Chapter Text
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining bright in the sky, and the birds were chirping happily, so Patton could not even begin to figure out why the entire town looked extremely upset and anxious that morning.
Everyone was gathered in the town square chatting nervously. Some families were huddled together protectively, young children were held close by their parents, and some of the older ones were crying from what could be assumed to be fear.
As he attempted to make his way to the front of the crowd to find out what was going on, Patton overheard many people crying, and some whispers saying “who will it be this time?” and “I don’t want to go!” All kinds of phrases of this sort, which caused Patton to begin to worry.
He finally pushed his way to the front and looked around to try and spot the source of everyone’s distress, but couldn’t find it.
“Patton!”
He looked to his right and saw Roman waving at him from the other side of the crowd.
Patton had known Roman since they were children growing up together. They had been very close, but then Roman’s family had moved away when he and Roman were about 12, and Patton hadn’t seen him for years. They finally reunited when Patton moved to this village almost six months ago. It was quite a shock to Patton to see him again, and he was very happy to see that Roman hadn’t changed much since they were younger. Still as adventurous, and charming as ever.
Patton quickly walked over to Roman and gave him a hug, which the other returned happily.
Even though Roman was smiling, Patton could tell by how tightly Roman was holding him, that he was affected by whatever was happening in the town as well.
Patton pulled away, and took a step to the side, but turned to look Roman in the eye.
“Roman, I need you to tell me why the whole town is acting strange. Please! Everyone seems upset, and I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t know why. Did something bad happen?”
Roman looked at him with surprise and confusion evident in his features, before a moment of realization hit him.
“Ohh. Oh Pat, I’m sorry. No one told you abou-“
“No one died did they?!” Patton interrupted, fear beginning to take over.
“No! No one died,” Roman said placing his hands on his shoulders reassuringly, “nothing bad happened, at least not yet, he continued casting his eyes downward.
Patton was more confused now then before. What was going on?
“Roman, what do you mean by that?”
Roman looked at him sadly, and sighed, “I’m sorry Pat. I should have told you about this when you moved here, but I was just so excited to see you again that I forgot about it for a while.”
“Wha-“
“It’s the Naga.”
Patton’s eyes widened in surprise. A Naga? Wasn’t that the mythical snake? And what did that have to do with anything?
“Roman? What Naga? I thought they weren’t real?”
“Oh they’re real Pat,” Roman said, his voice beginning to shake slightly, but not enough to be noticeable by anyone who didn’t know him as well as Patton, “and this town is the target of a very powerful one. Twice a year the Naga comes from the forest to the west edge of the town, and takes one towns person as a sacrifice. We never know who it will be, but the Naga always asked for the person who is the most beautiful in the town.”
Now it made sense to Patton why he didn’t know about this Naga, having moved here probably soon after someone was taken, but it sickened Patton to think of innocent people being taken hostage, so he dared to ask “what does the Naga do with the people he takes?”
Roman shook his head, “no one knows for sure Patton, but they’re called sacrifices, and none of them have ever returned, so it’s assumed they’re either eaten, or killed in some horrible way.”
Patton shuddered at the thought, and hesitated a moment before speaking, “is there nothing to be done to stop the Naga from taking someone?”
Roman shook his head and looked at the ground sadly.
“I wish there was, but unfortunately there isn’t.”
Patton placed his hand on Roman’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, trying to find the words to match.
“Maybe we could-“
“IT’S HERE!”
A shout came from the crowd, causing Patton, Roman, and the rest of the crowd to look towards the forest, and see the Naga slithering out from it.
A hush fell over the crowd as everyone seemed to watch the Naga, mesmerized by its movements.
Patton could understand why everyone was afraid of this creature. It’s long serpent tail stretched for what seemed like at least fifteen feet, covered almost entirely in black scales, except for the underside which was a bright yellow that shone in the sunlight like gold.
As it drew close to the edge of the crowd, it rose up on its tail, almost towering above them.
What surprised Patton the most though was that the top half of the Naga looked surprisingly more human than he expected.
