Changed Fates: Crola - Chapter 3
Changed Fates: Crola
By Crola_the_Snake
Chapter 3: Explanations
Crola repositioned himself as he slept. He shifted his tail to a more comfortable position... Wait.
Crola sat up wide awake, only to bang his head on something. Crola looked and saw a bowl connected to a metal post, which was attached to the ground and was also connected to the bowl he was sleeping on.
Crola then looked at his body, which was purple and long.
He sighed, "It wasn't a dream, after all."
"You seem awake now," a voice said. Crola looked to see a snake-like creature similar to him.
The creature had bright blue scales and a green underbelly. Her green eyes seemed to glow despite the brightness of the room.
The room was small. Other than the bunk-bed-bowl-thing, there was a table and two chairs lined up to it. Opposite that, there was a toilet. A door separated the room and whatever's outside.
The blue snake approached Crola, who seem to doubt the person he's looking at.
"It's okay," the blue snake continued, "I'm a friend. Here," he reached for the table and grabbed a bowl, "Have a meal. You were brought here six hours ago unconscious. You must be one of the exemplars this year."
"I don't think I should be," Crola said as he received the bowl, "Are these rats?"
The blue snake nodded, "Being part snake limits your food to rats. Don't worry, you're gonna like it."
"Are you sure?" Crola raised a rat with its tail, looking at it with disgust.
"Yeah. That's the only thing you'll be eating, anyway." Hesitantly, Crola opened his mouth and placed the rat inside it. He then swallowed it.
"It doesn't seem so bad," Crola said.
"See?" the blue snake replied, "What exemplar are you?"
"Tenth. Not that I deserve it. I just got lucky passing the exams."
"Hmm. Interesting. Name's Awin, by the way," the blue snake reached out with his hand, "Let me help you up."
"Crola," the purple snake replied as he reached out and grabbed Awin's hand. Crola fell over as soon as Awin pulled him up.
"I can't feel my..." He said as Awin helped him up again.
"Tail?" Awin asked.
"I guess that's the proper term."
"Your leg bones attached themselves to your spine, so it might take you a few days before getting used to it."
"Uh... Thanks."
"No problem, willing to help."
Crola sighed, "I can't believe that I'm a monster right now."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. It is that lady who did this to me."
"The lady? The green snake-lady?"
"Yeah."
"It's just that, she's the head of all this."
"Head of what?"
"I think it'll better if I explain it to you. You see, we are all exemplars here."
"Exemplars?"
"Yes. Each year's exemplars are brought here, then... Well, you know what's next."
"But it can't be. I don't remember news of exemplars going missing."
"That's because no one remembers the exemplars brought here. You know the warping thing?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"After that, a colosa memoir ward is activated all over the Academy and city, so everyone will forget the exemplars as if they never existed."
"You mean no one remembers us?"
Awin shook his head, "I'm sorry. No help is coming for us. The walls of this place are spell-proof, so nothing will be leaking out."
Crola placed his hands on his face, "Oh Mother..." Awin just stood there.
"I know how bad you feel, and everyone here feels the same, but you have to steel yourself."
Crola removed his hands and sighed, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Anybody could have cried. So the exemplars are brought here, then they will be bitten by one of the guards and turn them to us. The thing is, the green snake-lady never bitten any of the exemplars who came. She seemed to like something about you for her to bite you."
"She said that I had more potential. That I deserve this power more than the others."
"I don't know about that, but it seems to be true that the lady bit you."
"Huh?"
"Take a look at your tail." Crola looked down his purple body to see that he was standing there with falling over.
"What the--?"
"You can already balance yourself now. It usually takes a few hours before getting used to balancing on a tail. I bet you could even learn how to slither today."
"Slither?"
"Walking like snakes."
"How do you even do that?"
"It just... comes natural. Go on. Try." Crola just stared blankly at Awin. Where does he even have to start? Crola looked at his tail and concentrated. Then he started moving. It was slow, but hey, it's a start.
"Woah, how can I do that?" The purple snake asked.
"According to rumors, the venom from the lady herself makes the transformed subject immediately know muscle movements," the blue snake replied.
