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MAZE - Chapter 1105 - Eridan Quetzaveth
🕑 Added 2025-09-09 04:13:05 +0000 UTCHera quickly sent a message to Tara thanking her for the heads up. She had no idea how her dad was going to react to being an Ophidianite, and Hera wanted to be ready for anything. The last thing she needed right now was for her dad to freak out after becoming a half-Naga.
The Empress was confident that there wasn't any bad news. After all, for one, Tara was probably going to let her know beforehand. The ancestor wasn't going to just drop Eridan off if he was going through something more serious without any warning, would she?
Now that she was outside of the private room already waiting for her dad, once again her mind had evolved into running through all the awful possibilities. Even if Hera was trying very hard to control herself and not think about the possible results, that was the type of thing that was much easier said than done.
Time continued to tick, and Hera continued to watch the doorway like a hawk. She recognized that this was probably the most stressed she'd ever been because of something that happened in the MAZE. Even more stressed than she was when Helena was in the wall breach and was attacked by Wendigos. Although thinking back, the uncertainty back then might have been worse than right now.
After what felt like hours but in reality was just a handful of minutes, the Empress watched as a glowing shape started to form in front of the doorway. It had two legs, two arms, and a short tail,at least short in comparison to her own. Hera's tail was massive and allowed her to not only use it as a weapon but even as a tool if she wanted to. But the shape seemed to have gone for a more minimalistic approach, not wanting the tail to bother his movements.
His face was still very much the face that Hera knew and loved. He was still her dad, without a question. However, there were still a few significant differences. For one, his eyes were no longer chestnut brown as she remembered, but instead now a shade going more towards green. Second, his ears were now pointy and had that same web-like pattern that Hera's had, but his were duller while Hera's were more vibrant and sharp.
Around his face, she could also see tiny scales very similar to her own, but instead of the subtle shade of purple, his were a deeper and darker tone. While it could look weird if it were just one or two scales, in a pattern like this made him quite beautiful. The tail was also shorter, considerably so. Eridan's tail was dangling just past the back of his knees. And they didn't seem to be as usable as what Hera herself had, but, strangely, it fit him quite well.
The scale color really was as flattering as she was imagining. But it didn't change the fact that Hera couldn't help but look at her dad in his Ophidianite form and feel that he could pull it off very well.
Eridan blinked a couple of times, and when his eyes focused again, he said, "Hey there, Goldilocks."
The Empress smiled back. "Hey there, grumpy bear. How did it go?"
"You tell me," Eridan replied.
Hera spent the next few minutes staring at her dad, looking him up and down as someone who was analyzing a piece of art.
Eventually, she smiled, "You look great. And tell me, how complicated was it? I know that my version was, but I had no idea if you would have to go through everything that I did too."
"Not much. Tara told me that your version was much more complicated," Eridan replied.
Hera nodded. "Good to know. But, dad, you probably shouldn't be talking about her to everyone. That's okay if there's a problem. The problem is, if someone who doesn't know her hears, then it might be a bit more tricky. She said that there were some rules about who could speak about her, but she also said that some of the details are a bit fuzzy. She doesn't even know if I'm going to be able to talk to her again."
"Then probably, yeah. She said the same to me. I can sometimes send her a message when it's related to becoming an Ophidianite, but that's about it."
Hera was assuming that just like the Guides skill, he didn't have the right to speak too much about the ancestor. There were no system restrictions related to it, but it felt like the kind of thing that fit with the concept. Especially since Tara was supposed to be an entity similar to the Guides, with the main difference being that she was responsible for the Ophidianites instead of a room. But apparently, even the ancestor wasn't entirely sure how she was going to interact with the Ophidianites in general.
Which made a lot of sense since this was supposed to be something new the MAZE was trying to do,to recover ancient species that were lost for one reason or another.
"How do you feel?" Hera asked her dad.
"Well, I got to say it's very strange to have an extra limb. I keep forgetting that it exists, and when I feel something tugging me because of the weight, I get spooked."
