Ow... my head... where... where the heck am I...?

Once I had finally woken up, from being knocked out once again... I found that I was no longer in the large library from underneath the Gongmen city tower. Now I found myself tied up against a large wooden pillar inside a small room. The windows had been covered with dark loth and the only source of light came from a couple of candles placed on a shelf near the door opposite from me. The room seemed in poor condition what with the rotting wooden floors and the cracked concrete walls that the light helped uncover. It felt like the place was going to fall apart at any moment. Not to mention the occasional creak I could head every few seconds which didn't really boost my confidence on the stability of this place.

Looking back to the blocked curtains, I barely noticed that the material used to cover them had been nailed just above the window, of which I'm guessing had been done recently. If that was true then it hopefully means that I'm still in Gongmen city. Makes sense since I would have had very little time to be moved to a far away location. Though what is meant to happen next I have no idea. I imagine that I'll be hidden here until those armored snakes find a way to sneak me out of the city.

The ropes that I been tied with were quite tight. Whoever had put me here certainly didn't want me leaving the moment I woke up. At the moment there was nothing I could do except worry about what happened to Viper and the others. Hopefully they were okay. After all, it was just me those guys were after. Still, it had me worried on what could have happened to them. They might also be in the same position I am, maybe worse.

I didn't have to wait much longer for company it seemed as a pair of armored snakes entered the room. The metal masks they wore over their faces made them unreadable. So, if I am to guess, I'm either in for some kind of interrogation or possibly beaten up. I didn't doubt that a handful of these guys may have been a little sore over getting their sorry butts handed to them on more than one occassion. I just kept my eye on them until one finally made a move, slithering round to the back where I could no longer see him. From there he- Wait, why does the rope feel like it's becoming loose?

In a second, I now noticed that the rope that once binded me now coiled around me on the ground.

Did... they just untie me?

Yeah, that's what just happened. He just untied the ropes that binded me!

I didn't get the chance to attack or even speak as the second snake that remained in front of me spoke up.

"Follow me please".

"What's going on"?

Neither answered my question.

"Hey, I'm talking to you"!

"I am aware".

"Then answer me".

The snake turned back round to look at me. At least I had his attention.

"Look. My superior wishes to speak to you. What about, I don't know. Now if could please just make both our jobs easier and follow me, it would be appreciatted".

Oh great. So by superior, he's refering to cocky mgee or that snake on steroids. Well won't that be utterly delightful? Still, this might be my chance to get some proper answers and figure out where the others are, which was the one thing that has prevented me from doing anything rash, yet. Besides, I seriously doubted that these two could tell me anything useful.

"Alright, fine. Lead the way then, buddy".

At once, we moved out. One guard in front and the other behind. We headed straight down a narrow corridor which had a similar design to the room I had just been tied up in. For a hideout, these guys didn't choose a very good location. Not long after coming to the end of the corridor, we came up upon another door and entered through it.

This time, I ended up slithering inside a room the size of a small warehouse. I mean, damn. Just slithering through those little ass rooms, you wouldn't expect something like this to suddenly be the next room you'd cross.

Inside was more armored snakes, surprise surprise. There were at least fifteen of the bastards slithering around minding their own buisness. Most of them were busy tending to their weapons. Some being tail blades similar to the one I owned, others spears, and a couple of... I'm not sure actually. Kind of looks like a weird crossbow that would be designed for a snake?

Yeah, that was exactly what I saw. Small enough to fit on the tail, but the middle part of this thing, where the bolt was meant to rest, had been transformed into a cylinder that held as much as six arrows at a time. It was oddly similar to a revolver. The only problem was the size difference for the weapon. For a normal crossbow, an arrow would be long with a triangular iron tip which hurts like a bitch when it pierces through your skin, believe me I should know, where the arrows for this one were at least a third of that size, were thicker and had a very thin tip on the end. It didn't look as though it could do the damage a normal crossbow could do. Plus I bet that the reloading for that thing would be a pain in the ass too.

And trust me, that wasn't the only wierd piece of equipment I could spot. Armor plates modified with miniature blades on two sides, small iron balls being covered in some sort of green liquid, something that looked like an ordinary metal tube, but my money says it's just as dangerous as everything else I've seen. Point is, these guys look like they're preparing for war. But why? That's going to have to be another question added to the list.

Once I had made it halfway across the room, I begun to draw attention as each snake spotted and stared at me. Half of them started to talk to each other, talking about yours truly. Some managed to talk loud enough for me to hear what they were saying.

