Changed Fates: Crola - Chapter 2
Changed Fates: Crola
By Crola_the_Snake
Chapter 2: The Ascension
"My lady, what is this nonsense?" Andriel asked the woman with the green, serpentine, eyes. He raised the piece of paper that contained the list of that year's exemplars.
"Whatever could you mean, Headmaster?" the woman asked, her voice as charming as before.
"Why is a lowly passer on the list of exemplars? First on the list, at that!"
"Ah, you meant Redarac. His compatibility for ascension, is higher, if not the highest, than most of our potentials."
"But he is among the lowest of the passers!"
"Do you question my decisions, Andriel?"
"No, my lady. I--"
"The tests aren't everything, Headmaster. You among all people should know that."
The old man bowed slightly, "I apologize, my lady."
"No need, Headmaster. Even someone like you would find it hard to understand the ascended."
"I'm powerless compared to you, my lady. I will never understand your motives in this scheme."
"I can restore, nay, strenghthen your power, Andriel."
"My power?"
"Yes. Your power will be far more than you ever had. All you have to do, is remove your metal arm, and join me in the shadows."
"Join you?"
"Yes. Step in the shadow, and you shall achieve the power you desire."
"I've already decided not to involve myself in this plan of yours. You told me that my role was only to bring the potentials here."
"But this year will be the last time we will take potentials. We already have more than enough to destroy Lionblade in a manner of days. Since I no longer need exemplars, you will end up being useless again."
"What do you mean, my lady?"
"I know that you ordered the attack on your men, and that you cutted off your hand to return from the battlefield with the money Lionblade paid you with."
"How did you--"
"There's more to being ascended other than knowledge and power."
"I apologize for what I have done, my lady. That was a long time ago."
"I don't care whether you fought honorably in the war or not. You did your job and brought me potentials in the last fifteen years. I trust you now, Andriel. Enough to share with you my power." Andriel grabbed his left hand tightly and pulled it off his cut-off arm.
"I shall receive your gift, my lady," the old man said.
"Now walk into the shadow." The old man strided to the woman, the shadow consuming him.
A few seconds later, the dark room was disturbed by Andriel's screams, accompanied by shredding and cracking. The pain caused Andriel to close his eyes.
Soon, the screams, along the other sounds, stopped. Andriel opened his eyes, now reptilian and glowing red, and caught his breath.
"Ah, so this is power," he said with a new, younger, voice, "Why did I say no to this?"
"Because back then, you were old and dying," the woman replied, "Now..."
"This feeling. I missed it. I never thought I will feel this once more. Thank you, Lady Serpenstaff."
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At first, it was darkness. Then the sound of dripping water. Then the soft glow of torchlight. Crola's vision was blurry, his glasses no longer there. He tried to reach for his nose, but shackles prevented his right hand from continuing.
Despite his poor eyesight, Crola could tell that he was in a cell, a wooden door serving as the only entrance. Crola sat where we was, thinking about what happened. If he could even comprehend what happened, that is.
"What kind of magic was that?" he asked himself. It must have been something advanced, given how he fell unconscious and got teleported to whatever place that was.
The faces of the partisans when the magic was executed... They were surprised about what happened. Crola wondered how was his mother and Serid.
Soon, the door opened, and entering it was something bizarre.
It was a human-like figure, but with more snake-like features. Its snake head was covered in green scales, its eyes glowing of the same color. Its chin, long neck, and feminine chest were covered with blue scales. Her back was covered by scales of the same bright green. Beneath the waist (or at least, where the waist would be), the creature had no legs. Instead, she had a tail twice her height in place of legs.
"How are you, Crola, dearie?" The snake-like creature greeted.
"Who are you?" Crola asked, "I don't know you."
The woman laughed, "Of course, you don't. Most people wouldn't know of snake-people before heading here."
"People?"
"Yes, there's more people who are like me. People who are one step closer to the Great Serpent herself."
