ORIGIN

He was almost there, into the briars. Septiezal remembered a burrow he passed up on the way here. Perhaps he could hide in it, he had no other option, as he couldn't climb a tree in this condition. The goose let loose a horrible cackle that made his blood run cold. She called after him, mocking him, but he dare not look back.

Suddenly, a shadow flew over him and he felt the creatures talons pierce his head. Terror gripped him. She was dangerously close to his gem. Septiezal hissed in pain as her talons mercilessly tore at his eyes, blinding him. It was a pain worse than any fire burn he received. Crimson blood flowed from the serpent's empty eye sockets. His eyes were destroyed, his vision permanently impaired.

I'm blind! She blinded me!

This made things a lot more difficult. Septiezal wriggled desperately to free his head. His tongue flickered, trying to recreate what his eyes would have seen through scent. The moose's heavy hoof falls stormed towards him and Septiezal braced himself for more torture. A loud crunch echoed through him as something heavy slammed down on his gut. Septiezal cried out in pain. The nerves in his shattered spine fired, making his injured coils wriggled like a pathetic worm.

Septiezal focused all his consciousness into his gem, pulling as much magick as his mind could muster. He called forth the heat to char his skin. A cloud of black, suffocating smoke billowed from the snake. Breathing it in made his own lungs cough, but prayed that it would deter his attackers from coming near as the smoke stung eyes and smelled of horrible burnt snake skin.

"speak"

For a moment, it seemed to work. The goose released her grasp on his head, honking in frustration, but before Septiezal could attempt escape, her talon ripped deep through his blacken skin, spilling his entrails.

Instinctively, Septiezal blindly lashed around at the pain to sink his teeth into the monstrous goose. His jaws did latch on to something, he hoped it was the goose. His curved teeth prevented conventional escape. Like a trap, the more one tugged, the deeper they tore.

The moose's antler's caught the snake's broken body, flinging it like a limp worm with its guts leaking out. Eventually, the python's coils got stuck on the beast's antlers as if they were a tangled vine. It did more damage to Septiezal, possibly made his injuries worse, but all he could do was dig his teeth deeper into whatever he had a hold of, possibly taking it with him.

"speak"

Septiezal tumbled through the air as the moose tossed him, taking the goose with him by the foot. His tattered body flopped pitifully into the mud with a splat. He fought for the will to keep with the fight, his life depended on it, although, by looks of his hopelessly mangled body, there wasn't much left.

The moose slammed his hoof down once more, but with his spine broken in multiple place, all the serpent's body did was convulse mindlessly at the blow, like a severed lizard's tail. Septiezal no longer felt anything in his coils, he did not even notice the viscera spilling from the deep tears in his belly. Septiezal's strength was waning and the sobering realization of his approaching death was upon him like a looming shadow.

So this is how it ends... horribly.

Despair filled the snake's lungs. He did not want to die, but he saw no way out. Anger suddenly rose in him, one last spark to ignite a dying fire. He was going to give them something to remember him by, something painful.

Pulling every last ounce of power into his gem, Septiezal forced everything he had into his maw. His jaws glowed bright with fire as blistering heat coursed through his veins to burn the goose's flesh from her body. His snout burned during the process, but Septiezal did not cease, and he did not let go. He wanted to smell his murderer's flesh cook.

"speak"