The silver liquid from Chiron's vial felt like liquid starlight as Vaelora gently pressed it against Azeal's wounded chest. Almost instantly, a soothing warmth rushed through his veins. The fractured ribs knited back together with a soft, magical hum, and the heavy exhaustion that had weighed down his limbs vanished. Azeal stood up, breathing deeply without any pain, his senses sharper than ever before.
"The Centaur's magic is true," Azeal murmured, stretching his arms and feeling the raw power running through his body. "My strength is completely restored."
Vaelora smiled with relief, but her eyes quickly darted to the dark, twisting path ahead. "We must move quickly, Azeal. Chiron was right. Draeven has blocked the main northern pass to our kingdom. He wants to delay you, to trap us in these outer lands so he can buy enough time to solidify his dark rule and summon the full force of the Abyss. This long, forgotten road is our only hope of making it back to the Capital before it's too late."
"Then we do not waste another second," Azeal said firmly, drawing the Star Fire Sword. The blade glowed with a calm, watchful celestial blue light, illuminating the heavy fog that rolled across the forest floor.
They began to navigate the treacherous path, where the roots of the ancient trees looked like giant, sleeping serpents. But the silence of the Shrouded Woods did not last long. Within an hour, the air grew sickly sweet, smelling of decay and burning acid. The green moss beneath their boots began to wither, turning into a black, oozing sludge.
Hssssssssss.
A low, vibrating sound shook the earth beneath them. The ground split open twenty paces ahead, shattering heavy rocks into dust. From the dark fissure, a monstrous silhouette rose into the misty air.
It was the Basilisk—the legendary serpent of death.
The creature was colossal, its body covered in heavy, obsidian-like scales that dripped with a glowing green acid that hissed as it touched the ground. It didn't have the face of a normal snake; its head was crowned with jagged, horn-like crests, and its massive jaws revealed rows of translucent, dagger-like teeth. But the most terrifying feature was its eyes—large, bulbous, and glowing with a sickening, hypnotic yellow light.
"Vaelora, close your eyes! Don't look at it!" Azeal roared, instantly throwing his arm up to shield his own vision. He remembered Chiron's warning: a single direct gaze into those yellow eyes would freeze a mortal's blood into solid ice.
The Basilisk hissed, its massive tail sweeping across the path. The impact shattered a nearby oak tree, sending heavy wooden splinters flying like arrows. Azeal rolled to the side, gripping the Star Fire Sword tightly, his eyes focused strictly on the ground, watching the creature's reflection in the dark, acidic puddles.
Fighting blindly was nearly impossible. The serpent lunged, its massive jaws snapping just inches away from Azeal's shoulder. The toxic breath from its mouth was suffocating, burning his throat even without direct contact.
"Azeal, behind you!" Vaelora called out. She stood near a large rock, keeping her eyes averted from the beast, but using her hands to channel a soft barrier of golden light from the Book of Origins to deflect the splashing acid.
Azeal knew he couldn't win this fight by hiding his face forever. He needed a strategy. Raising the Star Fire Sword vertically in front of his face, he used the highly polished, celestial steel of his father's blade as a mirror. In the reflection of the glowing runes, he saw the Basilisk coiling, preparing for a fatal strike.
The serpent lunged again, aiming to swallow the prince whole.
Using the reflection to time his movement perfectly, Azeal waited until the last possible microsecond. As the monster's jaws closed in, Azeal slid beneath its massive leathery underbelly. With a roar of defiance, he channeled the cosmic energy of his lineage into the blade. The Star Fire Sword erupted into a blinding white blaze of starlight.
With a powerful, two-handed upward thrust, Azeal drove the burning sword deep into the soft underbelly of the Basilisk. The cosmic fire instantly clashed with the creature's acidic blood, creating a massive explosion of white sparks and dark smoke.