The Sky Serpent patiently waited for the fate of the Princess Snake. He had taken many to the foot of the great tree, but few had ever stepped out of its wooden walls. He feared for the fates of those that had found themselves trapped to the whims of his sibling, the Wood Serpent. He had known that the Wood Serpent was a bit... lecherous to say the least.

He prayed for the fate of the Princess Snake to be safe and the fate of those trapped within be untangled from the Wood Serpent's coils. Those who fail the trial should at least be given the option to go home, but only a few of those who entered and failed had exited the tree. If he could enter the tree to straighten his brother's knots, he would have. At least he should have had the decency to at least throw out their bodies.

After an hour of waiting, his patience was rewarded. Exiting the tree, emerging from the vortex of bark, the Princess Snake appeared. In her mouth was a large fruit that barely fit in her mouth. It was a legendary Primordial Mango. The colors of its peel pulsed and danced like the flames and the surface of the sun. A burning aura emanated from the fruit that made her mouth feel like cooking.

The Princess Snake slumped before the Sky Serpent. She breathed slowly. She just emerged from one of the most horrifying things that occurred to her. The Wood Serpent was approaching her uncomfortably. His gigantic form of gray braided roots brought no comfort to her, especially with the smile that carved his mouth. She was forced to retreat through a dark dank maze. She could feel the Wood Serpent pursuing her. His slithers caused tremors that could be felt through the walls. The less said of the state of the snakes, cobras, and vipers she found imprisoned there the better.

The Sky Serpent coiled around the snake and began comforting her. He purred a comforting song into her ears. The snake stabilized her breath to the tempo of his song. She turned her eyes to his brilliant ones. The wonder they brought to her overpowered the great discomfort she felt in her traversal into the great mango tree.

"Are you okay now," the Sky Serpent asked, to which the snake nodded. "Good. We only have so many night hours before the sun is due to rise. Eat the Primordial Mango, Princess Snake, so that we may move on to the next leg of your journey."

The Princess Snake opened her mouth and stuffed the mango into her maw. Her neck bulged as she swallowed the fruit whole; the width of the mango was larger than the width of her length. The Primordial Mango settled in her stomach where her digestive juices began digesting the holy fruit.

She fell over as the essence of the mango flowed into her body. The fire inherent to the flesh of the fruit flowed into her muscles. She felt like burning up. Fire infused her being but was not hurting her. The scales that wrapped her body glowed many shades of orange, many hues of flames and the sun.

Soon, the heat she felt had passed, and she was left on the floor panting. The mango had completely melted into her flesh and their magical properties were infused into her body. The glow the mango had induced had not faded completely. If one were to look closely, one would see a golden aura faintly emanating from her surface.

The Sky Serpent watched the event unfold before him with some concern. While all of those ophidians that had consumed the fruit hadn't experienced adverse effects, he couldn't help but feel nervous about the result. The possibility that something would go wrong wasn't an absolute zero.

He rubbed the forehead of the Princess Snake. She lifted up her chin to his dazzling eyes. "You have passed the trial, princess. You are fit to continue on to your journey to the Birthday Planet. Let me take you to your next trial."

The Sky Serpent offered his tail to the Princess Snake. The snake curiously looked at the tail before placing her own over it. Suddenly his tail coiled around her body with the force of a vise grip. She feared that she would be crushed, but the Sky Serpent was gentler than that and held her tightly and safely.

He opened up his wings. They glittered in the dark like glowing crystals. They stood out in the darkness like they're from dreams. He flapped them and he took off from the ground with the snake in his tow. For the second time that night, he spirited his passenger to another distant location, this time, a place much grander than the Great Tree.

They flew over forests and hills. Seven of them had flown over until the sight of their destination was seen. The princess turned her gaze below where she saw seven islands side by side in the mouth of the largest river she's seen. The largest of them lay nearest to the sea while the smallest rose above the water farthest upstream. The river was frankly monstrous, spanning a hundred slithers at its narrowest and half a thousand at its widest. Strange huts were built upon the island soils.

"Behold, princess. The Serpentine Estuary, where your next trial shall occur," announced the Sky Serpent. "Here live the nymph serpents, servants of the serpent."

"What is my purpose here?" The Princess Snake asked.

The Sky Serpent landed upon dark moist earth. He folded his wings into his back where they disappeared in a shower of sparkles. "The item you need next is some Serpentine Salt. Salt of the heavens it is, and only the serpents of these deltas could produce some of them."

"Why?"

"Serpentine Salt would give a body of steel. Harsh cutting wind blow on the path just as much as the fire fills the way. Without Serpentine Salt, your body would be cut into ribbons as you ascend."