"Is that him? Huh. I wouldn't have expected one guy to have caused such a problem".

"Yeah well, from what I hear he's worth the trouble we've gone through".

And another...

"Think he still has it with him"?

"We'll find out soon enough once the captain had a word with him".

And another.

"You don't think he poisoned me when he bit me, do you"?

"Wha- no! He's a python you idiot. They don't have venom"!

"Then why does he have fangs, huh"?!

"I don't know! Maybe his dad was a cobra or something! Ask him yourself"!

"And get bitten again? Uh... how about no"?

Okay, maybe that one conversation wasn't really all that important, but it was a little amusing to hear some of these idiots bicker amongst each other.

Once we reached the other side of the room, we came across yet another door. This one however looked tougher and thicker than the last one. The snake in front of me proceeded to bang on it with his tail three times. Not long after he did so did the door open and I was pushed inside.

This room was barely lit. There were enough candles to see the floor and desk in front of me, but not the ceiling or walls. My two escorts left and closed the door leaving me locked inside, which I learned after trying it out for myself. It was eerily silent. I almost jumped the second a familiar voice spoke up.

"Good, you're awake".

Oh no...

I turned round, knowing all to well who that voice belonged to. Now I found on the other side of the desk a large boa staring down at me.

"Now perhaps we can get down to buisness".

VIPER POV...

As soon as I awoke, my head instantly begun to throb in pain. I noticed that instead of being in the last place I could remember being, which was the library, I had instead been placed on a soft bed inside what looked like an infirmary maybe?

I carefully slithered off as everything that had happened back in the library came flooding back into my mind. The scroll, the fight, that boa, everything. Including being knocked out seconds after Mike. Odd how those bandits did seem interested in that scroll. They seemed willing and daring enough to fight against some of the most important people within Gongmen city. Clearly that scroll was very important to them. At least that's what they wanted, right? But... that wouldn't explain why they tried attacking us before we even came close to Gongmen, back in Jinzhou.

I would worry about that later, once I find Mike. I could notice that the door was slightly open and I could just notice the light seeping in through the gap. Someone must have come to check on me while I was out. I cautiosly made my way over and pulled the door open.

"What in"...?

I had expected to slither into another room, or even outside the moment I had stepped through the doorway. Maybe find myself on one of Gongmen city's busy streets surrounded by dozens of people going about their daily lives. But this... How is this even possible?

I was now sitting right in the middle of the Valley of Peace!

My jaw hung slightly open as my brain tried to think up an explanation as to how I had returned back here, of all places. As soon as I could convince myself to move forwards, I made my way through what I quickly noticed to be a surprisingly empty version of the Valley of Peace. There was nothing, not even a sound anywhere

"How... how am I"-

*BOOM*

The sound of a large, deafening bang cut me off, nearly making me jump. Looking over to the source of the noise, I could now see black smoke rising into the air on the other side of the Valley. My personnal thoughts would need to wait. If someone had been injured, or if the person responsible for that explosion was still around, I had to make it my top priority.

I climbed over onto the roof of the closest house and used my spee to jump and slither across one rooftop to another until I was right on top of the smoke. I jumped back down onto the ground and observed the damage in front of me. One of the homes had been blown apart by an explosion. Any possible sign of anyone, culprit or villager was nowhere in sight. Was the bomb left to detonate on its own-

*BOOM*

Another explosion went off. This one, much closer. Close enough for me to feel both the heat and the shockwave. Before I realised it, explosions were sounding off left and right of me with no indication of where they were coming from! One bang after another. Some from the other side of the Valley, and some destroying the homes and footpaths next to me. Where they were coming from, I don't know! At least, until I caught a glimpse of something falling from the sky, just for a second. Once it was out of sight, a few seconds passed and yet another explosion sounded, exactly where the strange object had just fallen.

Where these explosions, these... bombs falling from the sky...?

I looked up, hoping to find the explantion to all this chaos. But...

That can't be right. What is that doing here?

Above, high in the sky, looked like the hull of a wooden ship tied to some sort of gigantic balloon. An airship was hovering right over the Valley of Peace! Which means that this was back when...

...

Oh no... not this again...

..._..._...

Here it is, the next chapter! Hope you guys enjoy it :) Oh, and btw... we just reached 100 faves for this story! Thanks everyone :D Think in time we might even reach 200 faves at some point in the future? Only time will tell. Cheerio!