Flecks of ash drifted to the bottom of the forest floor, gradually carpeting the undergrowth of the primeval forest. The usual chittering of insects and calls of colorful birds were absent. Save for the occasional quake wracking the landscape and vibrating the ground for miles, silence blanketed the forest like the ash that fell from the sky.

  One of the innumerable flecks of ash falling towards the ground blew off course. Its path adjusted as an enormous tree creaked and groaned, its branches laden with ash as it crashed down to the forest floor, tearing through the limbs of other trees before startling ash up in a frantic cloud.

  The solitary ash flake jettisoned through the vines hanging from canopies, over enormous rotted logs coated with vibrant green moss, and through the humid mist hanging underneath the trees that contested mountains to touch the sky.

  It slowed, danced back and forth in descent, and settled on a single egg that was poking out of a small burrow in the ground. A tiny, and vibrantly red, snake head pushed through the outer layer of the egg, sending the fleck of ash to continue on its way before fully slithering out of the shell.

  The little red snake wound around itself, consuming the remaining yolk sacs clinging to its slight frame. Then it perked up, glanced around and flicked its tongue out to taste the air. A faint blue screen illuminated in front of the tiny creature with a small popping sound. The snake let out a startled hiss.

  The snake lunged out and struck at its ambusher, the floating blue predator, and phased through its target before collapsing on the ground behind it. Letting out an angry hiss, it quickly collected itself to strike again, but its fangs closed around nothing but the color blue.

  Encountered with something it could not comprehend or hope to defeat, the snake's instincts issued a single command:

  Flee.

  The blue menace followed the tiny snake as it darted through the underbrush, slithering and dodging expertly through tall grass. It dove through long dead and moss covered stumps speckled with clusters of enormous mushrooms, yet the blue torment followed. It gave no ground, was never deceived or led astray.

  Before long, the newly born snake collapsed into the spongy earth, resigned to its fate and overwhelmed with exhaustion. It glared at the floating message with hate, as the patterns on its blue body continuously morphed, declaring its victory.

  It lay there as the screen mocked it, and the snake awaited death.

  Overwhelming pain. The little red snake writhed on the ground as heat and pressure bloomed in its mind. The pain brought understanding - the blue menace had finally decided to finish the job. The snake tried to force itself to move, to flee, in a last ditch effort to escape, but it had already given everything it had. Reluctantly, it gave in to the rapidly encroaching darkness, and fell unconscious.

  _____________________________

  The snake jolted awake, snapping her head up in surprise. She was alive? Quickly, she scanned her surroundings, but found no trace of her enemy. Why hadn’t it finished her off? Why hadn’t it claimed its rightfully earned kill?

  Temporarily giving up on the mystery, the snake turned her sights to her red little noddle body and inspected for wounds or injuries. There were none. She was completely healthy, yet she was different.

  The little snake didn’t think that she was this aware before the attack, and searching through her memories, she realized that she was in fact changed. She also realized that she had misinterpreted the previous situation, and that the system message she had been confronted with was not her enemy.

  In fact, the system message was part of herself. She could sense it in her soul bulging with warm energy that could be used to improve herself. Deciding that she needed more privacy, the snake quickly retraced its path back to the small burrow it had hatched in.

  Feeling a bit more safe and sheltered, and admittedly slightly embarrassed, the tiny snake hunkered down to understand how to use her system. Her instincts told her that she could use the warm energy stored within the system to improve herself.

  While some of the ways she could improve were simple and straightforward, such as growing stronger or faster, the little snake didn’t comprehend the options in front of her. Deciding that was an issue, and not wanting to make a fool out of herself again, she reached out with her soul and grasped the majority of the nebulous warm energy before directing it to her mind.

  It once again brought pain, but it wasn’t as bad as the first time. The snake idly wondered if it hurt less because she had been expecting it, but pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as a blue screen once again materialized in front of her.

  After internally acknowledging the message, it was replaced with another.

  Closing the system messages, the little snake felt a warm surge of accomplishment at its meteoric growth. She decided that she must be truly special, as most snakes couldn’t hope to achieve such accolades - let alone at such a young age.

  Using the power of her new skill, the snake directed her thoughts and pulled up the status screen.

  With her newfound intelligence, the tiny snake now had the basic understanding of attributes that had eluded her moments prior. She had instinctively understood strength, dexterity, and intelligence, but now she fully grasped each attribute and its intricacies.

  Reveling in the power of her intelligence, the little snake was willing to acknowledge that her lithe form was not perfect. It was close, with her gleaming scales and sharp fangs, yet it was also small and designed for speed and stealth.

  It was useful, but wrong. Shouldn’t she, the snake of legend that had immediately grasped for greatness upon birth, wield insurmountable power? Shouldn’t her enemies shake at her approach, knowing their demise was imminent? The little snake meant to right this wrong and impulsively grasped the remainder of the warm power she felt, spreading it throughout her body and into her jaw muscles.

  She watched the screen as the small two next to strength moved up to three, and basked in her newfound power. The little snake was now nearly twice as strong. The warmth faded from her body as the power took hold, and she continued exploring the functions of the powerful system that was nestled into the core of her being.

