Demon continent Alsace in the year 237 in the 9-month Lilithum on the 31st day after the shattering of the empire

Diva looked at the small figure of the basilisk in front of her, always careful not to look her in the eye, not that a basilisk necessarily had to look you in the eye to petrify you, as mortals would say. After all, they didn't know what a basilisk was skilled in either, to them it just looked like it was petrifying you, which was what was taking place. Nevertheless, this was only a byproduct of the actual act, like a fever in mortals, which manifested itself when the body was fighting an illness. Yet it was so obvious that a basilisk took after their mother and had inherited her abilities.

The basilisk was a mythical creature even among Titans because no matter what the Titans did it was already there and it would always come, it was unstoppable that there would be a Basilisk. Even though the Titans had never killed a Basilisk, they had tried and failed. In the end, it had come and they had not been able to do anything against it, as time itself would go on and on, unstoppable by anything. And they had known where and how it would arise, and yet they had been unable to prevent it, and it had cost some of them their lives. Immortal Titans had withered and died before the gaze of the Basilisk until there was nothing left of them, not even a memory. That's what they all knew, they had lost comrades to the Basilisk, but they didn't know which ones, or rather they couldn't remember.

But it seemed to her that this Basilisk could not remember anything or was he just playing the ignorant? Something she had to find out and that quickly she could feel the Basilisk's power burning against her own and slowly overpowering her and that even though she didn't look him in the eye.

"So why are you here now little king." She couldn't quite keep the spot out of her voice, for which she immediately chided herself. She didn't want to provoke him not when there was a possibility that he would free her. Even if he seemed to have chosen the form of a demoness. "Your kind is looking for you and I ran into them and wanted to know if it was true that you were locked up here." The little king answered her in an emotionless voice that made all the arcane energy around her vibrate and she could see that the little king was ready to pounce at any moment.

"Well as you can see it is true. And was that all then? I would like to continue meditating alone in peace then." She wondered how the little king would react to this. The latter just tilted his head and looked at him he could feel how every inch of his body was scrutinized and how he was looked at from all sides. His cell was no longer his own domain, but that of the little king. "Why are you locked up?" The little king finally asked, which only further confirmed to her that this Basilisk was a new one, one which had nothing to do with the old one. Which only raised more questions and she could feel another emotion welling up in her, a will to fight the young king and prove to him and the world who was the stronger of the two. A desire which she could only get with difficulty under control. As she could see now, this was apparently also the case with the little king.

"What can't you read the runes and figure out their purpose. Oh ..." She managed to interrupt herself before she said something too bad. She felt like she was looking over her own shoulder, watching herself talk to one of Arcane's most dangerous Titans. The arcane energy around her and the little king grew more and more fractious, charging against each other. At first, she didn't even notice it, but then he could see it. The cave around them both began to tremble, small stones and dust began to rain from the ceiling, and even the rings made of a divine alloy began to vibrate. More and more powerful the storm became, and worse and worse the trembling became.

"What do you want to show me, young one, what you can do? That I don't have to laugh."Why was she antagonizing him more and more? Was she insane? Did she want to die? She could feel her control over her own domain slipping away more and more, and how it was becoming that of the little king. Despite everything, the little king had not yet gone on the attack which was probably better for both of them, luckily she was locked up and could not attack him at all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

It became more and more difficult for her to keep a clear head and not to jump at Diva and tear her throat open. She could, of course, see her doing the same thing and their arcane energies going at each other and about to bring the cave down. Something she definitely didn't want to happen, because she would be buried under tons of earth and she wasn't sure if she would survive such a thing.

Nevertheless, this arcane storm had to be felt from far away, by animals as well as monsters, but hopefully, there were no demons or other intelligent creatures nearby who would come to see what was going on here.

She also had no plan how to fight against these instincts, which were even stronger than she had felt so far.

Nevertheless, she took up the fight against her own instincts, she could not bear to be controlled by them like a puppet, she had always been in full control of her life and would not allow some primitive instincts to control her.

First, she had to get her own arcane energy back under control before the whole cave would fall on her head, something she would really like to avoid. She had to literally wrestle with herself for control, it was even worse than before she was led down here by her instincts. Instincts were there in her world to support her but not to take control.

Also, there seemed to be something wrong with her Arcane Energy, because she could pour vast amounts of Arcane Energy into the Storm without missing a single drop in her core. Still, she had to bring the Arcane Energy, which was obviously controlled by her instincts, under her own control. Which seemed to be a mammoth task, as she had difficulty even grasping it and bringing it under control. Still, she had to do it and she could see that Diva also saw what she was doing and was trying to bring her own Arcane Energy under control.

Slowly, when she was already at the end of her own strength, she felt the Arcane Energy obeying her again and letting her bring it under control. By now she was lying on the floor trying in vain to fill her lungs with air, but never could she get enough air into her lungs.

"Now that was something." Croaked Diva out of her prison. Only slowly was she able to get herself into a sitting position and finally she sat cross-legged facing Diva. "That was something I haven't experienced in a long time and you probably never have. A territorial fight between Titans, that I got to experience that again. I thought I would be trapped here until the end of the universe and never see another living being again let alone a Titan."

"I have no idea how to answer that." She admitted to herself and also to Diva. "Still, I'm someone who avoids conflict when I can, and I don't like it when I'm not in control." She didn't mean to be so blunt. I must be more exhausted than I thought, after all, I guess I'll have to watch what I say. "You're still young, which is why you're still looking for your place in the world as a Titan, it's probably better that you came to me and not another Titan. But I have to thank you because I didn't want to die down here in a useless territorial fight after which you wouldn't have been able to leave this prison. Good thing you had yourself so well under control." Actually, no, I was just able enough not to lunge at you. She thought to herself. She tried to save what was said for a later time because she didn't feel able to think about what Diva said, especially the remark that Diva would have died fighting her, wouldn't she have died rather the Titan in a fight.

"So how come you're locked down here and do your offspring even have a chance to free you?" First, she wanted to get her worries about that out of the way, or at least know the truth. "They found me, I thought they were all long dead."Broke out Diva with disbelief before continuing in a sad voice. "No probably not, yet I thank you for telling me about my offspring and I think it's better for now that this is not possible or we would have to fight each other whether we like it or not. Which is why you should consider my prison as my territory and everything else as your own so it's easier to get along." She gave something in agreement, while she tried to anchor this demarcation believably in herself.

After a few minutes, she was sure that she had succeeded enough to relax a little, and yes, she did manage to relax a little. As well as it is possible next to a mythical being. And now, for the first time, she was able to look at Diva properly without a will to kill her.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abraxas' head jerked to the side and he looked at the red star in the distance. He had felt it, as had all the other inhabitants of the city, as they were being flooded with Arcane Energy. Those who hadn't felt it must have seen it when the magical lights in the streets and homes broke, he personally had a long-distance communication mirror blown up in his face. Other parts of the empire will have sensed it as well, as probably the locals and the renegades, and he wouldn't be surprised if even the colonies had noticed it. So now he had at least a reason to send an army to the center of the continent, with which he could regain this territory or if this possibility did not arise he could capture the princess again.

Already there was a knock on his door and one of his servants entered. "A message from the palace sir, the royal family wishes to speak with you."That too, it was going to be a long night. As many nights before it had been. "Good, get my carriage ready."