After that night, everything changed.
The town no longer mocked Adaora. Some avoided her; others began to whisper prayers when she passed, unsure if she was a blessing or a warning.
But for Adaora, peace was fragile. Every full moon, the serpent’s pull grew stronger. She feared one day even Emeka’s voice wouldn’t be enough.
One evening, sitting by the mango tree where they first met, she said quietly, “You should leave before it’s too late.”
Emeka frowned. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I saw something in my dreams,” she whispered. “The serpent said love comes with a price.”
“Then I’ll pay it,” he said.
Tears glistened in her eyes. “You don’t understand. If I lose control, the serpent will need a life to balance mine.”
He reached out and took her hand. “Then let it take mine.”
“Emeka—”
“No. I’m serious. You saved me once—from being ordinary. If dying for you is the price, I’ll pay it a thousand times.”
Adaora buried her face in his chest, sobbing. The serpent within her stirred—but this time, it didn’t hiss. It purred.
IX. The Awakening
On Adaora’s seventeenth birthday, the moon rose blood-red.
The old woman gathered herbs, chanting softly. “Tonight decides her fate.”
Adaora lay on a mat, trembling as light rippled beneath her skin. The air shimmered with power. Snakes appeared again—phantoms of light and shadow.
Emeka knelt beside her, holding her hand. “I’m here.”
She screamed. Her body arched. Scales bloomed along her arms and neck. Her hair shimmered like molten gold.
“Don’t fight it,” Mama Ngozi shouted. “Accept it!”
Adaora’s eyes flew open, glowing fiercely. “I can’t!”
Emeka leaned close. “You can. You’re stronger than this curse.”
Then he did what no one dared—he kissed her.
For a moment, everything exploded—light, sound, energy. The snakes vanished. The air grew still.
When the glow faded, Adaora lay motionless. The scales were gone. Her skin was clear. Her eyes—human again.
She sat up slowly, gasping. “It’s… quiet. The serpent—it’s gone.”
Mama Ngozi smiled, tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. “No, child. Not gone—at peace.”
Emeka helped her up. “What happened?”
“The serpent accepted your love,” the old woman said. “The curse is broken.”
X. The New Dawn
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