The Story of Venin-De-Lance

The one where I fused chapter one and two together

          The forest was thick with greenery, the scaly bark on trees glistened in the morning dew. A quiet crackling noise resounded as a small serpentine child stumbled on their feet, coughing harshly into their hand. It was slim and scrawny, its scales a sickly pale color as it continued stumbling through fallen leaves and broken branches. 

          In the back of its mind it could hear an echo of a feminine voice, beckoning them to sleep. At the forefront of their mind was a louder, stronger voice, masculine, and it beckoned them to forge on, to hunt, to feed. Another harsh cough filled the silent space around them, followed by the skittering of paws on leaves. A squirrel skittered up the scaled bark of a nearby tree, the serpentine child, quick on their feet, let out a spray of their venom. 

          A painful, burning combination that kept them awake throughout the nights in fits of coughing. As the cloud settled on the squirrel and small squeaky noises of pain sounded out, the small serpentine carefully made its way through the brambles, picking up the unfortunate creature, claws careful not to let the venom touch them. Though the venom was a flaming, eternal pain to others, it harmed the small serpentine almost as much. Itching throat and irritating their scales, it constantly dripped from his fangs, giving them a harsh cough that made it difficult to catch any sort of food. 

          It carried the squirrel carefully to a deep pit, there were nooks and notches in the wall for them to make their way down to the bottom using those footholds, not daring the drop to water in their current state. As the young-ling made its way down the wall, plump squirrel in hand, they thought back on the last few months. 

          Their mother's death, abandonment, the pang of their venom, having to fend for them self...Their name...Their race....Venin-De-Lance, the Fangpyre Venomari hybrid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

           As their feet grazed the water underneath them, a small gasp can be heard. Always so cold. They lowered them self into the water slowly, carefully keeping the squirrel above the lapping crystal water, it was slow, but they managed to swim to a ledge leading to an open tunnel, one dug out by Constrictai hybrids oh so many years ago.

          Their mother always told them about the tunnels, and how they told a story. They dragged them self up the ledge and onto the cold stone, four eyes blinking into the darkness ahead of them.

          It took maybe half an hour of walking to get their campsite, a small bed of furs and small wood piles the only sign of it in honesty. They took up a small sharpened stone and began peeling back the skin of the squirrel, piling wood as well into a small pile and starting a fire.

          It took what seemed like forever to get it started but, the feeling of warm flames and orange light against their scales felt heavenly in the dark cold of their home. They took no time swallowing the squirrel in its entirety, no need for chewing or cooking. Not long after they curled around the flickering flames, falling to slumber.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

          Dreams. Dreams were not an easy thing for Venin-De-Lance, they were usually a toxin induced nightmare cacophony of and torment, but, on the odd chance of a sweet dream, they did cherish it.

           As they woke up, noticing the soft plush grass under and around them, all Venin could hope was that this would be calm and happy. Their scales glistened a healthy color, a good portion of them glistening green, brown, specks of red, black, and white intertwined with them.

          Their fours eyes flickering across the ground around them as they sat up. "Ssso, how have you been my sweet child?" Came the flickering feminine voice behind him. They turned their head quickly, smiling at the Fangpyre that stood there. "Wonderful meum," Was all they could say, half lost to thought, knowing it was a dream but still wanting to believe it.

          "That's beautiful sssweet child, I'm so happy to see you live assss you are, the forest protecting you," Oh if she only knew, the forest protected hybrids from more than just the wrath of the tribes, but also starvation and other hybrids. They despised the other hybrids, violent, hateful hybrids.

          The wind shifted quickly, their mother's red scales fading into an oncoming darkness. Followed by a deep growl as their father picked them up the the throat, eyes narrowing upon contact. "You, idiotic little brat...Why do you insist this? Sitting around like an idiot." The low rumbling growl of a voice spat at them.

          "Sleeping? Dreaming? Which one?" Came Venin's choked voice, raspy from it's coughing fits. Their father growled, tightening his grip. "Don't sass me, you know exactly what I mean. Calling off your hunt after one measssly morssssel." That...Ah yes that. Always so angry about that. "I wassss hungry and tiiired..." That's all they could mutter, all they could hope to mutter.

          Claws dug into their neck, a sickening crack and thud following as the body hit the soft cushioning grass. Awakening them with a sudden jolt. God they hated their father, god they hated sleeping. They missed their mother, the sweet soft tone of her voice, the way she could hunt without a problem and take no time in helping them through another venom induced coughing fit.

          They missed her so much. Now only an echo of a voice remained, helping to live, while and echo of their father's voice, a soldier, cold, harmful, efficiency over all, told them what to do to survive. They despised him, they despised so much. And as the flicker of a torch caught his sight, they decided it was time to take their anger out on something more...physical.