Amber didn't like the noise the creature made, but it was obvious that she had wounded it. She didn't hesitate to arm her bow with another burning arrow. She would keep moving and shooting. It was just what she had done with the raptors. She pulled the drawstring tightly, the arrow coursing with flames and shot another arrow. She wasn't going to let the beast recover. She then moved again. This time, she also moved backwards. By this point, the dust was clearing, and she needed to keep her distance to survive.

"Oh, Seacros, I leave you with your sand castles and we got along perfectly well." she said, smiling and chuckling. Her snake coiled, tensing, but she calmed it telepathically. Easy, Nagai. This one means us no harm-for now, at least. Whether he has come for more than playful banter or a proposition remains unknown...

She watched as the gods' respective champions dueled one another. The huntress' beast seemed mighty, although it lacked the intellect she would have sought in a beast. Her snake nuzzled her, and she smiled affectionately. Perhaps silly Morphea was onto something...

She couldn't spare long, she had not yet satisfied her paranoia. Next, barriers to prevent entry to her sanctum without permission. No, any visitors would have to trek through her woods, and she was sure even the gods would find her various biological traps hindering; mortals, surely, would find it lethal. If they were lucky. She wanted a few more beasts to serve her, although none would be as loyal as Nagai, she instinctively knew. Her lush "bait" would draw in animals to feed her creatures, and any that ventured in would be lost.

Perhaps a blind animal...yes. Something about that appealed to her, seeing the liquid rush out of the Beast's eyes.

Gill jumped back behind a stump of a chopped down tree. He saw the arrow pierce the eye of the hideous monster. Then he saw it's breathing slits. Aha! He thought.

He used his magic to pull a good quantity of water from a nearby stream, he froze it into a thin long blade, and magically slashed the beast's throat. More liquid poured out, it howled with a terrible gurgle.

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Seacros smiled coyly. "You haven't changed a bit, dear Aigea." He said her name with a hint of remembrance and a lot of weariness. "I leave you to your devices." Then Seacros dissolved into a fine mist and flew away...

Amber continued to shoot arrows at the beast's eyes, keeping her distance so that she wasn't captured by its flailing arms. Her clothing was becoming soaked by the spray of water, and it eventually got to the point that she didn't attempt to conjure fire. It would just be extinguished by the torrent. She was only calmed by the fact that the people had finally evacuated the villiage, and nobody else got hurt. However, from the trees, golden, orange, and red eyes all watched as they fought.

The rain came down in torrents...thanks to Seacros' doing. Gill being practically immersed in the water was able to use it to his advantage. However...the excess of water began to cause him to transform. His fins filled out, his manta-like neck filled out as well. His eyes became solid black, and his tail grew very long. His hips grew the fins, typical of any manta, and the elves gasped in shock.

This made him slightly more powerful, as he was now in his natural habitat.

The beast lashed out with its final breath, throwing its whole weight forward for one final assault, its massive jaws landing around Amber but unable to shut to kill her. The growth on her back continued to thrash and to scream, but its arms were too short, and it was powerless to save itself or slay its enemies. The beast was finished.

Aigea was awestruck. Her thoughts raced.

"That monster was an absolute marvel. How could they defeat it, and so easily? I've misjudged these gods, gravely misjudged. I have much to learn, perhaps the hunt is more complex then I understood. Nothing I created could learn, the suffering was pointless, the emotion fake. Predator and prey mean nothing in the long run."

And with this. Aigea decided to offer some sort of peace. She still wanted a challenge, but these gods had won. If her beast were inferior, perhaps these others could improve them?

She took the raptor nest, eggs without mothers to warm them, without fathers to bring food. She took the nest and placed it at the feet of Cindrea.

"I know when I have been beaten, and I accept it. Please accept these creatures as an offering. They are free of the taint of their kind, they will adapt and become whatever your people need and help them rebuild.

I no longer hate you, but know that I am still not on your side. I see that my ideal world must change, but it is still not identical to yours. Perhaps we can work together despite that."

