As Magnus flew across the seemingly infinite body of water, it soon turned turquoise.
The water was still deep, but the corals were hundreds of meters tall. They varied in beautiful bright colours and some of them even emitted bright light.
Like a sovereign, all species that came close and past the bright corals that had been unruly soon settled down.
They didn't fight as they peacefully coexisted and predators like sharks could not get close.
Magnus also noticed the extremely high concentration of oxygen and its purity compared to the pure salty ocean.
It was not just oxygen that calmed his heart, but also the purity of mana. The unpure filth that was usually hidden deep within mana was completely purified by these coral reefs.
A true paradise on Earth. And as he flew a few kilometers more, he saw a transparent bubble with only its top peeking out of the water.
The city wasn't actually located in an ocean, but in a spacious coast. Ruins of buildings with trees multiple times taller penetrating through them created an interesting scene.
Magnus turned off his powerful scanning spell and flew down. Step by step he explored the sights with his own eyes.
"Not even the greatest artist, like those Gods, could stand up to nature." Magnus thought to himself as he sat beneath a tree.
The view was amazing as two tall cliffs which were now filled with vines, like pillars to the underworld welcomed the sun as it went to sleep.
The moon soon rose to show its daily dominance as it reflected off the water. He was surprised to see something appear as he diminished his presence.
Two blobs of water, neither animals nor humans. The two blobs played around as Magnus heard children's voices giggling.
Soon, the blobs once again became one with the ocean. Even when Magnus used all of the power and mana he had at his current disposal, he couldn't find them.
He shook his head as he decided to visit Atlantis for real. There were many entrances, however due to the lack of electricity most of them weren't in operation.
As such he could only phase through the magic barrier. The moment he did so, the atmosphere changed a bit. Almost unnoticeably the mana in the surroundings was a bit purer than the outside.
The surroundings were quite empty. And as he looked around, he found a few organisms that had survived.
He continued on as he passed the living areas and even the business ones as there was not much of a difference.
That changed though as he scanned the core of this city.
His expression changed and he teleported into a secret laboratory a few kilometers below 'Atlantis'.
As well as being a laboratory, military equipment with the potential to use mana was also being researched and even succeeded to some extent.
However, what made things grim was the clear presence of an intelligent life. And as humans should have been the only intelligent lifeforms around a sickening feeling engulfed him.
The system was near omnipotent and it would not make such a mistake as not to time-freeze any non combat capable person.
And when he teleported inside his uneasy feeling was confirmed.
There was a sick group of humans that experimented with DNA to no avail, however what if you were given a magical substance?
Magnus didn't know how they were even capable of such things with their primitive technology. But they somehow mashed together a human with the genes of an aquatic animal, most likely a dolphin.
An array of dark thoughts emerged deep within him when he stopped himself.
He boosted his senses to the absolute maximum and noticed a bunch of strong organizations fighting a few dozen kilometers away.
Even if they weren't the ones behind the research they were bound to explore Atlantis sooner or later.
Magnus resolved himself as he concentrated his mana. Soon, the earth began to shake as it was being torn apart.
Once it was flying dozens of meters in the air the now island began to move. A couple of kilometers later he arrived at the coral reef.
A huge pit was dug next to it, which was soon filled with the remains of Atlantis. Next, he took out a white fluid which the system named 'Star's last tears'.
It cost quite a lot, however it was worth it in his opinion. The animals on land were bound to get overwhelmed sooner or later unless he created a massive imbalance in power.
Although that would work it would be a temporary measure, so he decided to let the aquatic creatures grow as well.
That poor experimental subject was going to become the new sovereign of the aquatic race.
The liquid soon entered the creature's body as its slumbering soul awakened. It was pure and filled with nothing but curiosity about the world.
Seeing its curiosity Magnus assumed a different appearance as he appeared before it and tapped its head.
"Sleep well and grow to be a protector of this world, an unshakable pillar for all." Magnus said to it, not expecting much.
The creature entered a world of dreams, dreams which would grant it the wisdom it needed to survive and live in the new world.
Soon, it and its race would play their part in the world...
...
[????]
'It' was never awake, yet it always knew what was happening around it. Strange creatures kept pumping it with weird things that sometimes felt good and most of the time bad.
It was scared of the pain, but it was unable to open its eyes. Weeks turned into months and months into years as it had grown used to pain.
It no longer viewed it as something to fear, but something as part of its life.
And yet even such pain vanished, and what replaced it was a thousand times worse.
The feeling of loneliness, the inability to move, and all it could feel was the liquid that kept it alive.
