POV The Great Tidal Whale
It was dark in the place of her birth. The only sources of light were the dim grasses that made up the seabed.
At least, her instincts told her it should be the sea. But her instincts also told her she should have pod mates and she was alone. The only connection she was aware of was a tether in her mind connecting her to her creator. She could feel his satisfaction in her radiate through the bond and she was content for now.
She wasn’t hungry and figured she would let the water-borne insects she sensed through her affinity rest in peace a little longer. The insects were tense nonetheless as the Great Tidal Whale flexed her powerful tail and propelled herself down the sunken corridors of her new realm.
The way before her was lit in radiant greens, blues, reds, and yellows creating a kaleidoscope of colors to swim through. She enjoyed exploring the many twists and turns coming into still more sunken caverns lit by drifting light. Each one was smaller than the others before it and certainly smaller than the massive cavern she had been born into.
Eventually, she found she could go no further and turned around. It was on her return trip when she heard something echo through the water. Was that…splashing? She turned and headed for a side passage only to find that it began heading up. Intrigued, the whale followed the passage until she reached a point where the surface of the water was visible. There, struggling to stay afloat, was a large rodent.
The whale watched and felt the first rumblings of hunger wash over her. It had been a couple of hours since she had been born into this strange world, so different from what her instincts told her was natural.
Perhaps a meal was in order.
In an almost lazy action, she powered forward, her sleek form hindered not at all as she slowly unhinged her jaw. Perhaps it was the change in the current or a sixth sense but the creature began to struggle harder to swim for the wall. It never made it. The rodent cried out in fear once as the top portion of her mouth closed over it and shut with a snap, locking it behind Baleen walls.
It did not have time to struggle further as the water inside the mouth churned, ripping the creature into manageable chunks. As her head breached the water she heard above her more chittering and squeaks. As she turned her head to see, she could see dozens upon dozens of the same kind of rodent up on ledges, many of whom were in cages. She returned to the water with a splash that sent waves cascading across the surface of the water to crash against the walls.
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She circled the relatively large cavern, blowing water out of her blowhole and breathing deep for her return trip to the main cavern. She had some insects to eat. These creatures though, were satisfyingly delicious and she would certainly return. The rats would have to come to the water eventually and then she would eat well once more.
POV Valterra Unok’Davaas
Well, that… had certainly been interesting.
A shame that his new creation hunted so efficiently. The rodent had become sliced and diced so quickly that Valterra hadn’t had time to absorb the creature immediately when it died though he did get little bits as it was swallowed. A kind of rat apparently although he certainly hadn’t gotten enough for a full Schema. He looked in the room and felt perplexed.
‘Have these creatures been here the whole time?’ When he thought about it there was that time he thought he had heard squeaking back when he had first claimed the basement. To be honest, a lot of that time was fuzzy as that had been the second time he had been full of Aether to the point of almost bursting. It seemed his new Apex predator was pleased with this new prey option so he felt it fitting to try a new experiment.
Instead of claiming the rats directly like what he had done with his mouse, he would leave them be. The turf war above had shown him what a tremendous boon fighting and survival was to wild creatures. Not only that but his creatures grew more powerful and were more likely to evolve if they faced creatures that were considered invaders, full of Aether that wasn’t quite his own. So he would leave them be and even aid them in escaping their cages.
He might even try his hand at building connections between ledges all leading down to a large ledge at the water's edge. He figured there would be a hierarchy established with larger more powerful rats being able to lord over the top ledges with the weaker ones being forced lower towards the water. He was excited to see what would happen and how they would develop.
Valterra did just that over the next few hours claiming the wooden ledges and then replicating them with Aether until he had a sprawling mess of ledges that led ever downward. At the corner of the room, he formed a large quarter-moon ledge of stone and anchored it to the walls. Then, he used his magic to increase the growth of the plants, planning for the rats to use the fibrous material of the grass for nests.
Next, thinking back to what he had seen in the turf war Valterra focused, bringing Aether pouring into the room. He then condensed it down, down, down, until it became a liquid. The further he condensed it the more it began to roil uncomfortably. Locking his will around the Aether, he forced it to stabilize causing it to shatter violently. Aether flew outward from that singular point, some even striking different rats.
Valterra checked to see if any were dead and sadly they had all survived. He would have to wait some more to see if he could get the Schema. Next, he checked to make sure his experiment worked.
From his borrowed knowledge he knew that changing the states of Aether was an exhaustive process. By forcing the liquid Aether into a chaotic state and then enforcing order he had been able to artificially create the circumstances by which it could crystalize. Now shards of crystal Aether were embedded all over the cavern with a lot of it under the water. Valterra hoped it would increase the Aether levels naturally without it being aligned with him. He wanted the rats to grow wild and untamed. He couldn’t wait.