Demon continent Alsace in the year 307 in the 10-month Asmodum on the 24th day after the shattering of the empire.

Darker and darker it became around her, only thanks to her domain could she see anything at all. She looked up again to make sure that she could still see the surface of the water or at least the light that broke through it, and this time she found that she did not see any light or the surface of the water. She was enveloped in complete darkness.

The riverbed also seemed to have disappeared, just a moment ago it had been under them and now a moment later there was nothing but a gaping void that threatened to swallow them.

At first, they were swimming towards the riverbed, she was sure of it, but now, there was nothing but a big void. No matter how much she stretched her domain, she could never see more than water all around her and everything was plunged into darkness.

The deeper they went, the more Waterborn of all kinds seemed to join them, and strange fish of different sizes and shapes she had never seen before, brushed her domain, only to disappear again shortly after. None entered her domain, as if they could sense where it began, they always swam outside of it.

First one then several small points of light appeared in the darkness, some so faint that at first, she was not sure she had really seen them, and yet there were more and more.

The fish and Waterborn also seemed to begin to glow and she could make out enormous bodies swimming sluggishly through the dark water.

Over time, there was a steady influx of Waterborn and fish, and other aquatic creatures. Some creatures dared to enter her domain only to disappear again, others stayed, and yet more and more joined her, and the procession grew and grew.

From everywhere in the darkness came the Waterborn and they swarmed around her. Some were braver than others and came very close to her, she could read it in their body language and also see it in their superficial thoughts, even if the bravest among them could hide it from their fellows, they were still afraid, even if with time this became more curiosity in many of them and the deeper they swam and older Waterborn joined their procession the less of them were afraid and curiosity became the dominating superficial sensation she could feel from the Waterborn.

The fear of the few who still felt it, however, usually subsided quickly and after a brief glance at the elders and a few moments of friendly coaxing from the other Waterborn, these newcomers overcame their fear and finally came closer. It was like a game for the Waterborn, she could tell by now. Like a test of courage that every Waterborn had to pass who wanted to continue swimming with the procession, those who didn't were pushed out of the group by the other Waterborn and seemed to have a harder time catching up and trying again. As the group that gathered around her and Lerna kept chasing them away or even denied them access to them altogether. There were fights between the Waterborn, who flocked around her, and those who tried to restore their honor.

She could only hope that the elders who accompanied her from the beginning honored the rules of hospitality and did not let it get out of control. She didn't like that, because she gave control completely to the elders, but she was also in the realm of the Waterborn, so she couldn't help it and had to behave according to the rules of hospitality and the customs of the Waterborn. Only she did not know them and did not know what was allowed and what was not. Of course, this did not mean that the elders and the Waterborn could go too far, but one had to be friendly with each other, this was true for both. Even if she felt like an exotic animal at court, one that had been brought from a distant land to entertain the emperor and his court, she still had to be careful not to be rude and offend the Waterborn.

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Those were memories he... no, she, would rather forget. It seemed that not even a new life would save one from bad memories, which were already several centuries old in her old life.

She hadn't had to think about her old life in a while, but the behavior of the Waterborn reminded her of the Imperial Court and one of her earliest memories in which she could read minds. She had to shake her head briefly to rid herself of the old memories.

In the meantime, more Waterborn had arrived, like a ball of lightning of different colors, she was engulfed by the Waterborn. Which had begun to glow. Similar as she knew it from insects, plants, or mushrooms. But she had never heard that Waterborn glowed. So, it must be a rare sight, not that she had read much about Waterborn. In her old life, at least, she had never encountered any.

The number of Waterborn was also very high, at least she couldn't remember ever having heard or read about so many. So, something else that was a rarity. There seemed to be more and more of them. Or was that normal for Demons? And did this happen to every Demon on Alsace?

I honestly don't think this is something normal. If I were to bet, it had something to do with the blessing of the Gods. But she was not one to bet, not in this life and not in her previous life. She would still have to find a way to free herself from the blessings of the gods, as it could lead to possible problems in this life as well.

The procession seemed to slow down without any apparent reason or order of the same. The Waterborn seemed to communicate in a natural way that was foreign to her and one that she could not see. She had not perceived anything telepathic either.

Lerna pushed to her side as if she suspected something. She looked at Lerna questioningly and stroked her head, lost in thought, while she tried to see something in the darkness. And there far ahead of her in the depths was a small light, which was nothing new, but it seemed to her that they were moving towards it and so were all the other lights. As far as movement of light can be guessed with no discernible features.

Still, they swam downward, though she had difficulty discerning directions. Since the Waterborn were glowing, but they did not illuminate anything, the glow of the fish and other aquatic life had the same phenomenon. It was an Arcane glow, which seemed to not influence its surroundings.

Suddenly it became brighter in front of her, and a strand of Arcane Energy shot past them and broke into several more strands of varying thickness. She could only look after them and remember how she had come into this new body.

Again, she could see a strand of Arcane Energy shooting off in a random direction into the darkness from the point they were heading towards. While the Waterborn were slowing down, she was speeding up.

It can't be, can it? Am I back to where I began?

Lerna seemed to have noticed that something was going on inside her, and the Waterborn had noticed it too, and now began to swim faster again, even though they were doing it with more caution than she had seen them swim before.

Now the streams of arcane energy were coming more and more abundantly, and they were thicker and more numerous, where at the beginning she had seen one, now she could see several at the same time and they were piercing the darkness and leaving behind small fragments of Arcane Energy. Which immediately began to dissolve and be discolored by the corresponding element, in this case, water, and be changed by the living beings when they came into contact with it.

She had not noticed that she was alone and that neither Lerna nor one of the Waterborn had followed her. She was so close that she could see that it was not the sun of Arcane Energy that had brought her into her new life, but only a kind of vent at the bottom of the sea or riverbed from which Arcane Energies flowed into the environment, like a volcano.

"Why such a sad face little Titan?" The voice made the water around her tremble, and she had to fight against the pressure waves.

A giant eye regarded her with an even larger mouth underneath which had twisted into a smile.

"A leviathan..."