"I have a loving family. They are the lights of my life. From my mother, Alma, to my wife, Sophia, to my daughter, Marlena." Gustavo told me. There was a light in his eyes as he spoke about them. He smiled as he thought about them, and I felt the intensity of the love he felt for him radiate out of him. It was a tasty looking emotion, the sort that I might one day inspire in my own worshipers.

"What a delicious emotion..." I thought, idly. Gustavo fell quiet for a moment after he mentioned his family members, but he didn't stay quiet for long.

"I have two problems. One of them is pretty straight-forward. Comillas' fields aren't producing food in the same quantities that they used too. Althos had an interesting, albeit probably temporary solution to that problem. The other problem I have is a bit... well it's a bit more personal." Gustavo confessed.

"I don't know how Alma knew about this..." The man said, before he sighed quietly. "But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. She knows about so many things. My daughter is sick. My wife knows but she thinks I don't. I'm assuming they tried to keep it hidden from me out of love and a desire not to worry me, but I've noticed. I just... can't do anything about it." The man confessed, revealing an awareness of the vague malady that was plaguing his daughter.

"My daughter can sleep for hours, but this isn't the sleep of the living. It's the sleep of someone who is slowly wasting away. Marlena's health has always been less than tremendous, but this is new. Her skin is clammy, her pulse is weak, and she is often delirious. She's suffering. She's told me so herself. I actually learned she was sick, early on because she told me directly." Gustavo revealed, outing Marlena as the source of his awareness of her health.

"My daughter, my wife, my mother, and my community are my whole world. I'd do anything to protect them and ensure that Comillas can one day thrive." The human said, looking at me earnestly. I grinned, my airy face contorting to physically express what I felt.

I took moment before doing anything else to pause and consider my options here. I knew that I could dramatically and powerfully wait until he was awake to heal Marlena. Or I could go ahead and heal her right now, showcasing the ease with which I could heal and save lives.

"On one hand, showcasing that my powers are real in a dramatic, flashy way is an excellent tactic to secure the loyalty of Gustavo... It's almost guaranteed to earn his worship." I told myself.

"On the other hand, I am not a fan of allowing Marlena to suffer just so I can demonstrate my powers. It's not kind, or in the spirit of the subdomain of healing to prolong suffering to make a point." I reminded myself, my words safely hidden in the vault that was my mind. The debate didn't last long, and my choice was unsurprising.

I targeted Marlena through my mini-map and her alone and focused on her health. I waited for a second until nothing happened. I sighed, and then activated my knowledge domain's "See condition" power, which actually produced a result.

[Name: Marlena Mondragon

Conditions: Sleeping, fatigued (When awake), delirious (When awake), ravenous (When awake), perpetual nightmares (When asleep)

Hitpoints: 5/20

Disease(s): Sleep-Strike Disease

Disease information: Sleep-Strike Disease is a sleep disorder that causes those plagued by it to sleep for over half a day at a time. When victims are awake they are fatigued, delirious, and plagued by severe hunger. When they sleep they suffer from intense nightmares that they can't remember during the day.]

The disease was intriguing to me. It was, in a sense, a perfect disease for me to snag control over. If I needed to punish someone with a disease that at first might not look that serious I could smack them with it, and then harry them in their nightmares. This also made it good for singling out specific people I wish to punish, rather than punishing entire families.

I calmly activated my disease-domain granted "Cure disease" power and targeted Marlena. The girl was immediately cured of the condition responsible for the suffering she had endured over the course of the last few days. I immediately filled out a notification to send her way when she awoke.

Seconds after I did that, I received a familiar notification. It was one alerting me to my newly acquired mastery over the sickness that plagued Marlena. I grinned as read over and then dismissed the thing.

"Well you can rest a bit more easily now. I have healed your daughter. She was suffering from a disease called 'Sleep-Strike Disease'. When you wake up, you can ask her yourself. She will tell you that Cosecha healed her. She doesn't know who I am, just that I healed her from the disease." I declared, speaking in a proud manner befitting a god.

Gustavo's eyes opened wide in shock. He went still, but not before a smile burst across his face. I could sense, intuitively, that he wasn't entirely sure if he believed me. At the same time, I also received an alert that suggested that he was more hopeful than he was skeptical.

