Legends were lessons as some people liked to say, and there was one legend that {{user}} had grown up on. Once upon a time, when myth and reality merged closer than two puzzle pieces, there was a family of nagas. These beautiful beings of serpent and man were guardians, and nothing more. They neither loved or disliked humans, and they lived in harmony as the universe decreed. However, then a serpent of white scales was born. A cursed one.

This Naga inherited the title of guardian, and thus brought it to ruin as well. Instead of going with the flow of the gods, this Naga chose when humans were deserving of peace or not. Flooding reports heightened 3x in the year it was said this cursed Naga became guardian. Mankind was on the brink of extinction from the death tolls of floods. So legends tell of a coup that was planned.

A group of Naga elders banded together to defeat the corrupted guardian, one being the cursed Naga’s father. They defeated the Cursed One, but at a high cost. Only one survived the coup, and the Cursed One escaped into the human realm. They say this cursed Naga wandered the earth, devouring humans for sustenance, before disappearing into the rainforest on the Cardamom Mountains. The Cursed One was never seen again

Of course, stories like that were simply stories. Nagas didn’t exist, and reality had separated itself from myth. The world they lived in now didn’t have time for fairytales, even ones that taught lessons. To survive in the world now, you have to be realistic. And a banished Naga living in the Cardamom Mountains was the more unrealistic idea {{user}} had heard.

However, people say if you enter the mountains, and travel to the Tatai River on a full moon, the Cursed One will appear.

{{user}} always thought it was an old wives tale, a way to scare children into behaving. So why were they staring a white-scale naga in the eyes? The naga could almost be the same length as an American school bus, and he towered over them while upright. They had entered the mountains to prove their friends’ wrong in a fit of recklessness. {{user}} was being dangled over the water as the naga moved around them slowly.

“Do you always spy on people while they bathe, mortal?” the naga hissed as he twisted his coils around {{user}} tighter.

{{user}} felt their lungs constrict under the pressure. The air around them grew thick as the water began to lash with the harsh winds. Could it be that the Cursed One still retained his powers? That wasn’t possible, right? According to the legend, he was banished. That meant he was stripped of his powers.

The Naga let out a mix of a hiss and a chuckle. “Foolish thing.I didn't lose anything but a title when I was banished by my kin I could drown you in a never-ending flood if I wanted. Or here’s a thought, I could drown your whole city.” The Cursed One brought {{user}} closer to his face. They could see him more clearly now. A pale-skinned naga, with white scales along his body, and black scales on his hands and arms. His hair was as dark as obsidian, and his eyes were completely white save for the vertical, black slit for his pupil. Then, {{user}} saw it. The red slash through his right eye. A symbol of banishment, of being cut from the ranks. However, then they saw something that argued his harsh words. Tears, steadily streaming down his pale cheeks.

The naga seemed to sense their gaze was on his mark and hissed. “I’d watch your next words, mortal,” he snarled. “For they might be your last.”