And with that, she appeared to Seacros.

"Perhaps change, Seacros, is what I need. As I gifted to the Theln the raptor, I wish to give your people something also. Wolves have always had a tie to you, and serving me, it was you they worshiped in the moon. Meld them to what you will, but now our contest is not over. I've learned something from each of you, and for it, I have given repayment."

And with that she was off, to dabble in something far more fearsome.

Morphea was in reality, watching from above the clouds, which were producing the rain. She slowly circled in the form of a bird. Her prismatic feathers glimmering like a rainbow. Of course, because of how thick the clouds were, and the fact that she was concealing herself with magic, nobody but another god would know this. Morphea was not doing anything but watching. Cindrea was also with her, concealed by a similar magic and riding on Turhiatus. Neither of them did anything to interfere in the battle, but they watched all the same. A slight gust was whipped up by Morphea's wings. An even larger wind was generated by the six wings belonging to Cindrea's three-headed dragon mount. Do not fail me, my champion, Cindrea thought. Even if Amber did not hear this, her markings reacted. They glowed gold, due to being in close proximity to the dieties they represented.

Seacros was happy that Aigea was so graceful to apologize. He had never hated her, she was quite the beauty to behold, but her temperament...well it was too much for his calm, easy going personality.

"Aigea, I accept the wolf as a creature upon the land with which I shall use as my eyes and ears. The wolf shall embody the serenity of the moon, and the ruthless savagery of its original creator. In this, Aigea, we are bound together."

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Gill stared in awe at the feat he and Amber had accomplished. The elves came out of the trees clapping and cheering, and the rain clouds came away just at sunset so that both the sun, of Cindrea, and the full moon, of Seacros, could be seen as triumphant on this day.

An older elf spoke up, "Let us mark this day for history to remember! The unity between the newcomer from the sea and our people, united in slaying a beast that threatened our lives. May our descendants sing of this day as the day when the sun and moon were united."

When gifted with the nest of raptor's eggs, Cindrea nodded, "They shall become an asset of the Theln, but they will still bear the signs of their original creator." She said. She croutched down on the ground and touched one of the eggs. She closed her eyes. She could feel it, the still-forming infant inside. Solwly, energy seeped into the reptile. It's cold blood grew warm, and the bones of the chick's arms elongated. They were still tipped with claws, but they were turning into something special. The bones remained strong as steel, but became light and hollow. The stature remained, but the snout became more like a toothy beak, and the tail elongated, sprouting plumage. When the changes were done, Cindrea straightened. "It is done."
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Amber could only smile. Her arms had a few slashes from the teeth of the creature, but overall, she was fine. That was until someone got her attention. "Hey! Amber! What's happening to your arm?" He asked, pointing. Amber looked down. The hoof marking was glowing, and it kind of burned, too. Suddenly, a soft voice echoed around her. "You have done well, young champions. You have saved the balance. And thus, to the victor, goes the spoils." With this, the voice faded, and a raptor's nest appeared in the ground. People panicked, but then again, the eggs were red! Not the usual color. Amber frowned, "Was that..." She was cut off as the eggs started to hatch. However, instead of raptors, something different came. They were shaped like raptors, but the jaws had become toothy beaks, and the creature was covered in feathers. It was mostly navy blue, but yellow as at the base of the wings.

Choros waited for several hours before responding to Aigea, after contemplating what his next series of actions should be. "I see. You will be spared my wrath, then. I apoligize for disturbing you unrightfully. Do you happen to know who the one which intruded upon my domain is? There are stars andplanets inthis unverse, and many of them are not mine. I do not allow encroachment on my domain, especially those who are not made to wield the celestial forces. I wish to speak with her." As he waited for a response from Aigea, Choros summoned a dozens of smal meteors, and sent them crashing towards the surface of Thirth. Within them was seemingly useless mies of biological ingredients and arcane stardust, with the phenomenal ability to take the form of sapient life.