[Influence over Gustavo: 10%]

That alert widened the grin etched on my face. I could sense that what I had done had already, in essence, won Gustavo over. Now it was just a matter of waiting for his worship to come to me.

---

Andrea and I had our gazes locked on each other. In her dream, I appeared as a darkly handsome winged-human. Andrea, or at least her dream-form, was that of a plain redheaded human in her early twenties.

"You know what would prove your divinity to me?" She asked. I shook my head at her, and she chuckled.

"Well that means you aren't omniscient!" She sneered. This slightly annoyed me, but I bit my tongue and let it slide. I wanted to be omniscient, it wasn't my fault that I wasn't. I let silence fill the air between us, as if to demonstrate that she still had the floor. Eventually, she realized this and spoke again.

"Fine. You know what could prove that you were a god, to me at least? Regrowing a limb. Even our most advanced science can't do that. If you can cause spontaneous regeneration of a limb, I'll believe that you are a god." Andrea told me. There was an emotion I wasn't familiar with in her voice as she spoke. From this, I was able to infer that this might be something personal to her.

I looked at her sympathetically for a moment before speaking again. There was a deep emotion in her eyes that caught me a bit off guard. And in those eyes, I could clearly see an opportunity.

"Andrea... let's make a deal." I began, smiling at her as I spoke. She looked at me, skepticism and quizzicalness mixing in her eyes.

"I will heal whoever you wish for me to heal. And in exchange, right here and right now, I grant you your most heartfelt desire. Beauty." I told her, confidence audible in my voice. She listened to me, and paused for a moment. When she spoke, she had a question.

"Let's say I accept your deal. What I hear from this deal is that I gain two great things. What do you gain?" She asked, ultimately questioning my motives. I see gently at her.

"You live in a world far from my own Andrea. On the other side of the universe in fact. I want to start to gain servants and worshipers all over the universe. For now, my servants are limited to the world of my birth. In you, I can start to gain worshipers or at least servants all over the universe." I explained. This caused her to give me a haughty look, one of disapproval and indignance.

"Do you think that granting me beauty is enough for me to become your servant?" She asked. I could hear the anger in her voice. I smiled and shook my head at her.

"I don't actually. But I think that granting you beauty will be a good first step towards you becoming my servant. It will show you that even across the universe I am a being of indescribable power who can cause real, physical change. A creature with powers you can't even begin to imagine." I explained, speaking with such sincerity that it caught her off-guard. I could tell because she took a step back, as if afraid of me.

"Andrea, I am a lesser member of my species and even still I can do things that you couldn't imagine. I could teleport to your world, right now if I wanted too. From literally across the universe." I said to her, beginning to explain just a few of my abilities.

"I possess the power to cure any disease in existence. I can free someone from the shackles of mortality with a touch, or cause them to age into dust by backhanding them. I can generate earthquakes, or cause a famine with a snap of my fingers. I can probably generate tornados and cyclones that can annihilate communities." I revealed to the human, all while an ambitious smile crept across my face.

"I am not your enemy. I want you to become my servant, my worshiper. I have no bad intentions towards you or your species. In fact, you and I share a thirst for knowledge." I told her, feeling as though I had emphasized my powers enough and now wanting to reveal what she and I had in common.

"I want to be omniscient. It is one of my greater desires. For now, though, I content myself with accumulating power. And the truth is, that if I can grant you the beauty you seek I gain a whole new group of powers." I revealed, casually explaining why I had actually come here.

Andrea's eyes narrowed at that declaration. She speedily replied to what I said with an exasperated sigh.

"What do you mean granting me beauty grants you more powers? How? Why?" She asked, annoyed at what I was revealing. I laughed, and waited for her to calm down. When she did, a few moments later, I opted to be honest with her.

"I am a very, very young god Andrea so I don't know that much about all of this yet. But here's what I do know: there are things called domains and subdomains. Domains and subdomains are ideas, concepts, and laws given consciousness. Gods gain power, or 'influence' over them in various ways. If I use a spell I possess on you, to transform you into a form you find beautiful I gain powers related to biology. The first tier of powers related to biology." I told the human, being candid with her.

Andrea looked at me and chuckled. She then sat down and sighed. "So you entered my dream, probably through a domain or subdomain power, so you could grant me beauty?" She asked. I nodded at her. "Is that your true form?" She asked, eyeing me up and down. I shook my head and spoke to clarify.

