"Everything is tied to the ocean.

For every drop of water you drink, for every breath you take, you are reminded of your origin.

For all are connected to the ocean.

Whatever comes out of it will hence one day be returned."

At the bottom of a certain sea, in the middle of nowhere in this dark body of water so deep where not even the magnificent sunlight could reach, stood the remnants of a once prosperous civilization. Yet now, all that was left were ruins, a nether memento, a shadow of that glorious past. So what would happen to it now? What other purpose could it serve aside from waiting to crumble to nothingness, subject to the violent onslaught of time? Well, to understand one thing's end, you must understand how it began in the first place.

Once upon a time, a certain deity found himself in a conundrum. He wanted to provide a home for his people. However, all the continents and the lands have already been inhabited by the numerous races God has created, leaving his children stranded. If he had a choice, he would want to keep them with him up in the high heavens. But that was impossible. For the kingdom of God was reserved only for a small number of faithful servants chosen by God himself. And so, the deity searched endlessly for an untaken land that could provide not just shelter but would also become a wonder of which their descendants could be proud even millennia later. Yet, no matter how much he tried, he could not find it. From the northern land covered in snow to the southern forest, nothing could please the deity.

That was until an idea came to him. When the Gods first created this world, they raised the lands from the bottom of the ocean to form the continents we knew today. If that was the case, then the solution was simple: he would only need to rise another piece of land. And so the deity plunged into the ocean and searched for the perfect land, the promised land for his people. And he found it: a hollow volcano that has been inactive for long situated in the deepest level of this bottomless sea.

Using his godly power, the deity emerged this sleeping volcano to the surface. However, he wasn't satisfied. What he did was merely imitating what has been done by his God. He wanted something else, something no one has ever done before: a flying island that would move constantly without stop. That island was later called Avant-Heim.

But now, this worldly wonder has once again found itself back to where it came from. Such an irony, was it? The deity desired his creation to be the best, the most creative masterpiece so much that he wanted to keep it in the sky. Yet, because of the very same reason, it ended up being maimed when the mechanism keeping it afloat was destroyed. If he has decided to keep it like a normal island, perhaps things might have been different. Alas what was done could never be undone. The devastation it has gone through has left the island in ruins, even losing the shape it once was. Once home of a proud race, now haven for fishes and creatures of the sea, just what has the world gone to?

Perhaps things might not be that bad as it sounded. Instead of considering it as destruction, maybe it could be seen as a rebirth, a transformation. For now, new lives could sprout from this place, lives that have never existed before. One such creature was currently swimming in these old streets of Avant-Heim. A fragile looking thing, it was. Half-man and half-fish, the creature possessed an alluring beauty that may appeal to the men of the surface but such thing would not help it survive in this dark water full of predators. But glamor wasn't the only weapon it had. It was funny how only upon being released in the wild, did the creature find that it was much more powerful than it thought it would be. Did it always have this kind of power and only discovered it now? Or was it because its body was trying to adapt to this dangerous environment? After all, in the world of monsters and animals, it was survival of the fittest: the strong dominating and devouring the weak. Such was the natural order of the world, as simple as that. Much more different than the world of men where betrayal and deceptions were so common they were practically the necessary basics to survive in their world.

Finding these ruins only recently and after having taken an interest in this place, the creature has decided to make its nest here and marked this land as its new territory. Following numerous fights with the other habitants, both mindless and intelligent foes, a hierarchy was established with this creature at the very top of the food chain, making it the ruler of this god forsaken place: the Overlord of the Depths.

But that was only a foreshadow of the future. Right now at the moment, the creature was still only a leader of a small pack of hunters of the deep sea. But things would soon change, for the better or worse.

One day, during one of its hunts, as it pursued its prey with lightning speed, the creature stumbled across something unusual. In the midst of this darkness, a faint warm light was shining among the rubbles of the city. Curious about where it came from, the creature decided to remove all the stones blocking its path, one by one until it found the source of that peculiar light. An odd shape it was, the creature noted as it examined the object in its hand. It was a fairly large conic instrument as long as its arm with an opening stretched out at one end while the other with a very small opening at the size of a human mouth. Possessing a golden pigment emitting a warm light, the creature was considering whether or not it should take this. With something like a light beacon by its side, it would only attract predators. Yet, something told it that this thing might be worth the risk. But what was it? What did it do? And how to use it?

Perhaps, just perhaps, it should try to blow in the small end of this thing. Maybe it would do something. And so the creature held the instrument with both its hands and blew into it. Strangely, even underwater, a loud noise originated from the thing.

The first trumpet was blown

All of the sudden, the water went cold as the temperature began to drop increasingly. If not thanks for its special scales and skin, the creature would have died of the cold. And it wasn't just the temperature that changed. The area surrounding the creature was also frozen, covered by a thin layer of ice. Even the fishes swimming around it were frozen and fell to the ground like solid rock. But what caused everything to freeze? Was it this peculiar thing that did it? Curious about its effect, the creature decided to try again but this time it would blow much harder.

