Chapter 114. Bad News
For the next half hour after leaving the treasury, Severus studied the crystal under the King of Serpents' watchful gaze, trying to confirm his suspicions about the "something" sealed in the forest's center. To his disappointment, among the vast number of rune weaves on the crystal's surface he found two lines extending outward. One led toward the barrier. The other, almost five times thicker and woven from far more complex runes, ran deep into the jungle, as if the crystal itself was feeding something hidden far below.
No matter how much he wanted to be wrong, too many facts pointed to their existence. The hellish worms alone, which could appear only under the influence of those creatures' aura, were already direct proof. They did not crawl out of nowhere, and they did not appear around harmless seals.
His alarm was not groundless. In the distant past, his world had faced those creatures, and only thanks to five Creators who stepped into the front ranks did they miraculously defeat them. Back then, even Magisters were cannon fodder. Archmages struggled to handle the weakest of the monsters, and the strongest among them were nightmares made flesh.
In that slaughter, millions of mages died. Four Creators fell fighting their leader, and the last one vanished, grievously wounded, and had not been seen again. In his opinion, the survivor had most likely been killed by other wizards. Any item belonging to the greatest mages was a treasure, and greed had no limits, especially among Great Archmages who desperately wanted to rise to join those five, no matter how many bodies they had to step over.
So he clung to hope that he was still mistaken, that some simpler monster was sealed there, and the worms had arrived by accident, perhaps brought by whoever had left that book in the King's treasury, a careless traveler or a deliberate messenger.
Shaking his head, Severus tried to drive away the dark thoughts and focused again on the serpent that had silently watched him the whole time.
"Listen. How many crystals like this are in the forest?"
"Why do you need that information, human?" the King asked in a far more menacing voice, squinting at him.
"Just curious," Severus said with a smile, keeping his face calm even as surprise flickered inside him at the reaction. "If you cannot answer, forget it."
Is it reacting like this because it thinks I want to destroy them, or does it actually know something?
"Hmm!"
"All right. I will not irritate you anymore. Thank you for everything. I will go."
Severus was about to say goodbye and leave the cave when the King of Serpents spoke up. "I know this forest like the back of my hand. Tell me what you are looking for. I might be able to help you?" It sounded irritated, and it clearly had not forgotten Severus's words that if he died, its child would follow him. The King wanted the wizard out of the forest as quickly as possible, and it wanted this damned connection broken.
It was grateful he had returned its son, but it still feared for the crystal, which Severus had stared at for half an hour, and his questions about other creatures had made it cautious.
"And I assumed you would not offer and I would have to walk out on my own two feet," Severus drawled, sighing with exaggerated relief. The King hissed, but it did not scare him. If anything, it amused him. He loved irritating intelligent creatures.
"If it were not for the contract between you and my son, you would not be talking. You would be digesting in my stomach."
"All right, all right." Severus held up his hands. "What I am looking for should be somewhere in the center of the forest, maybe an unknown structure or a barrier. And if my memory serves, near that place black flowers should grow, or a dark, destructive aura should hang in the air." He raised a finger for each item on his list, as if counting down to the answer. When he looked up, the King's eyes were bulging.
That was the answer he least wanted.
The King recovered quickly, shaking off the shock, and then the fear that followed. For a moment, at the mention of black flowers, images flickered through its mind: blood-red eyes blazing with true madness.
In its youth, the half-snake, half-dragon had loved wandering the jungle. Back then, it was not yet king, just an ordinary serpent, and nothing held it back. Already large, it could crawl almost anywhere. Disobeying its father's order, it decided to explore the forest's center.
At first everything was fine. Nothing attacked it. It calmly admired the scenery, almost untouched by other beasts. The deeper it went, the fewer creatures there were. Then sounds began to vanish, as if time itself had frozen. It noticed black flowers lining the path inward and lifted its gaze, and saw those eyes.
The next thing it knew, it was back in its cave. It thought it had been a nightmare, but that same day its father disappeared. Its mother brought it home, and from her it learned that its father had stayed there, holding that creature back so it would not chase them.
Even now, though it had long since surpassed its father, the King felt only fear when it remembered those eyes. It understood it could never defeat that thing. It was on a completely different level.
From that day on, the rebellious slacker in it vanished. Every day it lived with guilt, and to dull the pain it swore to become a worthy king, the way its father had always wanted.
Severus did not miss the sadness on the King's face. After more than a year with Nagini, he had learned to read a snake's moods from expressions most people thought never changed.
"You will die if you go there." Its voice no longer held irritation. It was flat, gloomy, and empty.
"So it does exist here after all." That alone told him everything, but he needed to see it for himself. He needed at least a rough sense of their strength and numbers. Only then could he think of a way to destroy them. He understood better than anyone that a barrier was only a temporary measure. Someday they would break out, and this world would end.
"Human, if you want to die, I will not stop you. I will even show you which way to go. But break the contract with my son."
The King stared without blinking and slowly began to slide its tail toward the exit. Severus noticed, and a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"That will not help. Even if you seal the exit, I can still leave."
It sounded bold, but the King believed him. The human before it was only slightly weaker, and it had no doubt he had ways to escape.
"Break the contract with my son, and I will give you memories of that creature's exact location. I am even ready to sign another."
"Now that is a completely different matter." An orb appeared in one of Severus's hands, and a red parchment in the other. "Hold the orb for now." He tossed it over. "I will write the conditions." He pulled out a pen and inkwell. The King, eager to finish this as quickly as possible despite its fear, began transferring memories into the artifact. "I will add one more condition, but I think it will be trivial for you."
An hour later, Severus left the serpents' lair with what he needed. The King had also mentioned several areas along the route to the center of the jungle, but it refused to go with him, which was no surprise. Least of all did it want to meet those creatures. Even through memories, where emotions were felt only faintly, he sensed their madness, and the King's horror. It was far worse than anything described in the ancient books he had read in his past life.
For an adventure this dangerous, he decided to go alone, taking only the bare minimum, and leaving Nelly and Nagini with the other beasts in the King's cave. After adding a couple dozen clauses to the contract, it had become the safest place for them all.
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