"I don't have a true form. It's been suggested to me that the gods of old did, but I don't. Instead, I can shapeshift into any form, of any size. I have a number of forms I use, though I have spent most of my time in a human form. Not this one mind-you, but another human one. One that doesn't have wings." I revealed, speaking gently. I wasn't done either.

"Andrea, I can transform you into whatever form you find the most beautiful. I have no problem admitting that I'm using you, but frankly you're only benefitting from this deal. I am not asking you to become my worshiper, or to serve me. I would like for you to serve me, but for right now I am entirely happy to just make you beautiful. You have nothing to lose from this deal." I told her.

I wasn't lying either. A part of my mind was keenly aware that the quest I was undertaking only asked that I use the spell on a willing target. I could easily target Milene and still be awarded the various powers that the domain would grant me.

Andrea listened to me and considered my words. After a few moments, she nodded uncertainly at me. I grinned at her and then began to question her.

"I want to get to know you. What do you consider beautiful?" I asked her. And so began a conversation that opened my eyes to the peculiar aesthetic tastes of the humans of Andrea's homeland in the world of Htrae.

---

"So let me get this straight... You want to be taller, have sun-kissed skin, gain a larger chest, blonde hair, and for your eyes to remain exactly the same?" I asked her, looking at her curiously.

She nodded at me, a wide grin on her face as she envisioned her body matching what she thought was beautiful. I chuckled, studying the attractive young woman before me. Personally I really liked her red-hair and felt a bit sad to know that she wanted it to change. But I rose a hand in her direction, purely to make it clear that I was about to activate the spell.

Andrea stiffened. I could tell she was a tiny bit afraid of whatever was about to happen next. I grinned at her and targeted her with the legendary alteration spell "Transfigure". I unleashed the potent magic, and watched as a burst of energy of multihued energy exploded out of my hand and flew into and then through Andrea. I wasn't surprised to receive an alert a moment later.

['Transfigure' activating... Please envision the sort of changes you'd like to cause the targeted creature to undergo.]

I imagined the pale redhead before me undergoing a transformation into a taller, tanner, bustier woman. I focused on that vision and held it steady in my mind. It took what felt like a few minutes before I received another alert.

[Envisionment processed and transfiguration complete. The target has been successfully transformed.]

I willed the magic to dissipate and lowered my hand. As I did so I laid my eyes on Andrea's transformed figure.

She was now over two meters tall and had the body of her professed dreams. She had a bronze skin-tone, a weighty looking bust, and her red hair was transformed into resplendent golden locks. She rose her hands to her face, and gasped as she beheld her new complexion. She took a single hand and reached behind her head to grab some of her hair.

She brought the hair to her face, and smiled when she saw that it was blonde now. I chuckled at her displays of shock and delight. And then I spoke.

"Your physical form has been equally transformed. I can sense it." I declared. I wasn't entirely sure how, but I knew that the magic I had just cast on her would bleed over into her physical form.

"Tomorrow go visit someone you know and love who has lost a limb. When you do, pray to me. I will heal them, in front of you. They will learn my name the instant I do. I am indeed a god. And my powers can stretch across the universe. Space isn't as limiting for me as it is for you." I declared. Andrea looked at me, and there was an expression of awe on her face.

I smiled at her, enjoying how I had smashed her skepticism. I still had a few more words to say, even though I could see the notification alerting me to the powers I had just acquired.

"It is time for me to leave this place. I shall grant you pleasant dreams for the rest of the night. And I thank you for your assistance today. Because of you, I am stronger than I was a few minutes ago. I won't forget that." I told her, speaking honestly.

I targeted Andrea and activated the restorative version of my "Restless or restful sleep" power. She grinned and began to shiver before me, as I willed myself out of her dream.

As I did so, I received a new notification. It asked me if I wanted her to remember the dream. I chuckled and informed the system that I did want her to remember the events of her dream.

The part of my mind that was within her dream slipped out of it and studied the newest domain that I had gained influence over. The potent domain of biology.

---

When I stepped out of the dreams of Andrea and Gustavo I felt a powerful sense of satisfaction. In indulging the desires of the young human woman I had made an ally on an unimaginably distant world. I had also done a significant favor to Gustavo and gained control over a potent disease while doing it.

