In the creeks of the Chuxie Swamp , Dark clouds loomed over the swamp and in a small field, a small child-sized cave ,there layed numerous eggs each the size of a pea. one of the eggs shells cracked away in jagged pieces, and a newborn snake tasted the air for the first time.
The world was strange — every scent sharp, every vibration in the ground a whisper of movement. Instinct urged it to hide, to coil tightly and vanish into the shadows, but something deeper stirred within. Unlike the others of its brood, its eyes opened wide, gleaming with a faint light that seemed almost… human. The newborn's tongue flickered, tasting the air. Around it, other shells cracked, but none of the hatchlings looked quite the same. Its scales shimmered faintly, catching the dim light, and in its chest stirred a strange awareness — a thought, fragile but clear: it was meant to endure.
The young hatchling's red eyes darted around the small cave inquisitively , taking in the cave and its newborn siblings-all of which are different coloured , but like lightning a gnawing hunger hit it -one so terrible it was maddening, and it's seemed like its siblings felt the same as suddenly hissing broke out as the new born hatchlings suddenly charged at one another in a hunger induced rage ,although he felt the hunger too , something stopped him from going beseark and the young snake's eyes showed visible horror as his kin attacked one another-who were just recently hatched-although he felt the hunger too , something stopped him from going beserk.
Blood spilled everywhere as kin bite one another with blind hunger, then , the young snakes eye met those with a white snake being cornered by a red snake , the white hatchling's eyes showed terror as the red hatchling advanced with what resembled a wicked smile , suddenly the young hatchling , almost on instinct, launched directly at the red snake with its mouth opened. But the red snake noticed in time and slithered back as the young hatchling hit the caves dirt wall with a loud Thud .
The red hatchling slithered forward, slow and deliberate now, its eyes fixed on the trembling White hatchling. The young hatchling slid between them, body low, head raised. It did not understand why — only that the sight of the white snake's terror twisted something deep inside. The red snake paused, tongue flicking, as if amused by the defiance. Then it struck.
Instict roared through the young hatchling's veins. its body moving instictively to the side as the red snake lunged ,the red snake showed surprise as the young hatchling dodged ,seeming to have expected easy prey.
Taking advantage of the red snakes surprise, the young coiled into an instinctive S-shape and launched itself at the red and delivered a piercing bite —even with its blunt new born fangs, its still pierced the skin of the red hatchling and it let out a pained shreak.
The young Hatchling recoiled back from the initial unslaught ,reassessing the red Hatchling as it blood gushed out of the bite wound, the red hatchling became frantic and without a second thought slithered with all its might out of the small cave and into the swamp.
At the retreat of the Red Snake , The young hatchling was put at ease and as he was about to turn towards the white snake ,a sudden jerk was seen at the corner of its eye, the white hatchling lauching at him , even seeing this , it was too late and he was bitten in its tail region by the White snake , and almost on cue the Red snake slithered back in , slow , deliberate and taunting, and then it struck the Young Hatchling .
"It was all a set up" it thought -its first thought after being born , it suddenly started making more sense, while the other snakes were fighting it out , the red Hatchling was cornering the White Hatchling ,it was almost staged--It was at that moment he realized he wasn't the only one with intelligence , anger suddenly flared up in the young hatchling , he was betrayed by his own blood , blood leaked out of his wound and onto the small caves floor , his eyes darting back and forth from the 2 hatchlings to the environment , he thought that he couldn't beat both of them at the same time even if he had injured the red hatchling too,
The only option the hatchling could think of was fleeing and so with the last of its strength , it coiled into an S-shape and lauched itself out of the cave and started slithering as fast as its new born body can go . The other hatchlings didn't follow ,just watched as the young snake fled.
As the young hatchling fled deeper into the swamp , one word popped up mind "Zhao" , it did not no why the word popped up in its head as he had never heard it before but it had a strange familiarity so it decided to call itself Zhao
As Zhao continued fleeing , the fatigue had started catching up with him and in addition the bite wound on its tail had not closed and he had left a trail of blood in his escape but luckily for him ,he spotted a very small snake like whole to rest in for the night.
Zhao slithered into the hole and into a ball and began to reflect on the events that took place : His kin betraying him , the white and red hatchling's trick and his stupidity which almost cost him his life . A single thought surfaced "I need to be stronger" he thought as he slept for the night.