The second trumpet was blown

This time, a crack appeared from below the creature as molten rock began to emerge from it and trailed across the large plaza it was in.

Now it knew. This thing, whatever it was, could give it tremendous power. Even when using it, the creature could feel that it hasn't used up all its potential yet, not even close. Such incredible power was now in its hands.

* * *

"NOOOOOO!!!!" Alastor shouted out loud as his body was pushed away by an invisible force a few steps back. He has just awakened up from the memory and has now found himself back at the cell Stella was held in. "What...was that?" he asked himself.

Then a voice rang inside his head. 'How did you..?'

'Magnus? Tell me! What happened there?' Alastor asked the figure inside his head.

'...An echo of the past'

'So what? Like a memory?' questioned the boy. 'Was what I experienced Stella's memories?'

'Yes and no, it's more like her hidden memories.'

'Hidden memories?'

'Based on what you saw, it's safe to assume that time was stopped the moment the doll walked inside the castle. Everything after that, how the Gods came and went, she was not conscious of that fact. Only you who were not affected by it were able to see what actually happened.' Magnus explained. 'Later, the moment time resumed, something hit her and knocked her unconscious, making it impossible for her to remember anything. That would explain why she didn't remember much what happened.'

'But what did the Gods do to me? They put something inside me!' Alastor said.

'That...I don't know.'

'And how come you did not know any of that? You were inside my father at that time right? How come you didn't see anything?'

'That too...I don't know. All I remember is you were born that day and the next thing I know is Asgore was dead.'

'.... Damn it...' the boy grunted.

'Sorry!'

'No..it's fine. It's not your fault that the culprit was so careful in erasing their tracks. Whoever it was, this person cannot be underestimated.' Alastor admitted.

'Correct, we should be careful with whoever we deal with. I think it would be better if we don't talk about this to anyone, keep it between us. We must preserve whatever advantage we have.' Magnus counselled.

'I guess that's true...By the way, did you detect any trace of magic used on Stella? Anything at all?' asked Alastor worriedly.

'Nothing. She is clean so you don't have to worry about anything from her.' Said Magnus.

'I see...well thank you for helping me! If there is anything, we will discuss later.'

'Of course! Be careful, Alastor!' and he was gone, as quick as when he appeared.

Back to reality, Alastor rushed to the doll who was also slightly pushed against the wall by the blast. It didn't hurt her or anything but she was breathing heavily, probably due the shock caused by the memory recurring.

Looking at her now, how could anyone think she was a doll? Her body, her flesh, although artificially made, appeared so genuine and felt exactly like the real thing. If not for her half wooden half metallic hands, no one would be able to discern her from a normal woman. But why did the Artificer make her that way? If he was able to recreate flesh that felt like the real thing, why did he refuse to do the same thing for their hands? Perhaps, deep inside, he knew. He knew that no matter how much he tried, no matter how many Stella he created, no matter how sophisticated they were, none would ever be able to replace his true daughter. The hands were there as a reminder of his failure, of his sins.

"Are you alright, Stella?" asked the boy, putting his hand on her back.

"I..am fine, Alastor. You don't have to worry about me. *heavy breathing attenuating*" replied the doll.

"Sorry for making you go through that! But Magnus confirms it: you are clean. You won't have to lock yourself in this cell anymore." But just that didn't seem convincing enough for the doll. It was at that time that an idea came to the boy. "Come with me, Stella!"

"To where?"

"To Oros! I intend to go there following this short visit at the castle but there is no way I can leave you here, not after seeing you like this. It has been a long time since we go outside together by ourselves. But of course, I won't force you into it if you don't want to. So here is my question, Stella, would you come with me to Oros?" inquired Alastor as he extended his hand to the girl.

"I...I would love to.." the doll uttered as she reached out her hand to his.

"Then it's decided. We will depart there right away!"

* * *

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

A little figure was knocking on the door to one of the large study room of the castle. But unlike the courtesy people would normally do, she entered the room right after that without waiting for the answer of the person inside.

"I am coming in."

"NO DON'T!"

BAM

Upon poking her head inside after hearing a loud noise of something falling from inside, Lilith noticed large piles of book scattering everywhere with a bunch of them lying on the ground disorderly right next to the door. That must have been the pile she knocked up when opening the door.

"For heavens' sake, what kind of dumpster are you living in?" the Goddess yelled at the figure sitting in front of a wooden desk in the middle of heaps of scriptures. With the long curtains canopying the only window behind him, the lit candles posing on small plates across the room were the only source of light, together with the floating light orb hovering above a skeleton.

"Now they are all mixed together because of you! I have to redo everything again." The lick grunted.

"Do what? I asked you to translate the Oath, not locking yourself here to satisfy your bookworm pleasure." Lilith shouted.

"For a Goddess, you are as dumb as a half-witted. It's not like there is a dictionary lying around that will help me to translate it. The only way is to compare multiples scriptures of the same date, spotting the similar symbols, and learning about the circumstances and what the scripture talks about so you can have a guess of the actual meaning of that word. Yes for one word.

