“GO ON,” Leviathan Emperor thought more than spoke back, but the very waters carried his thoughts as Sound here.

“The Sea Emperor has asked me to attend Him in His Court, Elder,” Healer Fae, the Worldsinger, said to him.

Leviathan slowly blinked his great eye at the little primate floating next to him under the North Pole as he digested that astonishing statement. “SOO...” He trailed off. “THE MIGHTY DRAGON HAS ACKNOWLEDGED A HUMAN. THIS IS INDEED IMPORTANT. DOES YOUR TRIBE KNOW?”

Her wry laughter bounced off the Chords yet Singing about her. “I believe that would immediately start a civil war between me and the Synod, Elder. No, I have no desire to inform them, and I doubt the Emperors will bother to inform them, either. You know that Humans acknowledge the hierarchy of power only if it is thrust in their faces. Such a status might actually hurt my influence and reputation among my Tribe.

“It is slowly spreading among the Marked and our Allegiance, who are quite excited at the implications, but they do not wish to start a war amongst us yet, as that would likely trigger the End Times.”

Leviathan Emperor’s massive flukes beat up and down once in reflex, but his drifting course did not alter in the slightest, and naturally neither the current nor the chill affected the Worldsinger. Her visualizations of the End Times and the power of the entities involved in it were disturbingly clear and viciously vivid.

She called it the End Times for a reason!

“IF YOU ARE CONCERNED FOR YOUR SAFETY, FEAR NOT. THE VASSALS OF HIS COURT WILL NOT DISTURB ONE WHO COMES THERE AT HIS WILL, AND HE WOULD NOT HAVE SAID THE WORDS IF HE HAD DEADLY INTENTIONS, HE IS ABOVE SUCH PETTINESS. IF HE DESIRED YOU DEAD, HE WOULD GO OUT AND KILL YOU.”

“I expect the Krakenoids and their ilk to raise some sort of excuse to attack me, as their politics are disturbingly similar to those of Humans, but that is not my concern. I believe it is proper to bring a Dragon a gift when visiting, and was wondering if this would be suitable for The Sea Emperor.

“Also, if Elder could supply me with information about the Court and The Sea Emperor’s vassals, that might well be useful in this matter.”

“THE KRAKENOIDS ARE INDEED NOT ABOVE TREACHERY. OVER HALF OF THEIR TRIBE FELL TO DARKNESS AND HAD TO FLEE OR BE DESTROYED,” Leviathan Emperor agreed somberly. “THEY WILL HOLD A GRUDGE AS VIRULENT AS THEIR POISONOUS WILLS.” A profound insult, coming from Him. “HAVE YOU INFORMED THUNDERBIRD OF THIS?” He inquired.

“I have naturally informed my Emperor of this request from another Emperor. He encouraged caution, but did not deny the request.”

Leviathan nodded to Himself. Despite being recognized, she lived in the territory of Thunderbird, and He was still her Emperor. If she wished to be free of that, she would have to claim a territory and have that territory recognized as her own... or fight Thunderbird for his!

The Broom Closet would certainly qualify, but that was Claimed by Flowing Silver High Emperor, and multiple Emperors moved through it all the time. He had no doubt the mighty Nine-Tailed Fox would acknowledge it as a vassal territory under Him, but would she even bother to ask? For a Human, she possessed an astonishing lack of ambition for power over others.

But that was not the way of Beasts. It wasn’t about ambition; it was about what was!

“YOU MUST CLAIM YOUR SMALL WORLD AS YOUR DEMESNE,” He told the little human patiently, and watched her frown, her thoughts indicating reluctance for the idea. “IF AN ARK IT MUST BE, YOU MUST HAVE ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY THERE, NOT MERELY BORROWED FROM THOSE WHO WILL SHORTLY BE DEAD.”

“Elder, you may not be aware, but Humans do not have the power to claim a domain or Demesne as Beasts do. It is probably one of the reasons we cannot follow the natural hierarchy reasonably.”

Leviathan Emperor considered that in his long and slow thoughts, while the Waters Sang about him to her Sublime Chord and the two of them glided on leisurely. Truly, throughout all of his memories, he had indeed never felt a domain or Demesne that seemed Human, although he disliked the shallower coastal waters. Human territories were more defined by where they wandered and moved regularly, as opposed to the more innate knowledge Beasts possessed of who Ruled where and Claimed what.

That nebulous ignorance and regular violation of territories was one of the most annoying traits of their Tribe, He had been informed.

Even the youngest Beasts with any sapience could feel the Aura of their Ruler and Emperor about them!

“CAN YOUR PYRAMID DUPLICATE THE EFFECT?” he asked reasonably, having directly felt how powerful the Human-built device was. Its ability to push back the Aether and create a stable world about it was absolutely incredible.

It was a thing of her design and make, broadcasting the magic she had designed and wrought. Surely it was a small thing...

“I believe I could do so, Elder, but I do not know how to bind my Name to a territory in the proper manner,” she confirmed after considering the matter, her mind swirling with its normal astonishing speed and scope.

