Vietnamese Gods: The Snake

The first leg of Desmond's journey to save his wife.

Recap: On the last episode, Desmond hardened his resolved to save his wife after an unexpected meeting with his father, the human one. Now he found himself at the entrance of The Snake, named after Princess Liễu Hạnh the God of Wisdom. But Desmond wasn’t alone, because Mr Trọng, his family’s butler and a National Hero, decided that it’s never wise to leave the Young Master alone. Maybe if he was there, Desmond wouldn’t have killed Death.

Liễu Hạnh City, The Snake, both named after Princess Liễu Hạnh, acts as the border between The Left and The Right: a 170-kilometre-long, 200-meter-wide hollowed out tree that housed about 30% of the population of Vietnam. Some said it was originally a bark from The World Tree Yggdrasil, housing on it a forest bursting with creatures from across the dimensions. With the Princess’s touch, it’s quickly become one of the most technologically advanced cities in the East. The only way to and fro the city, on this side at least, was through the FAB - The Flying Automated Bus - that took its passengers from District 1, over the Sài Gòn River, to a patch of land before the main gates.

The Princess wasn’t picky about who lives at her domain. The more the merrier, she explained once to Desmond, but he knew what she implied, it seemed saying things without meaning them runs in his family: the more people she gathered from both sides, the less she had to worry about attacks when the War broke out. The Snake had therefore been deemed as a ceasefire zone. And to keep that status, unfortunately, Princess Liễu Hạnh said with a sigh so exaggerated every drama student in the world simultaneously blushed, I can’t let anyone get out. Throughout all the years, only one person who has managed to become a citizen and left. Anyone that got to the main gate of The City, which is an hour bus ride away from District 1, will be greeted with a picture of a 26-year-old male with black hair, with bang covering his eyes, and a smile on his face that looked forever painted on. Under the picture wrote the word: WANTED.

“That’s a good picture of you, Young Master.” - Mr Trọng said as the FAB hissed to a stop.

“You borrowed her crane ONCE. That woman has absolutely no priorities. I am her nephew, for Gods’ sake.” - Other passengers, most are foreign tourists or out of town, started to look back and forth between the picture and Desmond.

“And did you return it, Young Master?” - Being stared at has become part of the job for Mr Trọng, and as always, his Young Master was enjoying the attention.

“Of course not. Good thing I didn’t, too. How else would we get back in.”

Stepped off the bus, the pair found themselves staring into a giant termite farm. Besides the pane of glass, a lot of the original bark was left intact, with houses and building dangling from vines, protruding from the ceiling upside down, or attached to each other with moss. People working in those buildings have to wear a special belt that shift their weights in accordance to the movement of the ground, as well as shoes that is magnetized to the surface. The belt, the shoes, and many more wonders within were hand-made by The Princess, another solid reason to keep your citizens hostage: what self-respecting leaders would want to leak their secrets that could potentially benefits millions worldwide out to the public?

“Join us!” you can hear a speaker loudly beckoned, advertising the different perks of being a Citizen. At the end, they mentioned the fact that you can never leave, but the sentence came out so fast you’ll miss it if you think.

“Mind taking care of them, Trọng?” - Desmond and Trọng were being followed. By the sound of their shoes, Desmond could tell they were not professionals.

“Should we perhaps move to a less crowded spot?”

Around them, people were taking pictures, touching the glass pane, or purchasing their tickets. For 20.000.000 VND, visitors are taken to an observatory that overlook the whole city, with views of The Princess’ Palace, an obsidian-black pyramid with a huge eye on one side; looking further to The Left, one can see the Battleground of Sơn Tinh and Thủy Tinh, where the two gods clash during business hours, the biggest, longest dick-measuring contest ever in the history of men; Then there was The Cradle, a giant meteor crater where The Almother gave birth to the first hundreds of Vietnamese, and where her ceremony will commence in a few days.

“Consider it a challenge.”

“Consider it done, Young Master.”

Mr Trọng was back five minutes later, each of his hand pulps that used to be teenagers.

“So, why did you follow me?” - Desmond talked to them, his face leaned in close, his eyes open wide. The trio started laughing. Desmond clenched his fist to maintain his smile.

“Should I start the ‘interrogation,’ Young Master?” - Mr Trọng asked, still wiping their blood off his fists. How he stressed the syllables of “interrogation” suggest the questions will not be the only things that were hard-hitting.

“If I assume correctly that your team has destroyed all of the footages circulating online of my appearance yesterday, old pal, then these guys are probably hired by the richer factions of The Left. But not the richest, considering their talents.” - Desmond drew closer to the biggest guy in the middle, whom he assumed was their leader, since the other two keep stealing glances at him.