This is not a translation task I am doing. I am decoding an entire new language based on some old books from the basement. So I would appreciate if you can give me some time alone." Noroeth groaned.

"I have no idea of what you are saying but do it quick! We don't have much time to screw around like this."

"Fine! You are so grumpy sometimes I forgot that you are an immortal hag. If you want to stay here, let it be little Alice! At the very least, she was caring enough to bring me some tea."

"Why the hell do you need tea? You are DEAD. You don't eat nor do you need to drink. It's just going to fall out of your body anyway."

"It's the thought that counts. Either way, what is with the haste? From what you told me, I understand that this living metal thing, Akroma, is very dangerous. I get that. But it is currently sealed away in the deep undergrounds, dozens of miles below us and doesn't seem like it will be active any time soon.

As for the pact, the demon lords are dead. Whatever that has been in that pact has now been nullified." Noroeth explained. An Oath was always done between multiples persons, at least two. But as he said, if one of the parties involved died, the pact would therefore be cancelled and lost its magic. Whatever the pact between the Artificer and the demon lords were, it no longer had any affect anymore.

"But we don't know for how long this situation is going to endure. What if Akroma suddenly awakes tomorrow? We have no chance at beating it, not without heavy losses and possibly a large portion of the entire world population. Something must be done to counter it before that happens." Lilith argued.

"Alright alright, I get it! But this kind of thing cannot be rushed. Just give me some time and I will see what I can do." Said the lich. "But really, I wonder why that geezer decided to write everything in a dead language? His wife was clearly able to write in our language just fine."

"What did you say?" Lilith asked in awe.

"Among the books we found at his mansion, I stumbled upon a small red leather notebook which seems to belong to his wife's name. Apparently it's her diary."

"Wait wait, how do you know it's his wife?"

"Because right at the front page, it said

'To my dear husband Marcus,

I congratulate you for finding my diary. But if you have the guts to read what is written inside, I will burn your entire library together with your machines to ashes.

From your lovely wife,

Tia'

That seems more than enough of evidence that this belongs to his wife." The skeleton proudly explained as he tapped on the notebook on the table with his skeleton finger.

"...And why on earth are you reading a woman's diary, you perverse sage?"

"Well because that's the only thing I can understand. And we never know, there might be even some clues hidden inside it. This is the person who was the closest to the Artificer we are talking about here. Surely she must know something."

"Fine...then get on with it! Tell me if you find something!" Lilith said in a grumpy voice as she headed toward the door.

"By the way, Lilith..." the skeleton recalled her the moment she touched the door's handle.

"What?" turning her head back, she asked.

"If Akroma, the living metal, was the Second Calamity caused by the Artificer, then what was the First Calamity? And who caused it?"

"...Why do you want to know?" the little girl asked in a serious tone.

"Just out of curiosity."

"Then do you know that curiosity killed the cat? Being a sage and having lived for that long, surely you must know by now that there are things better being kept secret as they were never meant to be known by men."

"...You know, just because you pull out some seemingly profound adage doesn't mean what you are saying is true, nor does it make you look cool or anything."

".....It does sound cool though."

"No...it doesn't."

"Seriously, why do you insist on asking me that? It's all in the past now. It has nothing to do with you." Complained the little girl, crossing her hands.

"I believe if something almost destroyed my world in the past, I deserve to know about it. To ensure something similar will never happen again."

"Not in this case. Even if you know about it, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. And the threat has been dealt with anyway. It will never happen again." Lilith admitted with a displeased look on her face.

"Why do I have the impression that you have something to do with that calamity? As if there was something very ....personal about it."

"...Why are you so persistent?"

"Then why do you want to keep it a secret so much?

"Because it's frightening... for me."

"...Why do I feel like you have something to do with the calamity? What you just said, it sounded so personal." The lich spoke.

"Before you say anything further, no, I didn't cause nor did I have anything to do with it."

"Then why insisting on hiding it? If it's not your fault then you have nothing to hide"

"Because I died there." Lilith confessed with a loud voice.

"What?"

"I thought I could take over its body but ended up being killed by it. Are you happy now?" the Goddess shouted with a strange tone. For a moment, it almost seemed like she was...sobbing.

"Wait just a minute there, what do you mean 'killed'? You are standing here, are you not?"

"The Primordial Gods, which mean me, Eden and Magnus, cannot die. Even if our physical body is destroyed, in other words, dies, our spirit will live on before finding another body to possess. That's how I ended up in Alice's body in the first place." The Goddess explained.

"But what could kill you, a God? Not to mention you are one of the three creators of Astora." The news was indeed shocking. Something out there was able to kill one of the three Primordial Gods. But what? And how come its name has not been spread around if it was indeed that powerful? You would think something like that would be recorded in the annals of history but even the calamity itself was not mentioned anywhere. "What is the First Calamity?" the lich shouted.