Prologue 1

In the infinite number of universes, there are both variations and constants. The constant being that in every universe, various types of celestial bodies are formed out of some form of matter. A way for reality to just exist and create beauty through a mixture of chaos and order. This randomness is also what connects to the variations of reality. Like the many snowflakes that fall from the sky, no universe nor region of a single universe is exactly like another.

Which comes to the main topic of this story, Life. Life is ever-changing, ever-random. It is both the bane of reality and the only way it can manually change and observe itself. Through untold passages of time, Life has evolved, but even it is still constrained within the dichotomy of Consistency and Variance that reality must uphold. At least, until a "small" snake was born.

He enjoyed such moments like this. Moments where he could just relax and be carefree, without fear of being hunted and killed by his rival predators. He shifted his beautiful coils just slightly, making sure the parts of his body covered in his own darkness could feel the warmth of the twin orbs of pleasing light floating from high above. His name, at least the one he gave himself, was Strike-from-Hiding, and today would mark the 53rd Rise since he was born.

It had been tough getting to this momentous day, full of daily struggle, hunger, and copious amounts of liquid life force being shed. He could still remember the day he was born alongside all of his former clutch. The word "siblings" had once appeared in his nascent mind, but he had no idea what it meant nor where it came from. Though that day was not something he was comfortable with remembering.

That day, he had poked and slithered out of his egg to the sounds of large fighting. Many of his fellow clutch mates had panicked, with some even fighting and trying to kill the others in the clutch. Even the recently born Strike-from-hiding wasn't spared from the cruel and mindless bloodshed, forcing him to have fled the safety of the home. That was when he saw the source of what had caused the chaos.

A much larger and older snake, with similar markings in scales having denoted them as the mother of the clutch, was fighting in a life-and-death battle for the survival of her offspring. Her opponents, the very rival that he knew by instinct to loathe and hunger for. It had been extremely tall, towering over the mother even though her total length would be triple the height of the nemesis. Its feathers were primarily white, with blue and some other coloring he wasn't able to see but knew was there covering portions with striped patterns. Its already daunting figure had also been enhanced with some kind of light sheen that coated the tips of its wings and the edges of its mouth with an unnatural sharpness.

It had been these features which had brought great harm to the mother. Her long, powerful, and beautiful coils were saturated with many bleeding cuts, and she looked to have been tiring from the long exertion of the fight. It wasn't a one-sided battle, though, and two of the nemesis had already fallen by the time Strike-from-Hidden had come out, and the mother on top of a third strangling it in her coils while inflicting several vicious and furious bites and simultaneously maneuvering its body to act as a shield against the others. At the time, he had been in awe at his mother's prowess in managing to fend off several enemies that were much bigger than her, which had led to the mistake that almost ended his life.

In this moment of worship towards his mother, he hadn't noticed one of the hated monsters charging at him from above until the last moment. He had managed to dodge by rolling away, but not without sustaining an injury. Filled with a fear and cowardice that he now regretted, his younger self had tried to escape, but the nemesis that had focused on him was too fast and had pinned him down with its grotesque and hideous appendages. In the moments as the nemesis prepared to pierce through him with its long and sharpened mouth, his desperation to survive had awakened something within him.

On instinct, his younger self had turned toward the nemesis and unhinged his jaw, as if preparing to devour prey. Something within him, both a part and yet separate, coalesced around his mouth, and he sucked something out from the nemesis. It had been forced out of his foe, entering through his mouth with him instinctively swallowing it. Not just from the one that was pinning him down, but also from the dead nemeses and those close by to him, including his own mother and clutch mates.

But he had not noticed that at first. All he could think about back then was the immense power coursing through him, strengthening his mind, body, and most importantly, something deeper, something he did not and still doesn't know about. It had taken a long time for him to come out of whatever happened to him, and he had marveled at the great changes to him. His mind was much clearer than before, and his physical strength was monstrous compared to before. Not only that, but his size, once very small and insignificant, had grown to be over half as much as his mother's.

That's when he had noticed the accidental consequences of what he had done. Filled with fear, regret, and a bit of irrational loss, Strike-from-Hidden had fled the place of his birth. He hadn't stopped for two whole Rises before the exhaustion and hunger had made him more rational.

