The green serpent spirit Kael goes down the mountain to ask the townsfolk of Hollow's End for help, after his mate Seraphina is trapped under a rockslide. He promises three years of peace and prosperity for the town in return. But the greedy town chairman Harlan forces Kael to sign a blood-bound pact, demanding that he sacrifice a century of his spirit power to make all 68 local families rich within three years. To save his dying mate, Kael finally agrees, and is devoured by the petrification curse as the divine backlash.