Tag: Snake
A Slither, a monster from my novel “Mentor”
Mentor: A science fantasy adventure, by J S Rowe
Slither
These reptilian predators were thought at first to be those that escaped from the BioSynth transport container that was delivering a shipment of designer DNA “snakes” to the Ancient Wonders Theme Park. That BioSynth container had been derailed by a small earthquake which opened up a large sinkhole that swallowed parts of two buildings as well as the part of the stasis tube that separated them. The container crashed through the tube and shattered itself on the ground, releasing it’s charges to the wilds. There were six “snakes” as they were dubbed, though no one had a description other than they would grow to be up to four feet long and eight to twelves inches in diameter. Thought to be engineered to be sterile, Ancient Wonders was sent another batch fresh from the Vats by way of compensation, and the lost snakes became no more than an entry in a ledger subtracting their cost in engineering and bio mass from the main stores and the profit and loss paras.
But as usual nature has its own commitment to keep regarding the viability of her creatures whether conjured through evolution itself or by the helpful hand of intelligent monkeys. Some how they did manage to breed, and along the way, grew legs and claws, four of them, and grew to a much larger size than predicted and spread themselves through out the Under City.
Under City inhabitants hunted them to keep their numbers down and found that their meat was very tasty as long as the creature was fully bled at its death, and as well, that it’s venom was a useful numbing agent for practical medical applications. Once a way was found to pierce the scales, those too were found to be useful for both ornamentation, and protective coverings.
The Slither prefers the darkness, hunting its prey by smell. The poison secreted from long sacs on either side of the head, paralyses the prey of the Slither instantly. Though it looks clumsy and somewhat comical, it is lightning fast and deadly. The unhinged jaw can open wide enough to swallow a fully grown Wamba bear, but it’s preference is for the tender flesh of babies and young humanoids, and any other smallish mammals.
#17 Sudarshan
I’m caught up! Yay!
A few zoologists were exploring the depths of an Indian jungle, searching for…I dunno, tigers? Sure, tigers. One of them was walking far ahead of the others, and this naga watching from the trees thought he’d be easy prey, thinking he was alone. But as he attacked the others emerged, and since he certainly wasn’t prepared to face multiple humans, let alone humans with tranquilizers, he was subdued quickly. Soon the world was buzzing with news of how a live specimen of a creature once thought legendary had been captured, and he began to be toured through several zoos around the world. But as luck would have it, our friend Amelia saw him with a few of her friends at their own local zoo. She was suddenly hit with empathy when she saw him in his enclosure, perhaps because they were two of a kind: wild, mystical, not quite human. She broke into the zoo that night in her werewolf form and busted him out. The grateful naga made clear that he owed her his life and asked if he could somehow help her on her superhero-ish escapades. She happily accepted. He seemed to not have any concept of a “name,” so she gave him one: Sudarshan.
I honestly don’t know what kind of snake he’s supposed to look like. I just liked that pattern. I later researched the actual nagas of Hindu mythology and found that they’re usually king cobras. But I didn’t feel like recoloring him by then. 😛
#30Characters Chatter…