Wow Mina, this was amazing! An incredible level 3 response to the prompt that expertly wove in all of the prompt’s elements and many others as well.

I loved the back-and-forth with the flashback midway through the piece. The context really made the entire journey feel more impactful.

I also loved how you jumped right into the action at the beginning. The hook was sublime.

Top it off with the incredible lore and worldbuilding around the portal and the snake, and you’ve got yourself a winner here!