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==== Heilli and Líkami's vision ====

The heat from the jungle is smothering.  Rather than provide a welcome relief, a
recent rain seems to have only made things more unbearable.  A fog of flying
insects provides a constant background buzz, punctuated by the more distant
cries of larger animals.  But amidst all of that, a subtle cacophony of clicks
and hisses forms an audible pattern -- the sound taking a form in your minds.

From your brother's vantage point, the sound is the same -- but the plants of the
jungle part to reveal a large circular clearing, 100 feet across.  A massive
black dragon paces around the center point of the clearing, a ring of small
stones circling it.  Having experience with no other black dragons (and since it
seems to be about the right size), you can only assume that this is
[[Mosargrax]].

Atop each stone stands (or coils) a Yuan-Ti sorcerer, chanting in an arcane
language -- their narrow forked tongues producing nothing more than a constant
hiss to the untrained ear.  But this is more.  This is not just language -- but
magic.  And the ritual has been going on for a //very// long time.
[[Mosargrax]] paces back and forth, shifting direction frequently -- but never
moving closer to the stone circle.

Ignoring your brother's sight for the moment, you move forward in your reality.
Ahead, the jungle parts into the clearing -- but at a point nearly opposite that
of your brother's.  Now, you can see the ritual from two vantage points.

And you spot something previously hidden.  Under the dragon, a circle of runes
has been drawn in the packed ground.  Every time she tries to move, the runes
glow and she flinches back.

Then, like the crest of a wave crashing on the beach, the hissing chant rises in
intensity and abruptly stops.

[[Mosargrax]] roars. //(or is that a scream?)//

Its wings melt -- as if doused in its own acid.  The twin, forward-arching horns
on the sides of its face recede back into the skin -- as the rest of its face
shifts into a new shape.  Down the length of its body, its black scales begin to
fill with color.  First, a dark red, then forest green, and finally a deep green
with red and yellow streaks. Its roar shifts in tone and becomes more of a hiss
as its tongue (now forked) lashes in and out of its mouth.

It seems to lose its balance, clumsily crashing to the ground as its legs melt
under it -- leaving a massive snake where once [[Mosargrax]] herself stood.

Raising its head high, the snake scans the circle of Yuan-Ti and speaks.

**"Who wakes Sertrous?!"**  Its voice resonates with a power beyond your
experience.

The Yuan-Ti, in a practiced unison, step (slide) from their stones, pull short
curved weapons from their belts and draw the blades across their own necks.
Blood from a dozen veins spurts in all directions.  Sertrous rises even higher
and roars -- but was that pain, rage, or triumph?

**"Good!"**  It's voice (deeper now) rumbles the jungle -- as if it could shake
the world to dust if it so much as spoke the right word.

But then it snaps its head to the side -- its eyes focus on a point at the edge
of the clearing.  Brother!

A muffled scream fills your mind as you hear a wet pop from across the clearing.
The scream stops and you reel back, dazed as an emptiness engulfs your
subconscious.

A moment later, your senses return -- only to see a massive snake head hovering
only a few feet from you.  Its eyes glow with a red fire.

**"Two so alike -- yet so different."**  Its head twists to the side, then back,
as if studying you.  Its eyes seem to pierce your mind -- exposing you to it body
and soul.

**"Your brother enjoyed the mercy of a quick death.  You will not."**

Its head snaps forward, massive fangs pierce into your shoulder and draw you
into its maw.  An acrid smell combines with the heat of a fire and the sound of
your bones breaking as its jaws crush down, filling your world with blackness,
pain, and then silence...


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