“THIS IS NOT A SECRET AMONG THE BEASTS,” Leviathan almost scoffed. “IT IS VERY SIMPLE KNOWLEDGE, LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT THAN OFFERING A CONTRACT.”

“Then I prevail upon Elder to show me the rudiments of what newborn calves likely understand.” Her amusement radiated in light Chords Singing in the waters all around them, and Leviathan issued a long, low rolling laugh at the jest.

Humans just did not have so many things that Beasts simply knew...

“ONE PROCEEDS TO CLAIM A TERRITORY THIS WAY...” he began, Words shaped by Sound and Psychic power rolling around them both, and conveying precisely the knowledge and awareness he desired them to.

-----------

I had multi-layered protections against the effects of water. First, I had Sage-level versions of Water Breathing, so, no, I wasn’t going to have any problems surviving deep in the oceans. Prime had full Elemental Command, which included Water. My Amulet included Adaptation, which further allowed survival in adverse conditions, and I had a Heaven-grade, currently-unique Water/Light Seed, which drew power from Good, Healing, Fire, and Frost to enhance its power.

No, I wasn’t going to have any problems going into the Court of the Sea Emperor.

Thus, I flitted out over the Atlantic and then simply dropped into the churning blue of the waters, falling like a stone as Prime’s Elemental Command cleared my way. My Sage Aura slowly rose about me as I descended.

Destination, twelve thousand feet down, more than two miles to the floor of the sea.

I didn’t extend my Awareness out in more than the most rudimentary manner, as that would be seen as rude and invasive, and politeness was key in these situations. My Sage Aura could not fail to be noticed by them, and I was playing it through Noble’s Tokens, so they wouldn’t mistake the Awareness of the True Emperors, who were all going to be watching this with great interest.

Leviathan Emperor and his Imperial Vassals had added baleen and ivory Tokens to Noble, choosing to show active favor to a Human acknowledged by a High Emperor. That I was now technically senior to the Vassal Whales was highly unusual, and the True Emperor Tokens were now more akin to a bunch of friends looking in on me, something no Beast Emperor would be toting around.

But Humans were the strangest of Monkeys, who were always an odd Tribe.

There were some really big things swimming about me in the waters soon enough, but I’d swum with Leviathan and Imperial Whales, and in comparison they looked about as menacing as minnows... and they could read it upon me. They were mostly Rulers, coming to investigate and test me.

Then they heard me and the Chord accompanying me, saw whatever Leviathan had, and beat a hasty retreat.

Recognized by a True Emperor as an equal. There were Humans Acknowledged as the equals of Low Emperors, and there had been three acknowledged as True Emperors by the Beasts: the Final Prophet of Light, Hera of the Acropolis, and the first Magic God Thoth-Amon of ancient Egypt, who had raised up a magical civilization that his entitled and envious descendants had gone begging to the Netherworld to try and sustain, starting the traditions of the Pharaohs and the Dead Zones.

Even Michael and Uriel, the two strongest Archangels, were not Acknowledged as the equals of the True Emperors. Sama had it on good authority that the proud and aggressive Uriel, the younger of the two, was particularly chaffed by that, as it also would mean being Recognized before a High Emperor.

I didn’t know why he would care, unless his pride was particularly high, and he really considered all non-Humans inferior. Perhaps he thought he’d equal the Final Prophet and become a lesser Lord of Light himself. Indeed, reaching a higher point of magic and existence was the point of things, but only Thoth seemed to have actually ascended to a higher sphere and left this world behind in so doing.

The Final Prophet was supposedly brought into heaven after resurrecting himself. The Spirit of Hera still empowered her successors at the Acropolis, even if her and their power had fallen over the millennia.

Yeah, the overly proud fucktard leeching power from his Lords and his Wings would probably go apeshit if he found out I was Recognized.

I considered Sama’s reports that Archangel Michael was actually scheming actively against Mok Fan. The Archangel knew what had happened in the Netherworld, and was worried about the growth in Mok Fan’s power and multiple Elements... a power shared by the Magic God Thoth-Amon. It seemed he had dismissed my own power as too narrow and shallow, despite its versatility, to present a true threat to him, but Mok Fan, especially with his Demon Element, was a huge existential threat to the Archangel.

If Mok Fan ever reached Sagedom, he would be able to break most Archangels over his knee. The Boost of the Demon Element and seven other Elements would just be unstoppable.

But Mok Fan was also a Dark Mage, and there were other factors swirling about him, involving him in some insidious proceedings, manipulations of the Netherlords being woven about him that the Archangels had witnessed.

Said proceedings should be totally fucked up when Mok Fan, the Dark Daughter, and Gabriel came out of their little exit tunnel without any Dark or Light Elements among them...

I passed through the endless blackness of the watery abyss about me at five thousand feet down, and the water below began to lighten up.

I eyed the glowing plankton forms streaming past me and getting out of the way of my Aura, clearly alien and thus probably hostile to them.

Somehow, I was not surprised that Sea Dragons would not care to rule in darkness, and filling the waters with photo-luminescent creatures would be quite simple for them...

The Light Element was extremely rare among Ocean Aquatics, which might even be a reason so many Aquatics fell to Shadow and Poison so easily...