The 966th year of the Emperor.
One year before the Apocalypse.
In one of the many large, lavishly decorated stone rooms which were assigned to the guests of the Emperor who came from far and wide to speak to the strongest man of the continent, the sound of a quill scratching over parchment could be heard from a table in the corner on which a woman sat, hunched over a piece of parchment.
"…hence, because of the type of power it shall come to represent, the Hidden Kill Sect shall remain hidden for the first ten thousand years after the apocalypse. Even if just one individual of the sect is alive, it will be his duty to protect the secret of its existence deep within his heart until he can pass it on to a worthy inheritor. In this way, may the Sect become something that stands for millennia as the last vestige of the great Basilisk Alastair, last of the line of the Great Serpent, Hidden Battle Queen of the Emperor, and rightful ruler of all the Godbeasts of Angaria."
A small smile floated across the woman's lips as she wrote the last part, but it vanished as soon as she got up and looked out the window.
War preparations were being carried out in full swing, and once again, they had reminded her of what was coming.
With a sigh that would make the world, itself, lament, she delicately folded up the parchment and placed it in a glass bottle before casting a series of spells, each more complex the last.
Finally, adding it to a trove of resources and other instructions which she had ensured would definitely result in the setting up of an extremely strong sect if there was a world which was not ruled by the Church after the war, she departed the room and arrived in another one which was filled with mirrors on all sides.
Here, she slowly lowered her shoulder and let the dress slip, and as it fell to the ground, a body that would make anyone stop in their tracks and blink while their heart and mind was stolen was exposed.
Just like she had always done since she had broken through and obtained the strength necessary to transform into this form, she smiled and felt herself, before sighing again and blinking.
After she opened her eyes, a majestic serpent stood where she had been standing, and of course…as it was her, she was looking deep into her own eyes through the mirrors.
It had the wide head of a cobra, but also the strong and thick body of an anaconda. There was some kind of radiance under its skin which looked like it was flowing constantly, and sometimes, it would even spill outwards through her eyes, resulting in pretty reflections and refractions of multicolored light forming in the room which any passerby would have been transfixed by, if this place wasn't completely closed off.
With another blink, she was back to her human form, and after dressing herself, Alastair continued to look deep into her own eyes, as if searching for an elusive answer within her mind which was escaping her grasp no matter how much she tried to find it.
There she stood for a week, for time was an ample resource for all Godbeasts. Many were even known to take naps spanning years, so it was no wonder that an important decision needed to be mulled over for this long by the one who really had managed to defeat all Godbeasts in combat, by both fair and unfair means.
Finally, a week later, Alastair shook her body, causing the dust that had gathered to fall to the ground.
Clarity shone like the sun in her eyes, and with one last look in the direction of the quarters of the Emperor…she vanished.
She soon reappeared over the Endless Sea, and as she turned around to take one last look at Angaria, tears came to her eyes.
This was her homeland, and although most of her life had been spent protecting herself from the dangers of the continent which had all been gunning for her due to the potential she held, she still loved it with all her heart.
Knowing that lingering any longer would cause her to change her decision, Alastair turned around.
BOOOMMMM!!!
With a loud sound that caused a bubble of air to form behind her, Alastair crossed the speed of sound in a single second and continued to speed up as time passed.
Sometimes, under the flashes of lightning, it would seem as if she transformed into a gigantic Basilisk the size of a mountain, in front of which all of the wrath of the sky would seem like just the tantrum of a child.
Mostly, though, she was a sad woman who had to leave her home as she valued her life, and the continuation of her race above all else.
Everyone knew that the distance between the Endless Sea in which Angaria was hidden and the open sea on which the Mainland lay, somewhere, was so large that it was a fool's errand to wish to cross it with just the strength of a Peak Hero.
If she were a normal Peak Hero, she would have fallen to the Sea to be devoured quite quickly, but as a Godbeast of both the land and sea, she had the unique advantage of being able to travel in both. Both had their own dangers: although she was a top-tier predator in the sea, she would often cross the territories of beings equally as powerful as her, in which case she would have to flee as it was just dumb to face off against the creatures which would surround her and devour her, bit by bit, if given a chance.
