First Rule of the Ninja 1-1

The first thing he knew was water.

Wetness everywhere; in him and on him and around him.

It wasn’t anything unfamiliar, but the wet wasn’t right still.

He knew wet; the sharp chlorine bite of a freshly cleaned pool or the heavy soak of a thunderstorm beating down on the pavement. This was none of those.

It was salty, cold, and so gritty it dried everything up and made it stiff. The taste of it coated the inside of his mouth, something like old pennies and dead algae, forcing his tongue all the way to the roof of his mouth and almost sticking it there.

What… He groaned, but no actual words left his lips either way. What the…

A heavy pressure shoved against his ribs; the feel of it more rhythmic, more stable and far far steadier than his own breathing. What the hell?

He opened his eyes.

Gray. 

He might as well have kept them closed because the darkness was a better non-sight than this view. A dull, flat expanse hung above him, something so uniform and cloudless that it could have been a cheap ceiling as much as any sky, endless or featureless apart from the dullest sun he’d ever seen in his life. Where…

Another set of questions started up in his head and failed to go anywhere worthwhile as the sound of water dragging itself over rocks filled his ears, a constant slushing of weak waves in the background. He opened his mouth wide to take another breath, but the pressure on (in?) his chest wouldn’t let his lungs expand.

Heavy.

He blinked, the gritty feeling scraping against his eyelids as he looked down.

Blue.

A coil of bright blue rested across his chest, thick and muscular and scaled and not at all close to human. It wasn’t a small thing, the girth of it thicker than his own thigh — not like that was saying much — the flesh continuing down in a smooth continuous loop of wet-looking muscle that stretched all the way down his torso and vanished somewhere past his skinny underfed knees. 

His eyes twitched, throat seizing up as all the air in his body — what little there was — left his lungs in a sudden too-sharp hiss.

As if responding to the sound, the coiled thing moved and sent a strong shudder of pure wrong down his own body. Shi-shi-shi-shit!!!

Dark hands, already coated in wet grit, scrambled for purchase against the sandy surface as he shoved backward. Bare heels dug unbalanced trenches in the beach as he fought to drag his body out from under the weight.

“Ah—!” A scream tore from his throat, hoarse and scraped free of anything normal. The single syllable hit his ears like it belonged to a rusted hinge, not a human. “Get off! Get—!”

He pushed back, breath coming in panicked chops as the sudden frantic movement finally dislodged the coil. The thing slid off him with a thump as wet as it was heavy, falling onto the sand at his feet.

There was no stopping, not for him, his legs and feet still moving as he kept crab-walking away, black-and-white dreadlocks batting everywhere around his face and half-blinding him, until his back hit something solid. Whether it was a piece of driftwood or a rock, he didn’t know but it was enough to keep him from going any further. Heart still hammering hard enough to shake his chest, the man pulled his knees up and stared at the thing that had been on top of him.

That… that’s not just a coil.

It really wasn’t.

Looking at it from even a slight distance, it was clear what he was looking at.

A… He licked a pair of dry salty lips as he pulled his long hair back and away from his face. A snake.

No, no, a snake was a small thing that you found in a garden that maybe ate mice or rats.

This was a serpent.

A massive thing, easily five feet long, maybe more, its body was a too-bright blue, almost unnatural with how vibrant that color was. That same blue faded into a soft snow-white along its underbelly, the division of color so stark he wasn’t sure how the scales could even blend so smoothly. Hell, that was the least of what he wasn’t sure of.

For one, the thing didn’t look like any snake he’d ever seen on TV or… or wherever he’d seen snakes before. It had white fins on the side of its head, large and wing-like, along with the smallest white nub of a horn jutting from its forehead.

It was looking right at him, eyes large and startlingly expressive. Nothing like the dead unblinking beads of a reptile, these were purple-colored and strangely aware.

Okay. Okay. Not okay! He pushed himself harder against what he knew now was driftwood, hands gripping rough salt-scoured wood like it was a security blanket. His knuckles ached around it, breath hitching in his chest as he fought fear. Okay. Just… don’t move.

But the longer he sat there, cold wet sand soaking his legs, he realized that he… he wasn’t scared?

The cold spike of adrenaline that should have been telling him to run, was… dull. More like shock than fear, it was already settling to nothing, replaced by a strange heaviness pressing softly against the inside of his head. Headache?

No, not a headache.

He raised a hand to the side of his head at what was like a… pressure(?); as if someone was leaning against a door only the door was his mind?

The second he realized that, a strong clear feeling washed over him that he knew wasn’t his own. CONFUSION.

A sharp spike of something — disorientation strong and clear and unfiltered — hit him, the thought-sensation followed by an almost-frantic need for connection.

WHERE? COLD? YOU?

He blinked, hand pressing tighter to his temple through the dizziness; the sudden influx of emotion forcing a gasp from his lips. The hand dragged itself up his face, long fingers catching in half-tangled locs of his hair as he tried… tried to… tried to think. 

