The Snake Brain stared at the blue window floating in the air in front of it. How am I able to read? It wondered, turning its attention inward. It saw their skills, including the Stealth skill that it had kind of used before, even though it seemed to activate on its own. Now, however, the entire list seemed to be available - including Literacy.

  When the pain had come to its mind, it was happy. Not happy to be in pain, of course, but it had vague memories of similar pain, which had led to the guiding intelligence. It wondered if the pain would bring the guiding intelligence back.

  Then it corrected itself. Her name is Snek, it realized. Many memories that had once been a haze of instinctual happenings, became flavored with small details such as names, contexts for conversations, and more complex feelings. They had suddenly shifted from black and white to full color.

  Am I the new Snek? It wondered briefly, before shutting that train of thought down with extreme prejudice. It did not want to be the new Snek. Snek had to make plans, and had to figure out how to get out of tough situations. Snake Brain did not like to do things like that. It liked to hunt and slither around. It liked to warn Snek of danger and be helpful. Most of all, though, it liked blood.

  Another blue screen materialized in front of it.

  My… Name? This seemed like an important decision. From what it could remember, all of the important decisions had been made by Snek. Snek had named it ‘Snake Brain’, and it considered making it official.

  But the more the new consciousness thought about it, which was a new experience in its own right, the more the name seemed wrong. It and Snek made up their being, and they were a snake. If it was supposed to be the ‘Snake Brain’, wouldn’t that mean it would have to start coming up with plans?

  The thought of being the one to think so much filled it with anxiety. It was already starting to feel a dull throb in the back of its mind, probably from all the thinking. No, it needed a new name. Something that fit better.

  Then again, maybe it should wait for Snek to come back… Their system apparently picked up on its hesitation, and the blue floating window was replaced by another.

  It nodded. That felt right. If it chose poorly, then Snek could fix it. So as it waited, the young consciousness thought about what name it should take. Sometimes, Snek had referred to it as her ‘instincts’. That was more fitting, but it wasn’t sure that Instincts was an actual name.

  What else do I do? It wondered, the blue screen hovering before it with endless patience. I kill prey. I ambush them too sometimes, and crunch down on their bodies with our fangs. It really liked when blood would squirt out of the prey. Its favorite part was crunching them just right so that it would spray everywhere!

  It wondered if there were any rats anywhere, so it could crush them too, and then it could… In what the young consciousness thought was a stroke of genius, it thought of a name.

  It’s perfect! Bloodcrusher thought, confirming the name. Way better than Snake Brain, anyway. It loved blood, and it liked crushing things. Settling in to bask in its accomplishment, Bloodcrusher realized that it felt mentally exhausted. Thinking was hard work! It didn’t know how Snek thought things all the time. It's so much easier to just crush things with your fangs. Bloodcrusher decided that it didn’t really like thinking about things, and it didn’t like reading either.

  So when another, very wordy, screen appeared in front of Bloodcrusher, it closed it without reading it. Another screen took its place, and it also had a lot of words, so that one was skipped too. This felt much better.

  A low but persistent pang of stress welled in Bloodcrusher’s mind. It remembered that Snek had always read the blue screens, and was able to use what it read to help them.

  Did I already mess up? Bloodcrusher worried, embarrassment and shame flushing its scales. It looked around to see if anyone had noticed, but it was alone. The fake rat hadn’t come back, and neither had Snek for that matter. Its feelings twisted into something sharper. It was fear, and Bloodcrusher soon realized it really didn’t like being alone.

  Its surroundings began to seem more ominous. The shadows grew longer and the clanking of the machinery became an all consuming drone. It wanted to leave. To slither away and find a good place to hide. Somewhere where it was safe and quiet and it could wait for Snek to come back.

  Bloodcrusher decided that reading… maybe wasn’t so bad. It was better than being scared, anyway. It pulled up the next notification.

