“Oh, Mother, you’re back!” Luxnilae announced with surprise. “We hadn’t expected you to return so quickly.”

“And with a new sister.” Frosrahsa added.

“Uh, hello, everyone.” the new True Lyrhean said meekly. “ I’m… Pynzar…”

The other two True Lyrheans looked at each other and then at Lyrhea herself.

“Did you seriously named her ‘Panzer’?”

“I am not good when it comes to names, and you both should know that by now.” Lyrhea countered before continuing to drive her reasoning home. “Besides, she is covered head to toe in armor that she can summon and dismiss on a whim that barely does anything to impede her movement. She is a fucking tank with the speed of a regular person not wearing any armor. What was I supposed to name her?”

The rest of the gathered people looked at Pynzar and then at Lyrhea.

“I don’t see any armor, Great Mother, but I’m sure you see something we are too ignorant to noti-”

“Shut it, sycophant,” interjected Luxnilae. “Alright, Pynzar, show us this hidden armor of yours.”

“Sure… of course…” replied the timid and shy snake-person before a suit of what appeared to be snake-patterned armor appeared around her body, seemingly emerging from nowhere entirely to wrap her head to toe in some unknown metal.

After the armor manifested itself, Pynzar held her hands to either side of herself and a large sword appeared in one while a kite shield appeared in the other. “Do my sisters still think that Mother is bluffing or crazy? Or have you come to your senses, dumbasses?”

“Wow.” said someone in the crowd.

“Quite the attitude shift.” added another voice.

“Piss off, cunt.” Pynzar growled. “Now, don’t we have shit to do?”

“Yeah, about that,” Lyrhea said apprehensively, shifting her gaze from her own kind to the humans who were still prostrating themselves. “You lot can get up now. Would be rather hard for you to move around with your faces literally pressed against the ground, and we have some distance to travel.”

[“Damn straight you do.”]

The voice of the Primordial Serpent descended upon all present, causing the Lyrheans, be they True or Lesser, along with the cultists, to immediately supplicate themselves even further.

“God damn it.” Lyrhea grumbled. “So, what can I do you for?”

[“Uh, I may not know or really much care about the way your mortal kind speaks, but I believe the syntax and grammar of your second sentence was wrong.”]

Lyrhea rolled her eyes. “I was trying to be more casual and friendly, okay?”

[“Fine, fine, but keep in mind that you need to be a bit more reverent. I mean, just look at them.”]

“Yes, because brownnosing and being a sycophant are all the hallmarks of a being truly loyal and not just out for their own benefit.” countered the first Lyrhean. “I personally feel that one would be more loyal if they didn’t fear being wiped from existence or being crushed utterly at any given moment for minor and insignificant slights that may not have even been intended as such.”

[“Okay, nice argument.”] The Primordial Serpent said before making her own counterargument. [“Counterpoint; I’m immeasurably more powerful than all of you and a literal God that can wipe you from existence if I feel like it and gave you life in the first place out of a whim. Maybe show a bit of respect once in a while and that may help you avoid my wrath. But what do I know? I’m just a being that is older than your universe by orders of magnitude and has more experience with people than any human has ever dreamed of.”]

“Alright, alright,” Lyrhea said, admitting defeat this one time. “So, my eternal, perpetual, sovereign Master of Masters, to whom I owe everything, whatever can this loyal slave do for you?”

[“Okay, I get it. Just keep in mind if I was talking not just to you but to all of them at the same time, you’d be on the floor right now.”]

Lyrhea let out a light, singular laugh that mixed pessimism with a bit of mirth.

“Yeah, anyway, what can I do for you, Big Snake God?”

[“Eh, that’s a little bit better, but it’ll have to do for now. What were we talking about again?”]

Lyrhea wanted to facepalm.

“Well, I was about to tell everyone that we needed to move and go… anywhere else, really. And then you interjected, so I assume it was something about that?”

[“Oh, yeah, right.”] The Big Snake God replied, and Lyrhea could almost hear the snapping of fingers from a being that didn’t even have hands. [“I have someplace that you and your little gang of misfit people can go to finally set things up. Wait…”]

“What now?” Lyrhea asked, a bit concerned.

There was a pause before the Primordial Serpent yelled something to Lyrhea in both concern and confusion.

[“HOW THE FLYING FUCK ARE THERE STILL ONLY FOUR OF YOUR KIND?! DO YOU EVEN WANT TO FINISH UP THE BLOODY TUTORIAL?!”]

“In all fairness, there were only 3 of us a bit before, so we are more numerous now.”

[“That is still damn concerning.”] retorted the Snake God. [“I mean, all this time and still only four of you. At this rate, how much longer will it be until you get another?”]

Lyrhea looked over at the human cultists and smiled with a sinister grin.

[“Oh, I see. Carry on, then, and do hurry. I’m going to etch the destination you need to reach for an ideal site to found your civilization into the minds of all of you, so please brace for the pain.”]

“Sure, sure…” Lyrhea said dismissively as the presence of her Patron Deity faded. Before it finally did, though, she realized what had been the last things it had said. “Wait, how much pain are we talking about he-”

And as soon as she tried to finish that final word, she, along with everyone else in the cult and in Lyrhea's race, True and Lesser alike, suffered a massive headache and fell unconscious, with the snickering laughter of a multi-headed Snake God echoing in the void that it dwelled in.