ORIGIN

This was beautiful.

The warm, bubbling waters, the waterfalls, the islands. All the things from his childhood. The cobra raised his crystalline head slightly just to take it all in. He'd seen it in his water-vision a few days back, but being here in the flesh was even better.

And riding on a kooru was an adventure all on it's own. It'd taken ages just to get that blue lesser to go within 20 feet of him. Binh didn't really blame it, and even chuckled a bit at it's reluctance. He was, after all, a 16-foot long cobra. And even with a heavy stone around his neck, those fangs were still sharp. Still, he promised not to bite, and after a bit of fussing around he was loosely coiled around it's torso like a very strange hula-hoop.

He twitched his tail lazily at Sunny's words. "Yesss, cannot swimm," he laughed, "I dooon't thiink anny of us caan." Binh's tongue flicked out, briefly, tasting the fresh ocean air. How sweet.

An idea struck Binh, a little inspired by the bubbles raising to the water's surface. He opened his mouth and tried to conjure up a couple bubbles of his own, just for fun. Of course, magic was always fickle, and nothing happened-- besides him looking a bit comedic with his mouth wide open. He unashamedly chuckled. "Thaaank yoou foor briiinging me here, Suunny."

A deep breath in and out, letting the salty air wash over his tongue. Like with many things, Binh was painfully oblivious of Sunny's concern, though he did quizzically eye the kooru's stone. How odd. Of course, it wasn't really his fault for being an incredibly deadly cobra. No gembound chooses the body they're born in, they simply have to grow to accept it. How poetic.

The serpent rocked a little as the lesser moved to go eat some bushes. Sunny kept speaking from atop it's head, and he nodded to the best of his ability in response. "Haattched in Erridanuss. A funny stooryy," Binh rumbled nonchalantly. "Caaame ouut annd brooke sommetthiing neear my neeck. Feel verry haard off a cliiif aand nearrly drowwned." A short, hissing laugh. Okay, not the funniest story, but Binh was never very fazed by anything. He added a quick "Doon't woorry, draaagonsss sssaved mee," just to lighten it up.

He shifted slightly away from the creature's body, vying to see the rest of the cave better. The tide was low, revealing slim sand bridges linking various islands. Some were blanketed in plant life, others were bare, a couple even had confusing erosion tunnels pocketing the rocks like pigeonhole s. Cave geography was certainly very weird.

"Doo yooou waant to seee the isslands? Seem niiice," Binh questioned, a silvery unblinking eye staring directly at Sunny.

Ah, how relaxing. The kooru padded across seaside rocks and rolling sand as smoothly as they could get. And certainly a lot faster than either of them could go otherwise, which was a nice change of pace. He watched the scenery go by-- water, seafoam, sand, nothing too out of the ordinary but still beautiful nonetheless.

The kooru stopped at the first island to tear some ferns with their pointed, indigo muzzle. He reached out his tail to twitch one of the plants-- large and stiff, and dewey with moisture. Caves, it was strange being off the ground. Typically the tips were far out of his reach.

He listened lazily to Sunny's notice. The were back along the rocky stretch, and Binh's eyes were too focused on the waves to notice what was happened above. "Liitlee sssunss?" he hissed, a little confused. What was a sun, again? It took a moment for his mind to process that she was talking about the cave-lights. "...I waaannt too ssseee."

Of course, given his neck was almost completely immobile, seeing the ceiling would involve shifting his entire body upwards. And, caught by an innocent curiosity, he did. He coiled his way away from the kooru's torso, slowly learning his noodly body to look at what Sunny was pointing out. "Wheere'ss the liight? I doon't ssseee it."

Perhaps leaning a bit too far.

What a way to chrysalize.

Binh leaned all the way back, as far as his 16-foot body could go. He felt the kooru shifting beneath him and hissed out a little "Sssorrry," in apology. Still, he pressed on, slowly raising his head, wanting to see what had caught Sunny's eye. Right at the last moment he spied it: a faulty light-bulb flickering in and out, in and out, like the waves against the shore. Nothing too special.

And then curiosity came to kill the cobra.

The kooru bucked. Binh didn't see why, just that one moment it was still and the next it was frantically sprinting across the boulders. He jostled loosely, flailing, his center of balance horribly off as the world spun around him. Instinct took over, and the king cobra desperately tried to reel themselves back, but it was stampeding so fast his coils only loosened.

One more kick and he flew through the air.

It was not graceful. It was not like the shot bird, falling gently from the sky. It was not like the wolf's final howl. No, it was a snake getting flung through the air like a glorified throw rope. A brief hiss, and then he hit the water with a mighty fwoomsh.

Binh tried to swim. He flailed his tail, contorted his body, did anything so he could float. But alas, he critically forgot about his own heavy stone, the same crystal that gave him life and magic. It's weight dragged him down like an anchor, the surface growing further and further away as his eyes watched in horror. The snake hitched a breath reflexively, but liquid flooded his mouth and into his lungs, choking him from the inside out.

No, no, no. This wasn't how it was supposed to end! He controlled water! Why was it working against him? All of a sudden Binh felt like a little fledgeling again, stuck face-down in a puddle with no way of getting out. But this time, there were no dragons to save him. It was just him, a small snail, and the oppressive weight of the ocean crushing into him.

The gentle blue light far above, fading, fading. He hit the bottom, and with a horrible crraack! one of the rocks jutting from the shelf struck his stone. Pain blossomed through his mind as white webs spread across, but at this point he barely noticed. He just wanted the pain to stop.

Silvery eyes turned dull. A iridescent stone spread out from it's shattered core, hugging the coiled body into a cold, cold embrace. Binh winked out the moment he ran out of air.