That liquid was losing its potency however and it knew that its time had come. And yet when it should have died, a creature once again made its presence known.
It knew it was the same type of creature as others who caused it pain, so it expected it to continue doing so.
And once again its world view was shattered.
That creature didn't give it pain, but something precious. The ability it secretly envied and wished to have all this time.
The ability to feel, see, and move properly. It tried to use its newfound powers to see whatever it was that had given it such a gift.
Once it caught a glimpse of its savior, however, it realized that it was not its true form.
The only real lead was the voice and sentence that would be deeply embeded in its memories.
As it fell into the world of dreams it lived a lot of lives. Occasionally, it would even live on land rather than in the oceans and seas.
It soon learned of basic things, like language and communication of humans. Most of its life was spent as a 'female' and gradually she realised that she couldn't impact the world.
She was an observer, one who was meant to learn. And so learn she did.
She had witnessed civilizations rise and fall, young men banding together to create the most prosperous times just so it would be ruined at the hands of their greedy descendants.
She could see the 'evil' and yet oftentimes she agreed with the evil action. Was it wrong for a starving child to steal?
These questions kept piling up in her head as she lived through more and more dreams.
Those dreams kept changing. However one trend was obvious, the more she dreamt the more advanced civilizations got.
Sometimes she would 'live' in an underwater world where inhabitants coexisted peacefully only to be mercilessly invaded by others.
Gradually the dreams transformed from worlds to wider space as she could see planetary systems filled with beings of war who never had enough as they gradually destroyed themselves from inside.
She had also seen civilizations of peace get devoured by their surroundings, creatures capable of invading and taking over planets in mere hours, sucking it dry before continuing on their voyage of destruction.
At one point she wasn't seeing through the eye of an individual, but she transformed into 'light'.
Her world became so so much more wider as she could see galactic civilizations desperately fighting against larger ones. Yet the weakest weren't devoured by the larger, but by the ones fighting against the larger.
What was wrong? What was right? She didn't see it as an issue of what is right and wrong objectively. She learned that what is wrong and what is right matters for the people living it.
Was it wrong for the child to steal food? Certainly it was from the perspective of the owner, but was it wrong for the child to try and live? No.
That same was true for large galactic civilizations that were trying to survive against even greater threats from both outside and inside as their desperate rulers tried to keep everything glued together.
She learned perhaps the greatest lesson of it all. Time, time was something you either worked with to grow or you would see it as something bad. See it as a tool of inevitable destruction.
She had seen it all the time, from the creation of mortal kingdoms where they used time to create an invincible and prosperous place to live.
They became terrified of time and began to fight against it when it was their greatest ally.
It was when she saw the last remaining piece of the universe get destroyed did she realise what time was and how it wasn't a mere tool.
With the last remaining piece of the universe dying out, the universe died with it. The last star that held on despite the destruction around it, despite the attempts to destroy it from both inside and outside.
The star had seen and grieved and yet it held on. With perhaps the greatest invisible smile. Even when its time came to a close, only a single tear containing all of its memories was left...
Unbeknownst to the star its last tear would play a large role...
Asteria, that was her newly chosen name. One of the many gods which had their name known throughout many civilizations.
It was the goddess of stars and she took it as a sign.
She had awoken in a place she recognized as the laboratory she had been kept in all that time.
Above her was a hole and as she swam up through the now water filled place she found herself in a city.
Around her swam schools of fish and not far away were beautiful corals.
As she swam around, she began to feel a tiny bit of the loneliness she had once felt. And so, she left the city and swam around in the ocean blending with it.
When she passed a few schools of fish she could feel their emotions and she responded to their pleas and thoughts.
Days and nights flashed as fish entered the city as they had seen their new Queen. With a spear made of indestructible rose gold in hand she found whilst exploring.
The spear perhaps perhaps without edge gained a new ability, and a new race was born. Fish that weren't even able to even properly think gained wisdom and used that wisdom to imitate their new queen.
She silently accepted their loyality and began spreading her influence in the deepest and darkest corners of the world. A place where behemoths who had lived for a long time were in slumber.
Perhaps she failed as not every behemoths pledged their loyality to her as she gave them wisdom, most chose to stay neutral with the pledge of not hurting her or her kingdom unless she is the first to strike.
But a few did and followed her. The city quickly expanded as more cities like it kept popping up deep within the waters of the ocean.
The only sign of their expansion was the quiet appearance of coral reefs across every shore of every continent.
...
...
[Star's last tears]
[Usage: Grant and restore life.]
[Potential side effects: See and live through the lens of a star. Be it one life or a million]