Ren ran all the way back to the dorms, his breath ragged, his shirt clinging to his skin. He slammed the door shut behind him and leaned against it, trying to calm the storm inside his chest.
Li Wei's words wouldn't leave his head.
"Because it belongs to me… just as you do."
The serpent mark burned hotter, as if mocking his denial. Ren rubbed at it furiously, but the heat only grew, spreading down his arm like wildfire.
"Damn it…" he whispered, staggering toward his bed. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the mattress. The world swam in and out of focus until his eyelids slid shut.
When he opened them again, he wasn't in his room.
The silver lake stretched before him, just like in the dream. Mist curled around his ankles, and the moon loomed huge above. A ripple broke the water's surface. Then another.
Ren's breath hitched.
From the depths, a massive shape emerged—scales black as night, glistening with moonlight. A serpent, larger than any creature should be, rose higher and higher until its head hovered above him. Its golden eyes glowed with the same light he had seen in Li Wei's.
Ren stumbled back, heart pounding. "N-no… this isn't real."
The serpent lowered its head, its tongue flickering out, tasting the air around him. Then it coiled, encircling him with a body as thick as a tree trunk. Despite the terror, Ren's knees weakened, not from fear alone but from the strange pull thrumming through his veins.
The mark on his shoulder seared like molten fire.
The serpent's voice echoed inside his skull, deep and resonant. "You run from me in the day… yet your soul calls to me at night."
Ren gasped, clutching his chest. "Get away from me!"
The beast leaned closer until its golden eye filled his vision. Its breath was hot, tinged with the scent of earth and rain. "You can deny me, Ren. But the fire inside you remembers. Your body remembers."
The serpent's coils tightened—not painfully, but possessively—drawing him closer until he could feel the vibration of its growl through his very bones.
Ren's body trembled, every nerve screaming confusion. His mind told him to fight, but his heart… betrayed him, beating wildly in recognition.
"Why…" he whispered shakily. "Why me?"
The serpent's voice caressed him like velvet. "Because you are mine—across lifetimes, across worlds. Mine."
Ren's vision blurred as the serpent's gaze swallowed him whole.