How long have the stars been the same? Longer than weary eyes may count. Tonight, a wanderer burns on the surface of Khusu’s pool, and soon all other lights will seem pale. How many ages have rolled since the gods have seen a sail from the world beyond? The rising sun shall rob them of their isolation. My time is coming. They called me fool, but none have known my pain. The pattern shifts; neither man nor god may know its final weaving. What some call madness, I call vision. I have seen, and now one comes – haunted, driven before the winds of a fate he dare not face. I have called the Serpent from his prison. A man of war, seeking peace, yet disease and ruin will follow in his wake. What he bears will cast a shadow to drown the distant lights of Tel Aphos and make the gods who dwell there remember fear. All that remains is to find the one to serve me when the general falls. Is that you Hetephes? Are you to be my handmaiden or will you choose your false father? So many others have failed. You are restless in your narrow bed. Do you sense me watching? Do you dream? Should not the God of Visions and Crossroads know? It is selfish not to share. It matters not! The ships are here, the star returns, and no novice’s dream could encompass what is to come… If you want to know that, you must share The Serpent’s Quest.