Hands.

My hands.

His hands felt wrong. No?

Yeah, the skin was dark as he remembered, but the texture was… Something about it was just off. Blue eyes blinked down at his fingers tracing the lines of his palm only to go further down as his fingers went forgotten. What? Why am I wearing… 

He was in rags. Literal rags. 

Colorless strips of cloth that clung to his frame, cloth that he’d call faded if he could make out whatever the original color was supposed to be. Whether it was blue or black or even green at one point, he knew now that they offered no warmth against the chilly seaside air.

He looked back at the serpent.

It hadn’t moved to strike or anything. The big blue snake just watched him, head tilted slightly to the side. 

“I…” He stared at it, voice cracking. “I…” He swallowed hard again as he attempted another word like it could even understand English, the taste of salt water in the back of his throat enough to force another gag. “I don’t…”

He didn’t know.

There was no name in his head, not even a location, and definitely nothing at all close to a single reason for waking up on a rocky gray beach in rags with a giant blue sea-snake staring at him.

Nothing.

Just… fragments popping up as he closed his eyes. Red… red dirt.

Red dirt was there. 

The smell of burning wood, too. 

That same smell slipping into the hum of a fluorescent light. A voice, sharp and familiar with an accent he could almost make out telling him — ‘Hold still, ####’ — telling him to hold still while a woman with tired eyes filled out paperwork. 

Zambia. The word popped up in his head, disconnected and just bobbing around like driftwood in the sea. Immigration. He squeezed his eyes shut, the heel of his hand pressing tight into his forehead. 

SAFE? The feeling from before brushed against his mind, a bit softer this time as he opened his eyes to see the sea-serpent closer than it had been before. It was only a few feet away from him now, large purple eyes fixed right on him.

He didn’t scramble away, no fear or panic or shock giving him the energy to. He might not have known his name, or where he was, or how he’d gotten here. But there was one thing he knew without a single doubt…  

“You’re not…” The words slipped out in a whisper, sure and strong despite how raspy and soft his voice was. “You’re not gonna hurt me, are you?”

The blue snake let out a noise — soft, trilling and loud, almost like a bird — as it slithered forward nearer to him. Its body moved fluidly and gracefully, until it finally came close enough to rest its large head on his knee. 

The physical contact sent a jolt through him, a feeling that was more than just his own. Him and the snake felt tied together as he reached out one hand, just two displaced things on a gray beach. His hand trembled slightly as he finally rested it on the serpent’s head, blue scales smooth and soft and cool to the touch.

HUNGRY.

“Yeah.” He pushed himself up, legs shaking under him and the world tilting beneath his feet as he rose to his feet. He swayed for a second, the gray sky spinning and swinging around as he caught his breath again. “Y-eah. Me too.”

The serpent — Dratini — shifted, heavy body pressing against the back of his thigh and doing its own part to keep him stable. “Th-thank you…” He took another breath, cold damp air filling his lungs. “Okay. We gotta…” 

He looked down the beach, dark outlines of buildings barely visible through the thick mist in the distance. A village.

“We go there.” 

He started walking, steps uneven and heavy as the Dratini slithered beside him, body a constant weight keeping him upright with strength that surprised him.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

The walk felt like it took hours, sand giving way to a muddy road rutted and pitted with so many holes and dents he needed Dratini more than he’d like to admit just to keep him standing. More than that, the whole place stunk even worse than the seaside; rotting fish and damp earth overpowering the smell of salt that he thought he’d never get out. 

As soon as they met the road, the buildings came into focus quickly — the sight of shabby wood built into structures that looked like they were barely holding themselves together was not all too impressive.

As they got even closer, he saw movement. People. 

Just like him, they were dressed in clothes lacking any sort of color, their faces drawn, drab and tired.

And pale.

He pushed that thought aside as he raised a hand. “H-hey!” His voice was as hoarse as ever but that didn’t stop him from trying anyway. “Hey, I nee-“

A woman carrying a basket of clothes stopped dead, dark eyes wide as they went from him and landed firmly on the large blue serpent slithering beside him. 

She dropped the basket.

Her scream was shrill as it was loud, cutting through the distant and dull roar of the ocean not too far behind. The reaction was like dominoes, every other person on and off the street moving like she had just given orders without so much as a single word. 

People scrambled away, faces twisted in panic and fear.

Doors slammed shut too, merchants on the street abandoning their stalls.

“No, wait!” He stopped, hand resting on Dratini’s head. “No, wait. She’s no-!”

“Just g-go away! Get…” A man with a pitchfork stepped out from an alley, hands shaking as he leveled the weapon at both him and Dratini. “Y-you go and get that thing away from here!”

“She’s not doing anything.” He could tell the man was scared, the fear and desperation obvious in every way just looking at him. “I… we… we just… we need help.”

“Looks like a payday to me.”

