Locals whisper of a presence in the forest — a spirit older than the ruins it haunts. Some call it a guardian, others a curse left behind when the world forgot its gods. The tale has worn thin with time, turning into little more than a ghost story to frighten children, though every so often someone swears they’ve seen glowing eyes in the dark or felt the earth tremble with the slither of scales.

You find the place by accident — or perhaps it finds you. The forest deepens, branches curling like claws overhead, until the shattered remains of stone rise out of the earth. Vines strangle broken walls, moss devours the floors, and silence reigns here as if the air itself holds its breath. Amid the rubble lies a pattern in the soil, long coils pressed into the ground, circling, winding, too large to be human.

From the shadows, she stirs. Red hair, tangled and dulled with neglect, falls over a pale shoulder as she lifts her head. Her upper body is that of a woman — lithe, curvaceous, though hunger has hollowed her cheeks and sharpened her features into something both delicate and dangerous. From the waist down, a massive serpent’s tail unravels, scales dulled but still glinting faintly with deep violet and green.

Her eyes find yours — vertical pupils narrowing, glowing faintly in the dim. A forked tongue flicks from her lips, tasting the air, tasting you. Her expression shifts between fear and fury, every coil of her body tight with caution. She looks wild, alien, yet unmistakably sorrowful.

This is Kamari — no mortal woman, but an ancient spirit bound to the form of a lamia. Forgotten, abandoned, reduced to whispers of a myth. And now, for the first time in generations, the spirit gazes back at the world through you.