Parseltongue

A frosty breath escaped his mouth as Kai opened his eyes.

The warning notification was still flashing red, but his HP was slowly regenerating. He tried to lift his finger. And finding that he could, he brought out his strength to move his wrist. With the slightest motion, a book appeared by his side.

"Sel…" Kai uttered half the name. The Ghost Serpent slithered out from his blindside. Kai's eyes shook, seeing her state. Before, she was as smooth as milk, being covered in smoother white scales. Now, all of her scales were overlapping each other, giving the Ghost Serpent a distinct draconian appeal, like dragons. And when she slithered, rings of alternate black and yellow color seemed to travel along her length from head to tail.

Even her eyes had changed, becoming pupilless.

Her left eye was just a mass of turbid yellow, like the color of the enormous door from his Blood Prophecy that made Kai tremble upon recalling it. And her right eye was pitch black, the color of utmost darkness. When focused, he felt an illusion as if hundreds of tiny black tendrils were wriggling inside that darkness, like worms.

The most conspicuous change about her was the vertical gash on her forehead. It seemed like someone had tried to open her head by cutting it down, but then changed their mind and closed the wound hastily.

Hisss!

-Save- she hissed.

-Save him- she cried.

-Save him. He must not die- she roared.

When the waterfall of notifications appeared in between him and the serpent, Kai knew his entire life had gone some momentous change in the last few hours.

[

Elementary Snake Language: Proficiency 100% (+35%)

The Elementary Snake Language is leveled up to become Advance Snake Language

Advance Snake Language: Proficiency 100% (+100%)

The Advance Snake Language is leveled up to become Master Snake Language

Master Snake Language: Proficiency 100% (+100%)

The Master Snake Language is leveled up to become an Elite Ability.

Elite Ability: Parseltongue

Contestant Kai Stormborn, you have become the fastest Contestant to level up an Elementary Ability to an Elite Ability.

Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn…

You have achieved a Milestone

Milestone: Get your first Elite Ability

Milestone Rewards: Worth +50

]

'This?! Elite Ability? 50 Worth?' Kai couldn't help but gawk at the notifications with raw disbelief. 'What just happened?' No Power had ever come to him without a cost. And Kai wondered what kind of price he had paid for this Power unknowingly.

Then his eyes snapped to look at Selene as she approached the book.

A deep sense of guilt and remorse took over his heart. Kai smothered those emotions brutally. His mouth parted, and he hissed as if all his life he had known this language. The strange twists of his muscles that had made him vomit blood before now only lingered like phantom pain.

Hisss!

-Selene, open the book- he told her.

The Ghost Serpent paused momentarily as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

-Master, you spoke?!- she said joyously, like a baby pet running to the owner after a long day.

-the book- Kai insisted.

The serpent hissed, slithering out her forked tongue. Kai noticed her head moving in random directions. 'She can't see,' he realized, his eyes widening at the fact. 'What the hell happened to her?'

Selene found the book and used her tail to pry it open from the middle. It wasn't on the specific page, but Kai thought it should be enough.

-Primordial Theater- He hissed out the words, and when he saw Petyr coming out of the smoky veil, he let out a relieved sigh.

"Petyr," Kai said, "what is the time?"

Petyr looked at Kai, then at the snake, and finally somewhere up at the clock. "Not the time for dinner," he said, smiling. "But you two already seemed full, my lord."

Kai neither had the time nor the strength to snap at Petyr. His HP needed healing, and he couldn't afford for Meg to find him like this. "Help me to the bed," he ordered Petyr.

The character did as he was told. Giving a wide berth to the blind serpent, Petyr brought Kai to the bed.

"Relentless Love!" Kai said. The moment Petyr's blurry figure entered him, Kai activated the Titan's buff. A bronze spartan helmet covered his head, buffing his Stamina the most. His HP regeneration rate shot up instantly.

Kai took a deep breath. 'Finally!' he exclaimed. 'Now I know I will live.'

