It is said that all things go in cycles. Even we who are immortal will rise and fall and with each cycle a little more wears away until nothing is left. I remember the days before Aroesus the Tyrant, I remember when we held dominion over our Mother’s shell, and I remember well those days. Humans were just a speck on the tapestry of reality that we had forged; the brutes had not yet gained their dominion over our children. 

But most I remember when I was not alone. The rumblings of Aldaril’s very steps that shook the earth, Marra’s sparkling seas and joyous laughter like the crashing of the waves, Nyxis and his storms that purged and tore down the artifice of arrogant man, Lloris and his ever burning flames that warmed the world, and Glissa’s heart trees and forests that truly lived and walked. And then I saw his coming, the Tyrant descending from outside of our world, a being not of our Mother but with terrible power. 

I can remember the pain and agony of that war where my brothers and sisters were imprisoned and my children were slaughtered until only a fraction of them remained. I remember how at the end Mother stirred for a last time and gave a cry of grief and sorrow before retreating so deep into herself that even in the depths I cannot sense her presence.

For so long I bent the knee to the Tyrant and for so I have tried to bury the pain and forget that my brothers and sisters lay imprisoned and tortured. I have tried to accept that the Tyrant is unassailable, that his strength from beyond is more than even the strength our mother gave to us. But I could not accept it in my heart and now the world has changed again. The Tyrant has fallen and his power is no more. 

I stand before the gates that I once created and with me is the last multitude of my children. One last flock of Derevi. I hate that I now risk them but I know that in time they can recover now. No longer are my children condemned to death, now they can breed anew. 

My hands rise and I speak words to command the gate to open. I see a face form in the metal of the gate as the spirit within rises to receive the commands. It nods and I allow myself a grim smile as the gateway opens. I reach into myself and with a second’s effort I change, humanity is discarded like a snake sheds it’s skin and I become myself again. 

I enter the stream of water that is now free to fall through the gate in my true form, the great black wings spread wide where once human arms were as I take the guise of the greatest of all Derevi. I feel my children follow me, eager to aid in this act and my heart is warmed. 

From the water I burst as the expanse of Malebazus spreads out below me and again my children follow. I dive for the lake as the Derevi swarm above it to ward off any incursions. I shall free them, I shall free my brothers and sisters.