Minus the split pupil, and scales on the left side of his face, the Naga had somewhat pale skin, and his right eye was a deep brown, his short brown hair covered part of his forehead, and he wore a small black cape with a yellow trim that wrapped around his shoulders and clasped in the front with a small gold chain, and his hands were covered by yellow gloves.
Patton was so in awe, that he almost didn’t notice when the Naga began to speak.
“Do not be afraid villagers. I am not here to harm you all, and I will not do so, so long as you have chosen who you shall send from amongst you,” the Naga spoke, voice calm and almost relaxing to listen to, but Patton knew that this creature was horrible from what Roman had told him.
“Well,” the Naga continued, “who is the most beautiful amongst you? Step forward.”
No one did.
Instead the villagers began whispering nervously to each other, which soon escalated to them all pointing fingers, and claiming that certain people were the most beautiful, and themselves were not.
“Take Jane! She has the most beautiful hair!”
“I heard Henry say how beautiful his reflection was!”
“Certainly I am not the most beautiful, but my neighbor is!”
Patton stared at the villagers in disbelief. How could they so easily place others in harm's way like this?
The Naga sighed, and was beginning to look annoyed, “if you cannot choose I will have to take drastic measures against you all.”
The crowd went silent again at the threat, until one person from the back pointed to the front and shouted “take Roman! He is the most beautiful out of everyone here, and it’s surprising you didn’t take him sooner!”
Patton looked away from where the voice had spoken, and turned to see Roman pale at the thought of being taken.
The Naga lowered himself to be eye level with Roman and leaned in to get a better look.
“Is this true? Are you really the most beautiful?”
Roman shuddered in fear, but quickly took a breath to composed himself to try and speak.
“Yes, I-“
“Wait just a moment!” Patton interjected.
The Naga snapped his neck at the sound to face where Patton had stood.
“What’s this? Do you wish to claim yourself as the most beautiful amongst you?” The Naga asked starting Patton directly in the eyes, making him flatter slightly, the courage to speak from before fading slowly.
“No, there is not doubt in my mind the Roman is the most beautiful person here,”
“Pat-“ Roman began to speak warningly in a way that said this wasn’t helping.
“But you shouldn’t judge people just based on their beauty! Roman may have good looks, but he also has a kind heart and that makes him beautiful as well. And plenty of the villagers here are like that as well. So to pick someone just based on their physical appearance alone is unfair!”
Roman and the villagers stared at Patton in shock. All of them were silent and unmoving, holding their breaths to see what would happen.
“Well then,” the Naga said after a few moments, “isn’t this an unexpected turn of events. You’re a strange one villager. You have stood up for your friend, and your village, while everyone else tried to practically sell each other to me. Why?”
“I don’t want to lose one of my best friends.”
Patton looked over and gave Roman a small smile, to which Roman responded with one, snapping himself out of his shock.
The Naga cleared his throat, regaining Patton’s attention, “It is now clear to me that you are the most beautiful here, so I will take you this time, strange villager.”
“You don’t need to take me anywhere, I will go with you willingly,” Patton responded, earning gasps and whispers from the villagers.
The Naga was clearly taken aback by this, but smiled, “alright then, let’s g-“
“On the condition that you never bother this village again, and stop taking people away from here.”
The Naga’s eyes widened, as did everyone’s in the village. No one had ever dared to negotiate with the Naga.
It was Roman who finally broke the silence.
“Pat please, you don’t have to do this. The village has been fine going on like this since before you came. You don’t need to sacrifice yourself for-“
“It’s a deal.”
The whole village stared at the Naga in disbelief as he spoke up again.
“You will come with me strange one, and in return I will not bother or take anyone from this village again.”
Patton nodded taking a small step forward, “deal.”
The Naga whipped the end of his tail out from behind him, and grabbed Patton with it, the action scaring the villagers to back away.
“Pat!” Roman cried out, running towards him, as Patton was lifted into the air as the Naga quickly slithered away.
Roman attempted to chase after them, but tripped over a rock in the path, and fell to the ground.
He began to rise, and looked up to see Patton smile at him one last time just before he disappeared with the Naga into the forest.
“PATTON!!”