This place is making me dizzy, thinks the golden-scaled naga as she continued her endless journey through the city of the snake women. The city, Cassandra still didn´t knew its name, was located on a plain of tall grass, ideal for the nagas to hide in and hunt animals. The city was located around a river that crossed it from one end to the other by a series of artificial channels. The huts, made of wood and bricks, were connected to each other, forming a curved line that revolved around the center of the city, giving this place the appearance of a big spiral. Through that intricate network there was only a single street that ran from the entrance of the village to the center, where the court of Ahura was located.
Houses and shops alike had a similar appearance and above them were hung signs in Greek, which the ignorant redhead could hardly read. It was difficult to identify the purpose of each building; Cassandra concluded that the best way to find out the purpose of each building was to open each entrance door. Which had only two outcomes: coming face to face with a furious naga who ended up hissing her off, or bumping into a shopkeeper excited by having “Sword-bearer” as one of her customers? After a couple of attempts, the Amazon gives up her exploration and continues her journey to Ahura's court, where the green-tailed naga was waiting for her for lunch.
When Cassandra finished her conversation with Melody, she found Alix, outside of her personal hut, waiting for the redhead to tell her that the Elder had summoned her presence for this noon. After which, she disappeared down one of the side streets of that intricate maze of stone and wood without bothering to wait for the confused girl.
After turning again, she come face to face with a strange building that she had not paid attention to, before. Unlike the other buildings in that town, this one wasn´t characterized by the Spartan structure of its neighbors, instead it was a grand, conical construction, without windows, with tall columns and crowned by a dome, it looked like a temple out of a movie about the Ancient Rome.
Curious, Cassandra walks up to the entrance of that temple wondering how she could have overlooked it, until now. During her arrival in the city she had been too busy trying not to kill her friend for sightseeing, and by the time she finished discussing Ahura's proposal, the Amazon had kept her head down most of the time as she slipped into her new quarters, trying not to attract the attention of the rest of the snake women who were livid.
Eleven statues were arranged in the entrance portal. Ten of them were representations of nagas kept in pristine conditions. The number eleven, on the other hand, was in a more worn state: The body of the statue was covered by a thick tunic that made it difficult to distinguish its figure. A hood covered its head and made it difficult to see its face. Despite this, the fact that the figure was smaller than its counterparts and that it had legs instead of a tail, made the redhead assume that it was a human being.
Who was it? The intrigued Amazon wonders, as she gazed at that mysterious statue. After giving it a contemplative look, she decides to go inside that temple.
The interior of the room was circular and entirely made of stone. The only illumination came naturally from a circular hole in the ceiling of the dome that descended to the center of the floor of that immense room, where the image of a snake biting its tail had been engraved on the floor. The walls were covered with Greek texts and murals depicting various scenes, most of which were made up of images of nagas and other mythological creatures. The murals extended along the walls of the temple. It was clear that they were telling a story, the story about the naga tribe, and that was a story that she could barely unravel, but that the redhead still needed to know to earn her place in this community. The first 5 murals seemed to be telling a particular tale; in the first, it represented an older woman, carrying in her arms a baby with a black serpent's tail and those slanted yellow eyes shaped snake-alike. Both were going through a dark forest. The woman's face seemed serene and she showed no doubt about what she was doing. The second mural showed a young naga with her tail curled around the immobile body of a bear, presumed dead. In the next image, the same naga, now an adult, appeared, bending over a young man with an infected wound on her arm, her fangs were placed over the wound. Cassandra wonders briefly what her intentions would be - was she helping the boy or was she poisoning him? The fourth image showed the snake woman holding an oval-shaped object, after a closest inspection, the amazon realizes that it was an egg. The golden eyed naga was looking at it with maternal gaze. The fifth and last mural, told the sad end of the naga of yellow eyes, the picture showed the statue of a man dressed as a Greek warrior, holding in his right hand, the head of the snake woman by her dark hair, as if it was a trophy. At her feet, another naga with brown hair and green tail was prostrate before the statue, afflicted by the loss of a loved one. At the far left of the mural, a lonely hooded figure was leaving the scene with her head bowed. It was like watching the end of a story but seen from the point of view of the antagonist rather than the hero.
From there, the murals seemed to jump in time and showed strange images of confrontations between nagas and other mythological creatures and other human beings, Cassandra continued to observe, absent-mindedly, those paintings, until a particular mural called her attention. In this one, there were ten nagas being pursued by a group of armor clad soldiers. What caught the attention of the golden-scaled naga were the clothes they wore and the weapons they carried, those individuals seemed more typical of the Early Modern Periods than of the Ancient Greece. Some carried flags with yellow crosses while others carried a crescent moon. It was clear that centuries had passed between the first mural and this one.
"Here you are." A familiar voice draws the attention of the concentrated naga, causing her to stir in place.
Turning around, Cassandra meets Elizabeth's stony face. The two of you look at each other carefully until the silence became unbearable.
“Liz I...”
"We need to talk." The voice seemed to cut through the very air.
“You are right. Listen, I know that what I just did seems crazy but ...” Elizabeth interrupts her raising her right hand. “Promise me something.”
