Reborn as a Snake! (1.) [REWRITE IN PROGRESS]

14. - Trouble Comes in Spirit. [REWRITTEN]

            I continued to tail the group of individuals inside of their shadows till nightfall, which was when they all set up a campfire and rested for the night somewhere slightly off of the path - something about not wanting to encounter any tedious monsters. When they all set up camp, I decided to make some distance between me and them - slithering off a bit into the trees before exiting the shadow and climbing up the closest tree, before casting my gaze over at them, watching from above.

I had used up quite a lot of Magical Energy just sitting inside of the shadows of these people, so I needed to exit the world and allow myself to regenerate the Magical Energy I had lost.

Magical Energy;
240/11800

"Yeah, I almost ran out... Probably would have run out if I didn't fixate my position onto that girl's shadow..."

I thought to myself, exhaling lightly before closing the window and looking back over at the group. The two ladies were already asleep, sleeping next to one another while the two males were sitting by the campfire and just talking to one another. I guess they had decided to spend the night in shifts - first the two guys stayed up and watched then the women.

Makes sense - in these woods, you never know what may pop out unexpectedly. That troll and sixtails from before immediately come to mind when it comes to potentially highly dangerous creatures that may appear out of nowhere.

I watched the two men talk to each other for another half an hour or so, until eventually I rested my head down onto the large tree branch that I was laying on, before exhaling a bit heavily. I was quite curious about those Abyssal Ruins that the group was headed to - as they seemed to be unable to stop talking about them. Just what could they be?
In my mind, they probably were a very dangerous yet filled to the brim with treasures dungeon, where I could potentially gain some really nice amounts of experience from the monsters and then potentially even the dungeon boss.

Now of course, the ruins could also be anything else - perhaps something of no interest at all - however I was kind of holding onto a hope that they were a some kind of dungeon or a place with strong monsters where I could gain some levels - after all, I kind of am in need of experience and levels.

Yawning a bit, I closed my eyes - drifting off into sleep not long after.

......

Everything was dark.
I looked around in slight confusion, shaking my head a bit before looking down at my hands.

Where am I?
What is this place?
How did I get here?

Then I heard a gentle voice speak from the side. Looking over, I didn't see anyone there, which crept me out a bit. I got up from the cold feeling ground and looked around once more, shedding a slight sweat.

'Hello? Is anyone there?'

I spoke out, my voice slightly trembling.
Despite feeling fine, when I spoke my throat felt sore and it felt like my voice was being crushed on the inside - as if something was hanging onto my vocal cords, not allowing me to speak normally.

After recuperating a little bit, I spoke up again.

'Hellooo?'

I called out, a bit louder this time. Once again - it hurts to speak. Only this time, it felt even worse, as it felt like my vocal cords and neck were being sliced in half with a knife and then ripped out. Then, I heard a gentle voice once more.

'Why?'

I looked behind me, seeing a young man and a young girl standing far off into the darkness around me. I raised an eyebrow at first, but then my eyes widened as I realised and recognised the scene playing out in front of me.