"I believe Seacros created the moon, while the sun belongs to Cindrea, while Morphea created much of the heavenly host. I do not believe they intended to intrude, but do what you must."

She called to Seacros and Cindrea.

"I would like to ask both of you to create my own realm to live in. I want the life to be vibrant and awake, the rains to be a near perpetual fuel for it. It will be a fierce but rewarding land, with much to gain for one who is willing. With some help, it may keep me entertained for quite some time."

Upon hearing this, Cindrea was puzzled. Would it be ideal to give Aigea her own world? It was not possible to create a balanced one without Seacros' help. It was true that she could gift another sun, but the energy could be taxing. Just because she was a goddess did not mean that she was beyond exhaustion. Even gods and goddesses could become weary, or be hurt. As she pondered this, she decided to visit. Sometimes extra discussion was required, but it would be worth it, most likely. With this, she vanished in a honey-colored light, and appeared before Aigea. "Very well, Aigea, I am willing to do this for you, but I must inquire what you might want there, and Seacros must help me, or the sun will scald your world. Life needs day, just as it needs night." As Cindrea said this, there was a gust of wind, and a gigantic owl-like bird, its feathers transparent and black, like glass flew in. Its body seemed to reveal the night sky, pin-points of stars were in its feathers. Suddenly, the bird shifted into an onyx-black being, her hair flowing like mist. "Surely you don't expect me not to help my sister." She said. She turned to Cindrea, "My sister, surely you aren't tired? You can't do this alone."

Seacros came to meet with Cindrea and Aigea. "Greetings sisters, I have heard your inquiry, Aigea, and I have a solution. Why not create your own plane of creation? Why not we all create our own dimension where those who die come to spend their eternity with us? A heaven of sorts. Those that hunt for glory shall find eternal hunting grounds with you, Aigea, and those who delight in merriment and good company shall find the everlasting home with Cindrea."

Normally, such meteors which entered Thirth's atmosphere would've disintegrated before they hit the ground. This was not the case this time around, as these were blessed by a god. They possessed a white, crystalline sheen, and were made of some rock foreign to this world. No, they were not diamond, made obvious by the fact that they glow a purplish hue. The meteors began crash into the earth, each burying itself half-within the Earth, crystalline forests overtaking the land around them near-instantly, the shock-waves of the meteors tearing up vegetation and slaughtering wildlife. Fully-formed and clothed Celestrians emerged from tunnels within the meteors, harvesting supplies and materials from the meteors and the new forests around them. Choros then emerged from the largest meteor, and surveyed the land around him, in his Celestrian form.

Far away, in a monsterous dark swamp, a snake slithered from a large lake. The moon shinning on its scales. Then it snaked its way up onto the moist bogs of the lake and suddenly trippled inside. Then it grew and grew in size. Suddenly it sprouted a humanlike head and muscular arms. The snake then turned into a humalike creature. Except instead of legs it had a long, long tail. This monster suddenly grew even bigger and donned dark clothing. This was Srathos, the evil god of death, chaos, and destruction. He came to Thirth to gain his revenge against the gods who had betrayed his vengeful self in tha past. He came to release his army of monsterous snake people unto the world. He then slithered up out of the lake even more. Now he held out his hand in front of him and a massive amount of tiny little snakes emerged from the ground. They slithered down the slope of the swamp. They grew in size as they went along. They transformed like Srathos did. Now they were like him but they wore no clothes. Their skin was enough to keep them warm. They had not a hair on their heads. Females however had tiny snakes as hair. The approached Srathos. (The race is called The Terrors or Serpent People)

"My children, the time has come! Go out unto Thirth and burn up all you can! Destroy and devour the other races of this world! However I demand you do not harm those races who belong to the other evil gods. Now go! Away from my swamp!" Srathos shouted. The snakes then slithered away. This swamp belonged to Srathos. It was dark here. The sun never shined here. Things were evil looking and the place stunk of bloodied animals and rotten corpses. Srathos's wrath was about to begin...