WITH A SHAKY hand over my mouth, I was scared to stone simply staring at the mere size of the snake.

Its scales glowed deep black obsidian in the fading light, and the climbing stars.

Nala gasped, her eyes unable to leave the snake, which sat coiled but like a viper, its steal cold glass-like eyes, set on her and no one else.

She wheezed as if it was too hard for her to breathe. Almost as if an invisible force was choking the life out of her, and yet she remained as still as a statue, stuck in one position.

If it wasn't for the panic-stricken visage on her face, one would have never realized the true danger she was in.

"W-what's wrong with her? W-what's the hell is it doing?!" Alfred managed to stutter, my gaze widening when I noticed that Nala's skin was hardening beneath her leviathan suit.

Her fingers had already curled to stone, reminding me of the statues Mr. Ogustus kept in the Amory towed.

Dark grey veins quickly appeared on her throat, hardening each part of her skin where they traced, now traveling to her face.

Her gaze remained as if trapped in some sort of trance by the snake.

"C-can't. Breathe," she stuttered out, gasping for air again.

Fear was spelled in her very gaze, and I had no idea how to save her.

"It's growing! Feeding on her," Omkara explained in his terrified state, "it's hypnotized her somehow. She can't look away-"

"Take her out!" Alfred yelled.

Omkara shook out of his gaze, his hands shaking, "it's not human, so I can't get into its mind-"

His gaze snapped to Alfred, "You'll have to burn it!"

Alfred seemed about ready to faint, "I can't unless I touch it-"

"Don't you dare! It's highly venomous!" someone yelled.

Our gaze snapped to Lira, who seemed to have come out of the blue.

I couldn't feel my body. It was almost like I didn't even exist at this moment. I had no clue what had happened. I was shaking, and the snake was -terrifying.

It was not a normal snake.

It was growing at an extraordinary rate, reminding me of the scariest Anaconda. On its head traveled two golden horns that looked like a crown broken in half.

Yes. This was no ordinary snake.

"Everyone, Step. Back!" Lira gritted, taking charge of the situation.

I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I was too stunned.

Lira gazed at a gasping Nala-

"P-please-" Nala gasped before her body stilled slowly, her lips hardening to stone.

"Do something!" Omkara was yelling, "Call the Alpha!"

"He's too far away-" Lira responded, staring at the scene before her, seemingly half gone, half in disbelief, "Talon was supposed to be right behind me with the new shift... But not for a moment."

Something had to be done. Nala's body was a statue, only a quarter of her face was left to go before she would be nothing but stone.

Only one of her eyes was blinking to reveal she was still there.

"It's A basilisk. It turns anyone that it looks into its eyes to stone, and before that, it paralyzes you. Apart from that, it's got venom under its skin-" Lira breathed. Her voice was a fast ramble and filled with disbelief.

She seemed out of it. Like all of us... This felt like a nightmare.

That spark. The tattoo on her sleeve. It all couldn't be a coincidence.

Nala was almost gone.

I had to do something.

The eyes. The eyes!

Without further thought, I grabbed Nala's jacket she had tossed aside and threw it over her head.

This immediately got the Snake hissing loudly, coiling upwards, looking more diabolical than ever before. Setting its eyes on a new target.

Me.

" Cover your eyes!" Lisa yelled.

I slapped a hand over my eyes, in the nick of time, and the other one holding the jacket over Nala's head, I stood still as a statue, my heart ramming within me, as I heard the snake hiss, and slither around us.

"Are everyone's eyes closed?!" Lira yelled.

All grunts meant everyone's eyes were closed, yet the slithering and the hissing of the large snake in our midst moving amongst us angrily with dart speed was still quite apparent.

"Okay... Okay!" Lira began, "Alfred. I'll need you to turn on."

"W-what?"

"Turn. On." Lisa gritted, "As bright as you can."

"O-Okay..." he trailed off.

Soon I could feel heat tickle my skin.

"Everyone feels that?!" Lira called.

Everyone grunted whilst I kept my arm around a stoned Nala. I was happy to say I could feel her hard figure slowly loosen beneath me.

"Okay... Now move towards the heat."

"What? I mean I hate the snake but burning to death isn't exactly the best idea!" Omkara called over.

"Like most beings, It's afraid of fire! If we don't move it's soon going to spot the places on our bodies our suits don't cover. And trust me, you do not want to touch it in any way!"

"Fuck! Does our skin peel off when we do? That's what happens right? That it! We're so done!" Alfred yelled.

The snake hissed, swerving between us, causing me to move forward almost tripping but I held on in time. Keeping balanced.

"Quickly! Everyone moves toward Alfred! Our suits are meant to be fireproof. We will be fine, as long as you don't blast us," she huffed referring to Alfred, "we will be fine." Lisa explained, her voice moving like she was moving.

"I hope..." she added the last part.

Omkara emitted a string of curses beneath his breath, moving, toward the heat.

I could not move. Not with Naala in my arms.

"All here?" she yelled.

"Present!" Omkara repeated.

"Talanda?" Lira called out.

I clapped against my thigh, indicating I was still far from the others.

"She's with Nala. Probably too heavy to move." Alfred stated.

"Okay, okay.," Lira paused, "then we'll move."

I sucked in a breath at this.

"On three... Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Omkara grunted.

"Talanda, we will need you to keep clapping, so we know where you are. Okay?"

I clapped in response.

"Good. Left, 10ft away." Lisa calculated breathlessly.

"Okay, 1, 2, 3!"

I could hear their feet crunching the dry leaves beneath us. Omkara was cursing, Alfred was cursing and only Lira was guiding.

"Stop!" she yelled, and I could hear the snake swerve hissing just a foot away.

