POV: Lumine

  Snakes! Damn snakes! Their bright lights nearly blinded me. When I focused, I noticed something even worse—their skin was shifting to match the surface they slithered on.

  Oh, shit. They could camouflage.

  As if that weren’t bad enough, their shapes contorted, stretching out and flattening into impossibly thin forms.

  Vacinay readied a chair, preparing to hurl it at them, but Ghomas stopped her. "I think those snakes are used as light bulbs in this world."

  "Huuuhhh?" Vacinay gave him a look like he’d lost his mind. "That makes no sense! There were no snakes back in that summoning room!"

  Exactly. The room had been lit, but there hadn’t been any snakes in sight. Yet… if they could change their shape and color like this…

  "How do you know that?" Vacinay asked.

  I interjected. "We just saw them transform."

  He shrugged. "What Lumine just said."

  Damn. That meant they could be slithering right beneath our feet. I glanced down, searching for any telltale glow, but there was none. That didn't mean anything, since they could choose when to generate light.

  I moved cautiously, ready to react at the first sign of movement. And that raised another unsettling thought—what if they could change the way they felt?

  The thought of stepping on one without realizing sent a shudder down my spine. I already hated this damn world.

  Ghomas, on the other hand, didn’t seem the least bit concerned. He strolled down the hallway, casually inspecting the place.

  How wasn’t he worried?

  "This place isn’t so bad," he remarked. "Pretty damn big, too. The color isn't bad—not to my taste, but it's aight."

  He ran a hand along the red and black walls, which were embedded with large, flat gemstones. Even the floor tiles shimmered with inlaid gems. Paintings of sunsets, full moons, and other breathtaking landscapes adorned the halls. But no matter how beautiful the place was, none of that could distract me from the fact that it was infested with snakes.

  Ghomas noticed our hesitation and sighed in disappointment. "Really? What are you going to do, call the president and cry about it?"

  I mean… that actually didn’t sound like the worst idea. Except it was—we were supposed to be the defenders of this world. We had to act like it.

  Hessien moved cautiously toward Ghomas, his eyes darting between the walls and ceiling. Vacinay stuck close to his back, mirroring his unease.

  Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly attached myself to Hessien’s side. "You know, since we're family and all, if a snake attacks me, you have to risk your life for me."

  "Now, why would I do that?" he asked flatly.

  "Simple. You used to protect me back in high school, despite me not needing or wanting it. You just need to have one of those dramatic flashback moments, go through some character development, and return to your old self—the fearless defender of Lumine!"

  He snorted. "You’re more of a nerd than I thought. And you don’t even know how that trope works. If anything, I’d have to be the opposite of what I was back then. Like… a villain or something."

  "Yeah, yeah, details." I’d only brought it up as a joke, anyway—mostly to make the situation feel less serious.

  As we moved deeper into the house, we weren’t attacked, and slowly, the tension eased. The place had over four large bedrooms, a massive kitchen, and even a library stocked with endless books. It had to be three times the size of my old home. It hadn’t looked nearly this big from the outside.

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  Wherever we stepped into a dark room, the light snakes slithered in to illuminate it.

  Did they need to be fed? Or was there some kind of vent system that let them leave, hunt, and return? I wasn’t sure which scenario I preferred. The last thing I wanted was for them to drag their prey back inside and leave bloody remnants in the vents. Though… snakes did swallow their meals whole, right?

  After exploring parts of the house, we moved into a large room to discuss our next steps.

  When we stepped inside, it lit up instantly. It was spacious enough to fit five beds but contained only a single, oversized one with a red mattress.

  Vacinay eyed it warily. "So… do you think the bed sheets are clean? Do they even clean this place regularly?"

  "Maybe they have some weird bugs that eat up the dust or something," I muttered.

  She cringed. "Ugh. Guess I’d have to start with a bug army before evolving it into centipedes and dragon one."

  I didn’t even react to what she said. Instead, I walked over and slapped the bed, expecting a cloud of dust to rise.

  Nothing.

  I checked my palm—no dirt. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen any dust anywhere in the house.

  Hessien suddenly jumped onto the bed, bouncing a few times.

  Ghomas grinned and followed suit. "Super bump!"

