Chapter 4: Snake Eyes

Elric and Hajar discover crucial evidence to the case.

We run through the smoke and standing about 10 feet tall is a snake humanoid. It has a crown of horns decorating its head. Green and blood red scales dance on its body, glistening in the light of the flames. It coils around itself. Seems like he took the half snake form this time. He catches sight of Hajar first and moves with rapid speed. He thinks she is an enemy. 

I quickly run and form the triangle to summon him back but Hajar flickers out of sight. The wind shifts and blows smoke in my direction. I shield my face. I catch glimpses of fire and sparks. Then the ground shakes. I run forward and in the clearing of the smoke I see Hajar and my familiar staring each other down. Her sword drawn and eyes sparking blue, his eyes keen and flames dripping from his jaws. I run up and get between them. 

“Alright! You guys have met each other. Hajar this is my familiar Lord Kaliya, Lord Kaliya this is Hajar my partner. Happy now?”

Hajars blue eyes turn dark and her sword digitizes. Lord Kaliya slithers next to me. His massive snake body moving the air. He leans to look me over. His glistened body flexes and rolls. It almost looks like water. It's eyes a solid black as his pupil enlarges and then shrinks to reveal orange eyes. The crown of horns on his head, ordained with gold tips, protrude through his short brown hair. His snake bottom was about 16 feet long. He looped around me and flicked out his tongue. His human half was pretty normal if you disregard the scales. He had a muscular physique and, as I have been told many times, was quite handsome. 

After inspecting me over he settles down and bellows out flames.

“It has been many cycles since you have released me into this world, Dagon. Looks like much has changed.” His voice hissed out of his mouth in a sly manner. 

Such a snake. Hajar approaches and Lord Kaliya stares her down. 

“Partner. You are not working alone?” His tone harsh and dry. 

I shake my head. “Not anymore Kali. I’m apart of a team now. The Inquisition.” 

I raise my hand and the symbol blazes, revealing itself. Kali stares and his slit pupils tighten. 

“I see. There is much power in it. Granted by a mage just as powerful. I expect nothing less of you Dagon.” 

Hajar finally speaks up. “Ok hold on. Why is he calling you Dagon and how did you summon a Naga? I mean this had to be big.” 

Me and Kali stare at her. She was way too into this. I explained to her that I was hunting Lord Kaliya on the outskirts of the city. Under his command as King of all Naga, they were constantly attacking and successfully killing mages as they journeyed outside the city on missions. 

I was tasked with cutting the head off to end this. I had found his hideout and snuck in. Of course Hajar questioned how I managed to do such a thing. I cast 8 different circles and layered them to create a one time use magecraft. Dimension Split. I stepped into this experimental circle and was split between worlds. The goal was to walk right in while in the other world and pop back into reality and attack. 

Hajar went on about danger and death and something scrambling my insides. Regardless, it worked. I popped right behind Lord Kaliya and pinned him with a circle. He wasn’t mad. He was actually impressed. Naga are snakes after all. They respect cheap tactics and treachery. Plus, he knew he could not defeat me in an even fight. So he pledged his loyalty to me as Dagon, the great god dragon of Naga. I didn’t exactly know what that meant until I walked out of there with a Naga army. So I made Kali here my familiar.

Hajars eyes were wide in disbelief and she looked between me and Kali. I couldn’t hold a straight face anymore. I burst into laughter and leaned over. 

Kali snorts. “Do you insist on telling that same ridiculous story every time? It has gotten old and worn out. Nothing has changed with you.” 

I looked at Hajar and pointed. “The look on your face was priceless. You believed me.” 

I laugh and wipe the tears from my eyes. Hajar puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. 

“Elric I am this close to fighting you.” 

I straighten up and calm myself down. That was too good. I rub Kali’s scales. 

“I told you, my family stole the staff a long time ago. Kali is the snake from the tale. Remember? He has been with my family from the beginning.” 

Hajar straightens up and I can see her face come to realization. “You are the snake of the Great Mage Moses! The one he displayed before the pharaoh. I can’t believe this!” 

Lord Kaliya raises himself and hisses. “It is I. The Dragon. The Great Devourer. The King of Naga and Ruler of Hades.” He blows flames into the air and his body shifts. 

I palm my face. “Now look. You blew his head up and got him excited. Anyway, Kali you almost killed us in that house explosion. What did I tell you?” 

He wraps around himself. “I was doing as I was told. Capture one, kill the rest. I blew away that building after I handed you the prey.” 

"I get that but we almost died also. You went full on fire blast. Right Hajar?" 