"Which means?"
"You can move as if you were born like that. Speaking of which, the lady doesn't allow romantic stuff going on in here."
"Why?"
"She said that she can't have baby snakes crawling the place. This was supposed to be a place for mage training, not babysitting."
The purple snake laughed, "I guess that lady has some likable qualities."
Awin nodded, "She may be a bit strict about training, but at least she's like a mother."
"Training?"
"We are being trained for war."
"Against Lionblade?" The blue snake nodded, "How come the king doesn't know this?"
"This might come hard to you, but... The lady is King Tahan."
"What?"
"Well, she was a king, now we just address her as Lady Tahan."
"Hold on, I thought the late king died?"
"He didn't. According to her, she regressed in age when she turn to one of us. Also changed gender."
"Why?"
"The age regression was intentional. She never thought that the venom would change her to a female, though."
"Sure, I could believe everything else you said, but I cannot believe the woman who did this to me used to be the king himself."
"Crola Redarac, you are being summoned by the lady," a third voice said, coming from the door. It came from a orange snake peering through the window of the door. Crola looked back at Awin.
The blue snake smiled, "Why don't you ask her yourself?" Crola turned and slithered to the door. As he reached the knob, he looked back at Awin.
"So, uh, see you," he said.
"See you," Awin replied smiling. Crola then turned the knob and exited the room. The guard offered him a staff to use, but Crola declined. They started moving to the left.
"Where are the lights?" Crola asked, "Everything's bright, yet I see no source."
"There are no lights," the guard replied.
"Sorry?"
"We... creatures can see in total darkness."
"Oh." We continued to walk in silence.
"Are you allowed to tell us where we are?" Crola asked after they took a turn.
"I wish," the orange snake replied, "If it weren't for the fact that I was an exemplar like you. Only Lady Tahan and a few others truly know where we are."
"Why Lady Tahan? Why not Lady Serpenstaff?"
"She said that she doesn't deserve to be called by a family name she stripped herself off. I don't know much, but I can say that something about her changed." The two continued until they stopped by a door.
"Here we are," the guard said, "Take a seat. Lady Tahan is currently doing business stuff." I looked at the orange snake, "She still has to handle paperwork." The guard then left. I slowly slithered to the line of chairs and sat down.
Soon, a yellow snake, still wearing the green hood, came in with another guard, the yellow snake using a staff to walk. Then suddenly, for a split second, Crola saw a human standing there.
It was female, and she had yellow hair and blue eyes. It might only lasted for a split second, but that was enough for Crola to recognize the snake.
"You're Lissandrea, right?" he asked. Lissa froze at her spot as she saw for a split second a boy with black hair and brown eyes.
"You're that exemplar... Crola, am I wrong?"
The purple snake shook his head in response, "Here let me help you." He stood up and helped Lissa sit down.
"I know the answer's obvious," Crola said as he sat down next to her, "But are you okay?"
"I don't know," the yellow snake replied, "I'm sad because of, you know, the snake thing, but I'm kinda happy to know that someone from school is here with me."
"Me, too."
"Thanks," Lissa looked around, "Where are we?"
"Beats me. Even the guard doesn't know."
"Who is this... lady we are about to meet?"
"Your roommate never told you anything?"
The snake nodded, "She seemed... cold when I met her. I was spooked."
"Are you sure it wasn't just because she is a snake-person?"
Lissa laughed, "So who is this lady?"
"I think it's better if she herself will tell." The two remained silent for a while.
Soon, the rest of the exemplars came, each of them recognizing one another. They sat together in silence for a few minutes. Some of them brought up things to talk about, but they all knew those won't matter then.
A few minutes later, a snake came out of the door.
He had black scales and a red underbelly, his eyes matching its red. For a split second, an elderly man stood on his place, wearing a green hood. Each of the exemplars knew who the new snake was, but all of them remained silent.
"Crola Redarac, you are summoned by the lady," he said. The snake then stood up and slithered into the room. Before the door closed, he heard murmurs, probably about his natural talents in basic movement.