Naha'Zal:
"Then you carry more than fire… you carry the coils of choice."
The guardian bites gently into Feng Xian's forearm — not to wound, but to mark. A green-serpentine sigil coils around his skin, merging with his flame qi.
The Coil's Blessing has been granted.
His senses sharpen.
He gains access to Coiled Flame Qi — a hybrid technique that wraps serpent-like movement and defensive patterns into his fire attacks.
Spirit serpents slither from the cavern, bowing as they vanish.
Above Ground...
Luo Fen senses the Grove tremble. Va'Kuul grips his glaive.
Luo Fen:
"He was seen… and chosen."
Va'Kuul (muttering):
"Then the storm below is nothing to what brews above."
Interlude: Beneath the Veil's Husk
Location: The Maw of Unknowing — a cavern-temple buried deep in a sinkhole far beyond the Jade Serpent Isles. It lies between planes, where the Hollow-Touched commune with what lies beyond sense and sanity.
Within this temple, Kzaryth, the Vein wrought, kneels before a withered serpent husk, suspended by black sinew and bone-lattice tendrils. This was once Writhe-Veil — their creation, their scout, their herald.
Its death scream still echoes through the hollow, vibrating through void-crystals embedded in the walls like screaming eyes.
Kzaryth's body is not fully flesh — veins of black quicksilver pulse visibly under their skin, feeding something writhing beneath the surface.
Kzaryth (whispering):
"So… the fire-bearer lives. And the Grove has chosen."
They do not rage. They smile — sharp, forked, terrible.
Behind them, a ring of Hollow-Touched acolytes kneel, their faces blank, their mouths sewn shut. Black spores drift from their robes.
Kzaryth:
"Writhe-Veil was a test — one thorn. But the fire has bloomed, and so must rot."
He walks to a mirror of ichor, touching its surface. It ripples, revealing an image of Feng Xian emerging from the Grove — marked, empowered, unaware that something now watches.
Kzaryth lifts a jar — inside, a serpent egg of hollowed glass, pulsing with a heartbeat that is not its own.
Kzaryth:
"Let the next herald rise… Let the Isles remember that roots too may rot."
🌑 The Next Threat Awakens:
The Rotspire Coil, a fused serpent grown from corrupted Grove essence and void qi, stirs beneath the Maw.
Kzaryth prepares to release it — not as a scout, but a seed of unraveling meant to root itself in the Isles and turn the spirits hollow.
He whispers a name into the void:
"Va'kuul. Let your doubts become doors."
This setup allows the Hollow-Touched to escalate their intrusion into the Isles — not just by beasts, but by corrupting spirits, rivals, and symbols of ancestral power.