All in all, I felt that in navigating the two dreams I had earned potent rewards. I allowed myself to sit down in one of the many chambers in my tower, and I rested my head against the soft fur that lined the side of my new ursine companion. The Amarok wolf I had aided in evolving walked over to me, unsteadily and nuzzled its head against my chest. I smiled and began to softly pat its head.

"Hello there you two. Thank you for being such good company." I said to the two creatures. I was responsible for their current, highly enhanced states.

They were powerful creatures, one a lupine being with mysterious powers over darkness and the other an ursine beast whose genetics included elemental power. And both of them were utterly loyal to me.

The bear whose side I sat against sat down and laid down. The thing quietly allowed me to lazily lay my head back and rest on its soft and warm fur. The wolf sat down as well and relaxed as I rubbed its head.

In this moment of relaxation, I felt like being kind. I quietly began to mutter nearly inaudible words. Words intended for a single recipient. One who dwelled in my shadow.

"Sombra, listen to me." I commanded. I waited a moment before I felt the creature that lurked like a snake in my shadow direct its attention my way.

"Exit my shadow." I told my demonic servant. I felt rather than saw the demon nod and shivered as its inky body detached itself from my shadow, and it crawled onto the floor next to me. The sensation was strange like my shadow was losing part of its mass. Sombra was now next to me.

"What is it that you want? What are your goals?" I asked the creature, curious to see how it being in my presence had affected its perceptions and if it had altered what the creature wanted. In the hours since it had become a servant of mine, I had gained dominion over lesser shadowy monsters, including its kind of creature, and powers over evil and darkness.

It looked at me and took a moment to consider how to reply. As it looked at me I sensed something shifting in it. It was a strange sensation because a part of me was sure, both consciously and unconsciously that my powers were somehow altering its mind. When it did speak there was a strange and new reverence in its voice.

"I want to serve you. Your dark powers seep into me, and they infuse me with newfound energy and eerie emotions. I feel... joy from being next to you. An unholy joy. One that a dark part of me wants to spread to other shadowy beings." The demon whispered. Its voice was a strange thing, newly changed, now sycophantic and seductive where it had once been prideful and contemptuous.

I grinned at the inky stain on my floor. I reached down and grabbed roughly where I hypothesized the thing's head was, and in doing so caused my hand to seep into the floor and the shadow my demonic servant had created. And then I yanked what I had grabbed onto and pulled out an indistinct head, before placing it gently on the floor I was sitting on.

"In that case, I suppose I ought to craft you a body." I told the demon, smiling at it. "A real one." I added, now that I possessed that power. It was a power I had acquired hours ago, through the domain of darkness, but hadn't used right away. Now felt like the right time to do so, and I felt generous so I was opting to practice crafting bodies.

"I am being kind. What kind of body would you like Sombra?" I asked the demonic entity. It looked at me, its ethereal eyes filled with unusual emotion. The emotional cocktail I could see in its eyes contained an emotion I hadn't anticipated seeing in the gaze of a demon: awe.

"Any type of body? Hmm... Could you craft me a body you could desire? I aspire to serve you... In all ways." The demon whispered and its last statement contained a tinge of a salaciousness. I chuckled and nodded at the demon.

---

"How do I craft a body?" I asked internally. As usual, my question was directed towards two separate sources: the domain of knowledge and the system itself.

I knew that this was a strange power I possessed, but it wasn't one I had made use of before. I wanted to go ahead and change that. The domain of knowledge was the one to reply.

"You aren't crafting a body per-say. You are modifying an existing body. You are granting it physicality, and power. You can do it instinctually. It's not a power that requires activation, it's the sheer modification of something you already possess control over: shadows." The voice explained, speaking gently and almost motherly to me. I grinned.

"All you need to do is envision the form you wish for the shadowy creature to acquire. And then your power will do the rest." The voice whispered, revealing to me a key and amazing power.

I focused on the shadowy demon I had dominated and transformed into one of my servants. I carefully pictured its instinct and shadowy body and held that image tightly in my mind. And then I began to carefully picture a physical form that even I would feel desire for.

In all of my life, only one creature had ever made me feel anything resembling physical desire. Imbrosa Ravenfist, a stunningly beautiful undead drider who numbered amongst the first of the undead I had ever created.