The amazon remains silent. The succubus watches her, as she opens and closes her mouth several times, trying to choose her words appropriately.
“Promise me that, whatever your intentions are, they are only to keep the peace on the island. Please, promise me that.”
A moment passed between the expectant Succubus and the thoughtful champion. Thousands of thoughts passed through the mind of the redhead amazon, a thousand different answers that she could have given to the blonde woman, in the end, Cassandra's only response she can give is a simple nod. The succubus eyes turned hard as ice and her voice took on a professional tone.
“It is clear to me that these last days, I have been leaving my position as your advisor unattended, but that will have to change from now on. Your lack of knowledge can cause a conflict the next time you try to assault another tribe´s Elder.”
"I…" She stammered trying to justify herself, uncomfortably.
"From now on," Elizabeth's voice was cutting, "we're both going to have to work twice as hard to make this plan of yours work. To do this, you will need to learn more about the tribes of this island if you are going to act as a representative of two of them. Don't you want to appear ignorant to your scaly new girlfriend and those poisonous viperine cunts that she calls sisters?”
It was clear that Elizabeth did not have much affection for the nagas. The wielder of the sword didn´t knew her reasons, but it was clear that this was going to be a complicated relationship. Considering her words, it even made sense: As The Champion, she was walking on slippery ground right now, and she didn't want to end up doing something insulting to the nagas or any other race that inhabited the island causing a diplomatic conflict by accident.
"It is fortunate that I found you in this place." The succubus was carefully observing her surroundings with a look of smugness on her face and with her arms crossed. "This is The Temple of Uroboros. Here is the story of the Naga people, carved in stone; starting with its origins on the continent, The Exodus of the Ten Mothers and their arrival on this island. There are also the recent conflicts with the other tribes, told only from their point of view, of course.” She points to a mural where a group of nagas appears laying some stone blocks on the ground.” This mural represents the construction of Speira, the first city founded by nagas. The city is also the seat of power of the Python clan, currently under the leadership of the Elder Ahura.” She seemed to spit out that name as if the simple act of pronouncing it made her retch. “Her lineage can be traced back to one of the Ten Mothers, making her clan one of the most respected and wealthy of the Naga clans.”
“Then there are more clans of naga?” At first, Cassandra had thought that there was a single clan under the control of Ahura, but from conversations she had had with Melody, she now knew that there were several clans scattered around the island and that she knew little about them.
"Three clans to be exact." Elizabeth continued walking through that circular space, followed by the hesitant Amazon. She stopped briefly, under a mural that showed a naga with green tail and dominant looks, presiding over a room where nine other members of the same species were prostrate before her. “Originally, there were 10 clans but they ended up disappearing with time. Either they were annihilated by the mermaid and centaur tribes or they ended up being conquered and annexed by other clans of their "sisters." As she spoke, both women passed more murals that showed nagas fighting against centaurs, mermaids and finally among themselves. The succubus continued with her exposition without hiding her contempt for snake women. “The other two clans are called Aspid and Anaconda: The Aspid clan is found in the badlands near the mountain range. The Anaconda clan inhabits the wetlands and the swamps of the island.” The two ended up stopping in front of a large mural that showed a detailed map of the island: meadows, forests, rivers and lagoons, all of this in great detail, on the middle of the map, like a line, a mountain range divides the island on two. Above the map, the following words were engraved:
καλωσορίστε όσους αναζητούν καταφύγιο σε μια θάλασσα απόγνωσης.
"The nagas seem to have significant numbers." Turning your attention back to the blond haired succubus, Cassandra tries to draw her attention to that interesting point. Despite being made up exclusively of females, the nagas seemed to have enough numbers to constitute a serious threat to the rest of the tribes.
“That's right. The main reason for this is that nagas, like mermaids, only have a single gender; therefore, they do not require males to be able to procreate. This is in contrast to the centauress or the Amazons who once in their lives, leave the island to the outside world, in search of a person with whom to have children. This fact, made that at the time, the naga were one of the most prosperous races of this island. That was before they started killing each other and start fights with other tribes for territory, of course.” Your mind traveled to the information it had revealed about the Amazons and Centaurs.
“Did you say that the Amazons and centaurs can left the island?”
“Yes.”
That was important. Cassandra had so many questions about it in her head, maybe there was some way to contact the outside world but she couldn't predict how Elizabeth and the rest of the island's inhabitants would react when they found out about her plan. It was best to appear curiosity, for now.
“And they always come back? , What happens to their partners?”
“The males of the centaur race are nomadic and lonely creatures; there aren´t many who have a stable family. Most often, they leave their mates and progeny behind and lose themselves in the world. In contrast, the females have developed a great sense of community, honor, and family. Although they are fewer in number than the nagas and mermaids, they have ended up becoming one of the most prosperous civilizations on this island. United under the command of The Duchess, their civilization encompasses more than half of the territory of this island.” She points to the territories situated to the east of the mountain range; immense prairies seemed to extend along that terrain until the coast, only interrupted by several drawings that represented populations, surely belonging to the horse women. “Everything on the other side of the mountain range it belongs to them. As for the Amazons, there have been cases that some members of "your race" that decided to stay to live in the outside world, renouncing her immortality and living among humans.” She turned her sight to Cassandra. “Apart from those few cases, the normal thing is, that, when an amazon gives birth to a daughter, she returns to the island with her and train her to become a warrior.”
