Viper's Nest

The sound of his footsteps echoed off the stone, stretching far beyond the reach of his humble, glowing branch.

"If anything were in here, it would've sensed me by now."

Oliver kept the dim light in his left hand and the bloodstained fang in his right. It didn't take long for the weak glow to reveal some carvings along the cavern walls. He squinted. They looked like runes from the Viking era or maybe some magical language straight out of an RPG.

He tightened his grip around the root-wrapped hilt and walked more slowly. The markings grew more frequent as he advanced, and soon, drawings began to appear alongside the symbols.

"These carvings... they're way too delicate and precise to be made by prehistoric humans. So if not by primitives... then who made them? And why?"

More and more questions invaded Oliver's thoughts, but he was starting to get used to not having answers in this new world. Step by step, he noticed a new sensation: the floor was sloping downward.

"The more I think about it, the more certain things just have to exist. None of this would be possible if magic didn't exist. This whole place feels mystical, and every step I take reminds me of ancient Earth rituals."

Thoughts continued racing through his mind as new carvings lined the walls. Eventually, he barely noticed that the rocky ground had turned into something like cracked white marble. Walls were broken in several spots, chunks missing. The place looked abandoned for age... an ancient ruin.

Oliver snapped out of his thoughts. The wall carvings were starting to make sense and a cold chill ran down his spine. Far in the distance, a faint light shimmered.

"Please don't be a train."

Minutes passed. His torch branch had long since gone out, so he tossed it aside and readied his crossbow. The source of light was close enough now to guide him.

A reddish ambient glow began to take over the cave, growing stronger with each step. Up ahead, a large stone archway carved into the rock would've looked impressive, if not for the collapsed portion giving off an air of decay.

He had to climb over the fallen column to get through. And once he raised his eyes, a massive underground chamber revealed itself: hundreds of meters high and dozens wide.

"Holy shit! This place is straight up a boss arena! We're so screwed!"

The more Oliver analyzed, the more his brain processed. In the center of the cavern stood a step pyramid, and embedded all over it were crystals, hundreds of them. Most were gray, but some still emitted a faint red glow, and a few shined a stronger orange.

Once, this place must have been filled with glowing orange crystals. Now, only a few remained.

His gaze climbed the pyramid until it landed on the top. There, a throne, seemingly carved from white marble, stood tall. At least ten meters high. A giant's throne. But it wasn't the throne that chilled him to the core.

A serpent coiled around it.

Hundreds of meters long, as thick as a subway train, its snow-white scales reflected the red and orange lights around the room.

Oliver's knees buckled. He nearly dropped his weapons. His mind struggled to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Why... isn't it attacking me?"

Fear didn't vanish, but it was slowly contained. His brain began sorting through the scene. That's when he noticed it: beneath the creature's jaw, a hole the size of a car.

Blood still poured from the wound, and the steps of the pyramid were slick with it. That explained the red glow on the crystals.

It all clicked at once.

"The albino serpent was just defending her nest... The massacre of those smaller vipers forced her to act. She just wanted to protect her family."

Guilt crashed over him. Never in his life did he think he'd cry over a snake. But there he was, on his knees, tears streaming down his face. She died because of his kind, because of the hatred of his species. Because of him.

It took a long time before he stopped crying. When he stood up, he began climbing the pyramid steps toward the throne. A small red stream of blood trickled down the steps, making the climb harder with every step.

Soaked in blood, he finally reached the top.

That's when he saw it, barely visible on the throne's seat: a nest made of glowing yellow crystals. Inside, four eggs, all covered in white scales, rested peacefully. Unaware their entire family was gone.

Oliver kept climbing.

By now, he didn't care about anything else. He stumbled a few times but kept going until he was inside the nest. It was warm and strangely comforting. That's when he noticed: two of the eggs were cracked, the hatchlings dead.

Each egg was about the size of a human adult's head, huge by normal standards, but tiny compared to the massive creature coiled around the throne.

Oliver took a few steps and placed his hand on one of the eggs. It was cold.

"Three dead... Maybe if that albino snake had stayed to protect them, this one would still be alive."

The guilt surged again, but he held himself together. He pressed his palm against the last egg, clinging to a tiny hope it wasn't too late.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Oliver let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Thank Angel... One's still alive."