"Very interesting, yeah. That takes a little bit of getting used to, but before you know it, it's going to be second nature. If you want, I can even teach you how to use it properly. Or at least the ways I figured out how to use it properly," Hera felt the need to add the last comment since she knew for a fact that she still struggled with her tail. There were many times when she acted as if the tail wasn't even there, or she knew she wasn't taking full advantage of having this extra appendage.
"I will take any help you can give me," Eridan said with a smile. "It just feels a bit strange that this time you're the one teaching me how to ride a bike."
Hera chuckled at that comment. "Well, people do say that when we grow older, we have to take care of our parents. I guess that's my time to do that, old man."
Eridan shook his head, but the comment made him pause. "Old man. According to... you know who, I am roughly 120 years old, just like you said. And to think I still have so much future ahead. It's disturbing, but in a good way. You know that every 100 years, things change so much. I've already watched so many things change in 30 years. I can barely imagine what the next 100 is going to look like, much less 200. If I can reach 320."
"You do know that the age thing is only taking Earth into account, right?"
Eridan turned to Hera with a confused expression, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, yeah, most of the dwarves here in Zaxalam are nearing the 300 mark, at most. But that doesn't mean they can't go past it. If they have good stats and good skills, they could reach 360, maybe even 400. Dwarves from other places do that. When they reach a certain age, they start learning a bunch of skills that wouldn't help them during a fight but help them stay alive for longer. So if you want, we could probably get you some skills and make sure that your attributes go only to endurance. That way, we can increase your lifespan by maybe a hundred years or so."
Eridan stared at the Empress with wide eyes. "I just got like 150 more years to live. Let me enjoy my first hundred before I start thinking about how to extend that even more."
Hera chuckled. "Fair enough."
They started walking back to Zaxalam, and the moment they approached the city, their presence quickly became known throughout the entire area. Most of the dwarves knew that Eridan was trying to become an Ophidianite, and now that he had actually managed to do so, they were all ecstatic. People were cheering in the streets, others were asking about his scales and how Eridan felt.
Hera couldn't help but smile at the response. Despite not being related to anybody in the true sense of the word, in the truer sense, she was. They always treated her with such kindness and such joy that it was hard not to love them. It was hard to think of them as anything but family. And the fact that the praise and the happiness and joy were being shared with her dad only made her even more confident that she was in the right place.
Still, father and daughter, both now part of this new family, had their parade around the city with almost every single dwarf approaching to congratulate not just Eridan, but Hera for truly starting to make her own people. And eventually, the pair went back to their house.
Renette, Bonnie's mom, had returned from Earth work while they were away, and she froze when she saw Eridan in his new form, the purple scales growing around his face and neck and a large tail following along his body.
"I have to say, I am not that fond of snakes, but you can pull this off," she gave her stamp of approval.
"Thanks. It's just going to be a hassle to deal with my pants now," Eridan replied.
Hera chuckled. "Oh, you have no idea. You think that's a problem? Try explaining to a blacksmith or a crafter how exactly you need your pants to be going forward. Also, I would recommend your not going to the workshop for a while, just until you stop brushing your tail against everything that moves."
Vulcan stepped to the side and quickly saved a small flowerpot that was on the coffee table as Eridan knocked it over. "Let's add the things that don't move to the list,"
During the conversation, Eridan ended up turning around, and the motion was a bit too quick. The movement caused his tail to swing and hit the pot without the man noticing.
"Oops, sorry," Eridan said once he realized what he had just done. However, while turning around to face Vulcan, he knocked another pot, this one being saved by Filigree.
"Okay, Dad, you really need to get used to the tail. Maybe try working only at home and without any dangerous tools around for everyone's sake, you know?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea."
The Empress spent another few hours with her dad, talking about the differences in their new body and even sharing that information with Renette. It wasn't really something they were keeping a secret, although it also wasn't something that they were going to advertise everywhere. She was positive there was much more to share with her dad, but at the very least, for a first day, she felt as if she had given all the necessary information so Eridan could start to adjust.
Her plan was to say around for a couple more days. Just to be sure that her Dad was getting used to the new body. And then, she would go back to Deakoshara. After all, now the Empress had even more motives to uncover the secrets of her ancient homeland.
#### Author's Note ####
A smaller one now. Just to finish this mini arc off.
