Revenge of the Serpent

Chapter 69

'Tap.'

Asclepius took a step forward, watching as his feet caused a ripple on the mirror-like ground. He looked up with his lips pursed tightly. Around him was nothing but pure darkness, the only source of light being the dots littering the floor, twinkling and blinking like stars in the night sky.

He opened his mouth but closed it right after. He wanted to speak, to call out to someone that could be lurking within the dark. Where was he? He wanted to ask. What is this place? Somehow he'd ended up there instead of his intended destination.

Maybe he should quickly teleport out of there—He would've done so already if he could. The place seemed similar to his domain, but the atmosphere was clearly different. There was no smell. No sound. Not even a whisper of the wind. Everywhere he turned felt...both alive and dead. It was difficult to describe with senses alone. The mere thought of comprehending this uncanny space was driving him mad.

'Crrr...'

Asclepius whirled around. His widened eyes darted from place to place. What was that sound? He didn't want to know. He slowly backed away, hesitantly turning to the front. Please let it be nothing. It was a distant hope.

"Asclepius."

"AHH!" The god jumped backwards and fell. He caught himself with his hands, barely managing to support his weight with how much he was shaking.

Two giant eyes were staring down at him. Each orb was bigger than his head. The crimson hue piercing and bright, like they were peeping into the deepest part of his soul. This being carried a heavy atmosphere around him. His aura was otherworldly and unwavering, giving his deep yet gentle tone a mysterious authority.

Asclepius recognized this voice. "...Ouroboros?"

"Ah, I'm sorry for scaring you. You were quite far from where I originally resided so I couldn't greet you immediately." The red eyes moved down, as if Ouroboros was giving an apologetic bow.

"Where...Where is this place?"

"Theodore's mindscape." Ouroboros lifted his non-existent head. "Well, my domain combined with his mind. This place turned into an endless library of knowledge after we had become one."

Asclepius looked around. "This place seems empty."

"I can assure you that it is not." Ouroboros turned and suddenly an object appeared out of nowhere. It looked like a glass shard, the images on it flickering and changing rapidly. "This is a fraction of a large glass plane, I can pull out some of it but only if they aren't a part of his main memory."

Asclepius looked at the shard, trying to see what it was showing on its surface. He only caught a glimpse of a large explosion. "So I'm at the right place...kind of."

Asclepius used a special orb-like device to communicate with Theodore. It acted like a one-way facetime, allowing him to see and talk to Theodore but in turn he couldn't see him, only talk and reply.

He wanted to use that device again, though he couldn't, nothing happened at all when he poured magic into it. He even tried hitting it a few times but nothing worked.

The only solution was to travel to where Theodore was directly. It should've gone like how it did last time when he used spiritualization. Instead, he ended up here. "How did I get here?"

"I pulled you in."

"What? But why?"

"Because it's dangerous." Ouroboros looked at the ground. "The floor is supposed to show the scene near Theodore...This means he's somewhere no other beings could enter easily. If you had teleported...then you might get struck down in an instant."