Prologue: It

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It had seen many a century go flying by. It has seen kingdoms rise and fall again, and rise and fall again, as constant as the tides. It had seen days and nights and eclipses of the moon and sun so often that It did not care anymore. What does it matter what the sky is doing when one lives in the water, anyway? 

It had seen many a death, too. Death did not disturb It as such things might, even to other, older creatures. In Its time, It would say, in the closest tone It would willingly come to bragging, It had caused many a death, in most cases the motivation behind its actions being either a nice lunch, or tearing down the creations of Mother Nature, brick by brick.

It did not like Nature. Nature was too happy. It did not control Nature. Nature hadn't been part of the original empire. At least, that's what It told Itself. In truth, It probably despised Mother Nature so much because Its own existence was a very crime against such things, and so It wanted such things out of Its way.

It had been enjoying a combination of a nap and, although It would claim to be above that, a sulk for the past century or so. Its last attempt at reviving the empire of old had been thwarted by some upstart winged person with a mask. Such a shame, too. It had come so close to victory that time.

It had been shaken out of Its slumber by an Un-Tremor. It initially considered just going back to sleep, but found Itself too intrigued by whatever had caused the disturbance. So it swam, and it swam, to find the source, imagining having whatever immense power that had caused the Un-Tremor under Its control. If It had had the facial muscles to do so, It would have smiled.

Eventually, It found Itself swimming towards a large pillar in the water, criss-crossed with bars of some other material. It had clearly reached some sort of settlement of sentient creatures. And, indeed, when it swam beyond, It saw a figure, dressed in a black T-shirt and cargo shorts, putting a lid on the ocean.

And so, It began to scheme once more...

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