Suddenly, darkness was no more. I could see, not as good as when I was a human but still. I could.. Smell? But how intense it was! The sensation was so visceral, and I could distinguish so many different notes “grass grass”, each coming from a specific direction! The difference in information is like a difference between a Mona Lisa “brother, awake” and SMS emoji.  It’s the first time I experienced my olfactory senses being so dominant (the memory of high school changing room after PE classes forgotten). And “food want” then there is.. What I can only assume “earth, warm” to be a soul sight. Small spaghetti noodle shaped wisps, “healthy child. happy.” moving around me, as well as a bigger, Cannelloni looking one. That must be Madre!

And then the noise! Happy hissing around! And the feeling of warm breeze on my skin! Are we in some kind of rainforest? And the.. The..

AHHHHH

My head exploded in pain. The assault of information, images, feelings, wants, even more intensive then before. All my siblings got surprised by my scream, and I felt all of that, in addition to their senses, their smell, their hunger. Glimpses of what they saw, replacing my own eyes.

The elder snake was surprised to see the child she was happy to succeed, suddenly screaming, and falling back into the shell. She worriedly peeked through the hole. She could hear its breath, and even its heart, thanks to her high sensory skills. Maybe he is sick? Yes, it must be it. We need more food.

I never drank in my previous life (well, okay, not enough to get drunk at least), but this is what a hangover must feel like. The outside.. familial voices reduced to whisssperss and hissess. One does not need deduction skills to know what it was- it’s that cursed negative mind resistance. Well, it is much better now. According to isekai logic, it must mean that the resistance skill grew when I was asleep! Let’s see

Wait, what? It got worse? What’s more it looks like it’s about to advance to some higher (lower?) tier! SHIT.

… It does make sense when you think about it though. I don’t think you get better at parrying punches by being beaten senseless. You get better by concentrating, practicing and trying your best. Most people also can’t think of genius solution on the go, they have to plan their training, analyze their weaknesses and so on in advance. In other words, just waiting for stuff to get better won’t work. I have to think about it, and slowly learn how to deal with my mind being assaulted. *@)(*#.

Okay, but then why can I only barely sense anything now? Was it only a momentary shock? Like when you stand up too fast, or turn on the lights when going to the toilet at night? Yeah, that must be it, our OP isekai story got derailed enough! It’s time to go out and look at this brave new world!

As I was moving my head closer to the emergency egg exit hole, I saw a gigantic eye peeking through. 

“Is that mother?” “Child awake. Child alive” “Wait again?!” “Happy”  

I felt terribly confused, and relieved and happy, and I was nearly certain (“Find food”) only one of those came from “me”. In my surprise, I moved deeper into the shell, and the thoughts became a background hum. Just to test the obvious, I moved my head up and down closer to the crack, and indeed, it got worse, the further I got. Well, one mystery solved. What do I do now?

Being perplexed was a new feeling for the Greater Arak shadow snake. She instinctively felt that her mind was advancing over the years, after last molting especially, but she also felt that dealing with her unusual child made her grow even faster than before. There were times in the past, when her children failed to hatch. There were also times, when they couldn’t find enough food to feed everyone, after the great fire came and burned big part of the jungle, and they died after a scramble for survival. But it’s the first time one of her children just refused to go out of their egg after successfully hatching. Maybe it needed more time to grow? 

Usually, when something was a problem, and she didn’t know what it was, it was about food. Food always solved the issue. Either food for her, or for some other beast instead of her. She saw her children slithering around, impatiently, their instincts telling them it’s time for their first hunt. How to deal with a child that doesn’t want to move? Even a snake knows an answer.

She caught the egg in her mouth, making sure not to hurt the child inside, and led the rest of the family in search of easy prey.

 So here are my “pain” problems. “Run away”

1. I am starting to go crazy “bite”, due to constant “pain pain” mental intrusions “eat” from “dark” other beings
2. Right now, in front of “eat” my shell, a.. Half flower half insect? “Can’t jump” Was put by mother. It’s about the same “cold” size as me, though it has no legs “food, good”, most likely also thanks to her. And she wants me to “eat” eat it.
3. It’s not only thoughts “left” that can invade my head “danger”. It’s also directions “hide” to my limbs, how to move.

Indeed, my body was moving crazily, as if controlled by children fighting over the remote. One of them was “me”, disgusted by the idea of eating this… thing. It looked better than one would think of, more like a flower than an insect, but still… Then there was my mother, making me feel even more worried. She pushed me towards it, as she moved her head closer to the shell, I moved forward as well. She opened and closed her mouth, as if to instruct me what to do, and so I mimicked.

The pilot that led to the solution of the problem however, was neither me, nor mother, but the Rosebug. It’s panicked signals to it’s legs, led to me moving forward towards it. “Bite” “Leave!” well.. 

I… or rather my body bit it where it’s hind legs used to be. I could feel the venom “pain” going through my fangs “PAIN” “Good, eat”. The sacrifice, legless, paralyzed, couldn’t even move to show what it was experiencing. I however could. I was spazming around ,as if it was me that was bitten, my head flying left and right. I felt pain for a moment, only for me to then “disconnect”, giving false hope of relief, and then “connect” again. “Pain” “stop” “Problem? Danger? Hurt?” “dark”

Finally, the rose died.

This. Sucks. “Eat. Eat” “No eat? Me eat.”. Not sure if it was my rationality, or thoughts of my family, that made me try to gobble the rose, nonetheless I did. It felt weird. My mouth opened in a way that seemed impossible to a former human. And my stomach felt so full, and became visibly swollen, though less than it should. I suspected it was work of some inherent snake magic. It will be hard to move now, but I can finally go back to my egg, and rest in peace.

That’s when I realized. My stomach is swollen. My egg only had a small hole in it through which I could barely fit. I can’t go back in? “Good snake” “Soon hunt” “Grassss” “Pollinate, pollinate, pollinate”

For the n-th time today. @)(*$)&

Reisinling

Just to educate you dear readers: in real life, the vast majority of snakes do not form nests. Apparently it is even rarer for them to perform any form of offspring care. They leave eggs in some hole in the ground and peace off. But this story is not set in the real world, and the snakelings stay with mother until first molting. Maybe I will add some kind of lore note from the perspective of an adventurer or something commenting on it.

Next chapter: status updates! Should be released in ~13 hours. There will also be a temp chapter with a poll, to choose a synopsis out of a few options I will write.

Also , if you are curious when our main character will become the titular dream slithering snake, according to my current outline it should take 10-12 chapters? Depends on how I split them I guess?