Chapter 130: The return of serpent prince
The skies darkened—not with clouds, but with a strange, green shimmer that looked like poison dancing through the heavens. A cold wind blew through the palace courtyard, rustling through the flowers Rina had enchanted to sing lullabies. Their music turned eerily off-key, like they, too, sensed something foul approaching.
Cain stepped to the balcony, his jaw tightening. "I know that wind."
Selene appeared beside him, clutching the twin boys' shoulders protectively. "It's him, isn't it?"
From beyond the enchanted forest, where even monsters dared not tread, a colossal horn blasted. It didn't sound like any war horn—this one hissed, like a serpent breathing fire into metal. The ground trembled.
Leo ran in, holding Rina under one arm like a wild puppy. "Okay, okay! We got a problem! A big, slithery one!"
Rina squirmed free and landed with a flip. "Is it a dragon? Please tell me it's a dragon. I've been training my fire bolts for this moment."
Eira narrowed her eyes. "No... it's worse."
Down in the valley, a grotesque army slithered out of the shadows—scaled beasts, forked-tongued men, women with venom in their veins. And at the front, on a throne made of serpent bones and emerald fire, sat Prince Orox, the exiled Serpent Prince. His golden eyes gleamed with vengeance. His black scales shimmered like oil. And wrapped around him was his monstrous snake, Korr'alith, as thick as a castle tower.
Cain's voice was low. "We banished him. Sealed him beyond the cursed mountains. How is he—?"