PROLOGUE

He was in a courtroom, only clad in his boxers. He was on his knees, his hands chained to a ring in the floor on a stone-block. He didn´t look up and around. He knew who was watching him. Several versions of himself. Or rather, several versions of Viper. There were all kinds of them.

A judge, a flock of 12 representing the jury, witnesses....and the executioner.

The executioner was unlike the others. He was tall, muscular and well-built, his tail even longer and more flexible than the other Vipers. He was dressed in a pair of black leather trousers that fit on him like an extra coat of skin. A black vest with silvery edge covered his upper body, unclosed, showing off his muscular torso. Around his left eye was a tattoo of a black dragon, and a corner of his mouth was turned upwards in a cold smirk. The judge had been listening to all the witnesses and was now calling up the last.

"The jury calls in....David Purvis!"

Elrod lifted his head in a snap. David! Here in this place!?

The small snake-kitten came walking in through a side door, unsure in his movements, the way he always moved when he was nervous. A court-officer version of Viper helped him up behind the witness-'fence' and made him swear the oath. The judge then looked calmly atDavid.

"What hasss the sussspect done to you, child?" he hissed lowly.

David looked at Elrod, hurt evident in his eyes.

"He lied to me."

A choir of gasps emitted from the room and some began to shout, but they were brought to silence by a snarl from the judge. He looked at David again.

"Lied to you? In what way?"

David looked down, trembling slightly.

"H...he.... he never told me the truth..... he told me I was gonna be fine when he put me to bed.... He said I was overtired..." the kitten unhappily sobbed out what Elrod had told him so many times whenever he had been scared, when his parents had talked about Viper and David had heard it. The more the sobbing kitten told, the worse EP felt.

When it was becoming too much for the kitten, the judge reached down and gently stroked the child's head.

"There there, child. You don´t belong with hisssss kind," he said with a gentle smile and a steel-like glare in Elrod's direction.

David looked up at the judge.

"I..I don´t?" he asked puzzled.

The judge shook his head.

"Look around, child. Tell me what you see..."

David looked around, then looked back at the judge.

"Alot of...snakekats...like me..."

The judge nodded.

"Yessssss. We are one of a kind, child. It isss your choice if you want to be with ussss....or him." The judge glared at Elrod once again, causing him to wince.

David frowned, looking atElrod, who then realised that if David joined these....he would fully become one of them!

"David..." he whispered. "David...they're all lying! They could never be your family! They could never love you like I do! They...."

"Shut up!" the kitten yelled.

Elrod stared in surprise.

David growled at him.

"You never cared for me! You never really loved me! All you did was lie, lie, *LIE!!!!*"

The last word was screeched out, so it echoed in the courtroom. Everyone was silent. David whimpered.

"I HATE YOU! I WISH YOU WERE DEAD!!" he cried, then before anyone could react, he ran off.

No one tried to stop him, not even the executioner who seemed to have gotten a more golden and angrier glow in his eyes.Elrod shuddered. How could anyone's eyes be so full of so much hatred?

The judge snarled,"It issss ssssettled. The jury can retire and return with the decissssion!"

The jury muttered together for about a few seconds, then one of them, looking like as if taken straight out of a "Terminator" or "Robocop"-movie stood up and said in a cold monotone voice:

"The jury finds the suspect guilty, Your Honor."

The whole courtroom exploded in cheers and were silenced once again as the judge stood up, glaring coldly down on Elrod who shamefully looked down at his chained hands.

"Ssssuspect hassss been found guilty for liessss, liesss and more liesss!" the judge sneered, showing his sharp glinting fangs. "Execution will be done immediately! Nexus! Do your duty!"

Nexus, the executioner, stepped forwards and grabbed Elrod by his hair, pulling his head back. The large snakekat growled, glaring into Elrod's eyes.

"How doesss it feel to be the lamb ready to be ssslaughtered?" he growled as someone handed him a scythe with a long blade of pure silver. Elrod gulped. He didn´t dare doanything but sit still, closing his eyes. An odd calmness seemed to fill his body, giving him a sense of comfort. He was going to die.... this was the way it was meant to happen all along....

Nexus smirked as he held the scythe's cold blade pressed a short second against Elrod's throat to get a proper aim.

"The sinners shall be brought to justice, and I shall execute them for their crimes!" he said in a low growling voice, raising the scythe above his head.

Elrod closed his eyes, fear grabbing his heart once again. "Sharrakus, thy old God of the light, please. Please, protect my soul, I beg you!"

But, the ancient God did not hear him. Elrod felt his breathing in short strangled gasps now.

He opened his eyes a single second before the silver-blade of the scythe slashed downwards.