The lightning in the sky also had the habit of forming together to strike anything large that dared to be present between the Heavens and the Sea, so the journey was extremely difficult even for her sturdy body.
It soon got to a point where exhaustion began to set in despite the large quantity of Ker Roots she had brought with her. They were the lightest and most Energy containing resources around, but still, they were just not enough for such a task.
For 9 days and 9 nights she persevered, maintaining a speed that was normally the peak that one could achieve if they were an Amateur Hero.
On the 10th day, it seemed that her decision had been a stupid one, after all.
She had wanted to escape the Apocalypse that would surely befall the continent, one way or another, but instead, she would be dying out here with no one by her side.
Even the Emperor had once said that if anyone could make that journey across the Sea, then it would be her, but now, she wished that she could tell him that he was wrong.
The Sea was just too unforgiving…or they were just too weak.
On the 11th day she collapsed into the sea, where her speed finally began to decrease.
On the 12th, delirium began to set in, which made her disable her own senses and put herself on 'autopilot' as there were just too many tricks being played on her by her own mind which would definitely lead her astray.
On the 13th she shed her skin, and along with it, her prowess as a Peak Hero. Extreme strain was known to cause this, but she had never thought that it would happen to her.
On the 14th she was but an Amateur Hero.
And on the 15th, she finally stopped, ready to embrace death.
What happened afterward …was actually a mystery.
The information stored in the records of the TriCobra Sect stated that they had found her in a crazed state, killing everything she could find with a vengeance that could not be quenched.
The Endless Sea had turned into a sea of blood in her wake, and seeing this, even all the Peak Heroes who were manning the expeditionary ship that searched for undiscovered continents were shocked.
They had seen many strange things, but that level of death and destruction…was truly unprecedented.
Impressed, they had trapped her by luring her onto the ship using Energy resources, but just when they had gotten ready for a fight, the Basilisk had absorbed some Energy, and fainted.
For the longest time, she had had no memory of who she was. However, there was one vestige of her time in that state, and that was the reason that she was accepted into the Sect: it was a terrifying Path that had never been seen before, and although she, herself, did not know how she had obtained it, its power was truly something to be reckoned with.
What was just a small, upcoming sect then quickly rose to power with her at the helm, as one of the three snakes which made up the TriCobra Sect.
When asked what she wanted by the other two snakes at the time of the establishment of this name, she had stated just one thing: there was a disciple that would come, and when he did, he would take her place.
As the man from the TriCobra Sect recited this tale, Daneel had no idea how he was supposed to react.
On one hand, he knew that parts of it was right: the Basilisk known as Alastair had been branded as a deserter, as she had randomly disappeared one day, around a year before the Apocalypse.
On the other, it all seemed farfetched, as there was no way that he was suddenly the disciple of the leader of a force that was supposed to rival the Church in power.
Weren't they missing a few steps, in between? Wasn't this all a bit too convenient?
Seeing the expression of disbelief on Daneel's face, the man from the TriCrobra Sect laughed and said, "Yeah, tell me about it. I came here to say that we are willing to work with you, for a price, to bring about the downfall of the Church as we are enemies on the Mainland, but it ended up with me finding out that you outrank me…that is, if I'm right. Well…there's only one way to find out."
Saying so, the man suddenly did something which made Daneel wonder if he was going mad.
Raising his hands, he thrust both of his index fingers into his eyes, and even as Daneel winced, blood began to drip down his cheeks as his eyeballs had clearly been ground to mush.
The man didn't even scream, though, and after he removed his hands…two deep, swirling voids could be seen in the place where his eyes were.
As Daneel stared, they vanished and were replaced by a pair of slits, and as the man opened his mouth and spoke…the enchanting voice of a woman floated out, which made all the hairs on his body stand up straight.
"Why have you-what?! My inheritance? Are you certain? Oh…King Daneel! I had my suspicions, but I must say…I am surprised. I am Alastair. But…of course, you don't believe me. Well, bring over that old coot Fenoras, and we can clear everything up."