Snakes

Looking down into the darkness, Marcus judged that he still had about eight feet to go. He'd run out of rope, so he had no choice but to let go. The amulet he had around his neck helped him to be able to see in the near complete darkness. Although some residual light from the outside could still make its way down into the depths, it was still almost pitch black.

A splash could be heard as he hit the ground, a small puddle had formed at the bottom of the shaft. It was a cool sixty or so degrees, a light breeze brought fresh air in from the outside. This told Marcus that there was more than one way into the ruins. Although the amulet increased his night vision, he still couldn't see more than twenty feet in front of him.

The path ahead of him was just tall enough to where he didn't have to crouch, his head scraping the ceiling in some places. The width of the passage allowed him to spread his arms out wide without touching the walls. The floor was made of stone, cut many years ago, now eroded with time. The walls, also stone, had cracks that allowed roots to invade the passageway.

He made his way slowly forward, not knowing what lay ahead, hiding in the darkness, watching. He knew a nest of mountain serpents were here, but not the number of beasts. It could be ten or thirty, he would have to find out. Each step he took echoed off the walls, telling whatever was down there that he was coming.

Marcus hated it down there, he wasn't claustrophobic, but the thought of cave ins didn't leave his mind. At least the air was cool and refreshing from the constant breeze. After about fifty feet, he noticed a doorway on his left. The wooden door was nothing but a rotten pile of wood chips, the hinges long rusted away.

He grasped his warhammer, putting it in front of him, prepared for any attacks. The narrowness of the underground prevented him from using the hammer to its fullest. This was something that he didn't think of until it was too late. From now on he would have to make sure to bring a smaller weapon, to use in small spaces. He slowly breached the entryway, breathing slow quiet breaths.

Once inside he was a little disappointed. There was a pile of rubble in the corner, most likely a bed. The same could be seen in the other corner, a desk lost to time. What caught his attention was a chest that still retained its shape. It was sitting at the foot of the decayed bed, the steel bands red with rust.

Whenever the chest was made, it was made with care. To be able to survive hundreds of years and still protect what was inside is testament to its quality. Marcus approached the chest, his hopes high. He knew better than to expect treasures, but still, it was easy to let your mind wonder. He touched a padlock that still hung on the front, and it fell apart in his hand. The movement from his touch too much for it to bear.

He held his breath, eyes wide with anticipation. When he opened the chest, the lid fell off its hinges. Inside was nothing but the dried husks of a couple moths. Marcus felt rather silly, this was most definitely a bedroom of someone who must have worked at the temple, or whatever this structure was. Either a priest, servant, or even a slave. It made sense that just clothes would be in a chest, even if it was a high quality one.

He rifled around in the chest, moving the debris aside. At the bottom were actually two gold coins, although not like the ones Marcus was used to seeing. The gold coins currently in use had a very bad portrait of the current Emperor of the Empire, and was about the size of a silver dollar. These two gold coins were a little bigger, and heavier. They had a relief of what looked like a dragon, or snake on both sides, with lightning arcing out of its body. He thought it might be a snake because its body had no limbs. It just had a pair of wings on its serpent-like body, and horns coming out of its head. He had never seen anything like it before.

Marcus would definitely not spend this gold, it most likely had some added value being so old. He'd have to find an auction house or collector to see about a price. Hopefully it would be worth at least double, maybe more. He quickly pocketed the gold coins, after making sure he explored the whole room, he moved on.

After that first room, he found six more rooms just like it a little further down the hall. Marcus deduced that he was in the servants quarters that was underneath the main structure. The whole structure on the surface was about the same six as the town square in Clearmount, about six-hundred feet in diameter, so he had a bit more spelunking to do.

Marcus stopped abruptly, he had heard a noise, it sounded like rocks being pushed around. He had just left the last room along this hall, and had just spotted a larger opening, most likely going into a kitchen or meeting hall. This was as good a place as any to make a nest.

He gingerly slid his pack off of his broad shoulders, and inched closer towards the end of the hall. Being careful not to make any noise, Marcus peered into the room.

