Project S.

Written by: Jessica Davis

I remembered hearing the stories of the great sea dragon, Leviathan. It was a sacred symbol of Wutai. I didn't know too much about it. We had never actually seen it, either. I was even starting to convince myself that what I had seen was nothing more than an illusion. I stood up and looked at the now darkening sky above me. Clouds were building up, filling the air with a smell of growing mildew, and it slowly started to sprinkle. I knew that I needed to hurry now. The swamps would soon be flooded, which meant it would be impossible to cross, and the Midgar serpent would have an easier time killing me. I rushed through the slick grass, trying my hardest not to slip, which was unavoidably a couple of times, as it started to pour down, heavy.

The land below me was slowly changing as I made my way to my destination. The grass patches were dead, or dying, with no help from the harsh downpour which would surely drown it. But grass was of no importance to me, it only signaled that I was nearing the swamplands. I felt inside of my pocket as the cold purple materia jingled against my other, but figured it was too late to call upon the aid of a chocobo, and had decided that I would just hoof it.

The ground turned to mud and stuck to my shoes, slowing me down, until I came to a stop. I was looking at the beginning of the swamp. There was no light here, and the ground showed no signs of being solid anywhere, which meant an extremely difficult crossing. I had to act fast, the Midgar serpent was home here, and could track down any foreign footsteps that crossed into its territory. I checked around, all was quiet except for the continuous beating of the rain against to puddles of water. I continued forward. I sank a little each step, but kept going. My mind was focused on my path. All I had to do was continue north until I reached the cave, there, I would be out of reach of that horrid creature.

The muck around me bubbled and spat around me. I felt as if I was wading through the worlds largest pile of shit. I quickened my pace, careful to keep an eye out for any sign that I was being watched. But that's when I felt the press of scales on my leg. I looked down, and there was a small snake slithering around me. And to my horror, there were about a million more. They were so jammed around me that they were slithering on top of one another. Yet none were interested in me. I never minded the site of a snake, I always found them to be fascinating creatures. Pressing on, I found a single, dead tree, leaning on it's side as if trying to hold onto whatever life it could. I ignored it, then forced my legs onward. Finally, the site of the northern cave was in view. It wasn't too far. I was relieved that I had not come across the beast.

But I was wrong. It hit me like a pile of bricks. I was thrown across the air like a rag doll and landed with a heavy thud into the mud. I looked up, and a serpent larger than anything I had ever seen before was quickly ascending upon me. It opened it's jaws, then snapped down on me. I was in it's mouth. The fang pierced my leg, and was slowly ejecting vile poison into my mortal body. I was losing hope. Until my body was freezing up again. The ice ran into the snakes head, but wasn't strong enough for it's whole body. I was dropped, the landing hurt like hell, with my wounded leg, and as I looked up, the snake was actually shaking the ice off! It was hissing angrily, then looked down at me. I could see the fury in its eyes. It struck again, but this time, missed. I was ably to quickly see why. The ice was still on one of its eyes, causing to be half-blind.

It's long, slender body curled around, blocking all of my escapes. I was like a trapped rabbit. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my green materia. Then looked up at the beasts head. I felt my head burn as it's own was engulfed in flames. The snake squealed in pain, slithering uncontrollably. It was now my chance to escape. I stumbled towards the cave, as the snake struggled to put out the flames, eating away at its head. When I was several feet away, trees were piercing the ground right in front of my escape. But they were avoidable, and I could hear the snake regaining it's rage and coming after me. I had to think of something. I ran behind one of the trees as it was near. It slithered right in front of the entrance. I needed to lure it away, but how. If I revealed myself now, it would surely kill me, and I was no fool.

But trying to keep hidden was difficult, especially after my body was freezing up again. "NO! Not now Damnit!" My skin was whitening, and I was changing. A rush of voices came in my head, and the serpent was no more that a memory. I didn't understand what was going on, "Too…many…voices!" My hands grasped my head, and I could see nothing. My head was pounding harder than before, and now it felt as if that strange creature was still crawling in my body. I kept hearing the voice from the glass room, and another voice…it was a man…it was so…cold. I blanked out.

"Failure!"

"Death!"

"Janova!"

"The cells!"

"Project S…Project…Shiva"

~~~~~~~~

When I awoke, I was lying on the ground. The rain had stopped and I was caked in dry mud. I looked up, and gasped, as I saw that the 40ft tall serpent was stabbed onto one of the dead trees like a shish kabob. Blood dripped down from the piercing tree. It's fork tongue stuck out of its mouth, and it's eyes bulged from their sockets. It was clear that it was dead. I got up, staring at it for a while, trying to pull myself together. I stopped for a moment. "Wait…how am I standing?" I looked down at my legs where the snake had supposedly bit me. But the wound was…gone. Another change was that my skin had not darkened back to it's original tan, it was now a light blue. I looked at the entrance to the cave. It wasn't very welcoming, but I had no place to go but there. So, I forced the thoughts to the back of my mind, and headed inside.