Mawu took us to the Sky Dome when she could tell we were tired.  I had been tired of fighting for so long.  By the time she came for us, I was known as Olokun, after our water goddess for a long time. 

I was a fierce warrior, as fierce as Olokun was when the ocean's wrath was unleashed.  But you see, I resonated with the original goddess for a different reason.  Olokun was the part of the ocean in the deepest ocean depths.  The places so deep they were unseen of human eyes.  The place of secrets.  This is the place where treasures find their final resting place, where the sea life gets their food like manna floating down from the heavens. 

Mawu had her husband, and many of the ladies were content to find a lover back on Earth, giving them a child that would help to raise the consciousness of humanity.  I preferred to keep to myself, and enter in the deep slumber of people's dreams.  I understand what it is like to feel locked down, to be trapped with no escape.  And like the deep sea creatures that were given no light from anyone, I make my own light within.  In the darkness is where we find ourselves.  We find the strength to carry on.

Let my family play as they may.  I am content as I am.  Sometimes I would appear in your dreams as a mermaid, sometimes I would appear as a man.  I may even appear as a creature of the dark.  Whatever it may be, I will continue to aid humanity in bringing light to their darkness. 

As my family expanded, and our numbers increased, I became content to spend much of my time with Magec.  I found a very gentle soul in this one's company.  No matter what form I took, I was always accepted, even when I chose to be a creature of the deep, or even a mixed one, part human, part otherworldly creature.  Magec didn't even mind when I would show with tentacles for locks of hair. We became best of friends.  I watched as Magec's own family grew, his small tribe of priestesses, as they called themselves, and crowning Achaman as his people's leader, much to the dismay of Guayota.

I became very protective of Magec.  Not that I needed to be.  Achaman could protect them all just fine.  I still visited often, for Magec's heart was as deep as the ocean I dwelled in, the sunshine to my darkness.  Alas, Magec and I did not feel we could be open about our love affair.  Though it was not our relations, or anyone's opinions that kept us apart.  It was our responsibilities that did; but when you have all the time of infinite, there is comfort in knowing that you will indeed meet again.  Sometimes Magec would bear our children, and sometimes would I, our secret children of the deep.

In their human form, they were beautiful, their skin tones somewhere between the both of ours, and their hair and eyes as well.  Their other forms...our children were shape-shifters, as was I; however, they all tended to favor the form of the giant squid.  Though they could change into anything at will.  Sometimes they would visit their father, for that was what he was to them, and their other siblings, and many priestess aunts.  The children that Magec mothered, meanwhile, took the form of many birds.  The birds of the sea were their favorite forms.

There are two of our children, that would deserve some honorable mention.  They were both, our first born: one from me, one from Magec.  Magec's child was just like the bearer in every way, born intersex.  She took the role of a woman, but she could have taken the role of a man.  Both parts she wore, a feminine body, and a masculine voice.  Beautiful she was indeed.  Everyone simply called her "Sunshine."  She very much valued her role in the sisterhood of priestesses.  Many a woman she dressed for her wedding day, including her aunts from my side of the family, and even her grandmother Nana on occasion.  My son, I named him Behanzin.

Behanzin, he was a valuable warrior in many ways.  On occasion, Mawu would call him to come with her and Liza to war, and he would always honor that call.  However, he appeared to love women a little too much, in my opinion.  He was a "handsome devil" when he took human form, but his favorite form was that of a human torso, and tentacles for locks of hair and legs, the very form I had when he was conceived.  He had a bad habit of wooing women in human form, and then luring to the bottom of the ocean depths with him.  They did not drown.  He had his methods to provide for them air to breathe, as well as nutrition for their bodies.  They always managed to be happy with him, in the long run.  I'm just not certain that I liked his methods of courtship.  He would tease a woman into wantonness, make her beg for more.  I thought of standing in his way, but even our family agreed that so long as the woman was there of her own free will, and he was not harming anything....I reluctantly agreed.

Perhaps it is because he has so many aunts, and even his grandmother, that goes to the earthly plain to find themselves a mate that they allowed it to be so.  He does stand by them until their last breath.  I will give him that.  But I am waiting for the day when he finds a woman that he would spend all of eternity with, and it still wouldn't be long enough.  For now, I will continue to be happy with the many grandchildren he brings.  And there are indeed, many, many grandchildren.

He is also my peacemaker among my children.  There has been a dividing rift between my offspring, particularly when I began to prefer the form of a mermaid.  My mermaid form is more fierce looking than my sister, Yamaya, but a mermaid form all the same.  My cecaelia children began to think that I was ashamed of them, even though they could also change their form at will.  Behanzin would remind them of that.  A few of them would experiment, but most of them preferred whatever shape or form they were born with, depending on what my own form was at the time they were conceived.  It was my grandchildren that were in fixed form, and their appearances permanent. 

I am afraid that some of them began to despise me for it.  It led to a great family dispute, with Behanzin leading on my behalf.  It was all a great misunderstanding.  No mother wants to see her family fight among themselves.  It broke my heart.

We banished the violent ones away, both the cecaelia and the siren mermaids.  Even Yamaya had to turn some of her children away, as they only brought more salt to the wound instead of trying to rectify the situation.

I prefer to see this as a family time-out.  They will come back eventually.  For now we have more healing to do, and they have much to learn.  Sometimes it is as necessary to be apart, as it is to be together, to have the most fulfilling relationships.

Author's note:  and that's why this title is MY Universe.  I can mix and match legends of old as I please, and this will more than likely be happening a lot as tales from around the world will be introduced.

P.S.  Photo of Behanzin is modeled by Keith Hamilton Cobb from Andromeda.