"What is that?!"
"Ahhh, a ghost!"
Kallen and Rulu cried out in panic. They were so startled by the woman's face that had appeared behind them that they scrambled frantically in opposite directions — only to fail to notice each other in their haste, collide directly, and tumble to the ground in an undignified heap.
"Ha! Got you, didn't I?" C.C. laughed with delight. She walked over to the floating woman's head and looked down at Rulu and Kallen sprawled on the ground with a thoroughly smug expression. "No need to be scared — her name is W.W. She's a friend of mine from back in the Sanctuary. I happened to run into her here, so I brought her along."
"C.C., there are limits to a joke. Try that again, and I won't let it slide." Rulu got to his feet with an awkward expression, first shooting C.C. a sharp look, then turning his gaze to the floating head. It was then that he noticed the woman was not merely a head — she did have a body. It just wasn't a human body. Instead, it was a long, blue-green serpentine form, like that of a python.
"Hello. My name is W.W. I didn't mean to frighten you just now — it was Lady C.C. who asked me to do it. I hope you won't hold it against me." The woman with a human face and a serpent's body wore an apologetic smile as she spoke in a calm, measured tone.
"You can talk?! Oh — it's all right, really, no harm done…" Rulu hadn't expected this human-faced serpent creature to be so articulate, speaking the human language so coherently. For a moment he didn't quite know what to say.
"Hey, Rulu — am I seeing things?" Kallen leaned close and whispered in his ear, staring at W.W. in astonishment. "She has a serpent's body, no arms, no legs — only her head is human. Is she a person or a monster?!"
"Don't be too surprised," Rulu murmured back. "In the Sanctuary, no creature is too strange to exist. She's C.C.'s friend, and she can speak our language — just treat her like a normal person."
Having said that to Kallen, Rulu composed himself and turned to W.W. with a polite smile. "Hello. I'm Rulu, and this is Kallen. Your name is W.W., you said? What a curious name — it sounds rather like C.C.'s."
"That's because Lady C.C. was the one who gave it to me," the serpent woman said.
"C.C. named you?" Rulu blinked. "Then… what exactly is your relationship with C.C.?"
W.W. turned to glance at C.C., as though seeking her permission. C.C. said, "It's fine, W.W. Go ahead and tell him everything."
At that, W.W. turned back to Rulu and spoke. "It's like this — I have known Lady C.C. since I was very small. Back then I was weak and had no one to rely on. Other powerful creatures bullied me every day, and I teetered constantly on the edge of life and death. It was Lady C.C. who rescued and took me in, gave me shelter, and allowed me to grow up in safety. She gave me my name, bestowed wisdom upon me, and taught me the human language. That I am alive and well today is entirely due to Lady C.C.'s grace."
Rulu nodded. "The bond between you runs very deep." He turned to C.C. "How come you never mentioned any of this before? If you have a friend here, why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked," C.C. said, "and besides, it only came back to me when we arrived here."
Rulu gave her a sideways look and said, somewhat curtly, "How do you forget something this important? And — those beasts that fled just now — did that have something to do with W.W. appearing?"
"You guessed right," C.C. said with great satisfaction. "Did you notice what W.W. is wearing on her head? That's a crown. W.W. is the Empress of the Forest — every creature in these woods gives way to her."
"She's the Empress of the Forest? She doesn't quite look the part," Kallen said skeptically, studying W.W. carefully. The creature called W.W. appeared to be nothing more than a woman's head with no hands and no feet, her body entirely that of a large python. She hardly looked like anyone formidable.
Rulu stroked his chin, deep in thought, his gaze fixed on W.W. "Hmm," he mused aloud. "The fact that W.W. can float freely in midair means she can control her own gravity at will. Only someone whose Refining body Psionic power has reached Level Five can do that. And she wears a crown made of gold — from what I know, casting Magic Psionic powers at Level Five or above requires gold as a medium. If I'm not mistaken, W.W. simultaneously possesses Level Five Refining body and Level Five Magic Psionic power. She truly deserves to be called the Empress of the Forest."
"No way — she has both Level Five Refining body and Level Five Magic Psionic power at the same time?" Kallen exclaimed. Both she and Rulu were only Level Four Ultra-capables, and each of them only commanded a single type of Psionic power. For W.W. to hold both at Level Five simultaneously was beyond anything she could have imagined.
W.W. smiled humbly. "Please don't take Lady C.C.'s words too seriously, Mr. Rulu. I'm not any kind of Empress of the Forest. My abilities are simply for protecting myself. But — now that I look at you, your complexion doesn't seem well. You've been injured, haven't you?"
"Yes," Rulu said. "I ran into some trouble earlier, but I'm all right now."
"What happened?" C.C. asked. "After we split up, what did the two of you get into?"
Rulu then told C.C. about his earlier fight with Princess Meiyu's subordinates, and the subsequent siege by the beasts in the forest. When he finished, C.C. immediately launched into a loud scolding. "Rulu, you're just too overconfident. Don't think that because you have the power I gave you, there's nothing to fear. In the Sanctuary there are creatures that can affect another's mind just as well. Honestly — it's a good thing I brought W.W. along. Otherwise you'd have been in real trouble this time."
Rulu gave an irritated grunt and furrowed his brow. "I was careless this time. It won't happen again so easily. That wretched Princess Meiyu — I won't let this go… *cough, cough*."
"Oh, calm down," C.C. said reproachfully. "Look at the state you're in, and you're still working yourself up."
W.W. interjected, "I usually gather medicinal herbs throughout the forest, and I know how to treat wounds. My home isn't far from here. Since Lady C.C.'s friend has been injured, why don't you come with me? I can tend to him there."
C.C.'s face lit up at once, and she clapped her hands in agreement. "Wonderful! It's been so long since I've visited, W.W. Is that little one still with you?"
"It's still with me," W.W. said. "It has been missing you very much, Lady C.C."
"Then let's go — I'm so curious to see how big it's grown." C.C. said eagerly, already taking Rulu by the hand and starting to walk.
Rulu found himself genuinely curious about C.C.'s old friend from the Sanctuary, and raised no objection to W.W.'s suggestion. And so W.W. lifted herself into the air and glided through the forest, weaving between the trees, while Rulu, C.C., and Kallen followed close behind — the group making their way together through the woods.