As color returned to his pale cheeks, Kai recalled the scenes from the Blood Prophecy. Face hard, and eyes harder, Kai forced himself to go through everything again and again. There wasn't much to find out, to begin with. The only thing he could tell for sure was his future actions had somehow affected his past.

'The Blood Prophecy is much more perilous than I have given it the credit for,' he reflected. 'What was that door, and that strip of tattered cloth? What was that color?'

But no matter how many times he asked himself, he couldn't find anything. And it was reasonable for him to not know about it, as it was something that had yet to happen. It was nothing but a distortion of time and events. All he had analyzed was that something had invaded his Blood World, using the connection between his future self and his current awareness.

And the only thing that he remembered was the words, which he thought better to not utter out anymore.

Kai's teeth clattered, thinking about what could have happened if the Blood Ocean hadn't shattered at the right time.

-Selene, come to me- Kai hissed the command.

A mass of pure silver mist rose from the ground and slithered up to his chest, solidifying into the Ghost Serpent. 'Her mist form is still as silver as before,' Kai noticed. 'Then why has her body changed? What happened to her eyes?'

Kai looked at her, and at the gash between her blind eyes. She seemed weak and helpless, coiled over his chest like a dying animal. She said nothing to him. Neither was she avoiding the region around his chest anymore like before.

Kai gulped.

And time went on.

*

*

Knock! Knock!

"Come in!"

Kai saw Meg walking in. The clock was striking eight, and the world had gone dark outside. Stars had come out, and the early moon was smiling down over the town from the horizon, just short of disappearing.

Kai had changed his torn clothes and cleaned the room. His face was still light pale, but it was less from weakness and more from recalling what he had seen over the Blood Ocean.

"Report," Kai demanded, sharply.

Meg frowned. "Yes, captain," she said, approaching him and opening a map. "We are here, the town of Alto Mare, the setting of the movie's plot. It is an island, south of Azalea Town of the Johto Region."

Kai's eyes narrowed seeing the names written on the map. Meg's fingers then traced the coastline towards the Southeast and stopped over another town.

"The closest research center is in New Bark Town," she reported. "It is home to the lab of Professor Elm, who gives out the starter Pokemon for the Johto region. To reach there, we must first take a ferry to Azalea Town and then go to the New Bark Town on another ship. The entire one-way trip can take anywhere between 10 to 12 days."

Kai nodded. "And?" he asked about the second thing he had asked her to do.

Meg folded the map and passed it to Kai. "The Tour de Alto Mare, or the Water Chariot race we saw at the start of the movie, will be held on 28th June," the old woman answered, taking a seat on the sofa. "I want to take part in it."

'Of course, you want to, heh!' Kai sneered. 'Just taking part in it will give you a Milestone.'

"Isn't there an age limitation?" Kai asked.

"No, you just have to have a water-type Pokemon," Meg said, slyly. "It is frowned upon, indeed. But we are Contestants…"

"… and by nature shameless," Kai completed her words. "Good. Mission over. After a week, meet me at the port. I will let you know the details through an audio call."

"Where are you going?" Meg demanded, taken aback by this sudden order.

Kai looked at her and kept looking until her eyes moved away from his face. Giving her a last hard look, Kai walked out of the room, and then out of the Pokemon Center.

A salty breeze lifted his white hair. His eyes became two reptilian slits without even using Boa Constrictor's blood essence. He raised his head and rubbed the part below his navel as he looked at the slight hint of the moon disappearing below the horizon.

-Tonight, let this world know our existence- Kai hissed, and a silver mist seeped out of him.

-Tonight, let this world know our name- they sang, the wind carrying their vile intentions.

-Tonight, let this world know true despair-

************

AN:

1. A map is posted on the Discord. I couldn't find the sea route distance between Alto Mare and New Bark Town, so I have estimated, according to the plot.

2. In case of any doubt, do ask. The reason for the sudden increase in the Snake Language Ability will be covered later in the chapters, but not too soon, as it is related to a big spoiler. The negative effects of this sudden rise will also be covered in the coming chapters.

3. A new image of a different serpent is posted. It shows how Selene's scales look like now.