Hajar looks around and flickers away. I look and then I hear her next to me. 

“Yeah we almost died. Along with this guy.” 

She holds up the captured guy by his collar and drops him. He was looking directly at Kali with fear in his eyes. I pat his face lightly. 

“Hey friend. Almost got away. Don’t worry about Lord Kaliya. It’s me who sent him in there after you.” 

He stares at me angrily and finally speaks up. “So what is it? You mages think you can just boss us around. I don’t owe you anything. We should have killed you when you knocked on our door.” 

I hear Kali breath heavy and snorts sparks into the air. The guys gaze turns back to Kali, and I get up. 

I lean down into his face. “You really should have. Plus, if you don’t owe us anything, I guess Lord Kaliya here can get his promised sacrifice.” 

I look up to see Kali flick his serpent tongue out. His face and body slithers and jolts. Every muscle flexing and moving in waves. His color flourishes and changes. Scales glistening vibrant and dull colors. 

“Dagon, my master, my eternal, I will accept this offering from you.” 

The guy starts to wiggle as he leans back. He panics and screams. 

“Ok! Ok! I will tell you what you want to know! Please don’t feed me to him!” 

Hajar lifts him back up and pats his head. I smirk. It looks like she is getting the hang of this. She sits next to Kali as our informant tells us everything. The truth was a lot more complicated than I thought. Yet, it was seemingly as useless. He started mumbling about a concert that is held every so often. A gorgeous woman that calls herself The Red Rock Queen performs for the people of the The Slums. Her songs are about freedom and breaking free of mage control. Apparently, she also gives food and currency away to the people here as well. 

Two things came to my mind. The first, is that her name is probably faked. The second, she could possibly be related to one of the Four Horsemen. Red is the color of War. He continued on about how she promises them a revolution if they keep things quiet in The Slums and away from mage eyes. This explains the secrecy but not the guns. He wanted to avoid that question so I got Kali to hold him upside down and cut away his clothes. He was half naked before Hajar told me to have some decency. So he was put down and he told us that the weapons were also gifts from an unknown sponsor. Sounds like War to me. 

There are still a bit more unanswered questions but for the most part we were done with him. I cast a light blue circle that wraps around his head. He starts to yell. I jerk his head still. 

“Please stop. I need to concentrate or I might blow your head off.” 

He gets quiet fast and then his eyes go blank. Hajar waves her hand in front of his face. He doesn't react. 

“Memory wipe huh? You really are an Investigator. How far back?” 

I move my fingers in a pattern motion, pulling out memories. 

“Right there.” I point at one memory of him eating in a kitchen. “This happened right before he met his buddies at the building. Seems to be appropriate enough.” 

I clap my hands and the circle jolts away. He instantly gets up, still blank and starts to run off. Kaliya hisses and watches him leave. 

“So you let him go now? Things have changed much indeed.” 

I look up and wink at Kali. “We aren’t in the wild anymore. I have a conscious in the city. Even if its this rat hole." I form the summoning triangle in my hand and point it at Kali. "So, I might need your help more often from here on out. Be ready.” 

He hissed and lowered his head. “Your will is mine. I am your sword in the dark, your shield of thunder. I will follow you to death Lord Dagon.” 

I push my hand forward and Lord Kaliya shrinks until his elongated body forms back into a staff. It flies into my hand and I hit it twice on the ground with the tip. It disappears. 

I stare at my hand where the staff just was. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that buddy." I turn and see Hajar staring at the ground. A lost look in her eyes. I couldn't tell if it was fear or sadness. 

“Elric.” She mumbles. “What if its a mage?” She looks up at me with concern. It's the same look when our first suspect died. 

“What do you mean?” I ask her, puzzled.

“The Rock Queen. What if she is a mage? The sacrifices. Currency. Influence. It sounds oddly like magecraft to me. Even one from a founding family.” 

I look away from her. The sun was starting to set. We needed to be heading back. “Well, if she is a mage, then you better get more comfortable with death. You know the laws. Founding family or not, this is betrayal.” 

“I know.” She mumbles again. She puts on a confident face. "I will do what I must to up hold order and justice." 

"That you will." I give her a smile.

I motion for her to follow. We start to walk back to the car and I reach into my pocket for my transphone. The holographic display lights up, acknowledging my touch. I navigate through screens until I get to Orion. I call him. He will need to be updated about what we have found so far. If my suspicions are correct, we will all need to be together to pull this off.

Author's Note

Chapter 4. I really need to put this together into a book on here. Hopefully it is flowing pretty well. Leave a review please. I will return the favor.