The mists part.
Feng Xian and Luo Fen pass the twin-serpent archway, its fangs buried in moss-covered stone. Below, the path curves downward — not a tunnel, but a serpent spine of living jade, snaking through hollowed stone like veins under flesh.
Every step deepens the hum in Feng Xian's bones. The Crown relic at his side glows faintly, but beneath that light, something older — something coiled — stirs.
Luo Fen (in hushed tone):
"We walk toward the Serpent's Heart. Not all who reach it return… unchanged."
They descend into the Heart Root Hollow, a subterranean chamber where time seems suspended. Massive serpent skeletons wind through the stone like fossilized riverbeds. Above, glowing vines twitch subtly — as if tasting their presence.
At the center, curled around a pool of mirrored jade, lies the Serpent Oracle — neither alive nor dead, but a spirit-construct formed of ancestral scale, flowing soul-silk, and the breath of forgotten kin.
Its massive eyes open.
🜂 The Oracle Speaks
Without words, it enters their minds — like dream and pressure and scream all at once.
Serpent Oracle (telepathic, ancient):
"The Crown turns. The Deep stirs. The Isle bleeds in silence."
"Flame born and Inbound — you carry threads of fire and fang. Will you bind your fate to the Weave… or tear it loose?"
Feng Xian's vision flashes:
He sees a future where the Isles sink beneath Hollow tide.
Another where he burns them clean, but Luo Fen lies dying.
A third — clouded — where a serpent with seven heads coils around the Crown, speaking his name in a tongue not born of man.
Luo Fen:
"I will be bound. Let the Isles speak through me."
She kneels. A mark glows across her back — a serpent sigil that slithers with light, not ink.
Feng Xian looks at the water, sees his own flame halo flickering, warping into coils.
Feng Xian (low):
"I will not bind. But I will remember. I'll carry your warning… and your wound."
The Oracle hisses. Not in anger — but in understanding.
Luo Fen must walk the Path of Scale, to awaken the Isles' defense.
Feng Xian must enter the Coil-Dream, a spirit realm where the future bends and tests those who refuse to bow.
As they step forward, the cave shifts.
A pulse echoes through the Isles.
And far, far below, in the drowned roots of the archipelago, something wakes.