Rotspire Echo — Beneath the Isles
Nightfall. Beneath the Jade Serpent Isles, in a half-forgotten root-vault known only to the Serpent root Kin, Feng Xian lies surrounded by coiled vines and glowing runes — the Oracle has declared he must descend once more… but this time, into the Rotspire's spiritual imprint, long buried beneath the Isles' foundation.
Feng Xian's mind dives.
He walks the memory of a past life — or a warning:
A child crowned in scales is bound in seven rings of serpent-iron.
The flame at his heart resists, but the coils squeeze tighter.
A voice speaks from the rot — a voice like Szuul's, yet older:
"You are not the first fire to burn here, but you may be the last."
He awakens gasping, and finds that the cavern root has begun to pulse, as if reacting to something… something approaching.
The Devouring Hand — A Whisper Across the Waves
Far to the north, a hollowed coast watches the rise of a nameless silhouette as it steps from a storm-wrapped shipwreck.
No crew remains. Only salt and silence.
The Devouring Hand slithers forward in mock-human form, its hollow mask etched with the sigils of Consuming Silence. Beneath the sea, beasts scatter. Coral reefs curl away in rot.
A small shrine of the old Serpent root culture flickers in resistance. The guardian, a half-spirit, half-scaled monk, rises — staff glowing with old blessings.
They clash in moonlight.
But the Devouring Hand does not fight for victory.
It fights to mark the path.
And as it leaves, the guardian, burned and twitching, speaks only one word:
"Isles."
III. Emissaries from the Pavilion
The elders whisper of sealing the Isles — quarantining what stirs below.
"If the Seventh Crown stirs, then nothing will remain sealed. Fire and coil must either unify… or consume."
A trio of envoys is chosen:
Kai'ren's younger sibling, Kai'lao, sent in her place to prove their line's stability.
And a masked swords age, known only as Whisper Current, who once severed a Hollow tide on their own.
Their mission:
Retrieve or silence Feng Xian.
Determine whether the Devouring threat has truly emerged.
Ensure the Crown's awakening does not spread.
Their ship departs under moonlight… unaware that Szuul stirs beneath the tide trench, drawn by the splinter in Feng Xian's soul.
🌀 Foreshadowed Convergence
The Rotspire pulses with ancestral truth and looming madness.
The Devouring Hand marks its arrival with rot and ruin.
The Pavilion's emissaries will soon arrive — with orders not all may agree with.
And Feng Xian, marked by the Seventh Crown, hears the coil whisper one name in fire:
"Szuul."