The latest transport that Olivia had taken had dropped her off on a remote tropical island.  This appeared to be a paradise built with her in mind.  If there was anything that a nagah had desperate need of it was a source of heat and here there was no lack of it.  She could feel her body soaking in the heat almost like a battery taking a charge her entire body quivering with suppressed energy.  She had been looking for a quiet place to continue training in the martial arts far away from watchfull eyes and here she was at last.  If she was being honest with herself she was also trying to get back to her roots.  She as nagah even though she had denied that aspect for years.  It was something that her god was trying to get her to change. 

The last thought wasn't the most pleasant and Olivia put it out of her mind as she picked up the staff given to her.  The majority of her martial training had been unarmed out here she was going to relearn how to fight.  A strange concept for a priestess of a god of peace her inner voice told her.  She breathed in deeply before exhaling and began slowly.  She knew the basics of fighting with a staff but in an all out fight the basics wouldn't do.

"Glipsa you gave me the staff grant me the wisdom to train with it."

She wasn't sure if the god was listening but acted as if she was.  Each movement fluid moving into the next just like any other of her martial art disciplines.  Each of her movements was deliberate and delivered with quick precision.  Several intense hours of training later Olivia sat on the edge of the beach with the staff beside her looking out over the ocean.  Glipsa was goddess of water as well and nothing was quite as magnificent as witnessing the power of the ocean firsthand.

You are magnificent my dear or you will be.  Remember the nature of my staff to truly utilize it.

Olivia groaned what had she forgotten? The staff shot water, ice, and steam from the open serpent mouth on the end.  Was that it? Or the light from the eyes? Both? In broad daylight like it was at the moment Glipsa had to be referring to the former.  The nagah thought back to years of training with her father and laughed quietly she had forgotten one of the most basic tenants of his training, "Timing is everything."  With the thought in her head she stood picking up the staff as she did so.  It was time to put the pieces of the puzzle together.  Where better to do so than in a grove of trees where fruit was growing in the branches overhead? She looked for, and found, a small clearing and then began the fluid movements needed with the staff.  Attempt after attempt at striking at the fruit left the staff a sticky mess but it wasn't what she was after.  Frustrated by her inability to get the staff to do what she wanted she was at the verge of giving up.

Water has three forms child.  Do not forget it.

The words gave Olivia a renewed spirit she hadn't attempted one of the three forms after all.  Once again she began her movements with the staff befor lashing out towards a piece of low hanging fruit.  As it passed by the branch the fruit was hanging on she summoned forth a stream of superheated steam from the serpent's mouth watching open mouthed as the steam tore through the twig allowing the fruit to fall.  The single attack seemed to open up innumerable paths that the staff could take and Olivia wanted to try them all.  Writing words in the sand on the beach as she swung the staff, check.  Shooting down a bird in flight, check.  She had even been able to turn seawater into fresh water with help from the staff.  It turned out when seawater was turned into vapor the salt was removed.  Turning it back to liquid produced drinkable water, amazing.

With all of the new and wonderfull training with the staff Olivia found she had lost track of time.  She looked up at the sky to see darkness begiing to fall.  Nothing a little light couldn't fix she though.  A quick thought while holding th staff and light sprang forth from the serpent's eyes.  She was going to have to do something about finding someplace to rest for the night.  She very much doubted sleeping in the open on the beach was a good idea.  Eye shine from all around her showed her just how true the thought was.  While it was a remote island it wasn't predator free, and for the moment the local predators thought she was prey!

The local predators had never heard of, let alone seen, a nagah of that she was certain.  Tonight she would let them make up their minds if they wanted to try their luck against one.  With a deep breath she began concentrating on the change willing it to happen.  As she did she could feel her legs growing longer could feel them fusing together.  Scales began covering the entirety of her body as legs gave way to a giant black tail, her arms and chest increased in size, and her head transformed into that of a large serpent.  Where a woman around five and a half feet tall had once stood now a creature half woman and half snake towered standing seven and a half feet tall it flicked it's tongue in and out tasting the creatures surrounding it.
 
Unsurprisingly the majority of the predators didn't remain for long.  As Olivia moved the staff around searching the area around her she found only one predator remaining.  Intrigued by what she hadn't scared away she moved towards it sliding effortlessly though the sand on the lower third of her scaled body.  The creature also began moving forward closing the distance in a few short seconds.  The light from the staff illuminating a giant arachnid.
 
Standing just shigh of her own height the spider stared at her through multiple eyes.  Fangs dripped what Olivia could only assume was a nasty toxin of some kind as it approached.  As both creatures closed for combat the only sounds that could be heard were waves lapping on the beach and the twirling of Olivia's staff.  The spider was fast! Unprepared for how fast it was going to be Olivia felt the pressure of teeth on her arm gratefull for the strong scales that protected her.  She balled her other hand ito a fist and struck the spider three times in three sperate eyes before it released her arm.  As soon as the teeth released the creature struck out again this time Olivia was more prepared.  She smashed the head of the staff into the creature's mouth as she summoned forth a stream of steam.  Hot vapor met living flesh with a sizzle and with a scream of pain.  One of the creature's fangs was cut loose the venom almost instantly turned from liquid into gas by the intense heat.  Unaware of the danger Olvia smashed an uppercut home breathing in a small cloud of the poison as she did so.
 