"Do you think being physically a snake would bring you closer to her?"
"No. This holy form has more benefits than one would expect."
"Holy? Ha! How is turning yourself to a monster a holy action?"
"You seem to forget, my child. The Serpent protected the world from the darkness and sacrificed her life doing so. If you would mock my body, you'd be mocking the Great Serpent herself. You would be mocking her sacrifice. Without her, this world wouldn't have existed."
"I'm not mocking the Great Serpent, my lady. I'm questioning your methods of worship. I've heard tales of people doing this in the past. All of them were branded heretics and most of them were burned in divine fire."
"That's because those people have been foolish or driven mad by the overwhelming sensations of being holy. I survived her trial, child. And now I received her powers. Powers that I could share."
"Share?"
"I think it is better to just show you." The snake-woman approached Crola, her tail making no sound as it moved across the flagstone. As the woman neared him, she opened her mouth, revealing two dagger-like fangs.
"No, stop it. Stop!" The woman didn't. She instead bit Crola in the right shoulder, as quick as a snake would. He screamed at the pain of two large fangs sinking through my flesh. He felt something trickle inside me before the woman pulled her fangs out of him.
"What did you do?" Crola asked as the pain spreaded and blood trickled from his shoulder.
The snake woman seemed to smile, "Shared the gift." Then she pointed where she bit him.
His right shoulder, where the wound was, was covered in purple scales. The scales spreaded through his arm. When the scales reached Crola's fingers, pain erupted him as pinky and ring finger started to meld together, forming into one finger. He screamed as his nails was forcefully pushed off his hands with new claws.
"What's happening to me?" Crola asked through the pain.
"You are now ascending to a form you deserve," the woman replied.
He felt the scale spread through his torso, covering the front with white scales and covering the sides and back with the same purple scales as his arm.
"I deserve this?" Crola shouted.
"Yes. You deserve this more than any of us here."
Crola felt pain on his neck as it lengthened to about twice its original length.
"Why?" He asked.
"No one knows, truly. I just sensed that you had the most potential out of this year's partisans."
As the scales spreaded through his face, he felt it push forward. Most of Crola's teeth fell out, him having to open his now snake-like mouth and spilling it to the floor. The teeth rattled on the floor as Crola's tongue narrowed and split into two by the tip. His nose disappeared, now represented by two vertical slits above his mouth. His ears also disappeared, becoming invisible among the scales.
Crola's hair fell off, the scalp covered by scales. The pain caused his eyes to open, revealing yellow, reptilian, eyes.
The same sensation ran over Crola as his left arm changed to match his right one, only now it felt good. He moaned as his ring finger and pinky finger melded. He did the same when his nails were pried of his hand by growing claws.
"This feels... good," Crola said.
"Yes. Embrace it. Embrace what you truly are."
Crola felt tightness around his pants as it shredded revealing his human legs melding together. The legs slowly melded to a large tail as white scales covered the underbelly and purple scales covered the rest. His leg bones connected with his spine, completely becoming a tail. The changes didn't stop after his legs fused together completely. Crola felt a good sensation as his tail lengthened. He moaned louder and louder as it lengthened to about twice his height.
Then the power. It rushed inside him. It was power he never felt before. His body was bursting with energy.
"What is this power?" Crola asked.
"That's the true power of the ascended, my child. That is the power you will use."
Crola screamed until all of a sudden, he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Aw, I was hoping to see your reaction before your senses return," the woman said to thr unconscious partisan, "At least you're alive," she looked through the window of the door, "Guards, get this boy to his room. Which one? Just any room with a vacant bed," the woman looked at Crola.
He sat there unconscious, his four-fingered hands still tied in shackles. His snake face seemed peaceful despite what happened. His 3-meter tail seem to twirl under the command of his subconsciousness.
The woman seemed to smile, "Welcome, my child." She then exited the cell, the guards entering and unshackling the partisan.