I tried walking for about 1 minute, but between the pain in both feet, dizziness, and trouble breathing, I temporarily leaned against the empty barn door in contemplation.
With the Doors' ability, distance-wise, I didn't have the energy to send the body of the boy who attacked me to the lake because of the massive energy drain, but I felt no such burden when moving myself.
With that thought, I mentally imagined what I could remember on this side of the lake: a dock, picnic benches, kiosks, and restrooms, before tapping on the red wall and focusing, a simple wooden Door opened against the wall.
I stepped through it and appeared in front of the guest center, facing the completely serene lake.
The guest center, mini kiosks, bathrooms, and picnic tables were all shrouded in darkness; the little lanterns, fairy lights, and lamp posts that were usually around were dark, with little bits of shattered grass on the ground.
It made the full moon's reflection on the dark lake particularly clear, especially the slight ripples.
Pretending not to notice the little movements or the unmistakable imprint of something sizable being dragged into the lake, I made myself comfortable on the pier, submerging my swollen legs and sighing in relief as the cold water briefly stopped the pain.
Let's hope I don't get an infection.
Now, it was time to test out a couple of skills on my first test subject.
I tapped the black tattoo on my wrist and pulled out the employee ID that had changed.
[H.E.L.P Apocalypse Corporation]
[Life Preservation Team - Earth]
[Cyril Alexander Taylor]
[Age: 21]
[Employee IDN: 999]
Class: Waystation Intern
Skills:
*Waystation Door - open doors within a waystation
*Waystation Storage - store things within a waystation
Distiller Lv1 - create higher purity concoctions
Herbalism Lv1- identify flora
Gift of Gab Lv1 - bilateral expression
Butcher Lv 1 - cut meat efficiently
Brewer Lv1- create concoctions
Gardening Lv1- grow things
The skill section had grown crowded and expanded into a hologram screen when clicked.
The skills I was most interested in were Gift of Gab and Butcher.
Or in my head, we can talk it out, or you can become dinner.
Focusing on my slightly blurry vision, I erased my scowl and put on my best customer service smile while staring at the creature that was silently rising and staring back at me.
Scales that were close to jet black with barely visible striped markings, bronze eyes with black slits, and a long black forked tongue that flicked slightly into the air before disappearing into the white mouth that was filled with sharp jagged teeth and two white fangs longer than my arms.
The entire body was hidden except for a humongous head, which lightly rested above the water's surface.
Tapping the wooden dock, I thought about the pen until I felt it beneath my palm.
I had to admit, it had been quite useful.
The snake and I just stared at each other, and I smiled brightly.
"HI, I am the new landlord and just wanted to come same hello."
Hsssssssssssssssss.
A weird sensation filled my mind.
It wasn't like I could understand the words, but I felt like it was saying, 'Where the hell did this cocky piece of dinner come from?'
As the body slowly rose out of the water, faint dotted red lines were superimposed over the body, similar to what you would see in a butcher's chart.
For now, only the area below the head was gleaming, but I noted it down before blinking it away.
"I'm not dinner; I'm Cyril. What's your name if you have one?"
Hisssssssssssss?
"Cyril or Ciri. Xander also works fine. But not food. I'm not food; I'm the landlord, and you're a freeloading tenant."
Hss?
I laughed in amusement while kicking some water at it, watching it flinch back with a slightly confused expression.
It was understandable.
From its point of view, I was a meal who had not only rolled into its backyard but was also treating it casually.
Additionally, the meal was talking back, so it was weird all around.
The long black tongue flicked out once more, and the head of the snake moved closer.
Hsssssssss.
Hsss.
Hssssssss.
Short, sharp hisses sounded out as the snake observed me.
It conveyed a feeling of, 'None of your business. Thank you for the food.'
"If you try to eat me, I'll send you somewhere else. You might enjoy it, though, so it's your choice."
Unperturbed, I began focusing on preparing the Door in front of me.
Focusing on my connection with the distant feather, I mentally fixed the image of a large wooden Door without actually creating it.
My head immediately began pounding, and blood began dripping from my nose as the pressure in my head increased.
I could tell the skill wasn't supposed to be used like this.
Doors worked better with a physical medium and the closer I was to the feathers' location, the easier and faster the use.
It was a skill meant for me or inanimate items so the burden was put on my body when outsiders were shoved through it.
And trying to twist it so it wasn't quite visible was taxing, causing immense pressure to build up behind my eyes.
But it was working.
The air slightly rippled as a rectangular sliver of light tried to appear, but I mentally tamped it down while imagining a transparent Door in front of me.
Something that existed but was not visible.
Focus Cyril focus!
I gathered my remaining mental strength while biting through my bottom lip until finally-
Click-
I felt the Door lock into place.
A wide wooden door that was completely transparent.
It wouldn't stay long, and the pressure behind my eyes was unimaginable, but it would stay invisible.
That was enough.
I focused my blurry vision on the snake and made my body smaller.
I didn't want to use it, but if the snake lunged at me, I would forcefully evolve it into a flying snake and have it discover gravity.
Or see if I could close it in its body and chop it in half, whichever one took less energy.
Feeling the headache building and blood spurting out of my nose even faster, I pulled my feet in and waved the pen at the snake.
"Oi, snakey, let's collaborate. You continue eating anything that comes near here and leave me alone, and I'll forget that you're trespassing on my land and not come mess with you. Deal?"
