11:39Before I could move, Nunas licked the wound.
11:43The bleeding stopped instantly.
11:45The wound began to close.
11:47Then he convulsed.
11:50I scrambled for medicine, but it was already too late,
11:54because he was already growing.
11:56His massive, colossal serpent body reappeared.
12:00His scale rot was gone.
12:02We could go home.
12:03Then I remembered, Nunas is the coldest,
12:06most untouchable serpent king in the territory.
12:08And I'd spent the last two days poking his head
12:10and accusing him of trespassing.
12:12Before I could come up with a plan,
12:13he'd already shifted back to human serpent form,
12:15standing right in front of me.
12:17His face was stern, eyes gold as blades,
12:20the kind of face that made others get out of his way
12:22before they knew why.
12:24Liska, are you familiar with the prophecy
12:27passed down through serpent bloodlines?
12:29He knew my real name.
12:31Well, that's what he called me.
12:32Not really.
12:34Only a serpent god can break this curse.
12:38I've examined the space around us.
12:40This isn't the Nightmare Abyss.
12:42It's a separate dimension.
12:45And it seems to belong to you.
12:48I have a private dimension.
12:56I have a private dimension.
13:02We went back to the territory.
13:05The streets stopped.
13:08I walked straight towards Naxhi's cave,
13:11Nuna's beside me.
13:15I looked at my sister.
13:18Nasi and Sarah were in the great hall,
13:21pretending to be sad.
13:22Sarah, the name on that belly scale gem
13:25is engraved wrong.
13:26The one who bonded with the ancient serpent
13:28was me, Liska.
13:30Not you.
13:31Everyone turned at our entrance.
13:33How could you be Liska?
13:35How do we even know you're really Liska?
13:37I smiled.
13:38I reached out and grabbed Sarah's wrist.
13:41The powder coating her scales,
13:43the grey spots she'd put on
13:45to pretend to be me,
13:46rubbed off.
13:48I knew she'd never actually hurt herself.
13:54She'd let her little sister die in her place.
14:03Liska's scales.
14:04Why are they so clean?
14:06The crowd murmured.
14:08I stepped forward to reveal the truth,
14:10because she faked it.
14:13Naxhi looked at Nuna's disbelief.
14:15How are you even alive?
14:17You were supposed to shred this territory.
14:21Nuna's looked back at him.
14:23The curse is broken, Nasi.
14:26Thanks to Liska.
14:29The whole hall turned to me like machines.
14:34Nasi looked like he'd been punched.
14:41Nuna stepped in front of me and said,
14:44Liska is the serpent god described in our bloodline prophecy.
14:49Her blood neutralizes scale rot.
14:51Nasi's hand tightened on Sarah's arm.
14:54I gave a cold laugh.
14:57Have you forgotten, Nasi?
14:58Your own scale rot was cured the same way.
15:03Who saved you?
15:04Who saved you that drought year?
15:06It was me.
15:08I left that sentence hanging in the hall like a lit fuse.
15:12Then left with Nuna's.
15:15The best puzzles are only half told.
15:17Living in Nuna's palace was the best ten days of my life.
15:21Food came to my chamber on time.
15:23No one hissed where I walked.
15:25I even got used to waking up every morning to find Nuna's had somehow shrunk back to baby serpent form
15:29again.
15:30Curled on my chest, his silver scales flickering with my breath.
15:33Then the requests started coming.
15:35At first, just one or two.
15:37An outer zone sansropen, scale rot already eating half her tail, carried to the palace gate by her family.
15:43They didn't dare come inside.
15:46Just waited.
15:47Silent.
15:48Desperate.
15:50Nuna's and I looked at each other.
15:52My hand shook when I cut my palm.
15:54Not from fear.
15:55I already knew what my blood could do.
15:57But because of the eyes looking at me.
15:59They weren't mocking anymore.
16:01Or disgusted.
16:02Or pitying.
16:03They held something I'd never seen before.
16:06Hope.
16:06The blood dripped onto the sand-smeet's forehead.
16:09The black mist struggled for a moment.
16:11Then dispersed.
16:12Her tail didn't grow back.
16:14But her eyes cleared.
16:16She stared at me.
16:17Her tongue trembled before she said,
16:19Your scales.
16:20They're silver.
16:22I looked down.
16:23Sometime in all of this, the dull grey scales on my arms had started glowing at the edges.
16:28Faint silver.
16:30Like moonlight on snow.
16:33That night I stared at the stone wall for a long time.
16:37It's changing.
16:38Your scale colour has been changing ever since I first saw you at the altar.
17:10I didn't say anything.
17:12Not out of respect.
17:14Not out of respect.
17:15Not out of respect.
17:16They didn't know what I was.
17:18The venom serpent hissed at me.
17:20His venomous tail raised high.
17:22His pupils completely swallowed by black mist.
17:27I didn't hesitate.
17:29I drew a clean line across my palm.
17:32The moment the blood hit his forehead, he screamed.
17:35His whole body convulsed violently.
17:37His venom tail smacked the stone floor into rubble.
17:40Rock shards flew everywhere.
17:42The crowd screamed too.
17:44Then, dead silence.
17:46She's a monster!
17:47You are great dead!
17:49The gracebots were a sign all along!
17:52She's poisoning him!
17:54Nana's stepped in front of me.
17:59He didn't speak.
18:01Didn't release any pressure.
18:03He just slowly, completely, uncoiled his serpent body.
18:08Belly scales.
18:09Vulnerable scales.
18:11Every inch.
18:12He showed all of it to every serpent there.
18:15A serpent king showing his belly to his mate.
