Return to Corinth


Po stumbled onto the ground, slowly looking up at the pink sky with a rainbow in the clouds. Fairies flittered their sparkling wings in front of him as he spotted a massive cloud cover the sky only to see the cloud was a dragon. The skyscrapers pierced the sky while red-bricked apartments swarmed with dusty dwarfs, beautiful long-haired nymphs, and small balls of light caused by the fairies. Tigress's eyes lingered to the sides of the apartments. Strings of wire hung between the buildings with fairies, harpies, and griffins with the head of men as a gentle white smoke of a sleepy jade dragon from below warmed and dried the clothes they hung.

"This... this isn't awesome," Po stated. Garfield noticed his bland facial expression for a moment. "This is... SuperMEGA AWESOME!"

"There's definitely more. Come on!" Beast Boy said.

Tigress shivered and sweated as the temperature drastically changed as they walked under a frozen ice bridge and over burning damp swamp ponds. "Is it always like this?" She grumbled, rubbing her arms.

"You'll get used to it, Master Tigress. Things will even out once we get to the Central Library," Raven said. The glass two-story building surrounded by the sea of grass and islands of trees stood with five radial walkways towards the library. The three went inside, seeing the massive assortment of books. "Wow."

"That's right, you've never been here," Beast Boy remembered. "You're going to love it here."

"I already do," Raven sighed, gazing at the books.

"Awww," Po groaned as they walked in, "Why do we have to go a boring library?" Tigress shook her head with a sigh. Po walked over to the reception desk, leaning his weight against the wood. He looked at the three with a disappointed sigh.

"Po, this is the omphalos of all magic known to the Magical Realm. This library is able to transport a person without any magic to... to... anywhere!" Beast Boy exclaimed. Raven's eyes widened and her mouth dropped slightly open. Tigress's eyebrow rose as she side-glanced towards Beast Boy. "Yes, even I am surprised I know how to use omphalos right," Beast Boy replied.

"But there's nothing to do here. Nothing exciting happens in a library," Po said with his back still to the receptionist's desk. Suddenly, Tigress, Raven, and Beast Boy saw a purple glow shine from the desk. A huge scaly pillar stretched out from behind the desk, continuing to reach towards the top of the huge library. Its head was the size of a semi-truck and its eyes were the size of Po's large round belly. Its shadow grew over Po and the others. "Hey, did it get dark in here?" Po asked.

"Great universe," Tigress whispered. The tiger's large round eyes scanned the entire creature in wonder and slight fear. She had instinctually backed away when he first came out of the portal in the floor. Garfield and Raven calmly backed away, but their faces stayed on the large figure.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Po asked obliviously.

"Po, look behind you," Garfield smirked. Po spun around and saw the huge snake in front of him. Po's head followed the long large pipe of snake scales up to the very head. The panda fell down, scrambling back towards the others while Grootslang's head swooped down and gazed at Po. The snake puffed an air of hot breath at the panda.

"Hehe, nice snake?" Po whimpered, shutting his eyes. Grootslang sniffed the panda, growing a grin on his large squamous face

"Mmmm. Noodles. A nice flavor," Grootslang slyly quipped as he backed away from the panda. Po stumbled to his feet when Garfield came forward. "It's good to see you, Greene."

"It's nice to see you, (Great Snake). But did you have to be so dramatic?" Garfield scowled, like a child being embarrassed by their parent. Grootslang's smile widened.

"Well, people have to know that this library is not... boring," he replied, gazing at Po. The panda ducked behind Raven and Tigress, peeping over Tigress's right shoulder. The mammoth snake only laughed. "Please excuse my theatrics. I am Grootslang: Keeper of the mythical library of Corinth."

Tigress stepped forward, clearing her throat of her fear. "I am Tigress from Animalia," She bowed, "It's an honor to meet you."

"Please, the honor is all mine, Master Tigress," Grootslang bowed his head. "And I suppose the panda is your... significant other?" Po jumped behind Raven at the mention of his name. The snake couldn't help but snicker slightly at Po.

"Stop it, Grootslang," Raven scowled in her monotonous voice. "There's no need to frighten him." Raven could feel the panda's shivering increase behind him. However, Grootslang bowed his head, wearing a more somber frown.

"You are correct, dear Raven," Grootslang relented. "I apologize for frightening you, panda."

"Hehe, nothing too bad," Po chuckled as he slowly took steps towards the snake. "So... you're the keeper of the magic here? Wow, I didn't think that you would be so... big." Grootslang smiled.

"I have been told that from one particular young adult," Grootslang mused, glancing at a mopey Beast Boy. "But I hope the library is a little more than jejune for you."

"Huh?"

"It means boring. He hopes that it won't be boring for you," Raven monotonously answered.

"Oh! Well, if there are more 'little' surprises like you, I won't be," Po smiled. Garfield saw a grand warm smile on the snake.

"You remind me a lot of Beast Boy, Mr...?"

"Po, I'm Po," The panda gave a toothy grin. Grootslang smiled like a father gazing at their smiling son. Po did remind him of Beast Boy when he first came.

"Speaking of little. Where is Klein?" Garfield asked. Grootslang slightly gloomed towards that nickname but he rolled his eyes. "Sorry, I mean Kleinslang," He quickly corrected.

"Thank you," The snake replied a little kinder. His long tail pointed at the direction to a beautiful young pale green-skinned woman with beautiful long straight hair that was black at midnight. Her skin had a few patches of what looked like scales but most of it was smooth and flawless. She stood at 5'8" with a nice ovalish face and read a book with a happy goldilocks lipped smile. All of the visitors looked at the humanoid with thunderstruck open mouths.

"That's Kleinslang!" Beast Boy exclaimed, calling her attention over to them.

"How... How did she get so... big?! I mean... I don't mean like... How long have been away?" Raven spluttered.

"Only about five days. She had an incredible growth spurt in the recent days," Grootslang sighed with a smile. Tigress and Po were speechless. Rather, Tigress was truly speechless.

"What the! But how?!" Po exclaimed. "Is she... human?"

"Well, her mother is human. She is a half-human and half-mythical snake." The snake replied.

"But... how could... I mean... do humans... get larger?" Po asked, looking directly at Grootslang. The large snake laughed, but before he could say anything, Garfield cut him off.

"Don't you dare say ANYTHING about your wife, Grootslang! Just don't!" Garfield snapped. The snake laughed heartedly as Kleinslang ran over to her father, hugging Garfield tightly. "Ooof! Hello?"

"It's you! You're back, Mr. Greene!" She smiled. Kleinslang hugged Raven as well. "And you, Mrs. Raven. Thank. It's great to see you guys again."

"It's good to see you as well, Kleinslang," Beast Boy grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. "You've definitely grown."

"Oh, yes I have!" Kleinslang smiled with childlike pride. As Garfield introduced Po and Tigress to the snake humanoid, Raven looked at Grootslang a little more. Po excitedly examined Kleinslang, embarrassing a groaning Tigress, but Klein simply chuckled at the panda's many questions and 'awesome' comments. As Po's excitement died down (actually, Tigress had to pinch his ear to quiet him down), Raven audibly voiced her observations.

"Grootslang, what are these scars on your side?" She asked. Grootslang's eyes widened as he quickly tried to hide his wounds from the others, but his daughter ratted him out.

"Daddy! You said you were alright from your trip to Goth Afa!" Kleinslang exclaimed. The great snake frowned. Beast Boy looked directly in the great round eye of Grootslang.

"What happened?" Beast Boy asked.

Continued...