The Jade Serpent Isles, hours after the council's vote, deep within the bioluminescent sanctuary beneath the Serpent Root Grove.
Feng Xian gasped awake.
Not with the breathless shock of nightmares — but the sinking weight of something alien blooming behind his thoughts. His eyes flickered gold... and then briefly flashed a vein of dark jade, spidering from pupil to iris before receding.
"You… are not alone anymore."
The voice echoed not through ears, but through his flame-core — dampened, coiled, and pierced by something colder than void.
He sat upright within the Grove's healing basin, the liquid around him flickering with disturbed spirit-runes. Luo Fen rushed to his side, her spear half-drawn before recognition stilled her hand.
"You burned fever-bright… and then froze like stone. You've been asleep three days."
Feng Xian touched his chest — where the ember-seal of the Crown still pulsed — but beneath it, something else throbbed. A shard, jagged and alive, dream-rooted in a memory not his own.
🌑 Inside Feng Xian's Dream-Soul
He drifted across a desolate reef of coiling roots and serpent bones. But in this inner realm, one tower loomed: The Ruined Coil, a spectral remnant of the Rotspire's core.
And at its heart — a being of ash-white serpent-skin and empty sockets twisted into a half-scream of silent thought.
It turned to him.
"You… carry a curse-bud, fledgling flame."
"Not enough to break you… yet enough to speak."
Feng Xian stood firm. Even in dreams, the fire in his veins rose.
"What are you?"
"I was once Oracle... until Szuul fed."
"Now I am only a fragment — a memory burned too deep for the Hand to digest."
"And through your fire… I remember."
💠 Implications
This Splinter-Oracle gives Feng Xian fragments of knowledge:
A lost rite once used to anchor Hollow-Touched minds — something Szuul seeks to destroy utterly.
The location of a Sunken Coil-Vault, hidden beyond the Jade Isles, where more ancient Serpent runes lie untouched.
A warning: The Rotspire isn't just corruption. It is memory, bound and broken — and if left to stir in his soul too long, it will begin to rewrite him.
"Flame and coil were once kin."
"Now you must decide which shall devour the other."
⚖️ Back in Reality
As Feng Xian awakens fully, he shares part of this vision with Luo Fen and Lan'Fei — but not all. The voice still echoes within, and part of him fears the council will bury him if they sense how deep the Rotspire has rooted.
But time runs thin. The skies above the Isles crackle with unnatural aurora. Whispers ripple across the serpent glyph-stones.
🐍 The Vote of Serpent Root Council – Echoes Beneath Still Waters
Within the Chamber of Verdant Coil, beneath the heart-tree of the Isles, the council of Serpent root Kin assembles. Five elder voices, each bearing a jade coil-bracelet, representing a facet of ancient harmony:
Elder Veyasha – voice of tradition, suspicious of Feng Xian's flame-taint.
Elder Mojiin – the oldest, neutral but deeply spiritual.
Elder Khorrun – a war-scarred general of the eastern isles, advocates a defensive pact.
Elder Saehra – head of the lore wardens, believes Feng Xian may be the flame in prophecy.
Luo Fen (proxy) – speaks for the Serpent Root Grove and the spirits that now stir restlessly.
"He carries the flame… and the coil's taint."
"If we cast him out, the Hollow-Touched will devour what's left of him."
"But if we shelter him, and he turns…"
After hours of ritual debate, the vote is cast — with a narrow majority choosing to allow Feng Xian to remain under watch, but with restrictions. He must not leave the Isles without blessing from the Serpent Oracle. His dreams are to be monitored by veil walkers. And most critically…
"…should the coil within him awaken in full, the Grove's rite of severance will be invoked. And that… ends only one way."
🌊 Beneath the Trench – The Rise of Szuul
Deep within the Pale Wound Trench, where the ocean crushes even thought, something vast begins to shift.
Bones of ancient leviathans scatter as Szuul, the First Devouring Coil, stirs. Carved from serpent-oracles consumed over centuries, its body pulses with a language lost to the waking world — a script of hunger.
"The Splinter... sings again."
"The boy bears it. The flame rebirths it."
Its many eyes open — some burned shut, others staring backwards through time.
And far above, a massive dead whale floats to the surface, split from within by a spiral-shaped wound — the first omen of Szuul's return.
✨ Threads Now in Play
The Pavilion may soon hear of the Isles' decision — some elders will not approve of Feng Xian being held elsewhere.
Lan'Fei's beast-companions begin acting strangely — one serpent beast whispers in sleep: "The Coil is unsealing."
The Serpent Oracle prepares to meet Feng Xian — for the first time in centuries, it senses a dream burning hotter than memory