Chapter fourteen. They encountered no other living creatures on their way, reaching the mountains in less than five hours or so. Stopping right at a threshold of a beautiful landscape, with springy grass underneath their feet, the gentle scents of a thousand wild flowers, and beautiful towering trees all around them heavy with low-hanging fruit of every vibrant shade imaginable. But most surprising of all, was the butterflies, fireflies and birdsong, with shimmering rainbow koi fishes that had suddenly appeared in the crystal clear waters of a river a few paces from them, the river's winding path led to the blood mountain. They were so thrown that for a while they could only stand there taking it all in. "What is this place?" The taller woman gasped crossing the threshold. The shorter woman glanced behind her, the path of darkness that they had just spent two days traversing was gone. In its place was more of this lovely greenery and lively scenery or at least the illusion of it. "Be careful. I do not think everything here is all what it seems," she warned as she crossed the threshold as well. They explored the place with great wariness, and soon came to the realisation that there was indeed something strange. It was too neat, too orderly - all the trees carefully sculpted, the flowering shrubs too beautifully arranged, with none of the wild delight of nature's chaos. This was a paradise-like garden, which meant that there had to be a gardener. Still, it did not change the fact that they had been surviving on dry foods for days, and that there were so many ripe fruits hanging within easy reach, that their sweet scents were making all their mouths water. In the end, the taller woman who finally gave in to her desire made a move. "Looks like a pomegranate" she observed, pulling a particularly beautiful specimen off a branch, and sniffing it. "And it smells like one." "Don't," the younger of the two said warningly, before snatching it out of her hand. "This place is strange, it's beautiful but strange, how can this side be like paradise and the other so dark? Look behind you." She pointed and the other woman did with a gasp. "I think this is the blood mountains that was written in the letter." She adds. "And this maybe the river that we need to drink from," she pondered. "But where is the serpent?" "I don't think there's any serpent or maybe this isn't the place?" The older woman said walking around the garden, she stopped at a bush of fireflies, using a finger, she attempted to touch one of them but they scattered and flew away before she could, revealing a statue of a serpent at their wake. "Sooyeon." She called, the woman turned to face her. "I guess that's really your name, look." She pointed at the statue. "Is this the serpent we are suppose to kill?" She asked but before the other woman could join her to examine the statue, the ground beneath their feet began to rumble, though not quite as violently as an earthquake, but they all took a few steps back, then after a while an enormous red tail burst out of the grassy soil, followed by an armoured body of a serpent the size of a huge oak tree, It waved its tail threateningly at them, but Sooyeon noticed that the snake's head was heavily scarred, and she was almost certain that it had been blinded. "What are you humans doing here?" It hissed, shooting out its long tongue. Dread clawed at the taller woman's gut as she looked up to see huge red scary eyes starring right back at her. She stumbled backwards stopping only when her back hits the other woman's front. "What brought you here?" The snake asked this time pissed at the lack of response from the two humans, it curled and uncurled its tail snapping the tip agitatedly at the ground they stood. Sooyeon attempted to move, trying to know for sure if it was really blind. "Stop moving and tell me what business you have here. I may have been blind but I can sense your every movement." "Who are you?" Sooyeon summoned all of her courage and asked the talking serpent. It smirked rolling its body to form a circle before raising its head up to face her. "That's the least of your concern, you will die here no doubt, who ever I am will not matter. It's been over five hundred years since I last saw any human and I'm curious to know what business you have here before you die." "We don't know." Sooyeon said truthfully. The snake laughed showing off its full dagger-like teeth that looked like a thousand lopsided blades. "Of course you don't, and you will be dead before you remember." it turned its gigantic head and those huge, blank red eyes towards them, and opened its mouth wide, it began to slither and drag itself towards them, moving far more quickly than they could have ever imagined a snake its size would. It shot out its tail and swiftly wrapped itself around the taller woman squeezing her tight, the serpent's intention was to suffocate her to death. Sooyeon was out of breath as the scene played in front of her, she gasped for air and pressed both her hands to the center of her chest. “Release her!” she screamed when the air returned to her lungs, and quickly sprang into action, shooting one of her swords directly at the serpent like she did with the wild dog, aiming for the serpent's head but the sword made of steel shattered into pieces as it touches its glowing red skin. The serpent retaliated by sweeping her feet out from under her with its tail, but Sooyeon would not be deterred. She rose to her feet, albeit a bit gimpy and rushed at it in what to an onlooker would have seemed like a comical scene. It looked every bit like a woman singlehandedly attempting to affect a mountain. "Release her,” she attempted again in a voice that sounded nothing like her own, lunging at the serpent as if it were a man, but the snake flung its head at her sending her flying through the air and slamming her against the mountain wall. Her hand went to the back of her head