Chapter 5 · free to read
Chapter Five: The Serpent in the Blood. The debt of the tide was paid at dawn. By full morning, a second, older debt began to stir upstream.
The serpent had not been a jewel to steal. It had been a hunger to house.
The gift of the morning became the map of the plague.
Pure water still burned the thing in his blood — but less, and less, with every breath.
Artwork and narration generated with AI.