Axel locked gazes with the creature, his eyes unblinking, breath caught in his throat, his pulse racing.

The snake blinked its large eyes, a dark pupil the only contrast to its completely white body, it tilted its head, looking at Axel, a hint of curiosity in its eye.

The next second it turned into a blur, catching Axel off guard, it wrapped itself around his neck, like a scarf or a hanging rope, its face dangerously close to his, its tongue flickering.

Then it rubbed its head against Axel's cheek, the moist and smooth skin broke him out of his reverie, his eyes tracing the snake as rubbed against his cheek, eyes closed, almost like it was fond of him.

But he wasn't having it, his hands snapped up, one held the snakes head, while the other held it's body around his neck, trying to pry it off.

Axel hissed in pain as he pulled, it was like the snake was glued to his skin, trying to pull it off was like trying to pull off his own skin.

Meanwhile, the snake looked at him, tilting its head in confusion, then a glint flash through its eyes and it smiled, revealing two fangs, then it released itself from his neck, slithering out of his hand, and wrapping around it instead, then it started slithering against his body, wrapping across various body parts.

As for Axel, he started break dancing, trying to catch the snake, get it off, the uncomfortable feeling of it slithering against his skin, not something anyone would enjoy.

But the snake was too fast, it kept moving around, standing in one place momentarily, then when Axels hand gets close, it disappears, almost like it was playing.

Axels eyes widened as he stopped, it was playing, it wasn't really trying to harm him was it.

So far, it had just been observed him and wrapped around his neck, rubbing itself against his cheek, almost like a new born puppy.

Could it be it things I'm it's parent or something, the snake slithered back to his neck upon noticing he was not trying to catch it again.

Most likely it does, he watched as the snake climbed up to his head, coiling within his messy hair.

Axel felt his lips twitch, how did this happen? There is no way I am carrying a snake around, just the feeling on his body was…

He shuddered, his hand reaching up slowly, then he gripped the snake.

"Got you," he muttered, and pulled.

But he regretted it the next second, he felt like his hair was about to be ripped out of his scalp as he pulled the snake.

Axel quickly let go, frowning, "this is a big issue."

He held his breath as the snakes face came down, dangling in front of him, tongue flickering as if mocking him, licking the wound across his face, then it went back up.

Bastard, Axel cursed internally, but there was nothing he could do, unless if he wanted to lose his hair, he had to leave it be for now.

At least it didn't seem to be harmful, at least not yet, it wouldn't hurt to let it be, but Axel grimaced at the thought, the feel of the snake on his head was wrong, but he had no choice.

Axel sighed, "Could this be karma?" He wondered as he entered the cave.

The sight in the cave made his face twitch even more, his frown deepened, the little guy had made one spectacular entrance, the smell had subsidized significantly, but that was not what caught his attention, rather it was something simpler.

The egg shells were lodged deeply into the crystals, like bullets fired from a gun.

That was really close, Axel realized, if he was a bit slower, part of the shell would have been lodged tightly into his skull.

Axel's eyes rolled up, wondering if the snake had pushed the shells away or it was just natural.

I do hope it's the later, but most importantly, he looked at the ground with a grim expression.

The black egg was completely shattered, it's content spilled onto the floor, some of it flowing slowly into the pond.

Axel felt like killing the white snake at that instant, his fist clenched, his source of food wasted.

"Perhaps I'll just roast you as a replacement," he muttered to himself, but the snake lowered its face on front of him, eyes narrowed, looking at him as if suspicious.

Axel gulped hard, if it attacked now, I doubt I'll be fast enough to stop it, but the snake didn't attack it slowly went back up, its gaze not leaving his till it disappeared.

Axel exhaled hard, I should definitely watch my words for now, but you're definitely not off the menu.

But for now, you're safe, just you wait.

Axel sat in the middle of the cave, a fire in front of him, the carcass of a horned rabbit next to him.

Something interesting he had noticed was little creatures like the horned rabbit and the bat like creatures had no crystals.

So there can be two reasons, either they are too weak, more like foot soldiers or they didn't mutate as much as they others in other words they lacked alignment to an element. That was the conclusion he came up with.

But they still served as meat though, and now he had a pot, courtesy of the little guy above.

So he could cook, although without seasoning, Axel sighed, his eyes filled with longing, "I miss normal food." He whispered, waiting to see if the snake would react but nothing.

For the duration of the cooking the snake didn't react, almost like it was dead, Axel even forgot it's presence, till the meat was done, then it slittered down, almost giving him a heart attack, wrapping itself around his left hand.

It observed the meat like some alien thing, its head tilted, it would look back at Axel as if expecting an explanation, but Axel simply ignored it, thinking it would go back when bored.

Eventually it tried to bite the meat, and that was when he intervened, pulling the bowl away, glaring at the snake.

"This is mine," he said with a stern voice, "if you behave nicely, I might give you a bit, else…"

The snake looked at him, its wide eyes suddenly glistening, as it sheepishly pushed its head forward.

"Trying to act cute heh," Axel gloated, "too bad I'm not a girl." He chuckled.

But nonetheless, he cut part of the meat and fed it to the snake, but his eyes widened the next second as the snake spat it back into his face.

Axels lips twitched, a vein became visible on his forehead.

Yet the snake ignored it all, it slittered lazily up to his neck, where it curled itself and rested its head on his shoulders.

Axel clenched his jaw so tight, he could taste a thick metallic taste within.

He wanted to shout but he knew it would be useless, so he held it in and ate silently, but quickly, while thinking of how to rid himself of the snake, no that wouldn't be enough, he had to kill it.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do even with all his anger, so Axel decided to do the next logical thing, ignore the snake.

Eventually it would leave it search for food, or so Axel hoped, but he wasn't going to do anything else, as long as it didn't harm him.

Rather he decided to focus his attention in what really mattered, preparing for the dragon, since the chance of finding a string enough distraction was out the window, now all he could do was practice, try to improve his timing, his stamina and compatibility, even with what little time he had left.

But for three days, or so it felt, nothing happened, until the fourth day.

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