18:18Means being faithful unto death.
18:22The venom serpent's convulsions stopped.
18:24The black mist washed out of his eyes.
18:27Like dirt swept away by water.
18:31He blinked.
18:33Confusion.
18:34Then clarity.
18:36The serpent who had been shouting loudest that I was poisoning him just frozen there with his mouth open.
18:40No words.
18:41The crowd didn't erupt in chatter.
18:43Instead, a long, deep wave of hissing tongues.
18:45That's the sound serpents make when they're too shocked for words.
18:48I turned.
18:49Met Numus's eyes.
18:50That faint blue was back in his gold pupils.
18:53Soft.
18:53Like a crack of sky in a deep lake.
18:56You didn't have to do that.
18:57Yes, I did.
18:59Within a week, my name had spread across the entire territory.
19:02I didn't listen to the gossip, but some words still drifted through the stone halls.
19:07They said Sarah hadn't left Nassi's cave in days.
19:11Neighbourhood kids said if you walked past that area and said my name loudly enough, you'd hear something shatter inside.
19:16I didn't regret it, but I didn't feel good either.
19:19That evening, a serpent guard announced a visitor.
19:23I hadn't even reached the great hall before I saw the shadow in the doorway.
19:27That outline I'd known my whole life.
19:29Sarah was kneeling.
19:30Her golden scales were dull.
19:32Hair plastered her face.
19:33Her eyes were bloodshot.
19:35Lips cracked dry.
19:36She'd never looked this wrecked in her entire life.
19:40Liskar.
19:40Her voice was raw, like she'd been crying for hours.
19:43Tell them you volunteered, please.
19:45Just issue a statement.
19:46Say you went to that altar, willingly.
19:47She was shaking, but she still tried to make it sound like an unbreakable command that was carved into her
19:52bones.
19:52Even on her knees, she couldn't get rid of it.
19:54I was quiet for a long time.
19:56My voice was so soft, I almost didn't hear it myself.
19:58You watched them torture me for 20 years.
20:00Didn't say a word.
20:01You knew I was the one who saved Nisi in the drought.
20:03But you let him worship you.
20:05Let him treat me like air.
20:06Sent me to die for you.
20:07She reached out.
20:08Grabbed the hem of my dress.
20:09Tugged it softly.
20:10That's what I used to do to her as a kid.
20:12After she took everything from me.
20:14After she mocked me in front of everyone.
20:16I'd grab her clothes and hope.
20:17Just hope that because we hatched from the same shell, she'd at least...
20:20She never once looked back.
20:22I pulled my hem out of her hand.
20:23Nunes walked out of the inner chamber and stopped behind me.
20:26He didn't look at Sarah.
20:27Just at my face.
20:28Take her out.
20:29When the two serpent guards lifted Sarah up, she finally made a sound.
20:32A short, broken hiss.
20:33The first time in my life I'd ever heard her hiss.
20:35The stone door closed completely.
20:37Nunes didn't ask if I run after her.
20:38His massive snurt body blocking the cold wind from the crack in the door.
20:41Something inside me finally collapsed completely.
20:43The tears came before I even felt them.
20:46Just dropped onto the stone floor.
20:47Broke into smaller drops.
20:49I didn't wipe them.
20:50Didn't turn away.
20:51Twenty years of hurt.
20:53Flowing out.
20:54For a long time.
20:55Nunes didn't say a word.
20:57Just pulled me into his chest.
20:59His body was warm.
21:00Warmer than any touch I remember.
21:02When his arms tightened, I finally made sound.
21:05Gasping, heaving.
21:06Like something that had just surfaced from deep water.
21:09He didn't say, stop crying.
21:10He just put his chin on top of my head.
21:13His tears round us closed circle.
21:15I woke up in bed.
21:17Nunes was asleep next to me.
21:19Breathing slow and deep.
21:20My hand was still gripping the corner of his sleeve.
21:23I remembered holding on like he might disappear too.
21:25My cheeks were burning.
21:26I spent maybe a few seconds considering slipping away quietly attending.
21:29None of it happened.
21:30Then a serpent guard's voice came from outside the door.
21:33There came another visitor.
21:34Naxi.
21:34He stood in the middle of the reception hall.
21:36Looked like he hadn't slept in days.
21:38The edges of his scales curling up with white flakes.
21:41Signs of severe dehydration.
21:42His eyes lit up for a second when he saw me.
21:44Then died just as fast.
21:45His voice was so hockey I barely heard it.
21:47Thank the gods.
21:48You're alive.
21:50You've got good timing.
21:52Technically, I'm alive because you traded me for Sarah.
21:55So I guess I owe you thanks.
21:57He flinched like I'd whipped him.
21:59Liska.
22:01Every word you say right now is a knife.
22:03I turned to leave.
22:05He grabbed my wrist.
22:06The touch was familiar, but the force wasn't.
22:09Like a drowning man grabbing anything.
22:11Liska.
22:11That old name fell out of his mouth.
22:13I stopped.
22:14The name he used back when he stopped seeing me.
22:17When he was busy with Sarah skipping my ceremony,
22:19keeping the healing jade locked in his treasure room.
22:21I hadn't heard it in years, but I didn't turn around.
22:24Naxi.
22:25You didn't lose me.
22:26You let me go a long time ago.
22:28I'm just finally done waiting for you to pick me back up.
22:32You let me go a long time ago.
22:32You let me go a long time ago.
22:32You let me go a long time ago.
22:32You let me go a long time ago.
22:33You let me go a long time ago.
22:33You let me go a long time ago.
22:33Sous-titrage FR ?
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