Tooth Knife

"Cough!" he cleared his throat, "I was exploring the forest when I encounter the shed skin of yours, I have never seen something like that, so I came to take a look, I wasn't going to bother you," Liam said after collecting himself. He didn't think that lying to the snake was a good idea.

The snake looked at him suspiciously but didn't notice any lies. He could listen to the heartbeat and understand if the person was truthful or not. To him, it looked like the two-legged creature was telling the truth.

"I believe you. Would you mind helping me?" he asked. He wasn't quite sure if he should ask for help or not. He was having a problem, the skin was loose from the scales, but it wouldn't come over the needles. He was always having that problem, but he had no way to get it off faster. And another problem was slowly approaching.

Liam didn't react at first but then he jumped down from the branch he was sitting on and went toward the snake.

"Trouble is coming, right?" he didn't detect anything yet, but if the snake of this size was agitated then it must mean that the thing coming wasn't easy to deal with.

"Yes, three to be exact," he said and wiggled his body in any kind of way that would let him get the skin off faster.

Liam looked around but didn't find anything sharp enough to cut the skin. He looked at the snake, an embarrassed look suddenly made his face go red, which was something as his skin was rather light even after spending so much time in the sun.

"What?" the snake hissed in annoyance.

"May I have a smaller tooth of yours?" he asked, his face still red. He wasn't the one to stutter or avoid the question. Also, he wasn't a person who worked against himself, rather he was the one to look for the easiest and fastest solution.

What was he supposed to do? Try to pull the skin with his bare hands. It would be a lot easier if he could cut the skin and make the needles slide out better. That was why he asked for the knife. After asking the question, he explained why he wanted it to the snake.

The snake had hissed at him the moment he had asked that question, but after listening to his explanation, he opened his mouth and showed the smallest tooth to the two-legged creature. After all, the snakes' teeth were the only thing that could injure him and the tiny tooth was too tiny to make him hurt. Besides that, the tooth was loose anyway. The snake pointed with his own tongue and Liam approached the snake's large open mouth, which looked really horribly terrifying at the moment. The two large fangs were really imposing as they dripped continuously. The dripping liquid sizzled as it landed on the ground. After that, the ground rotted away. Plants died and only a black batch of dirt was seen.

Liam approached the tiny tooth and placed his hands on it. It was tiny compared to the other teeth. After a moment of moving it back and forth the tooth come loose and he pulled it out. Blood started to well up in that location.

Liam started the blood like it was calling him. He didn't move as if he were in a trance. In fact, he had fallen into one.

A minute later, the snake had enough and closed its mouth. He looked at the two-legged creature in front of him and saw that something was wrong. He looked like something had captured his mind. He didn't know what to do at first, he needed his help as he had detected that the three dangerous presences had picked up their pace. The snake decided to nudge the two-legged creature with his head and see what happened.

Nothing much, the two-legged creature just fell over and the tooth in his paws knocked into its head. Thankfully it wasn't the pointy end.

The two-legged creature's eyes suddenly cleared.

"I have a request later," he mumbled, but the snake heard him just fine. He also felt something stir inside him. Something primal that wanted to fulfill all the requests the two-legged creature might ask.

Liam then examined the tooth in his hands. The point of it was thin and very sharp, one side of it was sharp but not overly sharp, and the other side on the other side was smooth and round.

'This would have to do,' he told himself and took off running to the part where the skin was still stuck behind the needles.

He hacked at the skin as fast as he could, after all, his life was on the line too. If he were a coward then this wouldn't have been an issue, but he was somewhat complicated.

If he were the type to run away, the Avatars looking around would not cooperate with him. The Avatars also made sure that the World Reader wouldn't notice them.

They would feel horrible if they knew that Liam was always aware of them. In fact, he knew when any of them showed up. He just didn't want them to bother him or interfere with his actions. He let their presence be a mystery to their side. He thought that they weren't aware that he always knew when one of them was close by.

After all, the ones from earth had been rather protective of him and he had taken measures to stop their toxic behavior.

Liam focused on his work and didn't even look at the surroundings. He was so absorbed in his task that he had failed to notice the ground slightly trembling with the approaching footsteps.

That wasn't his fault, after all, he hadn't basically touched the ground since he started hacking at the loose skin.

The snake was wriggling itself with vigor but stopped suddenly which also made the two-legged creature moving on top of his body falter and fall to the ground.

Liam had gotten used to the snake's movements. So much that he had adjusted to them. But when the movements abruptly stopped, their movements weren't in sync anymore. Liam stumbled, nearly grazed a poisonous needle that was emitting paralyzing vapor, and fell on his ass on the ground.

"Wh...?"

He had started to ask why the snake had stopped but felt the tremors from the ground under his body. Even he understood that the beasts were too close for comfort.

Liam looked around to see if he recognized any of the plants. He looked up at the snake, who was staring at him.

The snake was trying to decide what to do. Waiting for what the two-legged creature might think up was one way. As much as he had seen them, he knew the two-legged creatures were rather crafty. How else could they survive in this kind of environment? To his surprise, he saw light reflect on the creature's eyes.