The creature that was once Lord Siss dug its newly forming, jagged talons into the rotting wood, its raw, muscle-exposed face twisting into a silent, agonizing scream of pure, unadulterated hatred.
The ancient snake had indeed lost a body in the treasury. But a creature that had survived for three centuries had not done so by relying on a single life. He had shed his skin before. He had abandoned heavily damaged vessels to regrow in the dark.
It would take time for his new, horrific form to fully stabilize. It would take time to gather the hidden, banished monstrosities of the deep marsh that even his own guards did not know existed.
But he had time. And when he finally returned to his canyon, he would not make the mistake of underestimating the human again.
.
.
.
Two months passed.
