Double Suns - Twisted Mirrors - Episode III by Charley Blackwolf

The huge snake had seen one of those with fire drop a small bundle, and knew that there was something alive in it. Cornered, the elapidae rose up, spread its hood and held its ground. They stopped, and stood staring at the huge head in front of them as it slowly swayed, matching the pulsating glare from their bodies with its coal red eyes. Telepathically Voltex yelled, Wait! Dont move! We are still out of its strike zone. Silack, Sasha, hold this position, just for a moment. They looked out along the river where hundreds of the huge snakes still crawled along the beach. Like an angry mass of thick black vines the vipers rolled and weaved, crisscrossing each others bodies, then raising their heads up high to sway to and fro like giant stocks of ebony grass rocking in the wind. Episode III continues to reveal the results of outside conquest and the depth of depravity of all species in a universe where living things survive by eating other living things. While there is love, honor and civilized behavior for which all species capable of compliance the universe is a brutal and violent place where the strong survive and the weak perish.