  Bloodcrusher nodded. It wanted to be like Snek, without all of the thinking of course, and remembered how Snek would look at the screen and cause their body to get stronger. Maybe Bloodcrusher could do that too, and then Snek would say that it did a good job when she came back. It wanted that to happen really, really bad. It opened up the list of available mutations.

  Bloodcrusher read through the list, and knew what to do with the Evolution Points. It was so sure of the right answer that it didn’t even need to see the other options. After all, it had done a really good job with coming up with a name.

  Bloodcrusher chose the Bloodless mutation.

  An oppressive itch swept across its body, proving that Bloodcrusher had made the right choice. The many cuts along its slim body began to soothe. Most of them had already stopped bleeding, but a few had reopened when they were defeating the fake rat.

  Those open wounds weren’t open for long, and had stopped bleeding almost immediately after the mutation was chosen.

  Definitely the right choice. The other ones didn’t even make sense. Why get a mana core? Or fancy scales? Their Stealth skill had always been enough, and Bloodcrusher was fairly certain that mana was what had led to its current problem. Mana was the reason it was alone right now and was forced to read so it didn’t feel scared. The mutation it chose even had the word ‘blood’ in it, which was probably the best word.

  Snek is going to be so happy with me! Bloodcrusher thought, brimming with pride. It started to imagine how Snek would say that she was so happy, and it would bask in the feelings of pride she would send through their connection.

  An enraged howl broke through the daydreams and rose above the clamor of machinery. Bloodcrusher turned to see the huge rat from before lumbering across the moving gears. It was slow and kept falling over. Best of all, it was bloody. Really bloody.

  Bloodcrusher started to slither onto the gear, when a deeper part of it, more fundamental than its love of blood, warned it to stop. It reminded Bloodcrusher of Snek’s absence, and brought images of the big rat chasing it with a whip and smashing through a wall.

  No, they needed to leave, and quickly. Before the large rat could get any closer.

  The snake slithered away, going through the large doorway and into the next section. It saw a field of tall grass, and slithered into it to hide and wait.

  The world slowly swam back into focus, and Snek found herself looking out of her already open eyes. She was currently peering through numerous blades of tall grass, observing Meaty. He was leaning against a large doorway and breathing heavily, while glaring across the grass field. The look was clearly meant for her, even though he was looking in the wrong direction.

  Panic and adrenaline rushed through her body, pulling her fully out of the dream-like state she had been in. Wondering where she was and how she got here, she looked closer at the enormous rat. Her venom had done a number on him, and she could see the dark and tainted veins reaching all the way up his shaven shoulder and approaching his neck - their angry pattern standing out on his wrinkled skin like a tattoo.

  The injured paw that had been previously cinched with wire was completely missing, replaced by a gnarled mess of blood and flesh, pieces of it hanging loosely from the meaty stump. Blood was periodically dripping to the ground by its feet before disappearing into the dirt. Protruding out of the stump was a sharp white bone, having been chewed down and shaped into a shiv.

  He must have chewed through his forearm to escape my trap, Snek briefly admired. It was an impressive thing to accomplish, and she admired his persis-

  "Finally!" A voice yelled in her mind, accompanied by a visceral wave of relief. It had come from… her Snake Brain? The voice was similar to her own, but was unnaturally low and hoarse. She immediately turned her attention inward, and was greeted by a completely new presence.

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  The presence was visibly shaking. Snek didn’t know how that was possible, as they weren’t actually physically looking at each other. Then she realized - her whole body was shaking. She could feel the strain of nervous energy pulsing through their bond and affecting her physical form.

  "I took care of us while you were gone, Snek! " the presence proclaimed loudly, all hints of the low raspy quality of its voice having vanished completely as it rambled on. "When you left, the fake rat disappeared. Then one of the blue screens like you are always looking at appeared and told me I was fully formed, whatever that means! After that the big rat showed up and I wanted to fight it because it was all bloody and-"

  "Snake Brain?" She interjected, her feelings of shock pushing out towards the young consciousness.

