INSIDE THE QUEEN FOREST ADDER, UNKNOWN LOCATION

The Queen Forest Adder swallowed the young boy whole and swam the opposite direction down into the pool. The shape of the pool of water was like an inverted bowl and became much wider and deeper the further it went. A closer look revealed that there were many other tunnels in this waterway, all of which the Queen ignored. The Queen Forest Adder seemed to know this place quite well, judging by the marks on the tunnels it would appear this Queen was the one who created these other tunnels.

Inside the Queen's throat, luckily the youth that was swallowed did not die and was holding on to a piece of loose tissue preventing him from ending up into its stomach. The surprising thing was that the youth held on with his teeth, his arms seemingly unable to move. As the Queen Forest Adder descended into the pool of water, the rocking inside of its throat almost made the boy lose grip numerous times. Although he did not know biology, the boy had the feeling if he fell further down in the Queen's throat that he would die. Not knowing what to do, he could only bite onto the loose piece of tissue with all that he had.

The Queen Forest Adder sensing a strange lump in its throat, opened its mouth while descending and swallowed a large gulp of water in an attempt to flush down the irritation. In the boy's eyes appeared a huge curtain of water that pressed down upon him, fighting to survive, he bit down harder onto the loose flesh with all his might. The water curtain bashed onto his body violently shaking him, the force pressed him into inner walls of the Queen's throat. The Queen sensing the irritation was still there, repeated its actions of swallowing water a few more times. After every gulp of water, bubbles would come out from its scales along with some water indicating it was ridding itself of excess water.

Every gulp of water would exhaust the boy's energy, weakening his hold on the loose fold of skin. Even worse, there was a constant burning feeling on his skin that was present ever since he had been swallowed. The youth also noticed his eyelids were becoming heavier and heavier, and it became harder to breathe. Unable to continue holding on, his teeth let go of the loose skin and lost consciousness. All the while he had been holding on he had not been able to see his body, the last thing he saw before fainting was the burned and scorched appearance of his flesh.

The boy's body fell further into the throat and was just about enter the Queen's stomach when his eyes suddenly opened once more. Even though he was unconscious, his eyes still opened and what appeared in them were digital numbers, mathematical calculations and a very detailed diagram of a species from the Serpentes family. Four thin metallic red spider-like limbs extended from his spinal cord and dug into the walls of the inner flesh. These limbs were made of nanobots and easily cut through the flesh of inner throat, keeping the boy suspended.

They did not stop there, continuing to cut a large opening in the flesh and they pulled the boy through it. The nanobots seemed to have a destination since they did not stop and moved forward after entering the flesh. The Queen Forest Adder feeling the movements inside of its flesh made it thrash about wildly, its face distorted in anguish. The Queen stopped at the floor of the body of water, coiled into a ball and did not move. The Queen's eyes appeared to have lost its life, but every few moments tiny bubbles would release from the Queen's scales indicating it was very much alive. Slowly, the Queen's body continued to coil firmer into a complete ball.

A look into the Queen Forest Adder's body revealed everything was normal, except for the medulla oblongata where a red-golden cocoon was attached to it with four metallic red spider limbs. On the red-golden cocoon, were symbols that emitted a bright golden light at steady intervals. These golden symbols looked like single claw-marks before, but now they slowly started to change into a flame-like appearance. The claw-marks became denser, merged and changed shape into streaks that appeared like flame sparks.

***

WATER TRENCH, 3 WEEKS LATER

At the bottom of the water trench, plantlife began to grow all around the Queen Forest Adder's coiled body as a testament to its immense life force. The surroundings weren't the only thing that changed, the appearance of the coiled Queen had also changed. Covering the body of the Queen was a thin membrane of red-gold, a microscopic look would reveal the nanobots hard at work spreading this membrane. What was also surprising, was the nanobots had changed in appearance and were feeding off of the Queen's colossal life energy.

***

WATER TRENCH, 6 MONTHS LATER

The humongous Queen Forest Adder was now completely encased in the red-golden membrane which was much thicker than before. Inside the Queen's body, the young boy's was in a deep sleep and appeared to be inside of a long dream.

***

INSIDE OF THE YOUNG BOY'S DREAM

At the bottom of the ocean, there were many green-emerald coloured eggs. One particular egg had large cracks alongside the shell, indicating it was about to hatch.

*Crack**Crack*

The egg cracked open and a small green coloured snake slithered out from within. The newly born snake appeared to be hungry as it immediately began to take large bites from its shell. The little green snake looked up and noticed a very large green snake looking at it curiously. The large green snake gave the little green snake one last look before it turned around and left the nest never to return.

