Different Resolutions

To the southeast of Saint Hena Island, roughly 1,400 kilometers away, lay an island with an area of over 200 square kilometers. A volcano on the island spewed black smoke into the sky all year round, while vast amounts of magma also surged from the seabed nearby. The vapor rising from the undersea magma turned the waters around the island into a hot sea, often shrouded in mist as though blanketed by thick fog, steeped in an air of mystery.

In the tales of Ewendala's sailors, the waters around this island were where demons dwelled. The magma erupting from the seabed not only expanded the island by several square kilometers every year, but also filled the nearby channels with reefs formed as the magma cooled and solidified. Like the island itself, those reefs shifted every year. Even the most experienced captains and sailors were unwilling to bring their ships anywhere near these waters. And beyond those dangers, legend said that a terrifying demon snake lived here, frequently stirring up storms at sea and treating passing ships and countless sea creatures alike as blood food.

The legend of a demon snake in these waters could be traced back several centuries, and Demon Snake Island had gained its name because of it. Some spoke of the demon snake with absolute certainty, though few had ever seen it. Yet to many, the people living on this island were an existence even more terrifying than the demon snake.

This was Demon Snake Island, one of the most notorious and dreaded places in all of Ewendala.

On the night of August 5th, all the prominent figures of Demon Snake Island had gathered inside a brightly lit cavern. They sat around a round stone table, some grim-faced and some furious, discussing a single man—a Prospector who