  While the little snake thought that the description was somewhat vague, she could feel the truth of its words. She would use this part of herself to grow more powerful. She wasn’t surprised to see that her special ability was mythic. It was only fitting.

  The little snake still jerked her head in shock. ‘Common’? How could her new skill be common? The word was an affront to her power, and she quickly scanned through her inherent instincts to find an explanation. Nothing explained it, and she couldn’t find a single example, or even a hint, that being literate was 'common' for her species.

  Begrudgingly, she admitted that there was nothing she could do about this problem at the moment, but it riled her emotions into a hot and searing mess. Why did her own system seek to offend her like this? She hadn’t met a single creature stronger than herself in her whole life. A memory of overwhelming panic flitted through her head, as she remembered fleeing from her own system in abject terror. Shame flowed through her body, but she pushed it away - reasoning that it didn’t count as it was before she had gained awareness.

  She still peered around anxiously to see if anyone had seen what happened, and was relieved to see that she was still alone. Tracing through her memories, she realized that she hadn’t seen any other living thing at all. Not a track, scent, or wink of a living thing that wasn’t a plant.

  Quickly darting atop a pile of moss covered boulders, the little snake curled up in a solitary ray of light that had cut through the dense canopy overhead. It was a serene sight, yet even as the light reflected off her vibrant red scales, the little snake realized that something was not right.

  Diving back into her instincts she saw that there should be small creatures to hunt and larger ones to fear, not that she would need to fear much with her newfound power. Still, this presented a problem. What would she hunt and how would she fill her belly?

  She didn’t have to eat frequently - she could wait days if necessary - but she did need to eat eventually. The little snake realized that she would have to leave her home. Briefly, she considered waiting to see if her forerunner would return, but she acknowledged that it wasn’t a common practice for her species.

  It wasn’t a big deal to the little snake and she felt assured of her power, so without waiting a second longer she dove through the underbrush in search of adventure.

  _____________________________

  Passage through the forest was slow initially, as the little snake was hyper-alert for any hint of prey or foolish challengers. Yet after some time, she grew less wary and relegated the monotonous duties of travel to the instinctual part of her brain. This left the rest of her mind to wander, and wander it did.

  The forest was powerful and ancient, and she could feel the pressure of it weighing down on her spirit. Power radiated off of boulders crowned in moss and through enormous trees that captured the sunlight and fed upon its energy. She could even feel it in the mist that swirled around her lithe form.

  For a whole day she observed the majesty of her ever changing surroundings, and found that she approved. It was only right that her birthplace was such a powerful and noble environment. However she quickly realized that, for the most part, the trees looked quite similar to one another.

  She grew bored. There was nothing to hunt or to challenge her power. Her only companions were the miles of dense brush she slithered through. So as the days grew mundane and the nights grew long, the little snake decided to flex her newfound power. She decided to train.

  Admiring her status screen during her brief resting periods had quickly become a bit of a habit. She enjoyed marveling at the power that lay inside her, and it wasn’t long before her attention was drawn to the numbers next to her attributes. There were many more words than there were numbers on her status page, so she reasoned that the numbers were rare.

  They also held great meaning. They quantified each and every aspect of her power, and she inferred that improving her talent with numbers could lead to even more power.

  So she counted trees.

  The first few hours were difficult. She occasionally realized that she had overlooked a sneaky tree or accidentally counted a thick vine, and would need to backtrack. At one point, she lost track entirely as the terrain changed and drew her attention.

  The tiny snake wasn’t discouraged, however, as she expected brief pitfalls and various tribulations on her path to power. She persisted and after a couple more days, she no longer lost count.

  While none of her attributes or skills had improved on the system screen, she could feel that she was building mental alacrity and focus as the trees continually faded into the distance. She idly noted that the number of trees seemed to be declining when she was rudely startled by a popping sound, causing her to completely lose track.

  A blue screen materialized in front of her eyes.

  She had begun to feel hungry the day prior, but had quickly relegated that feeling to the instinctual part of her mind to deal with. Yet as she finished reading the message, her containment for the hunger broke and it ravaged through her body, mind, and concentration.

  As she continued on her journey, she had to turn her desire to grow in power aside and focus entirely on the task at hand. Her willpower had begun to wane, and she could no longer split her attention as easily as before.

  The days began to blend together, and she lost track of how long she had been traveling. Her mind sunk into a haze as thick as the mist that used to cover the landscape, and she relied heavily on the instinctual part of her mind.

  The hungry snake briefly recuperated in a shallow pool of water, slaking her thirst and scanning her current status.

  Frustration boiled in the snake's mind as she saw that her condition had worsened yet again. It plagued her every move, her every thought. It had been such a boon to be born in that place of power. It had been an indicator of greatness, and had proven that she would achieve great things.

  But that boon had twisted into a curse. She had developed superior awareness just to watch herself die.

  With one last drink, she left the pool of water and continued on her path. The hydration helped for a time, but it wasn’t long before her mind grew blurry and it took everything she had to keep moving forward.