I envisioned her nearly perfect form and focused on the humanoid aspects of it. The picture that came to my mind and lingered in it was one of a dark-elf with delft-blue skin, piercing red eyes, pointed ears, and full, ebony tinted lips. I didn't give Sombra Imbrosa's lower-half, instead, I gave the shadow-demon a long and slim pair of humanoid legs that accentuated its figure and helped it stand tall.

I was transforming Sombra into a dark-elf, or at least a shadowy imitation of one. And as Sombra felt the effects of my powers wash over it, it sighed pleasantly and began to transform before my very eyes.

I grinned as an assortment of abilities blended together and touched the very soul of the praereptor demon. I felt no resistance from the creature itself as its body began to feel the unholy and strange powers of my touch.

The creature's indistinct form began to do the opposite of glow as if it were leaking darkness. I watched, delighted, as the shadows that made up my demonic minion's incorporeal mass began to solidify underneath the darkness that it was emanating. The outline of a body that the demon possessed ceased being an outline and became something real, something corporeal in an instant.

The ebony shadows that once made up its limbs became the limbs of a dark blue body, one that was almost impossibly dark and mesmerizingly curvy. I watched as the demon's vague outline of a body solidified, and as the demon gained a physical body to call its own.

The demon's transformation was completed in an instant, and in the span of one heartbeat to another it went from lacking a true form, to gaining a beautiful one. One that was modeled off of the only creature whose beauty I had ever been amazed by. The demon was still immediately after it was finished transforming, but then began to smile and breathe heavily.

"So... this is what having a body of my own is like? Oh goodness... Finally." It said, speaking in a voice that was also an intimation of Imbrosa's. I studied the creature, amazed once more by Imbrosa's form, even if it wasn't on Imbrosa's body.

The demon looked on the floor it sat on and exhaled a breathy sigh. And then it looked up at me. That was when I was reminded of something important: it was naked. Its body was fully exposed to me, and since it was modeled off of Imbrosa the breasts and other feminine parts I could see were modeled off of her as well.

Sombra's new body was significantly feminine. Delightfully so in fact. Temptingly so. I had to work to keep myself under control as a part of me, presumably the part of me that was corrupted by the corruption subdomain wanted to lunge at the shadow demon and do virile things to it.

The real problem was that my desire didn't go unnoticed. Sombra kept her eyes peeled onto me, studying me intently for a moment. I could see its eyes locked onto my face, and I could sense the powerful emotions it was radiating. The lust it was emanating.

I could see and smell evidence of its potent desires. I could see its nipples hardening, and I could smell the pheromones it was leaking into the air around us. It was a lot for me since I was new to both life and sex and sexuality. My keen senses let me pick up even the subtlest clues the demon was capable of radiating, and I wanted to act on them.

"Go on! It wants this as much as you do." Whispered a voice I had heard a few times now: the voice of corruption.

"Surrender to your lusts. Shadows serve you, and this is you rewarding that service. Demons are creatures of evil and desire. It obviously wants this too. Just give it what you both want..." The subdomain whispered, making a factually correct argument in favor of grabbing this more elfen copy of Imbrosa and treating it animalistically.

I was still for a moment, wrestling with the idea of satiating my desire. Of behaving sinfully. But after a moment, I was able to regain control of myself and shook my head. I grinned at the demon, and beckoned for it to come closer to me. It nodded and obeyed me.

Sombra crawled over to me, moving hypnotically on all fours. There was a lewd grin on the creature's face, and occasionally its mouth opened and a long tongue snaked and danced its way out of its maw and moved desirously. When Sombra reached me, it placed its hands on either side of me and waited for me to make a move. I placed one of my hands on its face gently, and smiled.

"This is... the most tempted I've ever been to take a creature and use it to release my desires." I told the demon, truly in awe of the beautiful form it had taken on.

"But... It is too soon for that. Because you desire it too. And that means that this would be a reward. You don't deserve a reward yet. But you will. In time." I told the dark-elf mimicking demon. A frown suddenly weighed Sombra's dark lips down, and I chuckled.

Its lips were one of its most beautiful features, as they were the same dark shade as the sky at night. Even glancing at them warmed parts of my body that I wasn't used to feeling warm. I shivered at the thought of them pressed against various parts of my body and smiled at Sombra.