“Allmother birthed me, and I shall die for her.” It wasn’t a guy after all, but there wasn’t time for that. Desmond, with a quick jab of his finger into her temple, knocked the girl, and put his hand in her gaping mouth. Without asking, Mr Trọng followed suit, each hand in the mouth of the other kids.

“Ah, the mantra. To ward off the fear of death. You see, I have seen the Underworld, and I do not think a single soul get to “become one” with The Allmother. So don’t waste your life away like that, especially not for her.” - With the movement of one who has done it thousands of times before, Desmond put the knife into the leader’s mouth, and flick out a pill that was snugging in her wisdom tooth.

“That smell.” - Mr Trọng, with years of experience in the War, immediately recognized the fruity scene coming from the pill.

“Yup, Tabun. Suiciding by poisons, and the dose is enough to leak out and bring us along with them.”

“Teenagers. I do not believe The Left has ever been known to lack manpower.” - Mr Trọng remembered the War with The Left, and their magic.

“Common practice over there, old pal. With the average life expectancy of about 35, you’re considered an adult at 10.”

“35…?”

“There’s a 50% chance any you have met is either a 30-year-old something that is about to die, or a 10-year-old something that was made into a 30-year-old something.”

“...”

“Ah, don’t worry about it too much, old pal. That was the life they wanted. The War finally allowed them to use all of the magic they want. And as you remember the mantra, they don’t mind dying.”

“ ‘Use all the magic they want,’ what does that mean? Are they not allowed to on a regular basis?”

“Well, not “allowed” but “warned against.” Think of magic as an Everything-Vending-Machine. You pay the price; you get what you want. The more powerful the spell, the more you shell out. Equivalent Exchange.”

“And that price is… their life force?”

“Bingo. Being so in-tune with The Allmother, they were born blessed with her energy. She gave them power to live their life in The Left without technology, in exchange they procreate to give her more followers.”

“But since magic is addictive, she warns them against using it.”

“When has us humans ever listened to warning? To them, it would be like not being to use your phone, only if the phone kills you when the battery runs out.”

Mr Trọng nodded. Being on The Right, information on The Left was strictly forbidden. Even for a Hero like himself. All he could glimpse was from the War and the little nuggets his Young Master would share. But the bodyguard remembered magic, for he wouldn’t be alive without it. He also knew full-well how alluring it can be. All the pain, gone, with just her words. His leg came back, with a flick of her hand. He could fight for days from a kiss.

“Healing magic are the worse. Equivalent Exchange, an eye for an eye, a leg for a leg. Life for life.” - Desmond’s words felt like a shotgun to his lung.

“Do they know?” - She vanished one morning, and now Mr Trọng knew why.

“Of course not. If all of the population die at the same age, it is no longer a tragedy, but a fact.”

She was probably Desmond’s age, 25. With how much she healed him, her fate was all but certain. To cover the pain, he splashed water on the captives’ faces.

“Your escape plan is gone. Tell us who you work for, ‘cause there won’t even be any limbs left to go back to The Left to heal when we’re done with you.” - Mr Trọng said, his eyes glared at the leader with the intensity of a wounded beast.

“There are no words to say to a fucking traitor.” - The leader turned her head towards Desmond.

“People die for less than that against Young Master, so I suggest you choose your next words carefully.” - The bodyguard let out a deep breath, but just the ghost of his punch was enough to knock the assassins’ attitude. Clearly their initial meeting left a far stronger impact than they let on, but the leader held her head high in defiant.

“You’re a brave one, aren’t you? For that, you deserve a reward. We will not lay a single hand on you anymore.” - The leader, no matter how she acted, was still young. Pain was, at the end of the day, unpleasant, and there was a glimmer of relief in her eyes upon hearing that. Desmond couldn’t wait to snuff it out.

“Your friends, however, I can’t say the same to. It’s a fucking disgrace that they would send anything less of their elites for me. I am fucking insulted, and sadly, your little trio is now a solo. Trọng, wrench the info out of them.” - Oh, just look at the delicious pang of realization, the panic. These lowlifes who think they can achieve more than what they are worth by being “courageous.”

“What are we to do with this one, Young Master?” - Mr Trọng wiped his hands off the blood.

“We need the sacrifice if we want to get in. For now, we walk.”

This is the third episode of this novel. The second is here.

If you would like more information on Vietnamese Mythology, you’ve come to the right place.

Want to know how to pronounce the Vietnamese words in the post? I have a Glossary too (although it might take me quite a while to fully update it).