Ch. 9 - Trouble with Snakes

The three of us approached the pin in the far-most corner of the room. At this point, all the other students had already left the classroom leaving only us in here.

Looking into the pin, I saw a very long snake. Describing it as just big would be an understatement. It was ginormous. Its width was longer than the length of my wingspan, and it was almost as long as two school busses put together.

At first, I wondered if the pin was too small for the gigantic creature. However, after closer inspection, I noticed that its enclosure was much bigger than what its outward appearance would suggest. It seemed like the same sort of spatial magic used in the train that made the inside larger was used here as well.

The snake was orangish and had rolled itself into a circle, sleeping presumably. Unlike the alligator-like creature I had seen earlier, this creature looked a lot more normal, just a giant version of a snake, I thought.

Looking to my side, I saw that Ronald was observing the snake intently, and Valde had a scrunched facial expression as if he was trying to remember something important. Without saying anything, Ronald suddenly hopped the fence of the bin into the snake's enclosure.

"What are you doing Ronald!" (Azrail)

"Get out of the enclosure before you do something stupid Ronald!" (Valde)

"It's sleeping mate. It won't do anything to me." (Ronald)

"Your stupidity knows no bounds." (Valde)

Ronald slowly tip-toed his way closer to the sleeping creature to get a better view of it.

Suddenly, Valde jolted as if a moment of realization had dawned upon him.

"Ronald! Get out of their quick. That creature is dangerous!" (Valde)

"Huh? What do you mea..." (Ronald)

Interrupting his sentence, the snake that was resting a moment earlier was now in a striking position. The creature lifted half of its body above the ground. It starred at Ronald with its fork-like tongue slipped in and out of its mouth. In the eyes of the creature, Ronald was a tasty-looking snack.

"Snap out of it Ronald! You need to get out of its line of sight!" (Valde)

Valde's cry made little difference. Petrified by instinctual fear, Ronald was frozen under the gaze of the creature. Gradually, the neck of the snake-like creature started brightening up, and droplets of flame began to leak out of its mouth as its mouth enlarged, looking like it was about to spit out something. Only then did Ronald finally react.

Ronald leaped to his side, dodging a trail of flame from the creature's mouth. Looking back to where Ronald was just a moment ago, only burnt ground and residue flames remain. If Ronald hadn't reacted at the last second, he would've become snake food.

Seeing that its attack had missed its target, the snake prepared to shoot another trail of fire towards Ronald. This time, though, Ronald reacted and sprinted away from the creature. However, to our dismay, the creature quickly stopped its attack and started slithering quickly towards Ronald.

The snake was quicker than Ronald. In no time, it would catch up to him. Something had to be done, or else Ronald would die. Both Vlade and I were panicking. Just minutes earlier, we were still joking around having a merry old time, and now Ronald was about to face death.

The next moment, I found myself in the enclosure. My legs had moved without me knowing. I was racing towards the creature who was chasing after Ronald.

I wasn't going to make it in time. I wasn't even as quick as Ronald, let alone the creature. I quickly grabbed a nearby rock around the size of my palm and chucked it at the creature with all my strength.

The only thing I remember happening next was hearing the sound of the rock making an impact with something followed by a shrill hiss.

Determined to discover what I had achieved, I looked up only to see the gigantic snake looking at me with a grudge-filled gaze. The rock I had thrown had miraculously struck its right eye, ruining it. The creature stopped chasing Ronald and started slithering madly towards me.

Seeing that I was its new target, I quickly started sprinting in the opposite direction, towards the edge of the enclosure I had entered from. Compared to when it was chasing Ronald, the snake was traveling much moving much faster now. It already made its way right behind me by the time I noticed. I still had some distance to cover before I reached the edge of the enclosure. I had fucked up.

I turned around, facing the creature who was rapidly approaching me. Once it got close enough, it opened its jaw, revealing its sharp fangs to me, ready to end my life.

They say when you are about to die, time seems to slow down a little. I always felt a little bit doubtful regarding that statement, but now I fully believe it.

Everything around me slowed down, the snake, Ronald, who was staring at me with a terrified look, and Valde outside the enclosure doing something. Redirecting my attention back to the snake, I noticed its jaw had already widened to the size of my body. I could see the subtle veins in the snake-like creature's mouth, its hate-filled eyes, and its long fork-tipped tongue.

The snake's fangs were gradually getting closer and closer to me. The tip of one of its bottom fangs reached my left cheek and moved upwards, cutting my left eye and my eyebrow above it. My body didn't even register the pain.

Although death loomed right before me, my only thought was about how much of a laughingstock I would be for dying to one of the magical creatures on my first day in class. Just as I surrendered to death, a bright flash erupted from the left side of the snake's head, followed by a large bang. The explosion blasted both the snake and me; though the snake took the brunt of the damage, I only experienced the explosions aftershocks.

I tumbled on the ground a few times struggling to register the world around me. I couldn't see with my left eye, and my right eye could only see white due to the flash of light earlier. I struggled to register the world around me, and my ears were ringing, stuffing out all other noises. The next thing I knew, someone grabbed me by the shoulder and started carrying me towards the edge of the enclosure.