The spider retreated having met something it found to be at least its equal.  Olivia watched it withdraw before falling do the ground convulsing.  Aerosolized the toxin moved quickly moving through her body from open mouth to lungs and then from her lungs thoughout the entirely of her body.  The agonizing pain was unlike anything Olivia had ever encountered it was as if her entire body was on fire burning from the inside out.  She could feel herself screaming out in pain but no words would come at least not her own.
 
Come now have I not given you the power to heal?
 
The words seemed to sear into her brain forcing their way past the pain into a region that would always be Glipsa's.  Olivia brought her hands to her giant snakelike form and could feel warmth from them begin to permeate her being.  As the warmth began to course through her it pushed back the pain until only a slight tingle remained in the tip of her tail.  A moment more and the pain was gone and her body was completely restored.

Now wasn't the time to stay in a huge towering form.  Now was the time to find somewhere to stay for the night and that meant changing froms once more.  The huge figure slowly shrank down to a black serpent four feeth in length that slid out from the open before burrowing deep into the sand.  Olivia stared from her burrow up into the night sky and hissed out a prayer to Glipsa before allowing sleep to overtake her.

Shafts of light streamed down into the the burrow and Olivia slithered out into the open ready to feel the heat from the sun.  She had replayed the fight from the previous night in her mind over and over again and each time she had found her strategy lacking.  It had been far too long since she utilized forms other than human and it could have cost her dearly.  She had spent years, almost her entire lifetime, learning to fight in human form she couldn't say the same about the war form.  It was something she was going to have to rectify.

Olivia returned to the beach and changed forms back to the hybrid form.  Armed with the staff she went through a series of routines similar to those she had performed the day prior. 

Woman and snake are the same, but different.

It was something Olivia already knew but Glipsa had a way of doing that.  Of saying something that had a deeper underlying meaning to it.  She put the base of the staff in the ground and looked over the ocean before realizing the tail behind her was twitching.  She hadn't even been aware of it.  She tried to think if she had ever used the tail for anything other than movement and couldn't come up with anything.  She then tried thinking about snakes in general and how they acted.  It was if a lightbulb went off in her brain as a vast complex series of movements began to unfold in her mind.  Snakes ability to coil and uncoil with amazing speed and precision was going to be tested to the max and Olivia couldn't wait for it.  She looked back at the mass of tail behind her and tried thrusting it from one direction to the other surprised by the strength.  This was yet another weapon to add to the nagah arsenal it would require some thought as well to find a way to incorporate it.

The day flew by in a blur as Olivia slowly began creating her own martial arts style.  It wasn't something she had any plans on teaching anybody else and for that reason she chose to keep it unnamed.  That was the reason she told herself anyways.  The real underlying reason she knew was because she feared spending time and effort developing the style only to have it fail.  With the sun high above Olivia decided she had spent enough time in the form.  It was time to feed and her serpent form typically hunted by burrowing into the ground before striking unsuspecting prey.

In the serpent form Olivia did just that flying forward jaws sinking into flesh before consuming the rabbit whole.  Satiated Olivia could hear her god's voice telling her the staff needed to be fed as well.  That was something new and a bit unnerving.  The staff had been a gift though and if it needed to be fed she would feed it.  She retreated back into the burrow and two hours later brought down another rabbit.  She exited the burrow, turned to human form, picked up the rabbit and brought it to the staff.  She tried setting the staff down in front of the rabbit, nothing.  She set the rabbit on top of the staff, nothing.  It was only when she held the staff upright and lowered the rabbit that the snake's head on the staff seemed to momentarily turn alive.  The jaws opened farther and Olivia could see the rabbit disappear bit by bit.

Days and nights blurred together in an endless variation of the same theme.  Awaken, train, train more, train even more and then either hunt or sleep.  The training had become even more intense as Olivia became more adept at utilizing both the staff and her other forms.  She marvled at the length of time it was now taking her to change forms as each day the time seemed to get shorter and shorter as her mind and body adapted to it.  The training with the staff was also at a heightened level.  To Olivia it felt as if the staff had become an exstension of her mind and body.  She was begining to fully grasp the power of the staff and to appreciate the power at her disposal. 

When you believe you are done you are done for.

The words interrupted a flurry of kicks that Olivia had targeted towards low hanging branches.  Breathing hard she leaned on the staff while she caught her breath.  The words stung slightly but only ever so slightly.  She knew she was better, much better than when she had first arrived.  But Glipsa was correct.  As a master of the martial arts you didn't reach your peak and then quit.  You didn't peak you continued to learn and grow to evolve your disciplines THAT was the nature of a warrior.  With renewed vigor Olivia redirected her energy.

The sound of a ship descending onto the beach nearly made her lose her concentration but she recovered before peering out towards it.  It was the same vessel that had dropped her off meaning her time on the island had come to a close.  It was hard to believe she had been out here training for almost a month already.  As he approached the ship the captain hailed her, "We had a pool going to see if we'd find you alive out here or not.  Thank you for showing up you've won me close to a thousand credits. Now then where can me drop you off? That wasn't stated in our original contract."

"Surprise me."

The nagah was already looking forward to whatever adventure Glipsa was going to lead her into.  It didn't matter where the crew dropped her off.  The destination was already set for her as was the future mission.  Such were the wisdom and mysteries of Glipsa.  Olivia would have it no other way.

-end-