The Breaking Wheel

Chapter 25: King of Serpents

"Enough of your games! Who are you?!" Dr. Collingwood ground her teeth as she tried to get out of the ropes binding her. The time she'd spent in the nightmare and the tortures she'd been forced to endure made it so that her temper balanced on a razor edge.

The man in the white suit simply looked at her with that unwavering, rictus grin of his. "You should be smart enough to figure it out yourself."

She thought again. The headaches had started soon after she'd been bitten by the rattlesnake. The day she had a headache that was painful enough to force her to her knees was the day her nightmare-coma had started. SCP-6134 had been found not too far away from her house. And SCP-6134-1 had the power to control any reptile...

"You're SCP-6134-1!"

The man in the white suit smiled and clapped, his grin growing wider.

"Good! Very, very good. While it is true that humans are... average in the intellectual department, you do seem a bit more clever than the norm, in your own way at least."

That brought her no pleasure, not even ironic satisfaction.

"Even so, my dear, you are completely, utterly wrong."

Her eyes widened. "Wha-"

The man laughed. "I hoodwinked you all! I never answered to that old crone in the first place, he answers to me."

"What are you?" Dr. Collingwood demanded.

The man's grin grew even wider. "If you truly wish to know, then so be it."

His eyes became yellow and his pupils narrowed to slits. His face extended into a scaly snout while his neck lengthened and flattened out into a hood. His body stretched longer and longer and his limbs shriveled up into nothing. A scaly tail wrapped around her, breaking the chair she was tied to, and she was brought up to his serpentine face.

"Do you see now?" he hissed. "I am the one you call SCP-6134-3. I am Naga, Eater of Souls, Bringer of Despair, Crusher of Hope, King of Serpents, Lord of Dreams and Nightmares, and half-brother to the Scarlet King! No soul escapes me, whether in day or in night, at dawn or at dusk. So give up your foolish hopes of escape, for they shall be in vain!"

He hurled her through the endless room and she slammed into the floor with a sickening crack. She screamed when she felt her bones shatter and shut her eyes, expecting him to come over and crush her in his coils. But he didn't.

Instead she felt the urge to look up, even though she barely had the strength to crawl. Lying a few feet in front of her, just within reach, was a dagger. 

She stretched out her arm and picked it up. The crossguard was made from some kind of dark metal and the grip was wrapped in black leather. A blood-red jewel was set into the pommel.

Finally. She could rest now. Freedom was just within her reach.

She brought the blade to her throat.

It stayed there, shaking. Her grip on the handle tightened.

No!

She hurled the dagger away, disgusted with herself for even considering it, and began to slowly crawl away.

Naga watched from the shadows, frowning. He'd never seen anyone resist him. They had all lunged for the dagger the very first time it had been presented to them.

This will be... more troublesome than I thought it would, but it won't be long. She's almost at her breaking point. All it will take is a little push.