The little green snake then turned its attention to the other eggs as the feeling of hunger inside its stomach only grew stronger. Feeling its predatory instincts kicking in, the little green snake immediately attacked one of its siblings and devoured it. Being one of the first ones to hatch, it possessed an advantage over the others which the snake fully utilized.

Soon, the entire nest became a place of slaughter as the others hatched and they all fought to the death and devoured each other. The tiny little green snake in the boy's dream became the ultimate survivor of the nest and its conqueror. After devouring most of its siblings in the brutal battle the snake was now much larger and more powerful, and it made its way onto land.

--

The green snake was now 10 meters long and 1 meter wide, every day it would battle and hunt other creatures making its presence known in the surrounding territory. The snake made its way into a forest where it found the forest was its greatest ally, the lush green forests camouflaged the snake and it gained a considerable advantage against its foes.

Battle after battle made the snake become the forest's ultimate predator, creatures then actively avoided the forest it resided in forcing the snake to roam once more. The snake roamed forest to forest, devouring all of its enemies and becoming stronger each day. Now it had grown double its size and only continued to grow bigger and bigger.

The dream continued for the young boy forgetting who he was and believing himself to be the snake.

***

WATER TRENCH, ANOTHER 6 MONTHS LATER

The membrane surrounding the Forest Queen Adder started to break apart from the bottom, large chunks of mush and flesh fell to the watery floor. Shortly afterwards the entire membrane began to disperse into the water revealing a large coiled serpentine skeleton. Near the top of the skeletal head, a red-golden cocoon similarly dispersed into the water. What came out from the cocoon was a young man of about 15 years in age, golden spark symbols were on his pale white skin. The young boy had gone through drastic physical changes and was no longer a child but a young man. His red hair which seemed like fire was longer and went past his shoulders draped on his back.

Suddenly, the eyelids of the young man trembled indicating his slumber was about to end. His eyes slowly opened revealing deep golden feline pupils that possessed a degree of coldness in them. His eyes displayed some confusion for an instant, then he looked at his body and seemed to have realized who was. His eyes showed a wisdom that was not there before, whether it was the snake's memories or his now properly developed brain; he was now much smarter.

Even though the young man was now underwater, he didn't seem at all uncomfortable. Every few moments, tiny bubbles would come out from the pores on his skin similar to the Queen Forest Adder. The young man tried to swim the same way as in his dreams but did not move much and felt his swimming posture was very awkward. His eyes fell on the Queen Forest Adder's skeleton, then looked at his own body and his eyes looked down in thought. Suddenly he remembered that he had seen numerous creatures in his dreams and they all had different ways of swimming. After recalling all the different swimming mechanisms, he tried it yet again but instead of moving side to side; he moved his body up and down.

Through trial and error, the young man experimented with different positions and tweaked his movements until he became faster and faster. He was now able to move swiftly in the water, his swimming posture resembled a dolphin except he knew how to use his arms. The young man then looked at the Queen Forest Adder for a long while, there was a complex emotion in his heart. The young man knew this snake was the one from his dreams, there was a strange feeling of attachment he couldn't explain despite its attempt to kill him.

After giving the Queen Forest Adder one last look, he swam through the tunnels with confidence as if he knew where to go. He avoided some tunnels, paused by others and was wary of some; proving he knew where each tunnel lead. After swimming for about an hour, he finally arrived at the mountain cave where he was swallowed and pulled himself out from the water. He exited the cave and made his way to the Acorn Tree as he was quite hungry, thinking of the fat Horned Squirrels made his mouth salivate in anticipation.

In a few breaths, he appeared in the bushes near the tree and noticed a few Horned Squirrels happily eating acorns. Compared to the last time, he was much more confident in his hunting abilities and didn't even bother trying to climb the tree. He lowered his posture, his muscles taut like a bowstring and patiently observed the Horned Squirrels. A loud deafening roar echoed down the mountain drawing the attention of the Horned Squirrels, it was precisely this moment of distraction the young man waited for and he vaulted himself at blinding speed towards them. The claws on his fingers extended and they surprisingly cut straight through two Horned Squirrels, the young man was shocked by the power of his physical body. In his first hunt, he could have only caused some broken bones and a minor laceration but now he could cut them into pieces. An expression of exhilaration emerged from his eyes, he understood becoming stronger meant he would live longer and live well.

The young man ate the two Horned Squirrels and found that they were not as filling as the first time he had eaten one. He had even eaten two this time but was still unsatisfied, feeling frustrated, he picked up a few acorns and decided to head back to his cave. When the young man made it back to his cave, he paused and looked around frantically. There was nothing strange about the cave and everything was the same as when he had left...except, this strangely familiar smell.