It was a much larger room than the ones he had seen before. It looked like it could comfortably fit twenty to thirty people. It was most likely a dinning hall. It looked to be about thirty feet by forty feet, with a high ceiling, maybe fifteen feet.

Although he couldn't see the other side of the room clearly, a soft blue glow came from several other openings across the room. Marcus had seen a couple plants that had a slight blue bioluminescence while looking in the other rooms. He didn't know what kind of plant they were, so he thought he'd grab a few on his way back out, surely Clair could use them for something.

The room was devoid of any furnishings, time had rotted anything not strong enough to withstand it. What was there were many pairs of glowing eyes. The snakes were black in color, so they were almost impossible to see, even with the amulets assistance. The blue glowing plants were the only light that penetrated the darkness.

The blue light was reflected by the snake's eyes, allowing them to be able to somewhat see, and Marcus to see them as well. He counted seventeen pairs of eerily iridescent eyes. Slowly intertwining with each other, like fireflies dancing in the night. The sounds of stone grating on stone, although faint, could still be heard reverberating in the room.

Marcus took a moment to prepare himself. He knew that if he stormed in there he would be swarmed almost immediately. Although the juvenile mountain serpent couldn't harm him, the adults may be a different story. The room at least was big enough for him to be able to fully utilize his warhammer, making it a little easier.

Marcus quietly dislodged a small portion of the stone wall, a piece as big as his fist, and tossed it to the other side of the room. It made a clacking sound as it bounced along the floor. It might as well have been an explosion. The noise interrupted the deathly silence, antagonizing the serpents. Marcus was hoping that some of them may have gone to investigate the sudden noise, but was greatly disappointed.

The snakes stopped their movement, forked tongues sampling the cool, moist air. Marcus had made a mistake, he'd forgotten about the breeze that was flowing through the underground ruins. The air was being sucked into the darkness from the shaft he'd come down from, which made him upwind from the serpents. They might not have been able to see him, but they could sense that there was an intruder.

They lazily turned facing his direction, a few split off from the brood. Five of the black scaled beasts came slithering towards him.

"Well fuck, that didn't work at all." Marcus cursed at himself, now lacking time to come up with another plan. He had hoped to be able to sneak up on them while they were busy with the rock, Marcus's lack of experience was in full force. He just had to make up for it with brute strength.

The serpent's eyes facing him, the light no longer reflected, making them disappear. The only way to identify where they were was from the shine coming off their slick scales. There wasn't anything to do but aim for the brief glimpses of light coming from the scales. Marcus jumped at one with his warhammer hurtling to the floor like a meteor, then there was a literal explosion.

Shrapnel was mixed together with blood and bones from one of the snakes, flying in every direction. Marcus wasn't quite sure which part of the snake he'd hit, but one thing was certain, it was a lethal blow. He quickly retreated back into the entryway, watching for what the snakes would do next. With the blood mixed in the air, they would have a harder time finding him by taste. What he saw surprised him greatly.

They started to attack each other, one even bit onto himself. The blood in the air must have triggered their hunger, they must have been down in the nest for quite a while. Marcus watched as they performed their macabre cannibalism, after about five minutes even the ones that stayed behind at the nest started to become agitated. Taking small exploratory bites of each other, some drawing blood.

Marcus took the chance to carefully make his way into the room once again and take potshots at the snakes. When he would kill one, it would quickly start to be eaten by another. They were driven mad by their hunger, they couldn't even realise that they were being attacked. Soon, there were only a handful of snakes left alive.

This mission had gone a lot easier than Marcus had expected. He figured he'd have to fight them all, struggling to come out on top. In the end the serpents themselves were the ones to kill each other. Marcus was leisurely finishing off any survivors of the self inflicted massacre, just stomping on heads, making them pop like over ripe melons.

