Mated To The Devils Son

When I was eight, our old home was demolished, and from the ground beneath our yard, a horde of snakes was unearthed鈥攂lack, patterned... every color imaginable, intertwined and terrifying the onlookers who had come to gawk.

The snakes could not be driven away, and those who tried to capture them were met with vicious bites. My father, in a fit of rage and disregard for warnings, doused them with gasoline and set them ablaze. The smell of burning snakes permeated half the village.

That was the beginning of the South Familys misfortune.

That very night, my father met his end in the bathroom, bitten to death by snakes. When my mother moved his lifeless body, a large patterned snake slithered out from his mouth, driving her to the brink of insanity. She too met with an accident within days.

As for me, I was haunted by a sensation of suffocation every night, as if an invisible, intangible python was coiled tightly around me, rendering me immobile, even my fingers and toes.

So, the next evening, I drew the curtains, locked myself in my room, and hid in the wardrobe, but to no avail.

My cries and screams went unheard by my grandparents, who could only find me the next morning, tear-stained and bruised, after the sun had risen.

This torment continued for three or four days, and I began to have a high fever, with appearing on my wrists and ankles.

It wasnt until my grandfather found a string of red copper bells to tie around my ankles that I managed to cling to life, the fever subsided, and the terrifying snake scales gradually faded away.

I had thought the nightmare was over, but the snakes, unable to torment me further, turned their venom on the rest of the South Family. Once numerous, the children of the South Family were now being bitten, poisoned, or strangled by snakes, their deaths gruesome and unbearable to witness.

The surviving elders of the South Family harbored deep resentment towards me, blaming my fathers snake-burning as the cause of this retribution. They insisted that I should be buried to atone for the snakes that were burned to death, or else no descendant of the South Family would survive.

My grandfather, however, refused to give in and fought to keep me alive.

I lived in fear until I turned eighteen, but on my nineteenth birthday, my hand began to turn black again, the outline of snake scales once more becoming visible.

That night was even worse, as if an invisible snake had crawled into my bed, no longer coiled around me as it had a decade ago, but slithering up my thighs.

I was no longer a child and understood the implications of these occurrences. My grandfather had passed, and no one could seek a new set of bells to safeguard my life.

With no other options, my grandmother placed her last hopes on Mrs. Zhang from the neighboring village, taking me to her in search of a glimmer of hope.

The South Familys snake retribution was known to the surrounding villages, and ordinary people avoided us, fearing to contract any misfortune from us.

Initially reluctant to let us in, Mrs. Zhang eventually relented under my grandmothers fervent pleas and allowed us into her home. However, she refused to interfere in our affairs, only offering to cast a divination for me.

Mrs. Zhangs home was chilly and dimly lit, with shelves filled with animal bones, wooden tablets, various incense burners, and yellow talismans鈥攊tems I could not comprehend.

She asked me to draw a stick from a wooden bucket she held, and after three ominous signs, the fourth finally revealed an auspicious sign.

Mrs. Zhang said there might be a slim chance for me, but the sign was too peculiar for her to interpret; we needed to consult her spirit guide.

She led us into her familys shrine, where a plaque faced south, inscribed with the words "Grandfather Yellow Spirit" in black on red paper.

Bidding us to be silent, she lit a stick of incense, bowed to the plaque, recited my birth details, and murmured phrases like "this girls fate is hanging by a thread, this sign is hard to decipher," before placing the incense in the holder.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the incense was in place, something began to climb up her shadow from the ground. She shuddered, her head snapped towards us, her neck cracking loudly as if it were about to break.

Her eyes rolled back, showing only the whites with tiny pupils in the center, her mouth stretching into a strange, unnatural smile. I felt a surge of fear, biting my lip as I hastily lowered my gaze. Mrs. Zhang approached me, squatting down with her face close to the ground, her visage reappearing in my line of sight.

Her eyes narrowed, and in a shrill, stuttering voice, she said, "S-s-ssnake debt... s-s-snake scales... a-a-attaching... m-m-must repay... o-o-or die!"

My grandmother, tense with anxiety, asked, "Great Spirit, how can this debt be repaid?"

"The snake debt... s-s-should not be asked of me, but of their ancient ancestor..."

Before my grandmother could press further, Mrs. Zhang shuddered again and returned to her normal state, rubbing her temples as she said, "You heard my spirit; the South Family must repay a debt, but how to repay it is not for him to decide."

My grandmother quickly asked, "Then who decides?"

Mrs. Zhang explained, "For snake debts, you must consult the Common Spirit."

The Common Spirit is also known as the Willow Spirit, but in our region, it is more commonly referred to as the Common Spirit, and few call it the Willow Spirit. Hearing that we must consult the Common Spirit again made me uneasy. We owed a debt that needed to be repaid, but how?

Mrs. Zhang offered another stick of incense and sprinkled a handful of incense ash on the table. The ash moved on its own, twisting into a persons name without wind!

Mrs. Zhangs face turned drastically, and when she looked at me again, her lips trembled slightly, "The Common Spirit in charge of this area... is not a role to be trifled with. Are you prepared?"

I replied, "Ask, Mrs. Zhang."

Mrs. Zhang chanted words I couldnt understand, then knelt towards the east, kowtowing until blood seeped from her forehead. The lit incense suddenly went out, as if a hand had strangled it, and Mrs. Zhang ceased her kowtowing.

"Welcome, Lord Mystery!"