At my words, the snake hissed in annoyance before charging forward, its head a black blur.
Releasing the image I had held in my head, a wide wooden door swung open right in front of me, and the snake's head surged inside.
As the snake's head entered, I felt tremendous energy drain out of me, but I bit my tongue to stay conscious as I directed it far away from here.
It was not comparable to the amount of energy that left when moving the boys by the waystation, and my heart briefly stuttered before pounding erratically.
"Urghhh!"
I tried releasing the Door, and it began shrinking, tightening around the snake's body as if it were trying to cut it into pieces.
But then-
The snake's body glowed slightly with a strange black light, the drain to my body was relieved, as if somebody had taken a weight from my shoulder, immediately easing the pressure in my head.
"What the?"
I glanced at the Door, which was being sustained solely by the snake's body surging through it, before shrugging.
Hopefully it would run out of energy soon and die. But before that-
A quick scan showed a group of people around 500 meters away, with more near the Waystation building, so I opened another Door by the snake and set the opening next to the people while watching the snake's body continually pulsing through the Door.
And going.
And going.
Cyril: ಠ_ಠ
No wait!
How big was this thing?????
Although the head was larger than average, what kind of size was this? This wasn't the Amazon rainforest or Florida; even if it was magic, this length was a little too much.
As the body of the snake kept entering the Door, the screams heard in the distance stopped, and sensing that the group of people was gone, I simply opened another Door near the snake and set the exit toward another group of people as if I were playing the snake game on an old phone.
As the snake dutifully entered the Door and the presence of people began disappearing, I immediately got bored and began doodling on the long body that was still exiting the lake with the red slider down on the pen.
Property of Oasis ❤️
If Found, Please Return to Oasis ❤️
Surprisingly, the color showed up brightly, and after admiring it for a moment, I continued tagging my name in a graffiti style on the black scales while tracking the number of people around and opening Doors near them.
After several minutes of doodling, I got bored of waiting, so I limped to the guest kiosk and used a chair to smash the glass door open, setting off the alarm, which was quickly silenced.
Grabbing an armful of snacks, bottles of water, hand sanitizer, a travel pillow, and blankets, I made myself comfortable back on the pier and began eating until my nose stopped bleeding and continued playing the real-life snake game combined with portal.
And a couple of hours later, when I got tired of being a portal opener, I used the pen to quickly poke a scale on the body that was still connected to the lake.
As expected, the pen dug into the scale easily, causing droplets of black blood to drip when I pulled it out.
Immediately, the snake's body contracted, and even faster than it had moved forward, it began retreating into the lake.
At some point, the previously smooth, streamlined body appeared lumpy until the head finally appeared with a foot sticking out.
Quickly closing the Door, I watched curiously as the snake reared up while continually contracting, forcing the lumps down until only the head peeked out of the water before slowly descending.
"Had a good meal?"
At the sound of my voice, the head reared back in surprise, tilting curiously.
It then began moving its head closer, its tongue flickering out and touching my face.
Smelling the rank smell, I retched.
"Gross. Don't ever do that again."
At my warning, it began complaining while twisting its body until the tiny broken scale was obvious in the moonlight.
Hssssssssssss.
The general feeling was that the food offering was passable, but since it got injured, I should send it to more food, and it would let me go.
How greedy.
"Be grateful it was just a baby hole. And didn't you eat a lot? Let it go just this once." I gave it a blank stare before continuing my impromptu meal.
Hssssssssssss.
The snake tilted its head in a human-like manner before staring at me hungrily.
"Don't be greedy. But you think about it. What would have happened if I had closed that Door? Do you want to try it and see it? I'll chop you to pieces." I gathered the dregs of my strength and flashed a Door in front of the snake, causing it to flinch backward and stare hard between me and the door.
Hssssssssssss.
"Let's have a truce, okay? You go back in the water, and I will stay right here. If anything comes up, have fun eating it, and leave me out of it."
The snake and I stared at each other before its tongue flicked out and its head entered the water.
Sighing in relief, I lay down on the pier, wrapping the blankets around me while staring at the sky.
After a while, I felt a cold, scaly tail wind around my leg.
Giving the rippling water a pointed look while summoning a Door, the tail retreated.
Then the head poked up, and the tail wrapped around my ankle again.
Hssssssss.
"What do you mean you're bored? Go back to whatever you were doing before I came here. And let go of my leg; your body is cold, and you're holding on too tight. You're leaching away my heat."
The grip of the tail loosened but didn't completely let go.
Hssssssss.
"Should you even be eating human food?"
Grumbling to myself, I unwrapped all the beef jerky sticks and tossed them into the lake before lying down.
A loud splash sounded out before a black tongue swept across the blankets.
Hssssssss.
"I'm tired. If you want more, get out of the water and get it from in there. Grab me some popcorn, too. Wait, do you even know what popcorn is? It's red. Do you know what red is?"
An odd conversation continued between a human lying on the dock and a snake submerged in water, with both parties ignoring the odd silence and occasional chaos happening around them.
Whenever anybody wandered close to the lake, the snake moved like a cobra and gulped them down.
Whenever it thought the human lying comfortably was asleep, it would try to gulp it down or yank it with its tail, only to be stopped by a glowing Door that would send it to a different location.
A strange peace persisted through the night as one snake became more and more curious and one human became more and more tired.
Meanwhile, on an island close to the city, some people were experiencing a living nightmare being perpetrated by one man.