He then moved on to the eggs that the brood was protecting. There were about thirty or so leathery eggs, about the size of his head. The brood was originally on top of the eggs, most likely keeping them a certain temperature. He started stomping on them as well, the yellow yolk running out, attached to an embryo. Marcus was no expert on the gestational period of snakes, but he thought they looked to be about halfway to being born.

With a quick once over to make sure he didn't miss anything, he continued exploring the ruins. There were three more entryways that branched off of the room he was in, all he had to do was choose which one to follow. He picked the left most one randomly and started towards it. It looked very similar to the one that he came down originally, except that there were only two rooms, each one a bathroom. Each room had what he thought must be toilets, at least primitive ones.

It was just a stone bench with two holes spaced three feet apart from one another. He hoped that they would have used dividers, it would have been a little awkward to do your business right next to someone else. He wasn't about to stick his head in to look into the toilet, so he made his way back to the dinning hall.

This time he picked the middle hall, which was just a short walk that led to a kitchen. It had a stone table in the middle, still standing after all this time. Stone counters around the outside of the room with empty spaces underneath for storage. It also had what looked like an oven that was in the middle of the back wall, the metal parts rusted beyond recognition. It had a chimney at the top, he could feel the breeze heading towards it, it must go all the way back to the surface he thought.

He looked over every nook and cranny, so far this whole expedition had been a bust. The only thing he had found were those two gold coins in the chest. Walking back to the dinning room for the second time, he held hope out for the last hall to explore.

The entryway was larger than the others, maybe double in width, and a little taller. Blue glowing plants lined the walls. They had pale petals with only the outer parts that actually glowed. Looking like an eye when looked upon from above. He plucked one from the dirt that filled the cracks in the stone and held it up to his nose, it had a rancid smell, like rotten meat. The scent did not match its beauty.

He dropped the flower and moved a little further and actually came upon a door. Much of it had rotted, but it was so thick that it still stood. The hinges were also still intact, made from thick iron that was able to withstand the test of time. There were no door knobs, just a keyhole to put a large key. He pushed on the set of doors with no effect, they didn't even budge. He hit the doors with his shoulder, dust falling from the ceiling, still nothing.

Whatever was behind these doors must have been valuable to warrant such sturdy defenses. Marcus would finally be able to use his warhammer for its original purpose, breaking down doors. He gripped the handle firmly in both hands and aimed his swings at the rusted hinges. A deafening bang made his ears ring, he had to stop and stuff some of the glowing plants into his ears.

He'd rather not go deaf, so that was the only thing that he had handy that would prevent it. After a few more hard swings, and his hands going numb from the shock of the blows, one of the door's hinges were no more. He pushed on the door, it wobbled in the door frame just a little. He bashed his shoulder one last time, the door flew forward with his blow, flying across the now open room.

Inside was pitch black, no bioluminescent plants grew in the room. The air was stagnant, the smell of decay thick. It was so dark that the amulet was useless, with no light to enhance the effect couldn't work. Luckily Marcus had brought one jar of flammable jelly down with him. He popped the cork of the container, ripped some stips off an extra wool shirt that he had, and made a wick out of it. Stuffing one end into the jar, his makeshift candle was complete.

It took a few strikes of his flint, but the candle finally lit. He set the candle down in the room, the light it provided was enough for his amulet to work. In front of him, at the other end of the room, was a pile of corpses. They were not piled atop each other like they were discarded, they were huddled together like they were trying to protect themselves. Like they were pushing up against the wall, trying to get as far away from something as possible. Marcus hadn't noticed any clues about what may have happened in the hall, most likely lost to time.

There were twenty skeletons, they all had scraps of golden colored cloth around their bodies, with golden medallions around their necks. The same motif of the winged serpent creature was present on the medallions. They must have been priests of some kind that worshiped the creature. The only questions were what they had been running from, and why was this room so heavily fortified. All the other rooms lacked any sort of decoration, at least any that was left. This room though had carvings depicting a scene of a ritual or something.