I was impressed with what I had done while giving my servant a body. Though it lacked Imbrosa's spider-half, the body was still awe-inspiringly beautiful and amazingly tempting. It was also warm, and alive, which Imbrosa's body wasn't. I sighed, almost annoyed at myself for not giving in to the temptation I felt and then I spoke once more.

"If you desire a reward... Use this body, use it to serve me well. I gave you this form because I believe that you can become a powerful cultist of mine. I want you to help me create a demonic cult, as in a cult of demon-worshipers, and also a cult of demons, who both worship me. With your help, I can start to slowly work towards becoming a demonic lord, and as you help me I will reward you." I explained to the little demon.

The creature's eyes widened when I explained what I wanted it to help me achieve. It began to speak, but at first, did so nonsensically. It took a second before its words became words.

"But... You're a god, how can you become a demon-lord? They are two different things, Althos." It said, speaking softly. I smiled and gazed absentmindedly at the thing.

"I am more than a god. I am something new. I possess all the powers of the gods, that much is true, but I am something... beyond them. I can become a demon-lord, a demon-king unlike any who has ever lived, but I cannot do so alone. In order to achieve that apotheosis I need your help." I told the demon, speaking truthfully to my knowledge.

The truth was I was making a lot of assumptions, but those assumptions were backed by the knowledge I had acquired over the course of the past few days. The demon considered my words, and I could feel a surprising conflict welling within the demon. A surprising... pride, that made it want to believe I was wrong for some reason. This was curious to me.

"Why do you doubt me?" I asked Sombra, genuinely curious. The demon looked me in the eyes for a second, scanned and studied them, and then just sighed.

"What you're saying... It goes against what I've always known. But your power... Its real and absolute. I can sense that I can't disobey you. I've never felt anything like that before. I am filled with a desire to see your will done. I can feel that my will is nothing in the face of your power. If you believe you can become a demon lord... I will help you." Sombra said, its voice once more filled with awe and reverence.

I grinned at the demon. And at that moment I received a quiet message from the system.

[You've managed to fight off temptation, and gain a true demonic servant. Not bad. Praereptor demons are handy demons to lord over. And now that you've given it... given 'her' a physical body, in time she'll come to learn how to use it properly. And when she does, she'll be able to shift between her shadowy form and the body you've given her. And that is positively wonderful!]

The system's message surprised me. I was pleasantly delighted to hear that my demonic servant would one day gain the ability to swap freely between the physical form I gave it, and its native, shadowy body. That meant that Sombra hadn't swapped any strengths or skills for other strengths or skills but actually just become stronger altogether thanks to my powers. And that wasn't the only message I received, as I heard a new voice speak to me out of the blue.

"Resisting temptation is hard... Especially one like that, as a deity of lust. That was well-done Althos. At times you truly demonstrate a patient, and even chaste heart." The voice told me, speaking approvingly. I grinned, aware of the identity of the voice thanks to the way it spoke.

I had just heard from the subdomain of purity. A welcome way to begin a period of downtime that was well-deserved.

---

The next few hours were filled with idle and mental exploration of my tower, a mostly empty place. The only other inhabitants of the place were the various undead who made up my first undead creations.

I mentally wandered the tower, while speaking to Sombra. I did this until the morning sun had risen over the skies of Puerto Rico and bathed the island in light. And then I teleported to a familiar place: the laboratory of Dr. Cortes.

In the time between the ending of the night and my appearance in front of Dr. Cortes' laboratory one minor thing of importance happened. I gained two new worshipers. Marlena and Gustavo. Both of them had sent me prayers, or rather they sent Cosecha prayers, devoting themselves to it.

The real worth of that though, was that this meant that I was one step closer to gaining influence over the domains and subdomains of trickery, lies, and enchantment. That brought a huge grin to my face, and left me with a satisfied feeling in my chest. A feeling of pride and accomplishment.

Today was the day the good doctor had asked me to come back to pay him a visit and to begin learning about alchemy. It was an important day, and as I appeared in front of his laboratory I could sense that this would be a significant day for myself, one that was filled with learning.

I was excited and there was a healthy grin on my face as I walked over to the door of the laboratory and knocked on it. My grin only widened when the doctor ushered me in and guided me to his workshop so that we could get down to business.