Eight years ago.

Elys walked through the outer territory of the tribe, flanked by four members of her personal guard. When she had first bonded with Phoenix, she had attempted to disguise herself so that she could walk among her people without drawing much attention. It had soon proven futile. Her level of refinement and leaking aura were impossible for even mundanes to ignore.

So she wandered through the camps freely, showing herself as a pillar of strength for the community. It had been two years since she had become Phoenix’s Vessel, and she still felt a bit awkward from all the attention. In truth, she preferred interacting with mundanes. It was easier to keep her senses dull around their spiritually-inert souls, opposed to being overwhelmed with details from her peers.

As one of the tribe’s princesses, she had received her fair share of attention--likely more than she deserved, since people had always thought of her as a potential candidate to become the next Matriarch. With that came marriage offers, sycophantic friendships, petty dramas among family, and so on. But now, others looked at her with a religious fervor, as if she was the reason the sun continued to rise every morning.

Keeping her demeanor carefully composed and elegant, she strolled through the poorest of her people. Not that there was much squalor nowadays. She remembered there had once been destitute hangers-on, addicts or the incurably diseased who lived in filth. The tribe had not ignored their plight, but the human heart being what it was, occasionally people would retreat from society and refuse help.

Now, she saw smiling faces. People working to maintain or improve their modest dwellings. Children playing. A family clapping as an infant took several unsteady steps before falling back onto its bottom. In a way, it all felt unnatural, undeserved. Was all this happiness truly real, if it came as a result of her aura and the prestige of her bonded spirit?

Did it matter? If their happiness felt real to them, then that was good enough. She could tolerate the high expectations and the reverence. Her mother had once confided in her that she had felt the same way for a long time, until the act ended up becoming reality. Once enough people believed in something, their faith made it so. All of human civilization had been shaped by the collective will and beliefs of mankind. A Matriarch was a Matriarch because others conferred the title and rights onto them--there was no room for doubt in this simple truth.

Many outsiders had sought to join the tribe, as it turned out that her position as Vessel was one of the worst-kept secrets around. A select few had managed to earn the honor of remaining within the territory, though it was unlikely any of them would truly integrate with her people. Their presence added a slew of new problems to her plate, but it had also opened the doors to diplomatic relations with the outside world.

Part of that meant dealing with the Sect of Sacred Tears. The tribe had always been small but well-respected due to the necessity of the water their cultivators provided. Leviathan throwing his weight behind them had elevated their modest tribe to the upper echelon of desert factions. She had recently talked with one of their emissaries, remaining as vague as possible, but the truth of her situation was obvious to anyone with eyes.

Elys was pulled out of her thoughts when a little girl dashed toward her. Two of her guards reacted, cutting her off, but Elys waved them off.

“What can I do for you?” she asked the little girl.

Now that she was up close, the bravery had faded from the sight of the young Matriarch. Awe had replaced all conscious thought. After a few seconds, the girl recovered and managed to stammer out her request.

“Can I..can I touch your hand? Everyone says you’re like a walking altar, giving out blessings.” The little girl blushed. “Uh, sorry if that’s rude.”

Elys made an exaggerated haughty face, then extended her hand like she was inviting a gentleman to kiss it. The girl touched one of her knuckles, eyes wide, her finger darting back immediately as if she had been scalded. She hadn’t, of course. Probably. Elys’ control was still lacking sometimes.

Before either of them could speak again, a warning flickered in the back of Elys' mind. She realized the day she had been dreading had finally arrived, a moment before Phoenix whispered in the back of her mind. Beware. The snake approaches.

“Run as far as possible,” Elys told the little girl, placing a hand on her back and gently shoving her along. “Quickly.”

She received a horrified look in response, as if the girl thought she had offended her Matriarch. Then a horizontal seam appeared in the air in front of them. The girl was smart enough to immediately run away, yelling for her parents in a nearby tent. Others within the area soon caught on and left behind whatever they were doing. Soon, only her guard remained.

Elys smoothed the front of her dress with trembling hands, then composed herself as her mother had taught her. Elegant, regal, imposing. Feet wide, shoulders squared.

“Don’t do anything,” she told her guard, standing up front as if she was the one protecting them. “Remain silent unless otherwise commanded.”

The seam spread until it was wide as a doorway. A curtain of water spilled out, splattering onto the parched earth. From it emerged a man in elaborate blue robes, his hands clasped together as if in prayer. He wore an empty smile across his arrogantly perfect face, sky-blue eyes piercing through the veils of reality. Before his dissecting gaze, she knew all of her obfuscations were meaningless.

He stepped forward and the portal closed behind him.

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Most powerful cultivators she had met wore enchanted jewelry and all other displays of external power. The visitor apparently saw no need for that. As respectful and unassuming as he appeared, all of her senses screamed warnings at her. The world around him rippled. Her domain was rejected, substituted with a dark fluidity that stained reality. She took a step back as its borders spread toward her. The expansion stopped right before her nose.

Even with her spiritual sense dulled as much as possible, her mind attempted to analyze as many of the potent concepts imbued into his aura as possible. Obviously Water. Darkness? Death? Sacrifice? A quick glance at his soul revealed nothing beyond his name--Leviathan.

