Naga!Pythor x Reader

An Unfortunate Penultimate

Ch 21

Your fingers twitched on top of your camera, hidden in the folds of your dull emerald tunic, overlaid with the twisting greens and reds of the Venomari tribe. You heard the lens click quietly as it captured another image of the magnificent underground city.

Indarra, the Constrictai Capitol, was an underground stronghold that was breathtaking despite its fortified architecture. Giant dark marble pillars held up structures of rich, earthy colors, dotted over with banners and cloth flashing magma oranges and ivory whites. Slick black iron arches and iron-tiled roofs absorbed those rich colors and reflected them back, twisting and vibrant. The buildings followed the ideal of the mountain's sharp shapes, yet kept an identity of their own, unique in their flawless craftsmanship. Above, glowstone spotted the high roof, reminiscent of a twinkling night sky.

An old minecart track system wound through the entirety of the city, transporting people and goods alike, some operating by pulleys and gravity, others running on a magnet system.

Acidicus looked over accusingly, and you fumbled to hide your camera again in the folds of your shirt.

He leaned heavily on a gnarled cane, hands folded and back hunched, "Don't act like you're doing ssssomething wrong, that drawsss sssuspicion. Thisss isss the first time the Constrictai have allowed the public of every tribe sssince before the outbreak of the Ssserpentine Warsss. There'sss bound to be othersss with camerasss, so don't act so guarded."

You took the camera out from under the fabric and snapped a picture of the distant castle, not able to capture the whole structure and its sharp edged, closely packed towers due to its height. All the buildings in Indarra were stacked, and climbed the walls as well, but none of them held a candle to the size of the palace.

And yet it was unimpressive compared to Ouroboros's main castle.

You shifted your eyes as you let the camera fall back to your side, but the crowd slithering and walking by took no heed at all, lost in the act of marveling just as you had.

You rubbed an eye, the bright yellow contacts were uncomfortable, and blurred your vision just slightly around the edges. You adjusted the scarf back down, falling in beside Acidicus's hobbling pace.

His eyes shifted out from under his hood, "And ssstop looking at the guardsss, that's going to draw attention too."

"Yes, of course," you looked forward, trying not to catch the serious eyes that combed the gawking crowds.

It was all so absolutely overwhelming, surrounded by so many of the people that you had pursued the study of for your whole life. You had a stupidly big grin plastered on your face under the scarf. Your head hurt from trying to listen to every bit of Serpentine that you heard spoken through the crowd, with so many dialects and dictions, but you didn't care, it was everything you could wish for and more.

You eventually reached the line for one of the transport carts. The line moved quickly, and you tried to speak in Serpentine to Acidicus for a while till he told you to stop, that you sounded too odd and archaic. Common was spoken so much around you that it wasn't out of place, surprisingly.

You made it into the cart, much like a train car in appearance.

Acidicus winced and hissed as he sit, grinding his teeth. He had explained that his son had attempted to kill him by pushing him from a balcony, and you pitied the pain that his injuries caused him.

The Constrictai at the front pulled the lever and the cart shifted forward, accelerating with a quiet swish of wind.

You scribbled out things about the cart, listening to random phrases around you.