A serpent slithered through the tall grass. He was eight feet long, though had for the majority of his life been long enough to surround the land, some claim chasing his tail. His scales shimmered, reflecting light as water might when viewed from below the surface. Each scale was a slightly different tint of either white or blue, and his unblinking eyes gleamed like polished gold. In front of his triangular head was an egg, the shell a deep, earth brown with flecks that appeared as lightning. The snake flicked his head upward, and the egg rolled forward.
As it rolled out of the shade of night into the light of day, the serpent took a moment to rest. He hissed, coiling his body to lift himself into the air. It would only be a few minutes before the night would catch up, and he would move the egg into the day again. He had to keep it in the sunlight. He didn't know why he was so determined, no greater being tasked him with this. He had just found the egg, bigger than his head, wider than he was around, abandoned, quietly shivering in the night next to the great river.
He had been overcome. With what, he did not know. He had not slept, for seven days he had rolled this egg into the sunlight of day with the threat of the cold night constantly on the tip of his tail. When he started, he was miles long, and now he was only eight feet. He had not eaten, except for what had tried to steal the egg from his protection. He nestled his head next to the egg, and could feel the vibrations of life within it. It would not be long now.
The serpent lifted his head and rolled the egg forward. The sunlight made the flecks of gold within the shell glisten. He felt the vibrations of movement through the ground, and slithered out of the night.
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