"It brushed my leg!" Omkara yelled.

"Was your leg exposed?" Lisa huffed, breathlessly, sounding only a few feet away.

"N-no. I don't think so. Nothing sizzling off."

"For Pete's sake!" Lisa grunted, "Move!"

I heard them come closer until I felt Alfred's heat right by me. It was hot enough to cause me to sweat but not enough to burn. I didn't know if it was because of the suits we were wearing.

"Oh, thank God! Are you okay T?" she asked, and I nodded.

"I'll take your silence for a yes." she added, "where is the silver..." I could feel her hands touching past me until she touched Nala's de-petrifying body.

"Good, she's reverting. It means, it's growing weaker." she started.

"The snake?" Alfred asked.

"Yes, the snake!" Lira quipped, sighing, "It should leave to hunt more prey when it realizes it can't have us..." she stated and then added, "I hope." Quietly.

This caused both Alfred and Omkara to real into another  colorful array of curses.

I could hear Nala groan softly, her body leaning more into me as she lumped slowly.

"Can you hear that?" Lisa asked softly into the silence of the night.

"I don't hear anything." Omkara responded.

"Exactly."

I kept my arm around Nala, caving slightly under her growing weight.

"I'm going to take a peek."

"Careful." Omkara breathed.

After a few moments, Alfred was about to ask when Lira interrupted him.

"You can open your eyes guys."

I felt skeptical. My fingers were still shaken.

But I eventually did, my eyes opening to the blurry outlines of the night forest around us, Alfred's light slowly dying off.

"It's gone." Omkara started, looking around.

His gaze circled our area, sifting among the shadowy trees until it dawned on the three of us before him.

Our gaze stuck on each other, utterly speechless.

Before anyone could say a word, I staggered underneath Nala's weight.

"Put her down. Here!" Lisa began quickly taking off her jacket, which she placed on the ground, creating a soft pillow.

Omkara and Alfred helped me gently lay her down. Her body was almost fully turned back to the skin, though her hands felt stone cold.

"W-will she be alright?" Alfred asked, watching as Lira eased her down, a hand around her wrist feeling for her pulse.

I scratched my own wrists, my body shaking... Still stuck at what had happened. What I had done.

I did this. I know it was me. That spark. It somehow brought the snake.

I was still trying to wrap my head around this. Tears stung the back of my eyes when I watched Lira search for a heartbeat.

Had I killed someone too?

The thought sent a panic through me, and I found it hard to breathe the longer Lira searched.

It was as if the whole world was holding its breath.

"She's here." Lisa mumbled in relief, sitting back on her knees, and burying her face in her hands, "it's faint but she's here."

She needed a moment.

A moment of silence passed before her gaze flashed to Omkara, "We have to take her back to camp. I don't know how bad it is past the fact that she's still alive... But, What the hell?!— WHERE DID IT EVEN COME FROM?"

"I-I don't know!" Omkara yelled, "It was in her coat sleeve!"

"In her sleeve?!" She yelled, "Do you understand what that thing was? It's fucking Basilisk! They just don't appear out of the blue and petrify people! Do you know why?!" her gaze blurred in fury.

My heart skipped a beat, and I stepped back.

"Cause their extinct! Their myths! If they ever did exist, they've been gone for over 3 thousand years! How does one just appear in a girl's sleeve and suck the life out of her?! I don't even know if she has a proper pulse- fuck!" she yelled, seemingly going mental, "We have to Alert Everyone. No one's safe with that thing hunting. It's old and fucking ancient. There is a reason things like that don't exist anymore. Harvest," she paused nodding to herself, "yes, h-he'll know what to do-" she mumbled, trying to search for a pulse on Nala's wrist.

"And you better get your story straight. He will not be so understanding."

"Wait, are we in trouble for this? For that?!" Albert yelled pointing into the forest, "Fuck, we had nothing to do with it. It just appeared!"

Lira scoffed at this, pulling up Naala's sleeve.

"Back me up, Yellow!" Alfred growled to Omkara.

Omkara still looked out of it, nodded, and blinking quickly as if trying to throw off the shock of it, "Y-Yeah-Yeah..." he stuttered.

His hands were still shaking even as he ran his fingers through his short hair.

"Uh-She and Talanda were just talking. Naala had stolen Talanda's notebook, and she grabbed her arm, and it just blurs from there." he trailed off.

Then froze.

Everyone froze.

I sucked in a breath when all their gazes met mine.

I couldn't do anything. I was shaken. I didn't know how to wrap my head around what I had just done.

Lira's gaze fell back to Nala's arm where the tattoo of a now faded basilisk was.

Staring at it for a moment, "You did this?" she whispered to herself.

My heart stopped. I shook my head as her gaze snapped to mine.

"You created it."

I could only blink, hands clasping around my notebook. I stumbled backward from the group, bumping into something.

"Easy there-"

I turned around to Talon, who was accompanied by 6 other leviathans I figured came for the shift change.

"Good news, we found an artifact. It's back at camp..." Talon trailed off, cheering sounds of other Leviathans behind him resonating. He grinned, before his gaze and that of the others fell on Naala's body and our petrified faces.

"What's going on?" He asked.

Silence consumed us.

"W-We're going to need to get her back to base-" Lira pursed her lips.

"W-What happened here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She happened..." Alfred grunted pointing at me, "It's all her."

All eyes flashed to me.

"She did it."

It was so overwhelming, that I stumbled backward and then bolted out of there, ignoring the calls behind me.

I couldn't think straight.

Not with all those judgmental eyes on me. I had one place I knew I could rely on.

One being dark enough to not judge me.

There was my destination.