  The presence calmed slightly, and its tone shifted and slowed. "Well… yes. But.. Um… Actually…"

  Well this isn’t getting anywhere. She thought, as the presence trailed off without actually answering her question. Why is it so nervous all of the sudden? This new presence was odd, and behaved how she imagined an intelligent snake hatchling would act. Turning elsewhere for answers, Snek and pulled up her notifications.

  She glanced toward her system, where the energy had been collecting near its core. It was gone, having led to this Feat of Power, and apparently, a new ability. She pulled up its description for a closer look.

  Huh, she thought. Apparently when the mana backlash had knocked her unconscious, it hadn’t affected Snake Brain - which then moved their body out of harm's way. Apparently that was all it took for her system to finish forming the ability.

  Oh no, Snek thought, her gut plummeting into anxiety.

  "Bloodcrusher? Seriously?" She asked. ‘Bloodcrusher’ was possibly the worst name she had ever heard, besides ‘Pebis’ of course.

  The young presence had been staring at her unblinkingly as she read through the notifications. If they had been communing with physical forms, she would be able to feel its breath on her neck.

  Snek had tried to keep the skepticism out of her tone, but a little bit bled through anyway.

  The hatchling consciousness didn’t seem to notice, and began nodding vigorously. Snek thought about how to phrase her next sentence delicately. She didn’t know what ‘independent access to the Ecdysis System’ entailed, and the childlike consciousness seemed a bit… fragile.

  It seemed to have noticed her hesitation, and Snek could feel disappointment and confused shame coming from their bond.

  "You don’t like it?" It asked, the mental voice breaking in a choked sob.

  "No, I do! I do like it. It’s just…" She furiously thought of various ways to get out of this situation. Being able to feel the emotions of the young consciousness was beginning to affect her, and she was starting to feel a bit guilty. "You know how my name is Snek?"

  "Yeah?" It asked with a mental sniffle.

  "Well… short names are… more powerful! And Bloodcrusher is really long… Do you want to have a short name like mine?" Snek hoped this tactic would work. She didn’t want to finish the Rat Race while lugging around a moping hatchling.

  It appeared she didn’t have to worry however, as the consciousness formerly known as Snake Brain wiped its mental tears away and replied.

  "Okay," it said in a weak voice.

  "How about we shorten Bloodcrusher - which you did a good job coming up - and your name can be Crush?" Snek asked.

  "Why not Blood?" It whined.

  She paused, staring at the other consciousness for a time before slowly responding. "You… want to be named ‘Blood’?"

  It began nodding frantically and jumping up and down, vibrating with excitement. She waited for it to calm down, but it just kept nodding.

  She tried again. "Are you sure you don’t like the name Crush?"

  "No. Blood is way better! It's my favorite thing!"

  "I can already feel my scales tarnishing," Snek thought, a bit concerned about the last thing the hatchling said.

  Snek turned to the system window and finalized the choice.

  With that stressful debacle taken care of, Snek was finally able to open the last window. She had been dreading this, if the notification was what she assumed it to be.

  It was exactly what she thought it was. Blood had gone and spent her hard earned Evolution Points. At least it had only spent the amount they earned from the newest Feat of Power, and not all of them. While she was certain that it had only chosen this mutation because it had the word blood in it, Bloodless wasn’t a bad choice.

  Of course, that depended on what the other options were.

  Blood was staring at her again, watching closely for a reaction to its choice. Snek could sense that it felt proud at the decision. She turned to it.

  "Not a bad choice, Blood. I’m sure it will be very useful." She paused before continuing, letting Blood finish its happy little mental dance. "In the future though, please wait for me before choosing a mutation, okay?"

  Snek pulled up the mutation menu to see what the other options were.

  Blood’s excited preening was cut short as it felt a boiling pit of seething frustration flow through its bond with Snek. Its instincts screamed for it to run, but where could it go? They shared a body.

  Snek’s consciousness slowly turned toward Blood, her icy slitted eyes boring into the hatchling.

  Blood shivered. "What… What's wrong, Snek?"