Down below the oilfields, far underneath the earth, many chambers and caves had been both opened up and created.

Tunnels honeycombed the bedrock and the dirt, going down further and further and branching the subterranean area into caverns, pits, and cavities. Some were barely the size of a shoebox, while others were so big they had an echo and their own ecosystems. It was lightless and still in the darkness except where creatures snorted and snarled their way through the underground world. The corpse of a titan that had been continued it's grand work of creation with the available materials down at the bottom of it all in a mausoleum that had been meant to stay sealed forever, but otherwise the caves were quiet. The blank stone that faded into carvings were witnesses to this new part of Ulimaroa that shouldn't have existed in the first place, and it stretched out in a labyrinth where night never ended.

While their shapes weren't uniform, almost all of the creatures and things the titan once called Clane had put together were unintelligent and dumber than animals. They one and all lacked even a spark of sentience or sapience, little more than bodies that followed an extremely simple programming. But every now and then, the dead Titan had managed to fashion a new life that was capable of thinking for itself and bound to it's will. There was no intent in the creation of these individuals, only random chance and an occasional spark of something beyond the impulse to shape and make bound in it's dead flesh. Though they each felt an echo of the same desire to create and spread influence, the method of first corrupting Ulimaroa and then converting the earth to a roiling sea of foulness was filtered through their own thoughts. United in purpose if not in temperaments, these were the Titanspawn that served as generals of an army of claws and teeth.

One of these entities had busied itself preparing to receive the others; The oldest and firstborn, it fell to Cnundo to do so. With a body of wispy black slime, chains that gave him shape, and smoke that moved like the liquid inside a lava lamp, he had set up the meeting chamber fastidiously and cleared it of creatures and debris. Knowing full well he would be vexed and irritated at his siblings by the time it was all said and done, that hadn't kept him from doing what needed to be taken care of. Their squabbling and discordant ideals exasperated him to no end, as their shared goal needed unity and focus to accomplish instead of bickering and each pursuing the endgame in their own unique ways. Dwelling here in Clane's seat of power, if he had been able to bind them to his will he would have done so already. Things would be so much more efficient that way... Sadly, instead he was doomed to be a wiser older sibling to the others even if his wisdom was unheeded. It was truly exhausting to wrangle the others.

One by one they had come, surrounding a pool of black water darker than night in a cavern big enough to hold them all. Dinosaur bones and minerals streaked the walls in nonsense patterns, and stalactites dripped in the opposite of a rhythm. Each larger than any human, at first they had quietly talked among themselves and glared at one another in quiet suspicion, even now making the peace between them uneasy. True unity had always stopped short at their nature.

"...Thank you all for joining me in this meeting. One and all, I am pleased to see us gathered together." Cnundo said dryly, like a desert wind at night. He already knew what would be coming first.

"This is a waste of time. Why have you dragged us here?" Asked Cnaorre immediately, confirming his thoughts. Shaped like a human but wrong, clad in tattered and torn white cloth in imitation of an outfit, his many, many red eyes that ran up and down his form watched Cnundo suspiciously. Lank tendrils like hair hung down and obscured the shape of his face, while smoke and fog slowly burned off of his limbs. Secondborn of them all, Cnaorre had gravitated toward combat as his expertise, and even now his many crossed arms briefly touched the hilt of a large sword at his waist.

"I agree. There is no need for us to convene." Evytlix added, in tones so cold the air in front of her actually frosted. Herself made of solid angular ice, her disembodied arms twitched in irritation while the large red heartlike shape of her head dripped blood on the floor. Long and wild hair hung in a ponytail like a sheathe down to the ground at her back, while ice crystals constantly grew sharp and then melted back down in her immediate space from the moisture in the air. "What do you want, Cnundo? Spit it out."

"Now, now... Must we be so acrimonious? Is this how we ought act when brought together?" Asked Hazza, spreading their thin arms. A figure made of glass bottles and vapors, Hazza saw themselves first as an intellectual and so tried to pass off a scholarly air. Their body was formed of beakers, vials, and a pinkish smoke that bound it all together in a humanoid shape. Their manner faded a little at the sound of giggles, Hazza glaring at the two Titanspawn muttering between them and the flower in a bottle that served as their face crinkling in irritation. Likewise, their billowing pink haze cloud turned reddish.

"Sister, I think Hazza is kissing up to Cnundo shamelessly."

"I agree, brother. A display of toadying unlike most."

The twins Silto and Otlis looked very similar, black skeletonlike beings wreathed in dizzying displays of light and neon smoke. Inseparable and of one mind, they grinned at Hazza in mirrored nasty smiles. Despite their mockery, they and all the other titans turned to the final one among their number when she leaned down to peer at them.

"...It is nice to return, and to see you all again. It has been a time." Zoacti said in a quiet oily rumble. Easily the largest of them all at nearly twice the next tallest height and many, many times their weight, the massive crowned black ooze that glowed with an internal green light like radiation took up more space than almost all the others put together. Despite that she kept close to herself rather than allowing her almost liquid body to spread around, arms and tendrils and psuepods half forming before sinking back into her muck. "Let's hear what Cnundo has to say."

"Thank you, sister." Cnundo bowed his head briefly to her. While he and she didn't agree on everything, at least Zoacti was reasonable when others were reactionary. "Why have we convened? Why else but to plan and converse? To start, let's hear what you all have been engaged upon. How goes the inception of our corruption? I will begin."

