Serpent Sarcophagus novel Chapter 4

Stowy's voice was low and sad, as if he felt wounded.

“I remember you.” I was driving with the steering wheel going full. “You are the black serpent in my dream.”

“Ah...” Stowy gave a self-mocking smile.

I heard something wrong with his voice, but I couldn’t spare the time to care about that. I glanced over my shoulder in the rearview mirror.

David, who had just been swept away by the water, got up again, stood behind the car, and stretched out his hands toward my car.

The snake coiled around David's hands. Its head was pointing at the car and its tongue was flicking out. The hiss too, I didn’t notice when the voice that was calling my name had resumed.

And in the nearby woods, there seemed to be something moving. Even the sound of the wind hustling through the tree appeared to be calling me, “Aurora, Aurora!”

“Never look back and never look into any snake’s eyes.” Stowy's heavy voice sounded so serious.

Being my first time driving, the car traveled on the mountain road in a zigzagging course. In this chaotic situation, how could there be any time for me to look back?

When we suddenly passed the edge of a cliff, several snakes fell straight from the half-sloping tree onto the windshield.

The snakes hovered, snarling at me through the glass.

As Stowy waved his hand, rushing out was a current of water, and all those snakes were washed away.

All along the road would occasionally spring out one or two snakes, but they were washed away by Stowy’s magic finger so that I could drove while sweating.

The milestone tablet in front came into my sight just as the car was about to enter the village. I heaved a long sigh of relief.

But due to a moment of carelessness, the car ran straight into the stone tablet and stopped.

“Go into the village and find your grandmother.” Stowy’s shape faded as he turned toward me, “Go get the bracelet. Remember to place a drop of your blood on it. You must dig out the sarcophagus and expose it under the sun! Quickly!”

He then disappeared, I hurried off, picking up the bag on the back.

At one corner, a ragged man walked toward me. His hair and beard stuck together. It was hard for anyone to recognize his facial expression with his face so dirty. He stooped with two hands lingering in the air and giggled at me.

This man was called Mr. Han who had some mental issues and often wandered around in the village, begging for food whenever someone was hosting an event.

I quickly took out a box of cookies from my backpack and handed it to him before I entered.

But Mr. Han stopped me. As he pulled open the biscuit box, he grinned at me in an unfathomable fashion, “You can't go in! A snake is following you. So big and has no body. Scary. You mustn’t go in there!”

“No snake!” I thought he was talking about Stowy. I turned back, but there was no sign of him.

Then Mr. Han pointed at the shadow behind me while eating the biscuit and giggling. Then he moved closer to me, seemed to be whispering something.

He said mysteriously, “I tell you, it’s the serpent that your father killed. It has no body, but it will take its vengeance on you. It's coming for you...”

I followed his gaze. It was just about ten o 'clock in the morning, and the sunshine was just in good tuning, which cast a long shadow of me. But it was not the shadow of a man at all, but more like the shadow of a slithering serpent.

My clothes were already wet, but my sweat made it even wetter!

I found a bottle of drinks in my bag and threw it to Mr. Han. Then I took the opportunity to run into the village when he was picking it up.

“Aurora, you can't go into the village. Ha Ha! The ghost serpent is hunting you and your family. Ha, Ha...” Mr. Han still shouted at the back, but he did not attempt to go after me.

To my home I went in such a hurry that I was barely able to catch my breath. Grandma was feeding the chicken when she saw me. The chicken gathered around her feet immediately ran off to the pen, fluttering their wings.

Grandma looked at me while holding the food bowl. She noticed the serpent-shaped shadow on the ground as well.

She blinked and said to me in a low voice as if nothing was unexpected. “Aurora, stand here still and wait. I will be back in a while.”

I stood outside the door, looking at my grandma, a little fluttered. I had no idea what my grandma was up to.

Before long, grandma walked out with a big white goose. She threw the goose fiercely at my shadow.

As she said this, her eyes were brimmed with tears. She grasped my hand and sighed, “Alas! Aurora, they committed the sin themselves, but they didn't pay for it, and now it fell on you! Karma shall punish them! Why should my sweet granddaughter suffer the consequences?”

I looked at grandma, puzzled, “What on Earth is going on?”

Grandma waved at me, “All the way back, haven't had breakfast, right? Eat breakfast first! After breakfast, we will go to Mrs. Quebec’s place and see the late Quebec’s apprentice, who’s also a renowned Channeler around the neighbor.

“But Stowy said that I have to go and locate the serpent sarcophagus.” I stood up with that white fabric.

Grandma shook her head and said, “It’s gone, hit by lightning!”

She went into the kitchen, apparently in no mood to unveil that memory.

“First, drop your blood on the bracelet!” Stowy reminded me in my head.

Slowly unfolding that piece of white fabric, I found a serpentine jade inside as dark as the ink. The carving was so meticulous that even the scales were vividly visible.

Though made out of black jade, the snake's eyes, half-open, seemed so crystal that they can shine in the night.

It looked just like the black snake in my dream.

As I gazed upon it, the half-closed eyes suddenly opened completely.

In astonishment, I almost dropped the bracelet. Stowy’s voice ceased, as if he was deep in thought about the jade-made bracelet.

The white goose shouted. I found a sewing needle of grandma’s, using it to prick my finger, and then squeezed some blood on the bracelet.

The red fell on the black bracelet. The blood seemed to have come to life and quickly spread out along the carved scales. In a blink of an eye, the whole body was covered in red.

As I stared, the light suddenly got dimmer, and I felt something cold and soft on my lips.

I raised my head in surprise, only to see Stowy’s handsome face before my eyes, close to my lips. His lips moved, like a sigh, or in soliloquize, “Finally! Aurora, I get to kiss you.”