Scene: Beneath the Root Canopy of Serpent Root Grove
The moss-hung air is thick with ancient breath — the stillness of coiled memory. Twisted roots form arches above and around them, pulsing faintly with green bioluminescence.
Feng Xian stands calmly at the Grove's inner boundary, fire qi faintly resonating in his veins.
Across from him, Va'Kuul's glaive thrums, pointed at Feng Xian's heart.
Luo Fen stands between them, jaw set, hand hovering near the hilt of her bone-curved dagger. Her serpent totem curls tightly at her wrist.
Luo Fen: "Enough. This Grove does not bleed over pride."
Va'Kuul: "It must, if infection has set root."
Then—
The air shifts. The Grove shudders.
A fetid gust coils upward from a deeper root-chamber, thick with rot and static.
Feng Xian (eyes narrowing): "That... isn't yours, is it?"
Va'Kuul: "What trick—?"
A sickening screech erupts as a massive, shadow-veiled serpent bursts through a rotten root wall — its scales blackened, its eyes twin pits of pulsing violet rot.
Its jaw is broken — unnaturally wide — and small thorned barbs flicker from beneath its tongue. It hisses, but the sound is fractured, like multiple voices crushed together.
Luo Fen (gasping): "No. One of the Hollow-Touched... within our Grove?"
💀 The Hollow-Touched Serpent: Writhe-Veil, the Forgotten Coil
Once a guardian of the Grove, corrupted long ago by Void spores seeded during the ancient continental war.
Drawn now by Feng Xian's inner fire, which disrupts the Void's grip but also provokes it.
It moves like a ghost but strikes like lightning — faster than it should be.
⚔️ The Three-Way Tension Explodes
Va'Kuul, seeing the beast, lunges not at Feng Xian — but at the Hollow-Touched serpent, fury ignited.
Va'Kuul (yelling): "You brought this here, outsider?! I will carve its fangs from your shadow!"
His glaive arcs — only for the serpent to phase mid-slither and reappear beside Luo Fen, striking.
Feng Xian reacts instinctively — his inner flame bursts outward, repelling the attack and lighting the Grove with golden-red light.
Luo Fen: "Enough! Fight it, not each other!"
She whistles sharply — summoning her own serpent spirit, which coils around her wrist and launches at Writhe-Veil.
🌿 Roots Vs Rot, Flame vs Void
The scene unfolds in chaos:
Feng Xian's flame clashes with Void rot — causing bursts of distorted sound and sizzling mist.
Va'Kuul fights ferociously, but each wound he inflicts on the beast releases more Void venom into the Grove.
Luo Fen uses Grove techniques to bind and redirect the serpent's shadow — though her totem begins to strain under the spiritual weight.
As the Hollow-Touched serpent shrieks one final time — Feng Xian closes his eyes, channels inward, and invokes a Lotus Flame Mark, burning a sigil into the ground that disrupts the Void link.
The serpent coils collapse. The Grove trembles. Silence returns.
But not peace.
Va'Kuul (bloodied, breathing hard): "This isn't over, outsider."
Luo Fen: "No. It's just begun."
Setting: Deep within the Serpent Root Grove, where the Hollow-Touched serpent's corpse still steams, and violet ichor seeps into the roots.
The battle has ended — but not the judgment.
Feng Xian, battered but burning within, feels the Grove's spirit awaken.
Vines coil inward around the battlefield, forming a natural sanctum. The wounds in the trees pulse — then heal. A soft, resonant hiss echoes in the distance.
Luo Fen kneels, head bowed. Va'Kuul glares but does not move.
Luo Fen (softly): "The Coil watches. You may yet be judged worthy… or cast out."
The grove floor parts like a mouth. Mist flows upward. Roots twist into a spiral staircase, descending into ancient memory.
Feng Xian steps forward. Alone.
Far below the Grove's canopy, the Spiral Hollow is a bioluminescent cavern wrapped in serpent iconography and root-veined crystal.
Coiled stone pillars depict the great serpents of the Isles — wisdom, patience, precision.
Water mirrors reflect not his face, but aspects of his inner spirit — flame, doubt, ambition.
The air pulses with ancestral whispers.
Suddenly, a massive spectral serpent emerges from the roots: Naha'Zal, the Coil's Dreaming Fang — the Grove's guardian spirit.
Naha'Zal:
"Fire born… why do you seek the Serpent's gift? You burn as one who devours."
Feng Xian:
"To resist that which consumes everything — the Hollow, the rot. My fire is not conquest. It is remembrance."
Naha'Zal:
"Then face what your fire forgets."
Naha'Zal parts the mist — and three illusions slither forth. Each is not a foe, but a question.
The Coil of Patience – A past memory of his childhood self.
Feng Xian sees himself, too eager to prove worth, rushing through techniques, disrespecting a wounded beast's grave.
The illusion judges his impulse to act without depth.
Feng Xian bows to the past, acknowledging failure without erasing it. The Coil dissolves.
The Coil of Precision – A Mirror-Feng, formed from flame.
This being fights like Feng Xian, but with deadly precision — exploiting every flaw in his stance.
They clash for minutes in silence. Sweat beads on Feng's brow.
He finally slows, stops fighting — and instead harmonizes his flame with the Grove's flow. The mirror nods and fades.
The Coil of Silence – A vision of the future:
Feng Xian, alone, crown upon his brow, surrounded by ash.
No voice. No friend. All burned away by fire too great.
The vision breaks only when Feng Xian presses hand to his heart — and recalls Luo Fen, Lan'Fei, Ashkai.
Feng Xian (quietly):
"If I rise alone… I've already failed."
The vision cracks. Naha'Zal glides forward.