The voice rang with smugness and a clear threat, and he turned almost immediately to see three men — looking nothing like the rest of the villagers — blocking the same path he just came from.  Each one of them wore mismatched armor, cheap-looking swords strapped to their waists as they grinned his way. Who…

“Look at the size of that thing.” The one in the middle growled out, interrupting his thoughts, as the thick-set thug scratched the scar running across the man’s eyebrow. That same man drew his sword, the half-chipped metal scraping loudly against the scabbard. “Gato’ll pay a fortune for a rare beast like that.”

“Gato?” 

That was… that’s Spanish. Spanish for cat, but he was pretty sure they weren’t talking about a pet. He took a step back, Dratini hissing softly beside him. “L-look, man, I don’t know who that is. Just… I need you to back up. We’ll get out of here. J-just back up.”

“Or what, kid?” The frontman laughed as he took a step forward, his sword raised. “You gonn-“

The air cracked, his ears popping at the sudden displacement of air as his dreadlocks were blown back at the same moment Dratini vanished. The fuck?

Before anyone could blink, a blur of blue and white slammed into the leader’s chest, leaving him no time to even scream as he was thrown backward like a cannonball had hit him. His body struck the ground once, and then again, skipping across the muddy road before coming to a slow bloody smeared stop at the end of the pathway leaving the village.

The other two thugs froze, eyes wide as Dratini reappeared, all coiled up in the center of the road, white horn glowing with a faint light as a long, dark scorch mark trailed across the mud where it had moved.

Extreme Speed.

The words dropped into his mind, coated in the vague flowing-water feeling he knew was Dratini’s knowledge. A hard, factual piece of knowledge of a technique shared between them like he’d always known it as he stared at the scorch mark still in the ground.

He stared at the scorch mark, the smell of ozone sharp in the air.

“What…” The second thug stammered, already taking several shaky steps back. “Is that a summon beast?”

Summon?

The Dratini turned its big eyes toward the remaining men, another trilling sound leaving her unseen mouth; only this time it was sharp, and not at all soft.

The men didn’t wait, boots slipping in the mud as they scrambled away.

What the hell was that? The skinny man stood there, silence rushing back in to fill the space left by the violence as his heart continued to hammer against his ribs. Dratini slithered back to his side, head rubbing against his leg.

SAFE.

“Yeah.” He swallowed hard, the world tilting again as he felt all the exhaustion of the day catch up with him. “Yeah. Safe.”

The second the last word left him, his knees hit the mud. Wet dirt seeping through his rags, the nameless man tried to push himself up, but his arms refused to work with him; edges of his vision already growing dark.

“Hello.”

He forced his eyes open to see a woman beside him, almost kneeling; pale skinned with tired eyes and in a simple faded kimono. “Can you hear me?”

He tried to speak, to say something, but the darkness was already pulling him down fast.

“Inari!” The woman’s voice was all that he could pay attention to. “Inari! Come help me!”

Everything fell away and the last thing he felt was the heavy weight of Dratini coiling around his leg as gentle hands pulled him free from the mud.

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Snake Whisperer (100 CP) [SCP: Serpent’s Hand] {Traits}:

“You are an empath, but only for snakes and other serpentine beings. You can easily communicate with all manner of serpent-like creatures, including supernatural ones such as nagas, basilisks, and yuan-ti. Even when direct communication is impossible, serpentine creatures instinctively find you friendly, familiar, and easy to vibe with.”

Haunt (100 CP) [World of Warcraft] {Destructive Spells}:

“You send a vengeful spirit to possess an enemy, leaving them haunted and more vulnerable to your magic. While under this effect, the target takes increased damage from all your spells and abilities. If you kill the haunted target, the spirit immediately becomes available again, letting you chain the effect from one enemy to the next.”

Starter (200 CP) [Pokemon] {Beasts}:

“You gain a non-legendary Pokémon starter at level 5, as the first stage of its evolutionary line. Its IVs are perfect in three random stats, with the remaining three being random. You and your starter share an empathetic link that allows emotional exchange and thought-speech. Your Pokémon also knows one move normally restricted to egg breeding and possesses its hidden ability. Chosen Starter: Dratini.”

Let’s Make a Deal (400 CP) [Generic Angels and Demons] {Traits}:

“Like a true demon, you can forge unbreakable deals with other beings, whether mortal or otherwise. To create a deal, all involved parties must willingly agree to a clearly defined set of mutually beneficial conditions. Once made, the deal binds all parties to fulfill their obligations so long as doing so remains possible. If one party breaks the agreement, the others are freed from their own obligations, while the one who defaulted may suffer whatever penalties were established when the contract was formed. Deals may also be dissolved by mutual agreement or if their conditions become effectively impossible to fulfill. Clever wording, loopholes, and multiple interpretations can absolutely be exploited—because c’mon bro, that’s half the point of being demonic.”

Nexus Points: 0