It showed people herding animals, mostly what looked like cows, down into a cave. In the cave was The next carving showed the winged serpent, with its wings spread wide, lording over the people. The people were holding up the animal, as if offering the winged serpent the animals to feed on. The last scene that was carved deep into the stonewall was the winged serpent doing battle with what looked like a dragon. The people that had offered the animals were standing behind the serpent, as if being protected.

It wasn't hard to piece together what the story told. A temple was built to worship the winged serpent as a god. In return for offering food, the winged serpent would protect the people feeding it. It looked like a beneficial symbiotic relationship for both parties involved. The creature would get fed, and the people were protected.

Other than the carvings that adorned the walls, and the skeletons that littered the floor, there wasn't much else in the room. Marcus had hoped for a treasury or vault when he came across the reinforced door, but was disappointed once again. He carefully removed the golden medallions from the necks of the deceased. He wasn't shy about taking them, they could be worth a small fortune for all he knew.

As he had gotten closer to the back of the room in order to remove the medallions, he noticed something he hadn't before. There was another carving, hidden by a couple of the skeletons that were leaning on the wall, they had died standing and somehow remained that way. The carving showed the winged creature once again, standing around the creature in a circle were most likely the priests of the temple. There were twenty figures exactly and it looked like they were holding something above their heads. It was an empty space, like something was supposed to be placed there.

Knowing just what to do, Marcus's heart started to beat faster, the idea of a secret passageway making him excited. He placed one of the medallions into the relief above their heads. It fit perfectly, although nothing happened, this he had expected. He continued placing the medallions into the wall, until finally the last one was put into place, and a clicking noise could be heard.

A sucking sound came from the wall and air was sucked towards it as the wall slid to the right, revealing steps leading down. Marcus calmed himself down, he had to go back for his pack that he left in the dining hall, so he couldn't head down just yet. Merrily, Marcus jogged back to the dining hall. He reached where his pack was and reached out to grab it. Before his fingers touched the pack, a searing pain shot threw his arm

Marcus jerked him arm back, at least he tried to. Attached to his arm was a huge mountain serpent, much bigger than the ones that were in the nest. It had his arm in its vice like jaws, sharp needle like teeth that angled towards its throat were digging into Marcus's flesh. He'd made another mistake, not only had he not paid attention to his surroundings, he also left his warhammer in the room with the secret passage, propped in the door in case it slid back shut.

The snake's head was the size of Marcus's torso. It had to be every bit of forty feet long, he was surprised it could even fit down the shaft. It was three feet in diameter, easily big enough to swallow him whole. His arm up to the elbow was in its mouth. It pulled Marcus off his feet, wrapping its body around him. Marcus took his free arm and started to punch the snake in its nose, momentarily stunning it, but it still held on to his arm.

Marcus had no choice but to go for its eyes, he could barely reach where its eye socket was. He made a massive fist and drove it into its unprotected eye. What met his fist was very little resistance as it drove into the soft flesh. The snake started to shake its head from side to side, trying to drive away the pain. Marcus was still latched in its mouth being shaken like a rag doll. With a final shake, the snake bashed Marcus into the stone wall, he heard a crack and more pain shot through his body.

He had most definitely broken his arm and it felt like a rib or two as well. Marcus was left gasping for air, it was hard for him to breath. Luckily he avoided hitting his head against the wall, avoiding a concussion. The snake let go of his arm and retreated a short distance away, still nursing its eye. Marcus ignored the pain, stood up and started to run towards his warhammer in the other room.

The monstrous snake wasn't about to let its meal escape, even though it had suffered an injury, it was still very hungry. It shot into the room, crushing the bodies of the others beneath its massive weight. Marcus had made it to the large hall before the vault room, the snake was almost upon him. Marcus slid into the room, grabbed the makeshift candle still sitting on the floor, and tossed it towards his pursuer.

Marcus heard breaking glass and the hiss of the snake, but he didn't turn to see what was happening. He ran towards the hidden passage, grabbing a medallion out of the wall on his way past, picked up his warhammer and dove down the stairs. With a loud grinding noise, the wall slid back into position, sealing him inside the darkness.