushing power of the sandstorm. As soon as it hard started though, it ended.

I looked around confused. The whole area was awash in sand. Glorious gritty and warm sand. I slithered around in it and before I could stop myself I had curled into a pile of coils and sunk down a bit under the top layer. I sat in my myself like a chair and it turns out I’m rather a comfortable chair. the fire looked to be put out as well so I guess her spell worked. I didn’t expect sand but since it put the fire out I guess it worked. I know you can throw sand in a fire back on Earth and it works better than water in most cases as well so maybe this was her whole design.

The girl in question erupted from a pile of sand and soon other bodies joined her escape. It looked like the big man had sheltered her from the worst of it but most of the others looked bedraggled and very unhappy. To be fair being covered in sand sounded better than being drenched with water with how cold it had been before but maybe that was just me and my scaly nature. The girl looked around as she pulled her hat off her head and shook it out.

“I thought you were going to drown the fire with water but sand was a much better choice.” I couldn’t help myself. I felt so comfortable and happier than I had been in a while that I had to give her a quip. “Although whatever town or village this place belongs to probably still needed the woods for like wood and hunting or whatever they do with woods.” I let out a snicker which was decidedly more hissing than I would have liked but I just felt so damn good I didn’t even care. The entire group of people, even the ones almost completely covered with sand, all turned to look at me and I realized I may have made a mistake.