It was clear that amazons, were a warrior society, and they had a Spartan way of life. But something in the words of the succubus disturbed the redhead.
“What about their sons?”
“ ...” The deathly silence of the blonde was accompanied by a feeling of fear running through the backbone and tail of the golden-scaled naga.
“You are implying that...”
“Relax, nothing grim happens to them.” She dismissed your worries. But, that reassurance didn't satisfice the redhead. “If the kid is male, the mother leaves him in the care of another person whom she finds worthy of caring for a member of her lineage, as a rule, is the father. The Amazons have a duty to their people and at the protection of this island. A duty that very few of them have refused to follow.”
“It seems something too cruel to ask to someone.”
The shadows seemed to create sinister shapes on the face of the succubus. “Amazons have been bred over the millennia to fight and defend this island and The Fountain against forces beyond human understanding, it is a life dedicated to duty and sacrifice."
“But, that someone abandons his own son to never see him again... How can they do something like that?”
Elizabeth looked at the Amazon, fury flooding her face, as if the redhead didn't understand how the things really worked in this world.
“What's the alternative? Would you rather see those kids becoming mindless monsters?! That they hunt down their families and friends?!” The succubus voice increased in tone and her voice was terrible. "You saw those undead creatures when you arrived on the island. You know what we are up against. The malevolent force that has been stalking this island for millennia has a predilection for males. Each and every one of the men who end up shipwrecked on this island end up being corrupted by this power. ”A tear ran silently down Elizabeth's face.
“I thought it only affected at people who deserved it. Like those undead Nazis that I defeated the other day.” The succubus lowered her head as she shook it.
"Let me show you something." Her tone of voice had turned soft again. From between the folds of her tunic, she produced a yellowish paper and handed it to the confused Amazon. When she turn it over, the image of a young boy with dark hair and who didn´t look more than 16 years old is exposed. He was dressed in overalls and covered with black spots. On the collar of the shirt Cassandra could see a symbol similar to two lightning bolts placed one on top of the other. “His name was Frank Schütz, he belonged to a detachment of SS engineers that the Germans sent to this island with the expeditionary force.” Elizabeth's voice trembled, as if she were remembering something terrible. "When I infiltrated the German ship to sabotage it, I had to pretend to be a nurse and work alongside the ship's doctor." Therefore, I had to socialize with the German crew. Hans was the sweetest boy I had ever met; he had a sister, Joanna, who worked as a nurse in Munich. His parents had moved to the countryside to avoid the bombing of the cities. He had just finished training when he was assigned, along with all the members of the newly formed detachment, for a reconnaissance mission in the Aegean Sea, in search of this island of legend.
When the evil that lurks on this island set its sights on our ship, it preyed on each and every one of us, including Hans and me it doesn't matter the kind of person you had been; Officers giving orders, soldiers receiving and executing them, doctors treating the wounded or engineers repairing things ... Good people or heartless bastards, that didn't matter. All of them ended up turned into walking corpses will, under the orders of their new masters.
“And you…”
“Me? I was lucky. I was able to keep my mind and part of my humanity. That it was more than what the others had.” Elizabeth kept her back to Cassandra not wanting to show her face. “At some point I ended up in the water and was washed ashore by the tide where I ended up being picked up by a group of Amazons sent on a reconnaissance mission to observe the newcomers. The warriors were ready to kill me when they saw my demonic form, but, one of them, the youngest, convinced the others to leave me alive, her name was Aegea Aetós, she was your predecessor. She took care of me those first and complicated days and made me part of the Amazon tribe despite… my nature.” Elizabeth and the previous Champion must have been good friends because of the melancholic tone she used. “When she was chosen by the sword, It became the happiest day of his life.” Elizabeth's voice finally broke. "When she died, I promised her, that I would do everything possible to keep the peace on the island and that I would support her successor in whatever way I could.”
Elizabeth sighs.
“I have lived a long live and I have seen terrible things, I saw the fall of Western Europe to the Axis. I was present when the Luffwaffe bombed London during The Blitz. I lost loved ones during the attack that left the capital of the nation I was born in, in ruins. I still have nightmares about it. That´s why I cannot allow that the war end up ravaging this island in the same way it did to my home. And that´s why I need to know that you want the same thing as me, too.”
Cassandra doesn't hesitate, she uses her modified body to put herself at the same level as the succubus and kissed her on the mouth, Elizabeth returns the kiss her and the two remain entwined in that position for a while. Cassandra wanted that kiss to last forever and not to be interrupted by anything. It was the blonde woman who interrupted that intimate moment between the two by using her hands to separate herself from the Amazon. Elizabeth stared at Cassandra with expectation in her eyes and rosy cheeks, waiting. The Amazon doesn´t disappoint her. “Elizabeth, I promise you that I will do everything possible to prevent something like that from happening on this island.”
“Good.”