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Chapter 1 - THE CARPET OF LIVING SHADOWS“He thought he was taming pets... until he saw what was guarding his boot.”The morning air felt unnaturally heavy, thick with the stench of copper and damp earth. When Alex pushed open the canvas flap of his tent, his foot froze mid-air, inches from absolute horror.

The ground was no longer soil. It was a writhing, pulsing carpet of glistening black and silver scales.

Hundreds of cobras—not hatchlings anymore, but thick, muscular reptiles expanding outward in concentric circles—were coiled around his threshold. But it wasn't just their sheer number that made Alex's heart stop. Standing erect in the center of the clearing, towering over six feet off the ground with a hood flared wider than a shield, was a colossal mother cobra.

In her massive jaws, she held something dripping with fresh, dark crimson: the blood-stained dog tags of Commander Vance.

Alex’s breath hitched in his throat. The warnings he had ignored echoed in his head like gunshots. “Danger near personnel—eliminate without discussion.” He had thought he was being compassionate. He had thought tossing scraps of bread and meat made him a friend.

The giant matriarch slowly lowered her head, slithering toward him until her cold, scaly snout gently tapped his combat boot. She didn't bite. She nudged a severed, bloody piece of raw meat toward his toes—an offering.

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Alex looked out past his tent into the rest of the camp. The morning silence wasn't peaceful. It was dead.

VIRAL HOOK: He fed them out of boredom, but the nest didn't want food... it wanted a Master.

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