"These catacombs and caves have been filled and packed with an army of minions, each ready to throw themselves into taking this island for our purposes. Our progenitor has so very much material to work with, to shape and to fashion into life that I do not think there would or could be an end to them all. There are legions for each of you to command as well as your own forces, and as long as I am alive it will continue that way. Our victory is assured, it is only a matter of time and commitment. Our corruption will spread until all life is choked by it, and this tomb will be it's epicenter." Cnundo promised, rising to his full height with purpose. "There will come a dawn when the sun rises on an Ulimaroa dyed black. From here, our origin, more and more and more will spread."

"Plenty of dogsbodies, but they one and all make for poor soldiers." Cnaorre said, eyes down to his shadow watching Cnundo resentfully. "But I suppose they serve their purpose. The lands around this hole in the ground, I have begun to take command and cleanse them of life. The homes of the humans are wringed by walls, but one by one they will fall. I only hope there is more than the one protector I have encountered that will be able to challenge me."

"The way we've heard it, that one protector sent you running with your tail between your legs." Otlis said, smirking. "Isn't that the case, brother?"

"Oh yes, sister. Mighty Cnaorre and his warband were repelled by one girl manning the walls." Silto nodded, giving Cnaorre a sympathetic, sarcastic smile. His eyes narrowed into slits as he jabbed a finger at the pair. "That is no ordinary human girl- her eyes are always open and her reach is long. She is a creature of industry. I will rise to the challenge and slay her, and following that, none will posses the strength to oppose me. More besides, what have you two been doing other than playing with yourselves?"

"Why, sister, we seem to have touched a nerve! We have been reaving our way through the center of Ulimaroa, hunting travelers and the unprepared." Silto said, Otlis nodding. "Our course will take us to Argo in a matter of months, where we will creep inside the mountain and transform it into a charnel house. That alone will destabilize the region more than any number of isolated farmsteads and teeny tiny towns."

Cnaorre made a disgruntled grumbling sound as Cnundo waved his hand. "Enough of your barbs and baiting, all of you. Evytlix, what of your efforts?"

"The coastlines are being streaked by my ice as we speak. The center of Ulimaroa is fine and well, but the outside edges need to be captured first and encircled like a net. Ultimately once hope and help is cut off, I will freeze Erenvale to the bone. If Argo is a gem, the capital of this land is the crown is rests on." She replied in clipped tones.

"A sound enough plan!" Hazza encouraged. Evytlix glared at them as the scientist spread their arms, not appreciating her thunder being stolen. "I have set up a laboratory in order to discover as much as possible about this existence and reality, and the results have been highly encouraging. There is so much to learn and find, and every day brings me closer to a full comprehension."

While the others had varying negative reactions to Hazza's proclamation between scorn or irritation, Zoacti smiled and clapped her hands together with a sound like waves of muck meeting. "How wonderful... You must tell us all about it sometime, Hazza. For myself, I have spread my corruption in the underground places of this island, slow and creeping but with total conversion. Second by second, more and more of the caves and mines belong to me. All of Ulimaroa rests upon the earth, and when the foundations are rotted it will be an easy enough matter to claim the rest."

"A good enough start, I suppose." Cnundo said to them, before leaning forward. "But I suppose this brings us to the next point we have not yet discussed- what is to be done with the humans and otherwise that populate this land already?"

Two extremes immediately made themselves known, Evytlix responding "They need all be slain." while Zoacti looked down at her. "We could... simply leave them alone."

"Leave them alone?" Zoacti repeated slowly. "That is not possible. They will oppose us at every turn and do everything in their power to stop us. There is no circumstances where they will not. If not responded to the same way than we will never succeed in our vision. They will never willingly join us or submit."

"Perhaps, but they were here first, and more besides maybe they shouldn't have to die just because of that... They've done nothing to us so far." Zoacti pressed. Despite being significantly bigger than Evytlix, the ooze was much more uncertain in her words then the uncompromising figure of ice.

"But they will. We cannot coexist, our vision and victory spells their doom. I do not care about what is to be done with them, they are poor sport. Most cannot challenge us in any real way." Cnaorre shrugged dismissively.

"I think we could learn much from the humans. There, I've said it." Hazza said, crossing their arms. "They know more than we do about the state of the world and the laws that govern it, and their science has had centuries to prosper. It would not be so terrible if we could keep a few alive for that purpose... Or for experimentation."

"They are so much fun to play with! Isn't that true, brother?" Otlis added.

"Indeed, sister. But even more fun to break." Silto laughed.

"I suppose to each our own, if there is no consensus. We will all do as we will when it comes to them in any case, so long as our victory is achieved it does not truly matter." Cnundo pronounced. "Before we turn to other business and specifics of our agenda... I suspect there is another of our number somewhere out in Ulimaroa. The signs are all there, yet if they are true our fellow has been hidden from my sight. Have any of you seen or heard of them? Unlike us, it seems they were ejected somewhere outside of this tomb after their forging."

"Another?" Hazza repeated. "No, I was not aware. Why would they have been placed outside rather than filled with a purpose equal to our own? Our creator is insensate and dead, not capable of such a thing."

"I have no idea, and cannot even speculate. I may be mistaken but I do not think so. The same marks and elements of creation that were present for myself, and for each of you were there, but no presence. Finding them and taking them into the fold is a high priority for us each, we need as much force as we can muster. All of you, this is vital to our success that we are united in purpose if not role- They must be found." Cnundo said. While Zoacti was the only one that outwardly agreed and nodded, his words had the intended effect of underlining the seriousness of locating the last of their number.

As the meeting went on, each of the Titanspawn watched their fellows and planned their own plans, many heads with one ultimate goal. How they would achieve it and pursue it came down to the individual, but they were united in the vision of Ulimaroa gilded black and silent except for slithering new life.