Demon continent Alsace in the year 307 in the 10-month Asmodum on the 25th day after the shattering of the empire.

The first thing she noticed was that her domain extended further than it had yesterday, at least she assumed that a day had passed. She had had no way to measure the time underwater, yet her internal clock told her that she had been down here for quite a while. The hunger she felt was also clear evidence that she hadn't eaten in a while.

This reminds me that there should be a feast.

But until now they had only danced and then ... Yes, then she had experienced a level rise and had fallen into an arcane volcano.

With a sudden jerk she sat up and looked around, she was not in a volcano cone, but lying on the bottom of the sea surrounded by fish and Nereus Ilayda.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Small newborns, which she had already perceived in her domain, were playing above the heads of Nereus Ilayda and other sea creatures.

The newborns chased Lerna around the massive figure of Nereus, who observed this with a slight smile on his lips.

His huge eye, however, turned to her a few moments later.

"Ah, I see you are awake Cali, daughter of Caleb and Sappho and Sia."

Lerna, too, seemed to have noticed that she was awake, for she was already darting towards her, hiding behind her from the newborns who were still chasing her, stopping only a few handbreadths from herself.

She watched them and they watched her as she stood up.

"Have no fear, my little ones she is a guest of the Nereus Ilayda. And we owe her a great debt of gratitude."

This made her listen, and she looked into the enormous one-eyed face of Nereus to see what he might mean by that. She didn't want to be too rude and look into his thoughts. Also, she did not quite know how alien the thought of a being like Nereus might be. If his was comparable to that of the waterborn or if this was even more alien. Not that she had not met beings in her old lives whose minds were different or strange to hers, but there was always the danger that she would get lost in the mind of such a being and not find her way back.

Something she had seen in some practitioners of the Arcane Art of the Mind and something she wanted to avoid if possible. That didn't mean she didn't listen to the superficial thoughts of Nereus and the Nereus Ilayda.

She preferred to play it safe rather than finding herself, in a situation where she could only lose, in hindsight.

Like at the time of her death.

What made her immediately suspicious, even if she didn't know exactly what Nereus was referring to with his remark. It wasn't that she hadn't sought out the waterborn with her own motivations. Still, if a trade had taken place, she would have liked to have known about it beforehand, rather than after the fact.

"To what extent are you indebted to me?"

"That's a good question."

Said Nereus, as he leaned down to her Lerna and the newborns.

"It may be a good question, which doesn't change the fact that you are indebted to me from your point of view. - "She looks at the huge face to read him to see if he would tell the truth or if he wanted to lie to her. - "Which is why I think that if you were indebted to me, you could also say why you are. Not?"

She didn't need to expend much concentration to read Nereus' surface thoughts. Something natural for her, something she had become accustomed to in this life.

Also, the mind of Nereus did not seem to her as strange as that of Nereus Ilayda, his had something tangible massive. Something timeless, which had not been moved from its place since the beginning of time.

Stolen novel; please report.

Still, she didn't want to intrude too far into its mind.

"As you can see, my tribe has grown quite a bit-"He spread his arms to enclose the circle of figures lying on the ground." - and for that, I must thank you, and also for the strength with which the newborns have joined us."

She looked at the newborns, who were swimming in front of her and seemed to be listening to the conversation between her and Nereus, and from what she could read of their superficial thoughts, it was so.

Like their adult counterparts, they were also different. From those you could see through and those you couldn't and those in between. However, each of them appeared in their domain like a flame and a mind which was like that of the adults and only their size distinguished them from them.

Not one of the newborn Nereus Ilayda had started at level one though, every single one of them had been above level four and some were already at level eight.

"How can it be that some of them are already level five or eight?"

"As Nereus said, this is thanks to you, Cali, daughter of Caleb of Sappho and Sia. Even if you didn't have to let yourself fall into the Yanar."

Rang out the exhausted-sounding voice of Izatra, who now seemed to float to her right just a few feet above the seabed.

She wasn't really floating, of course, but neither was she swimming as she had already noticed on her way down, the waterborn moving around in a way unknown to her so far.

"I didn't fall into the Arcane Volcano ... I mean, was dropped into the Yanar ...".

Before she could say anything further, Lucine's voice rang out, coming at her like a fish.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to drop you in the Yanar."

She stopped just an arm's length in front of her and like Izatra and the newborn Nereus Ilayda also floated in front of her without touching the ocean floor.

Which, she now noticed, was no longer covered by the great mandala.

"I also did not think you did it, I could see how you were just trying to get me out of the ritual, the same goes for you, - "With which she turned to the newborns and thanked them with a slight bow. - " But then something distracted you and you dropped me."

Lucine just nodded her head vigorously to assure her and herself that she meant no harm and that it was all just an accident.

"That's exactly how it was, there was suddenly this huge red star which appeared above our heads, and then shortly after there was this light shining from it into the Yanar and then the ritual was over."

She was visibly uncomfortable that she had dropped her into the Arcane Volcano. Her uneasy posture aside.

"It seems to me you knew what would happen if I participated in your Festival of Salvation, or am I wrong?"

"No you are not, you are also not the first Titan who participated in such a festival, even if none of the living Nereus Ilayda can still remember the time before the gods. Back then, before the time of the gods, many such celebrations of Ilayda were attended by a Titan. And Izatra still knew the ancient stories and took the chance to invite you to this ritual and feast."

Nereus watched her and also the other Nereus Ilayda and aquatic creatures, who slowly but surely began to wake up all around her, observing what was happening.

"If you like, we can swear on the three sisters?"

"And what would you swear on? That next time you would tell me what your feast is about? No, you don't have to." She lowered herself cross-legged to the seabed.

"Since you are so honest with me, even if it is after a ritual in which you have roped me in, I can't say that I didn't have my own motivation for finding you. The Larrua, or rather one of the Larrua, told me that you knew how to read the ancient script of the demons, and I had hoped that you could give me that knowledge."