Sins of The Crowned Serpent

Chapter One: The Loonbin

"Hey, loonbin, wake up!"

The voice cut through the relentless roar of crashing waves. Aunna's eyes flew open just as another wave crashed against the shore, drenching her from head to toe. She gasped, coughing violently as saltwater filled her lungs. The coarse sand beneath her palms burned against her skin, forcing a yelp from her lips. Confused and disoriented, she slowly pushed herself upright, blinking against the blinding light as she struggled to understand where she was.

Now she stood on an unfamiliar shoreline.

Her gaze wandered across the beach until it landed on the wreckage of a boat. Its wooden hull had been ripped open by an enormous boulder rising from the sea like the claw of a forgotten titan. Splintered planks floated in the surf while violet waves shimmered with tiny flecks of golden light, as though the ocean itself held fragments of fallen stars. Nothing about this place resembled Earth.

Still dazed, she staggered toward the shattered vessel, but stopped abruptly when a man stepped into her path.

He was unnaturally tall and slender, carrying himself with the quiet confidence of a seasoned warrior. Long locks of marigold-gold hair framed a face both beautiful and unsettling. Sapphire-gray scales climbed the sides of his neck and disappeared beneath the collar of his armor, their colors shifting like sunlight beneath shallow water. His eyes were the most disturbing feature of all. They were entirely black, iris and sclera swallowed by darkness until they resembled polished obsidian.

Aunna stared.

Am I dreaming?

"W-What?" she managed to blurt, frozen in disbelief.

"Yeah," the man replied with a sigh, "we just crashed Lady Eloween's favorite boat. Nice commandeering, Mel."

Before she could respond, he reached for her hand.

The moment their fingers touched, her gaze instinctively fell to their intertwined hands.

She screamed.

Her hand wasn't hers.

Delicate scales shimmered across her skin in brilliant shades of pink and indigo, glowing beneath the sunlight like molten gemstones. Panic surged through her body. She tore herself free and stumbled toward a shallow puddle left behind by the tide.

A stranger stared back.

Silver hair spilled over her shoulders, threaded with streaks of pale gold that glimmered beneath the strange sun. Her eyes glowed with a soft violet radiance, though her irises remained unmistakably human. The face in the reflection resembled hers, yet every feature had become sharper, more ethereal, as though she had awakened inside someone else's body.

For several long moments, she simply stared.

Then panic won.

"What on earth is happening?"

Her voice trembled.

This has to be a dream.

Only this morning she had been riding the subway home from work, exhausted enough to fall asleep before reaching her station. There had been no accidents. No mysterious portals. No flashing lights.

Only sleep.

"This is crazy," she whispered.

The man rubbed his forehead as though this was merely another inconvenience.

"And that's exactly why everyone calls you loonbin."

Without another word, he effortlessly hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.