Chapter 2: Dreams of Hunger and Stone
The river, swollen with spring rains, hissed quietly as it brushed against the rocks. Mist hung low over the water like a mourning veil. On a smooth gray stone in a pool downstream from the shattered otter home, the serpent lay coiled. Serathis. Ancient. Star-fed. Watching. The morning sun soaked into his scale-plated body, slow and steady. Blood had dried in fine lines along his neck and…