He came back to the present, pushing those memories away to the back of his mind. It was unfortunate that his mother and most of his fellow clutch had been subjected to his strange power, but he has moved on from that. He has since been doing all he could to gain better control, with random and inconsistent success.

He used the end of his dexterous tail to caress portions of his scar-filled body, faint but still visible even with the great healing abilities his power possesses as well. They were constant reminders for him to get stronger, but not be reckless and lose his life along the way. Given his current shortcomings, it was a challenge he accepted with great relish.

"Hunger. Must hunt." he thought to himself, though he still couldn't fully understand the meaning behind those words.

Languidly, he uncoiled himself off of the rock he would always use to feel the warmth of the light around this time. It was such a nice feeling, one he always regrets leaving. All things must come to a sad end, eventually. Evidenced by the light fading while time moves slowly to Rise's End.

He moves slowly through the natural covering of his home's ground, confident he won't be attacked but still cautious for any predators coming in from above. It was a great home, one that was both spacious and hidden from threats. It was completely surrounded by large "boulders", the word that was embedded into his mind as he saw them, or tall and thick "plants" that filled in the gaps. The plants had just enough space underneath to allow him to enter or leave whenever, albeit he had to squeeze his body through to accomplish this. A task that was becoming annoyingly harder as he grew. The "branches" of the "trees" even interlocked together to mostly hide this hidden sanctuary from above, though any flying creature could still get through without too much of an issue.

As he left the safety of his great home, Strike-from-Hiding slightly increased his pace as he felt his hunger slowly increase over time. Despite the great benefits his power had, it didn't have the capability to replace eating something that was actually solid. If anything, it made him hungry more often than he thought he should be. Facts that he would mentally grumble about on occasion.

He moved about with careful and masterful stealth, the natural and beautiful markings of his scales doing an excellent job at hiding him. Eventually, the trees started to grow less plentiful and don't cover as much of the area. That was fine with him, the "grass" still surrounded him, and it showed Strike-from-Hiding that he was going in the right direction.

Flicking out his tongue at the comfortably dry air of the environment, Strike-from-Hiding tracks the scent of the creatures he's been observing for a while. As he is about to reach his destination, he comes across a portion of the ground that has become wet and clumped together. The place above had gifted the area "rain" several Rises ago, a somewhat rare occurrence from what Strike-from-Hiding had discerned over his life.

A bit of an idea forms in his primitive but cunning mind. The creature he seeks is another predator like himself, with senses just as adept, if not more so, than his own. Over the course of his life, Strike-from-Hiding had learned of a wonderful trick to hide his own scent using this substance. Though it pained him to feel his resplendent scales be sullied, it is a small price to pay to continue the life of one such as him.

Making the experience quick so that he wouldn't second guess himself, Strike-from-Hiding dived right in. He covered the entirety of his body with the substance, and once he was done, he gave a hissing sigh and quickly moved on. The sooner the hunt was over, the sooner he could clean himself.

Skirting the outskirts of his target's territory within a tree he had climbed, Strike-from-Hiding watched from afar. His prey was located within a "burrow", much like the one he was in when he was born. The scent he tasted allowed him to determine that the main defenders of the underground home were still inside. By now, it is long past Center Light so the defenders might be settling down to go to sleep. Some days, though, one or both would go out to hunt for a last meal before Shade's Caress covers the land. It was something he was hoping and planning for.

Even with wanting to get rid of the disgraceful filth coating his scales, Strike-from-Hiding waits for his moment. Predatory Instinct and Life Experience both combining into the patient and calmly majestic being he was. He was even willing until the next Rise if he had to.

UnityDragos

Thanks to the people who are trying out my new story. It's going to be an inconsistent but hopefully long experience that I hope all of you will enjoy. When I gain the confidence to continue with my main stories, I'll put this on the back burner but will still continue writing chapters. I do have a Patreon set up already, but I'll wait to give the link once I have an actual backlog of chapters set up. Don't want to scam any of you guys out of your money. ;) Besides that, check out and vote on the poll below, it will be open until I post Chapter 10, so you'll have a long time to let your voices be known. Also, leave some suggestions for how you want the story and world to be built. I can't promise I'll put all of them in, but I will consider them as I continue writing these chapters.