Chapter 38

Trapping ghosts and other spirits into objects was not unheard of but people on the other hand was.

Niran was entangled in a yellow net that Kiet had created. The naga was thrashing so often that Chann had taken the initiative to sit on top of him. The other two had managed to catch up with Shashi from earlier. Kiet had told her that they were travelling together until Shashi managed to spot her from far away and had flown to her without any warning much to his irritation.

Pranee stood at a reasonable distance away from Niran. Shashi and Kiet on the other hand were standing next to each other silently judging the creature. It almost seemed like that they were deciding what torture method they should use on the naga.

"What are we going to do with this guy anyway?"

Pranee could only shrug as she scanned the ground. The black smoke had disappeared and Kiet and Shashi glanced at each other and with raised eyebrows before they each gave a curt nod.

"Kill him," Kiet said. "Trying to attack a student is trying to attack me after all."

"You stole the words out of my mouth except for the student part." Shashi's gaze wouldn't break away from the struggling naga.

"Isn't that too extreme?" Chann said nervously.

"Get off me! You're crushing me," Niran hissed at Chann.

"You don't have to be so jealous of my partner just because they're more huggable than you." Kiet stepped on the naga's tail.

The naga gritted his teeth. "That's your partner? I shouldn't be surprised actually. You're both ugly."

Chann glanced down at the naga before turning their attention back to Shashi and Kiet. "Okay, let's kill him."

"I knew you'd change your mind." Shashi gave Chann a crooked smile.

"Hey, pay attention to your own partner." Kiet lightly slapped Shashi's shoulder.

"I say we get as much information as we can get from him and see if we need to deal with his kingdom's customs." Pranee's voice wavered as she spoke but she didn't take back the statement. She attempted to look confident but she could tell her uneasiness was showing.

"He tried to trap you into a stupid weapon." Shashi scowled.

"I had very good reasons for that."

"You've been trapping people just to show off how strong you supposedly are."

"And I'd be the coolest guy of the pit! Don't you understand the need for power and praise?"

Pranee frowned at the bickering group as she stared at Niran. His motivations were childish. It almost reminded her of Ritthirong and how he acted when they were younger. Even if they hadn't talked that much, she still managed to hear snippets of what he had said in those past moments.

"Your highness?"

She looked up to see Chann but couldn't see Shashi or Kiet anywhere.

"While you were zoned out, our partners left to find the more people back at the camp."

"Ah, I see."

"If your friends didn't come to save you, you would've been trapped by now," Niran hissed.

Chann kicked Niran with their heel. Pranee stifled a laugh and didn't say anything.

"We haven't had much time to talk alone now that Shashi and Kiet are gone," Chann remarked.

"Did you forget that I'm here?"

The naga's remark was met with another sharp kick from Chann's heel. Pranee shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"Um... is it wise to sit on top a naga like that? He is semi-divine." Pranee eyed Niran's tail and it now was limply laying on the ground.

"You probably shouldn't but I'll be alright." Chann gave her a reassuring look which only confused Pranee more.

"Huh? How come?"

"Uhhh..." Chann averted their gaze. "Well."

Niran narrowed his eyes and began to stick his tongue out, waving it in the air. Pranee gave him a side-eye and her lips pressed together. He didn't pay the two any attention and Chann was now looking down at the naga. Their expression was frozen in shock as they observed the naga.

"What are you doing?" Pranee asked hesitantly.

That was when the naga tucked his head into his chest. There was a low sound that came from the back of his throat. The longer it went on the more that Pranee realized it was a deranged laugh.

"You think you're better than me?" Niran shouted. "Living amongst humans and pretending to be one? They're below us. If you want to be a human, you should act like one. You can't sit on me and think it'll be okay."

"Chann, what's he talking about?"

That was when the naga started to grow bigger. Chann quickly got off Niran and watched the horrific transformation with Pranee. His face slowly elongated into a snout while the top part of his head grew a longhorn. His emerald-like scales now covered every inch of his body and no arms could be seen. A fin grew along his spine as he roared. The appearance of the fin was fire-like and it waved violently in the air. Even the edge of his tail grew a larger fire-like fin. It looked sharper and resembled the blade of the weapon he had from earlier. Niran continued to grow in size and the length of his body became several feet long. That was when strands of Kiet's net snapped before it fell to the ground.

The naga was now free.

It towered over Pranee and Chann and they stared up in shock. It gnashed its teeth in what seemed like a menacing smile as it tilted its head at them.

"Your highness?"

"Yes?"

"I think we should run."

"Wise advice."