  He leaped toward Hessien, who easily dodged, but his escape was short-lived—Vacinay launched herself at him from a wooden chair.

  He panicked, trying to scramble off the bed, but she crashed right into his chest.

  "Ugh!" He groaned in pain.

  She rolled off him, laughing. "Haha! Sucker. Stay right here. I'ma try it again. Shit's too fun."

  "My chest hurts!" he whined.

  Vacinay gave him a blank stare… then head-butted his chest. "Take more pain!"

  "Stop it!"

  I sat on the bed, waiting for them to finish their nonsense. But things escalated when Hessien grabbed Vacinay into a headlock.

  "Alright, you’ve got five seconds to apologize," he threatened.

  "Ow, ow!" she yelped.

  "Four seconds, Vacinay. Don't make me use the legendary neck-break technique!"

  She giggled but played along. "You… you wouldn’t dare use the forbidden technique! The very one responsible for dividing the Mega and the Duba family! My family!"

  With great solemnity, he replied, "Yes… I—"

  Before he could finish, she bit down on his forearm. Hard.

  "MY ARM!" He yelped, releasing her. He tried to yank his arm away, but she clamped down like a rabid dog.

  He adapted quickly and slid his fingers under her arm and tickled her.

  Her body jerked, a burst of frantic laughter escaping her lips. She released his arm, twisting away as she gasped between giggles. "Okay! Okay! Haahh! Stop!"

  "No! You made me bleed!" he snapped, doubling down on his attack.

  "I—haha! I didn't mean to!" she howled.

  He only increased his pace.

  Panicked, she shrieked, "If you keep this up, I'm gonna pee! And since I’m this close, it'll get all over you!"

  Hessien instantly yanked his hands back and jumped away.

  Vacinay collapsed onto the floor, wheezing for air before pointing at him triumphantly. "Ha! Sucker, I got you to—"

  A pillow smacked her square in the face, knocking her back with a soft thud.

  "Yeah, yeah. Take more!" Hessien hurled another.

  She rolled aside, dodging, then bolted toward him. He tried to escape, but she lunged, pinning him to the ground.

  With a grin, she wrenched the pillow from his grip and raised it high, like a dagger poised for the kill. Lowering her voice, she murmured coldly, "It’s sad that I have to do this to you... old friend."

  Instead of playing along, he grabbed her leg and bit down.

  "Ow! You fucker!" she bellowed, falling off him. "That hurts. It fucking hurts!"

  Hessien scrambled for the pillow. The moment he got it, he spun towards her, holding it like a sword. "Now I have the advantage."

  I’d had enough of this.

  We had far more important things to discuss than this ridiculous nonsense. At least Ghomas wasn’t joining in—he was too busy examining his legendary card, which was exactly what we needed to focus on.

  In a firm tone, I said, "Enough. We need to focus on something important."

  "Like what?" they both asked in unison.

  I summoned my legendary card and flicked it into the air, catching it between my fingers.

  They got the message.

  "We need to figure out everything about these cards," I said. "When you all used your skills, did anything... feel off?"

  Vacinay answered first. "Probably the same thing for everyone. Skills used something called energy points. It didn’t feel like stamina, more like... I don’t know, something was being pulled out of me."

  "Yeah, same."

  "Same."

  The other two agreed.

  I wouldn't know—I hadn’t been able to use any of my card’s skills.

  Turning to Vacinay, I asked, "When you transformed, did it hurt?"

  She nodded. "Like bloody hell. Why do you think I was moving so damn weird after turning into that iron fur cat?"

  "Uh… because you had a completely different body?"

  "That was part of it, yeah, but I was also in so much pain I was afraid to move. It only lasted a few seconds, but the memory of it lingered. And when I changed back, it was even worse. The transformation was hell, but it ended fast. Honestly, I wanted to scream, but I held it in—had to stay cool, you know?"

  Hessien gave her a skeptical look. "Stay cool? You were naked."

  "Dude... Why would you bring that up?"

  "I dunno, just remembered it."

  "Forget it then."

  "Meh."

  I narrowed my eyes at Vacinay. "This has to do with Ben 10, doesn’t it?"

  She blinked a few times. "Obviously."