Chapter 3: iii
It had been a week. Seven days had passed, but nothing had happened to Lan, after that haunted house-like experience, the day he first picked the book. To say that he was irritated was a huge understatement.
He had been so sure that his life would finally be worth living, and his hopes had been raised so high that they blew him away when they crashed down, like an explosion of despair. He was even more desperate than before. It wasn't surprising —a dark room would feel even darker, after it had been lit for a while.
He was sitting at his desk, reading the last few pages of this book. After all, it wasn't so filled, but appeared thick because of the leather covers. Although he was about to finish it, he had to admit that he didn't understand much of the story.
The beginning was very understandable and detailed, as it depicted the story of a black snake. However, it quickly moved to a different arc without much explanations. The snake was thrown in a pond and the village forgot about it after a year. Then who was that man who suddenly appeared and settled in the village ? He wasn't given a name, nor had any kind of description. His interactions with the other villagers were resumed in few paragraphs, or very basic conversations, and the characters presented earlier in the story weren't mentioned again.
It then moved to a big revelation : the black snake at the beginning was a hidden immortal, plotted against by... who ? Who knew ! And the newcomer in the village was his original form given back to him by people that weren't mentioned at all —all that was said was 'fellow immortals'. They didn't appear in the story after this.
Lan's eyebrows were furrowed. Although there was a general idea, this book felt more like a very detailed summary than an actual novel. It wasn't what he had expected at all ! He was very unhappy with this book —not only did his hopes were crushed, but he couldn't even comfort himself with a good read.
Had he been scammed by a very good magic trick ? But even if he thought that, it didn't make sense. No magic trick could reach this extent, could it ?
Still, he was confused and irritated.
He turned the page, while mumbling, "All right, now for the revelation- huh ?!" his frown deepened.
He turned the previous page, and tried to verify if he hadn't skipped one accidentally. He tried to separate a page into two, he was convinced that they were stuck together !
"Eh ? This is a single page ? Impossible !"
He stopped reading, and leaned back in the chair, starring at the book in disbelief. It was finally the scene where everything would be explained !
This can't happen ! Who the fuck is the author of such a bad book ? They're just throwing quick sums up of every scene, are they lazy to actually write ? Then they should just give up on being an author ! Who could even sell such a shitty book ?
Lan was very angry, as he sat back up, and reread the next scene.
How could this be it ? How could this be it ! Lan refused to believe it. He read until the end, hoping to get the revelation, the final unrolling of all this holed plot. But the few pages left only resumed how he joined the Immortal Peak again.
"What do you mean this is the end ?" he yelled.
He didn’t know who he was yelling at. Presumably the author. Lan thought that if he had one wish that could be fulfilled, he’d wish the author to be brought in front of him, so he could punch him.
If ‘frustration’ could be an object in this world, then it would most definitely be this book. It was too shameful to call it a book, it didn’t deserve that title. It was a stack of wasted papers. Lan couldn’t believe that some tree died for this bullshit to be born. He got even angrier when he thought that there was probably more copies of it around the world.
He sighed, as he slapped the book close. This old lady is lucky that her library or bookstore or whatever the fuck that place is, is nowhere to be found !, he angrily thought, I swear I would have burned the place that dared to sell such book !
He remembered that he hadn’t paid a single penny to get it, but it didn’t change the fact that a place like this was unworthy to exist.
He got up from this desk, stomping his feet to get to the kitchen. His injury was healing pretty well, as he took good care of it. He was also wearing thick socks with his soft slippers, so he didn’t feel the impact of the floor on it.
He took a chocolate bar, and opened it, not wasting a second to take a bite. This book had been irritating him from the beginning, for the lack of details, but he kept hoping that later on, everything would be explained. Who knew that it ended just like that ?
Lan didn’t know what happened for the man to be turned into a snake, he didn't who gave him his original form back, nor how he found out about everything. What was this 'everything' even about ? What about the girl mentioned at the beginning ? She was never mentioned again ! What was the point of risking his life for an irrelevant person ?
What ! In ! The ! World ! Was ! This ! Book !
Until the end of his life, Lan wouldn’t be able to express his anger and frustration enough.
After the last bite of his chocolate bar, he took a water bottle, and left for his bedroom, while drinking it. He laid in bed, covering himself with his thick blanket. The weather was getting colder, and despite his blood boiling from anger, it wasn’t enough to warm him up.
He hadn’t intended to fall asleep, but he felt very comfortable like this. His anger was finally able to diminish, as he sighed contently. He had lacked a lot of sleep, and now that he was done reading, he had nothing else to do. He thought that taking a nap would be a good idea.
As he was drifting to sleep, he heard footsteps. His mind was already hazy from the accumulated fatigue, so he pushed it to the very back of his head. He couldn’t bring himself to care. Even when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he didn’t realize what was happening.
He soon fell into a heavy slumber. He didn’t have a single dream, he only saw black. In this state, it wasn’t like he could take notice of it. He only felt like he was conscious, when the dream changed. He was back in the bookstore, but this time, it was a young lady sitting at the counter, with a single candle illuminating her face.
"The pact has been made."
This pact again ? What pact ! There's nothing at all !
But Lan couldn't say it out loud, before his surrounding plunged in darkness again, and the lady disappeared.
He didn't know how much had passed, when he slowly started to come back to his senses. And the first thing he felt, was that it was too sunny and too hot. Yet it was evening when he fell asleep, and it was almost winter ! What's more, the surface he was laying on was hard and itchy. His bed was so soft... what happened to it ?
He tried to stretch his arms and legs, but nothing moved. Wait, nothing moved ? It wasn’t only that nothing moved, but he didn’t feel any limb attached to his body !
He shot his eyes open. He was laying on dirt, amongst grass and bushes, near some flowers. This wasn’t his bedroom. Looking down, he saw a scaly black... face ? He twisted his body, and saw a long and slender black body, covered in shiny black scales.
A black snake. This wasn’t him, this was a black snake. But why was his consciousness inside a black snake’s head ?
Why ? What was happening ? A dream ? Was it a dream ?
Panic started to build up inside of him, and he wanted to let it out with a scream, but when he opened his mouth, what he heard were ferocious hisses. It startled him, and he rushed to close it.
He threw himself on a nearby tree, and clearly felt the impact of the rough surface. His small body fell back on the ground, and he stayed unmoving for a while.
It hurts. Why does it hurt so much ? Do snakes even feel this level of pain from a tree trunk ? Why do I feel pain to begin with, this should be a dream ! Right ? Right ?
He tried to convince himself for a while, but the more he tried, the less he believed it. What was happening ?
The Black Snake and the Willow.
This title suddenly flashed in his mind. He had just finished this book, which started with a black snake. He was in the body of a black snake. Thinking more, he managed to fished a memory out of his subconscious.
Footsteps. A hand on his shoulder. There had been footsteps and glass breaking a week ago.
Why did he just stop thinking about it ? It was so abnormal, but Lan literally just ignored it and went on with his life ! What was happening now ? Did he turn into a black snake ?
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone