The moment stretched, taut as a bowstring. Resmond saw the serpent's maw move, heard the deep, subsonic rumble, but the words that formed in his mind sounded clear and foreign. «Welcome. We've been expecting a delivery.»
His blood turned to ice, then fire.
"Tia! Species! Analysis, now!" he barked, not taking his eyes off the galactic orbs staring him down.
Beside him, Tia's diagnostic crystal was humming at a fever pitch, its light stuttering erratically. "I—I don't know! It's not in any registry! The mana signature is… it's draconic, serpentine, elemental, and something else entirely! It's a new species, or a rare evolution! The crown… the crown is radiating artefact-level energy!"
