Pied Piper

"Now watch carefully. Once I start playing the tune, be prepared to dodge anything that might come your way. Or else, you're as good as dead, Twelve."

With that, Six started twirling the flute, producing a beautiful sound. Her movements were smooth and precise, making every single note seem perfectly clear to me.

As the music filled the forest, I took in another deep breath of the refreshing fresh air. My heartbeat increased as the familiar feeling of adrenaline rushed through my body. All the negative feelings that have plagued me all day disappeared in a blink. I can feel myself losing control over my actions. It felt so real yet still unreal.

What is happening? Why hasn't she attacked me yet? Does she plan on playing the flute forever? Is this her true Instinct?

No matter how many questions went through my mind, they all ended in silence. I was hypnotized by her moves, mesmerized by everything surrounding me. Every part of the forest seems so alive.

Suddenly, my sense of hearing picked up some noises, other than Six's flute, came from behind me and I impulsively leaped to the side with a loud thud. I quickly stood back up with a gasp and looked back at the direction where the noise was coming from.

I gaped when seeing a group of creatures with black shiny feathers flying around. They were looking at me with intense expressions, while their wings were beating furiously. I stepped backwards, trying to get away as much distance between them and myself although I'm still confused about the whole situation.

How did these creatures appear out of nowhere? And how come my sense of hearing was able to pick up noises that weren't there just seconds ago? And... Did they just try to ambush me?

I felt uneasy. I don't know why, but I knew those creatures meant no good for me. I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to escape.

Since their ambush failed, I had to assume that they wouldn't attack me any further.

However, my assumption went wrong when the ravens immediately flew towards me, screeching menacingly as they got close to my face. I could feel something rising in my throat as I saw their beady glowing pinkish eyes fixated onto me, preparing themselves to attack once again.

I didn't know how to face them head on, so I chose a completely random option and fled the scene as soon as possible without wasting a single second. I kept running until I reached an unknown place surrounded by dense woods. My breathing was ragged, almost out of breath.

The sound of flute and the screeching of the omnivore birds echoed through the forest, sounding so distant yet extremely terrifying. I could barely stand it, knowing that those creatures would be after me again soon.

I leaned on the nearest tree, desperately trying to calm my heart rate and breathing. I let out a sigh of relief once I found myself alone, safe from their attacks. After calming down for a few minutes, I decided to inspect my surroundings in case something was watching me or following me.

I was so focused on inspecting my environment that I didn't notice the presence slithering near my feet.

BUK!

Noticing this too late, I fell on my back to the grassy field when something pulled me harshly by my ankle. At the end of my leg was a giant snake. This thing can't be real.

I looked up in shock. This is my first time seeing a giant reptile up close. I tried to break free but the snake's grip was tightening its hold on my leg, rendering me useless. The snake slithered in full speed towards the direction I ran away from, dragging me with it by my ankle. The bushes on both sides began to move aggressively, blocking my line of vision as I tried to keep myself from passing out due to panic.

My vision started getting blurred, but the snakes hissing loudly made me realize that we are definitely not in a forest anymore. It's the place to fight for survival. This isn't a dream. I have to wake up and find a way to defeat this snake before it could do anything to me.

My eyes caught a glimpse of something hanging on the trees. My eyes widened in realization upon noticing the object.

The aerial roots are moving towards me rapidly. As the snakes dragged me closer and closer, it was becoming more difficult for me to breathe. If I fail to fight this thing then I will surely die for the third time, like what they said.

All thoughts left my mind as I grabbed the branch attached to the root, pulling as hard as I could with all my might. To my surprise it worked and managed to pull the snake along with me. But that wasn't enough for me to escape my death grip. Before I could process what was going on, the snake bit right into near my left ankle.

"ARGH!" I screamed in pain as I tried to break away. The pressure on my legs were also increasing exponentially.

"This has gone too far that you left me no other choice, you jerk!"

As soon as the word left my mouth, I swung my leg hard to the tree trunk, connecting straight on its face with all of my strength.

It gave off a loud yelp and released its grasp on me with one quick bump.

The next thing I knew, it lunged forward with its tail held high above my head. It tried hitting me with its huge tail again but I already dodged. With all of my remaining strength, I pulled the aerial roots away from the tree and rolled away, creating some distance from its reach. When I did so, I crouched to avoid more scratches that were about to land on me.

My breathing became haggard while I checked my ankle which was bitten by the crazy reptile.

"What?" I frowned when the snake bite marks disappeared, it's as if nothing had happened.

This was definitely not normal, there was no way this was happening right?

Then I realized that I didn't feel dizzy or nauseous and my body felt like it had a different temperature from before.

The poison venom was gone? But why did that happen? And how does it even happen? Every strange thing that happened to me makes no sense at all!

When I looked up, I saw the snake hissing angrily, glaring at me with hate in its pink glowing eyes. Its eyes are burning intensely and I have never seen something so frightening ever before. Funnily enough, I felt like I had seen that look before.

'You're really the type to persist without giving up, are you?'

I looked at the snake in disbelief. How can it talk?

'You're not gonna win against me, you should have known that already.'

"Six?" I questioned in confusion "Was that you?"

<<28>>

Six on the other hand, couldn't contain her surprise at the turn of events. She thought her trick worked and she was now finally able to kill that annoying kid. However, she clearly underestimated the stupidity of humans and what's more,...

'You- You can hear me talking through the snake?' She asked through the telepathy with disbelief written all over her face

'Yes, I can hear you.'

"Just how? How is that even possible? You're human, aren't you?" Without Six realizing, she's saying it out loud. Her tone seemed very accusing, but at the same time, she sounded quite nervous.

Telepathy is not a part of Six's Instinct but rather, it is just a common ability which the Infinities have. The fact that this boy could actually hear and understand her telepathic voice was unbelievable. It was unheard of, especially since telepathy is not used normally by ordinary people.

However, have you heard the classic legend story about the pied piper who played his tune to save a lost soul only to be cursed by humans who lied to him? Well this is another pied piper who not only can control the rats, but also other animals as well. Whenever she started playing the flute, it allowed her to interact with animals in a way humans could not understand. The only way she could communicate with them is by playing certain tunes of sounds.

For example, if she wanted to control the raven which were now sitting on the tree branches. The raven responded to her music through the instrument and obeyed what she ordered instantly. Which means that if Six wished the bird to obey her, she only needed to make a simple motion and it would happen. This ability of hers, that she used to create such an amazing feat, was actually useful to the animal she controlled.

Because of this ability, they called her 'The Pied Piper'.

<<28>>

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<25, INTJ>