"Once, long time ago, I was a respected serpent, a mascot beast of the great Banda Kingdom," Erebus began, with a narrative tone. Everyone, serpent and fairy, gathered around to listen to this story.
"Back then, the one who would become the King braved the forest I lived, killed off many of my kin, and took me as captive. I was just a little thing then, barely the side of a branch. I was scared out of my mind, wondering what horrors were in store for me," Erebus seemed to go back to that day, the moment of his capture.
The human that captured him was powerful, and he had an impressive background. Soon, Erebus moved from the depth of a cave to a magnificent palace where he had his own pond. As he continued to grow, so did the human's influence over his territory.
"It was a time of upheaval, and battles were fought in every corner. Kingdoms and states arose and fell every other day, and people of great power arose. My master continued to rise in prominence until he became a King, and I became the mascot beast of the kingdom."
"Such happy memories," Erebus mused with nostalgia. An entire kingdom revered him, and his image was in the kingdom's coins. At a time when Kingdoms and state rose and fell, the Great Banda Kingdom continued to rise in prominence, even annexing several smaller states.
"Several years passed, and many generations came and went. Even the King died, but I lived on, and so did the Banda spirit," Erebus continued on, his voice tinged with pride. A certain grandeur had fallen over him, and he seemed majestic in his disposition.
This must have been him when he was in his prime. "For more than a hundred and fifty years the kingdom thrived, until that fateful day," A shadow fell over Erebus. He could still remember that man, how proud he was.
Being a beast, he was not privy to much of the human interactions that happened. Most times, he was in his palace, enjoying the company of the various female snakes of various species. He had made quite a sizable brood.
"Disaster came suddenly. An army of unfeeling humans and various assorted beasts suddenly descended upon the land. Not many, just a hundred and fifty or so, but no matter how many numbers the humans hurled at these beasts, they kept coming back, fighting even harder," Erebus explained.
"Noble fairy, it was a nightmare. In my prime, was exceedingly mighty, and I prided myself to be able to take down any enemies that breached my walls. I fought hard, took down several of these beasts, but they kept coming back. They could arise from the dead!"
As everyone listened, they seemed to freak out. Erebus had them all on the tenterhooks, hanging on his every word.
"I am sure you fought that thing," Erebus addressed Kigen, "You must have seen it too. They fall down, you think you've finally got them, so you move on to the next. Before you know it, the thing you'd brought down is moving again, coming to take you down."
Kigen suddenly had a bad feeling. When he'd easily killed the human invader, he had felt that it had been too easy. Could it be the thing would start moving again, especially now that the mother tree was unprotected?
"Some of my juniors at the time tried swallowing these beasts, only to have their bodies ripped from the inside. Their regenerative capabilities were unlike any other I had ever seen, even among you fairies," Erebus explained.
"After many had died, some managed to flee the palace. To protect the members of the Royal family, the then King, a descendant of my captor, stayed behind, bringing up the rear. That was when he discovered something," Erebus paused, looking intently at Kigen, "A secret to bring down these monsters."
After that, Erebus did not speak further. The pause seemed to go on and on.
"What was the secret," Not Kigen, but Nixa. She just couldn't hold herself back, she was too invested in this story now.
"Noble fairy, would you like to know the secret of how to kill these monsters? I wonder, how many of your fairies did they catch?" Erebus moved closer to Kigen, revealing the true purpose for his story telling.
"None was taken, the human easily fell," Kigen stated, feeling proud. Erebus turned in surprise. The human fell easily, you say. He almost did not believe it. He could still remember those super-fast attacks, and the heavy punches he had suffered. Now the fairy had easily defeated the golem, this was simply unbelievable.
Of course, it had not been as easy as Kigen made it out to be. He could still remember the near misses, and the incredible jumping ability of the human. Back when he was human, his strength had been quite feeble compared to this master.
This went to show him just how incredible his powers had grown. Back then, he prided himself at being able to jump five feet up in the air. Now, he could dance in the wind. Fighting the human as a human would have been a nightmare.
"What did you do with the body?" Erebus asked, gazing sharply at Kigen.
"Fed him to the mother tree," Kigen said nonchalantly.
"Did you see it, the golem core?" Erebus pressed.
"You mean the black crystal in its chest?" With this, Erebus was convinced. Indeed, the fairy must have felled the golem. Now that it dawned on him just how powerful fairy was, Erebus gave the little fairy a double take.
Moreover, he had done it without losing a single fairy. Erebus briefly wondered what would have happened if he had the fairies on his side back then.
"What did you do with it?" He asked. That core was the sole reason why these things kept regenerating. As long as the core was intact, the thing could revive countless times.
"I consumed it," Kigen said.
Erebus continued to stare at the fairy, blown away. Extracting the core was one thing, destroying it was another. Both were uphill tasks, which was what made these golems so frightening.
"Just like that?" Erebus asked. Of course, even they had thought of that solution, but it never worked for them. Any serpent, or human, or any being that is, that consumed the crystal, usually by tossing it in their mouth, led to rapid regeneration of the golem. This usually resulted in the consumer being ripped apart from the inside.
For a moment, Erebus was waiting for Kigen to rip apart and the ugly golem to manifest, but that did not happen.
"Just like that," Kigen confirmed, a bright smile flashing on his face. He was thoroughly enjoying the facial expressions on the serpent.
"Wait, what happened next," Nixa had been holding back all this time as the bigwigs went back and forth, now that it seemed the conversation was over, she had to chime in.
"Was that the secret, destroying the golem core?" Luita seemed to have pieced it all together, especially given the facial expressions of the serpent.
"Obviously," Erebus said, sounding defeated. "You must show me how you did it," Erebus added as he turned to look at Kigen.
"Well, what happened next!" Nixa pressed. This was what was more interesting. The other fairies piled on. They did not have much in the way of entertainment, and this story was riveting.
"The story gets sadder and sadder," Erebus stated, but the fairies' eyes continued to sparkle. Erebus had to finish what he started.
"After the escape, where several of us fought and died, I was captured. By some miracle, they left me alive, but they gravely injured me. I cannot fight for long, my child, for my wounds will never heal," Erebus said woefully.
Kigen was not buying that it was some miracle. He had seen the serpent's character, and he was sure the beast had made some kind of bargain to survive. It seemed to have a knack for that.
"They had captured my remaining family," Erebus continued on. "They tossed us in this place and ordered that we continue to reproduce. This has been our fate ever since."
The bitterness and shame in his voice, towards the end, was real. How far he had fallen! He sometimes wondered whether it would have been better to stand and fight to the end. Perhaps, then he would have been spared of this shame.
The shame of sacrificing his own for survival. The shame of having to bow down to some puppet. He was now not even a shadow of the magnificent beast he had been once.