Just what foul trickery was at play here? The cloud in Roland's mind seemed to ebb away slightly as the snake released his throat from its jaws, falling to the ground. It's venom still coursed through his veins, startling his heart into a frantic beat. Beads of dark blood appeared where the reptile's teeth had once been, and the bared flesh stung bitterly against the cold. Panting heavily, the stallion jerked away from the strange creature as its head rose threateningly from the snowy ground.

He tensed suddenly, breath catching in his throat as it slithered towards him again, wrapping its muscular body up and about his leg. His skin felt as if it were on fire, just waiting to feel the white hot pain of poisonous teeth sinking into his limb, but rather than attacking him, he heard its bone chilling hiss echoing in his head. Shadowed sapphire eyes lowered to meet its bloodied gaze, and he knew the snake was daring him. What was he to say? If fate had brought him here, it had strange ways of showing its intentions.

He wasn't one to lend trust to inanimate objects so easily, but for once his curiosity outweighed his caution. He looked into the clouded depths of the mirror, studying his reflection in the misty glass. The snake was wrapped tightly around his leg, black body pinching his circulation off with an iron grip. Roland blinked, his mind processing every thought slowly and belatedly. There were so many questions he could ask, but he guessed this wasn't a chance for his three wishes to come true.

The possibilities of his question were strewn out before him, a mass of thoughts all screaming in his head, and every idea he grasped at slid from his grip. In the mirror, his reflection stared slack jawed at itself, still acutely aware of the dangerous reptile wrapped around his slender limb. He had been raised to be faithfully religious, and so his mind automatically strayed to the Gods.

This was clearly some strange magic, and there was no creature in sight for miles that could be causing the phenomenon he gazed upon. The prospect of knowledge was suddenly overwhelming to Roland, and he shied from the possibilities; inquiring after the future, of power or love. Perhaps that was what emboldened him to ask such a painfully simple question, though it was one that burned in the forefront of his mind like a bright white fire.

"Is this a Gods doing?" His voice quivered just slightly, sounding foreign to his ears as if it had known nothing but disuse. It stuck in his throat, but once the words were brought into the cold air there was no taking them back. His eyes studied the glass awkwardly, waiting for some new image to appear, or to listen to the throaty voice of the snake once again. He wanted to know the purpose of the venomous reptile and the mirror that had been born from the snowy ground. Over all the questions one would normally jump to when given such an opportunity, he merely wished for this. An explanation.

walk walk walk
"talk talk talk"