I am, one of 9 titans to exist since the beginning of this planet. I am, the youngest of the 9, weakest of them, yet still, I have strength enough. I am Shearwood, serpent of light and fire, the most playful and temperamental one.

The oldest of the titans – Grandu, is a tortoise that boasts the ultimate defence and regenerative capabilities. His shell impervious to everything, magic, swords, and even time. It is said that he existed even before Aioa, this great planet, and that Aioa was birthed from his back.

Next came the triplets of Drigor, Isana, and Wanda. These great dragons guarded and ruled over the elements of Earth, Ice and Wind respectively. Always bickering, they settled in continents as far away from each other as possible.

Then from the sun and the moons, descended the 3 majestic birds – Fiora, Luna and Rashael. These birds controlled the elements of fire, darkness and light as if they were made of the elements themselves.

The 8th titan, my brother is a serpent capable of controlling minds and the wills of lesser beings. An expert in poison and deception, he slumbers on the other side of Aioa, furthest place from me. He is illusive and neigh impossible to meet, like a phantom.

We used to fight each other, all 9 of us, to alleviate our boredom, but in the process, melted mountains, evaporated seas and terrorised the world’s inhabitants. We were the cause of the mana catastrophe 3.5 million years ago. It destroyed a majority of Luna’s home, the blue moon. After that, we called a temporary truce and chose to lie dormant for as long as eternity required us to.

Mana on this planet is constantly recycled, with a small amount being generated from the core constantly. With the exception of the 3 avian titans, the other 6 of us, being originally one with the planet, are similarly capable of generating our own mana. The 3 avians absorb mana from their homes, where they are most likely residing right now.

Lesser beings however, derive their mana from their surroundings – the air they breathe, the ground they walk on and the water they drink, and their bodies automatically convert natural mana into their own unique forms. They have no control over their mana intake (unlike a certain someone).

As titans, we watched the world grow, change and its inhabitants destroy themselves. We watched the extinction of the high elves, the phaeries, and the moles. We do not interfere as the lesser beings fear and revere us.

To them, we are gods, mighty existences that they turn to for hope. And yet, we chose not to interfere. In hopes to win our favour, they decided to sacrifice their own kinsman, hoping they do not incur our wrath.

As we slumbered, one particular race rose up and expanded rapidly, their greed never ending, their curiosity never satisfied. The humans fought and dominated other races, and eventually, even Aioa was not sufficient for them. They began warring with each other, new factions and kingdoms appearing every decade or so. Selfish bastards.

Even this kingdom of Alluviate that was mentioned by my sacrifice, was non-existent during my last awakening. Humans are smart and vicious, mastering the ways of controlling mana faster and more effectively than other races despite their low affinity with mana. Their one weakness became their strength.

These humans born a baby with higher affinity than others once every few years. Mages number about 1 in 10,000. Given the mere population size of the humans however, mages are not uncommon. Unlike you, my master, humans have no control over mana, but instead recite ancient runes to reconfigure their own mana into fixed pre-determined designs that constitutes their spell.

My knowledge on humans, however, is limited to that. I cannot help you any more than you can help yourself. Your best avenue for information would be in books or professional mages found in major cities and villages. Even then, their knowledge is very limited. They do not truly understand mana, like the high elves and phaeries did.

Shearwood concluded her brief summary of Aioa’s history to Kiefer. Looking down at the tiny human, wondering again and again just how powerful her master could truly become. He might be able to defeat her siblings, but she wasn’t too sure about beating Grandu.

“Sher, can’t you do something about your massive form? Its tiring having to look up at you all day. Besides, I’m going to be traveling soon and bringing you along in this form is just plain stupid.” (Kiefer)

“Yes of course, master. I can make myself smaller. Please wait for a moment.” Shearwood replied, happy to comply with her new master’s commands. Her majestic wings slowly retracted and eventually disappeared, making her look like a plain giant snake. She began gliding through the air in circles, slowly but surely decreasing in size. In a spiral, the once giant serpent over 100m long gradually shrunk down to a tiny blue snake, no longer than 30cm and 1cm wide.

“How are you capable of transforming like that?” Kiefer asked, wondering if he could do something similar too.

“Magic.” (Sher)

Kiefer just stared at her wide eyed, no expecting such a useless answer.

“Then how do you fly in the air?”(Kiefer)

“Magic.” (Sher)

Kiefer was starting to get annoyed at this pointless answer.

“What about your breath/beam attack? How do you do that?”(Kiefer)

“Magic.” (Sher)

This time, Kiefer was pissed off.

Grabbing the serpent by her throat, Kiefer yanked her out of the air and bellowed, “Listen you useless reptile. You better start giving me answers that are helpful or I’ll skin you alive and turn you into a purse!”

Scared by the sudden turn in her master’s mood, Shearwood trembled. She had been answering the questions to her best capabilities. “I’m sorry master, please don’t get angry. All the things you mentioned just come naturally to me. I was born with those abilities and I do not control mana like the humans do, so I do not know how to reply you.”

Seemingly aware of his mistake and rash behaviour, Kiefer hurriedly released the little blue snake, and watched as she coiled up on his lap.

“Sorry..” he muttered under his breath, and could see a small smile show up on Shearwood’s tiny snake face.

Sorry this took so long, I had to work today despite it being a sunday. Hope you enjoyed the little back story and the splash of Halo3:ODST in there.