I sense within the sea the change of winds. All that drifts through the skies, the dust of the stars, the breath of life. It all falls to the sea. It courses over me. Around me. Through me.

… I sense the struggle.

Of my kin, their territorial grounds now changed forever, a saddened cry fills my heart. What once was the sea is now land. And what once was land is now the sea. What once was forest is now desert. What once was desert is now a swamp. And what once was a swamp is now a vast canyon.

This world is not the world we knew.

For my kin, their homes lost, must start anew.

But our world has changed.

He who carries with him a mountain was once benevolent. Content to slumber and feed on the stream of life from deep within this world as I do. But now he growls in challenge to the world. He violates his territorial boundaries and provokes she who walks on eight legs. Their squabble destroyed half of the territory they each sought to protect.

I had to intervene.

He who carries with him a mountain would not cease as I flashed my warning. Instead he charged. And I was forced to act. The battle was short. But decisive. He never stood a chance. As I established my dominance, he retreated with a grudge. She who walks on eight legs bowed to my warning and retreated. Though it was not the last I would see of her.

As I returned to the sea I sensed within myself something new. The skies above the water were a domain once foreign to me. Only the particles of life flowing on its breath could reach the waters. But now, I can sense the currents of air as I do those in the sea. I sense the sun, the moon, the stars. I sense all that rises above ground.

It must have been her influence. She who glowed with the radiance of all and gave herself to the Three-Headed Intruder's attack to protect me. Her life poured into my body. I felt it. A warmth coursing through every vein and scale. A heat so intense I lost myself to it. I remember not what happened before awakening to the Three-Headed Intruder's final dying breath in my jaws as I sent it to oblivion.

Her life must have given me this power. This new sense which lets me feel, taste, and touch the heavens without reaching up to grasp it. I close my eyes, and I can see all before me. I sense all. And I know it is safe, for now, to rest my weary eyes.

Thank you, my friend.

… However.

In the back of my mind there echoes a warning. A warning that my battle with the Three-Headed Intruder may not truly be over. I can sense it. A faint, flickering presence on the horizon. But it is always fleeting. Yet recurring. I sense him. Then I do not. I can hear his cackle. Then the world goes silent.

He is taunting me.

And I realize now that his death may have only been the beginning.

But if it is a fight he wants once more, it is a fight he shall receive.

He is not of the soil upon which I walk. He is not of the sea within which I swim. And he is not of the skies through which she once soared.

He doesn't belong.

As I retreat to what was once my home I am greeted only by rubble and emptiness. In their efforts to restore my strength, the tiny creatures that walk on two legs turned my home to ash. I could sense them beyond the entrance. They left something behind. A larger and more potent pebble that explodes like the one I consumed after vanquishing that which flies on millions of wings. That was long ago. This was new. Yet it tasted the same. Felt the same. Only stronger.

Perhaps that is why my body reacted the way it did. Never before had I consumed so much of the life energy of the world at once. Perhaps that's why, without her help, I would have failed to stop the Three-Headed Intruder.

I swim the oceans of the world in search of a new home. I know of one. But I sense her presence. The one whose long slender body becomes a blade to slice my flesh. But I shall not fold.

I am weary. And she is strong. But I am stronger still.

I enter the lair and find my Rival curled and ready for a fight. Although it is swift, it was not easy. Her speed and sharp scales outshine my own in every way. I lost much blood to her bladed hide. But my triumph was inevitable. She has retreated from the lair and searches now for a new home.

And so I lay my body down to rest.

I am tired. But as I rest my weary eyes my mind remains alert to the threat of the Three-Headed Intruder whose presence once again flashes for but the briefest of moments before vanishing from my senses.

He doesn't belong. And for what he has done, I can provide no forgiveness, no penance, and no mercy.

I failed to eliminate him once. I shall not fail again.

He doesn't belong.

I tried to rest. But rest would not find me.

I am weary. But I cannot sleep.

As my eyes close to rest. But my senses are going wild. I can feel something else. It claws at the back of my mind. There is a Rival I cannot see. A Rival I cannot sense. But he is a Rival I somehow know. Have we met before? Have we clashed before? I remember not. But I can feel the empty space where he should be within the natural order deep within my beating heart.

He is another Alpha, like me. And he threatens the balance of this world.

He is a true Rival. Not trivial like some.

If I cannot make him submit, I will never rest.

He must be made to bow.

He will be made to bow.

He does belong. And I cannot begrudge him his existence. But he belongs with the rest. He belongs in my shadow.

Whenever he reveals himself, he will bow. If he does not bow, I shall roar. If he deafens his ears to my roar, I shall approach and he shall see my warning. If he averts his eyes and mind to my warning, I shall strike. If he strikes back, I shall overcome as I have all the others.

This world, and our kin, have no room or need for two Alphas.

One of us must yield. But I yield to no one.

He will bow to me.