“Greetings, Phoenix,” he said, bowing over his clasped hands. “I came to verify for myself whether the rumors are true. You have indeed incarnated. Or do my eyes deceive me?”

“They do.” Elys was proud of the strength in her voice. “My name is Matriarch Elys of the Wandering Phoenix Tribe. You may shorten it to Matriarch, if you prefer.”

Leviathan laughed--a deep, haunting sound. “It’s also true that the human appears to be mostly in control. You’ve always had ridiculous ideas.”

In the back of Elys’ mind, there was only silence. “It seems Phoenix does not have a response.”

“Phoenix was always so desperate to be heard, but now, nothing?” said Leviathan, glancing up at the overhead storm clouds casually, as if they might know the answer. “What a shame. Well, mortal, my viziers inform me that you are said to be rather beautiful. They urge me to ally with you, and spread our influence together. What say you?”

“If our interests align,” said Elys, “then it is possible we could work together on some things. I have no desire to make an enemy of you.”

“What if my advisors say that I should marry you?”

Before she realized what she was doing, Elys twisted both hands into a complex mudra. Leviathan had chosen to come at midday, when the sun was at its zenith. She merged her Phoenix aura with the surrounding light and concentrated it upon Leviathan’s position. A focused pillar of golden death descended upon him.

Leviathan stood in place as if unbothered. His flesh melted and reformed in a constant flux. The sand beneath his feet vitrified into glass in a ten-foot radius. Despite the devastating heat, not even his robes suffered any obvious damage. After several seconds, Elys cut off the flow of Sun qi into her technique.

“I will choose to consider that was a test of your future partner’s strength. I am told such things are important to your kind.” Leviathan shook his head sadly. “I know you were unable to identify much of my soul. Progress is so limited when you are forced to serve a mortal like this. For instance, allow me to demonstrate.”

With a casual wave of his hand, he formed another rift in the air. When this one spread open, it revealed a dark and endless sea beyond.

Within this realm, abominations struggled to stay afloat. They were sad, misshapen creatures, twisted and deformed. Their base shapes appeared to be humanoid, but most had disturbing mutations, such as extra limbs or random eyes studding their bodies. They filled the world as far as she could see, their frantic splashing churning the waters in a frenzy. Within a few seconds, one of the abominations near her line of sight was dragged beneath the waters by some massive, shadowy predator.

“What are those?” she asked, though she suspected she already knew the answer.

Leviathan pressed his hands together and the rift closed. “That was a portal into my Inner World. Those are subjects of mine that were unable to handle the corruptive influence of some of my gifts. They partook of their own accord, of course.”

One of her guards groaned in dismay. Another of them shuffled his feet and began breathing loud enough for her to hear.

Was that supposed to be a joke? She struggled not to remember much from that nightmarish glimpse. Beyond a simple display of cruelty, the purpose behind the demonstration was to show that Leviathan had advanced far enough into the World Stage to create his own internal pocket dimension. She was still in Late Nascent Soul, and he had already broken through the bottleneck of the Spirit Severing Stage.

“I see,” was all that she managed to say.

Unwilling to take her eyes off Leviathan, she spread out her spiritual awareness enough to ensure that the residents of the area had all fled to safety. Though she attempted to steer her attention away from Leviathan, his metaphysical presence tugged at her mind like a whirlpool, threatening to drag her into the dark depths of his soul.

“I will allow you some time to consider your position on my proposal further,” said Leviathan.

It took Elys a moment to realize he was talking about the marriage, which she had also hoped to brush aside as some monster’s attempt at humor. He looked quite serious, if a bit disinterested. She was curious to ask him how much time an immortal was willing to wait for her response, but doing so would impose a deadline she may have otherwise been able to avoid.

“Very well,” she responded. She fought off the urge to bow her head. She still had some pride, after all.

Leviathan turned and slashed his hand through the air, forming another rift of flowing water in his wake. “Step through this doorway into my Waterfall Palace if you wish to be done with all of this now.”

Elys remained in place, silent.

“Well, then I will see you soon enough.” Leviathan took a step toward the rift, then turned back around, a small but real smile on his face. “Oh, and I almost forgot. You tested my strength, but I didn’t test yours.”

An alarm flared in her head, and Phoenix cried out in the back of her mind. She threw up several protective barriers, trying her best to shield the guards around her as well.

A third eye opened in the middle of Leviathan’s forehead. He formed a complex mudra with his hands resembling a coiled serpent.

“Manifest Tail.” His words echoed throughout reality.

Elys looked up at the overcast sky. In an instant, a colossal length of serpentine tail blotted out the heavens. Each scale was as large as a house, and all of them were a subtly different shade of blue or violet. Its shadow darkened the world below, encompassing a huge portion of the outer territory around her.

Leviathan stepped through the gateway and vanished. The portal remained behind him for a few seconds. High above, the tail remained poised, as if waiting for her to step through after him. Before she could change her mind, the portal disappeared.

Elys continued to erect barrier after barrier. Her guards lended their feeble efforts to the cause, overlapping with her defensive techniques. In the end, it didn’t matter.

The tail descended.