The scene atop the floating island was a strange and wonderful one. Every single person involved in it was doing something they had never done before.
The four golden dragons that stared at the odd deity had never met a god before. And the god they stood in front of and studied had never met a dragon before. But despite the fact that the dragons were studying the god very closely, the god didn't appear to be as interested in them.
This wasn't personal. The god was merely doing something else. He was reading something that was, in his defense, quite important: a notification he had received. One that alerted him to the incredible ramifications of his actions.
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Alert: You have done something that has never been done before. You have performed a worldwide miracle. And you have received a reward proportional to the labor you performed. You healed the population of an entire planet. Hundreds of trillions of lifeforms healed, in an instant. What you did was the sort of herculean task that is harder than what subdomain of healing normally tasks those who seek the second tier of influence over it with. The subdomain is contemplating how to properly reward you for your actions but for now, you are being gifted the second tier of influence over the subdomain of healing. Fey are converting to your worship en-masse. And because of this your powers over their kind will begin to grow within you in much the same way that your powers over elements gave you the ability to become an elemental overlord. To become an archfey you must build a court and populate it with one hundred fey. Your powers are undergoing a relative boost thanks to the trillions of worshipers you've gained. Even your ability to resurrect someone has become easier to use. You have also unlocked the first tiers of influence over numerous lifeform based subdomains, including the subdomains you had pending quests for. As a minor reward for your creativity, the first tier quests for lifeform subdomains were edited so that you just had to heal them to gain the lowest tier of influence over them. Your powers as a lesser elemental overlord have increased the powers of all of the elemental subdomains, and the nature domain, to their second tier of influence. You now have enough worshipers to step onto the next rung of relative divine-power. Once you do you'll become an intermediate deity. But the journey to reach that stage of power is a dangerous one. In order to become an intermediate deity you must reach the third tier of influence over two domains or subdomains you were born able to influence, and the second tier of influence over all of the domains and subdomains you could influence at birth. |
The notification I received I received in the wake of the arrival of the dragons made me realize something. Something big. If I freely used my powers I could achieve incredible results, results that in turn gave me even greater power to use freely. And that made it easier for me to be proud.
The dragons were watching me carefully. They hadn't spoken a word aside from Alucard. We had stood in silence for nearly three minutes. Eventually, I turned and looked at them.
"Tell me dragons... Did you come all this way to gawk at a god? If so, I commend your commitment to your objective. If not, tell me what you wish to say. Ask your questions. Act." I commanded. I spoke to them haughtily, as pride would dictate a god should speak to mortals.
The dragons were surprised by this. They had no way of knowing that following the first notification I had received, I also received a second notification that alerted me that one of the domains I could now influence was the draconic domain. And that domain possessed powers over pride. Including powers that augmented my pride.
The dragons tore their eyes from me for a moment and turned to each other. There was an unspoken question in their gazes.
It was one I could have torn from their lips with a single uttered command if I so chose but ultimately I felt like allowing this the dignity of choosing whether or not to ask whatever questions they had for me. A matter of moments later, I finally heard the familiar voice of Alucard.
"Althos... You are the liberator of our world. You are in the process of doing what we swore to do. But you're doing it faster, and... You're doing it more mercifully than we ever could." Alucard said, his voice a reverential whisper.
"Dragons remember the gods. We were taught about your... kind. We were taught about the incredible power your kin possessed. Gods could do the impossible. You can do the impossible. Even as proud as we are, we could never hope to match your power and only our proudest and most delusional kin would dare to believe we could match the gods." Alucard muttered.
I was a bit surprised by the dragon's declaration but I did my best to hide my surprise. I wanted to put forth a proud front. And the truth was that I did feel more proud than I ever had before, but it was still a bit of a challenge for me to act the way I was acting. It felt unnatural.
"We have felt your power. Your radiance. We have come to greet you and to freely offer to serve you." The dragon proclaimed. This surprised and delighted me. I knew the odd creature wasn't lying because lying in my presence was still impossible for mortals, and angels.
I looked at the dragon and at his allies and smiled. "I see." I replied a profound and gentle smile pursed on my lips.
"I will welcome you into my service. Into my church. Though I must say... You're joining me at a time that promises to be busy." I remarked, amused by the fortuitous timing of all of this. The dragons looked at me and smiled but remained silent.
"In the days to come, I shall rid the world of slavery. I will unleash my wrath on those who practice this freedom-stealing practice and them alone." I told the dragons, speaking the truth.
My plan was to use my powers to fully decimate the properties of anyone who owned slaves while protecting the slaves themselves. I gazed at the dragons. They were curious to hear more.
"Why do you gaze at me that way? Do you care to learn more? If so... Then ask your questions." I asked, speaking somewhat rhetorically. The dragons sheepishly looked away, chastised somewhat by my remarks.
"Vothori... How do you plan to punish slave owners?" Asked another of the dragons. Her voice was soft, and she referred to me as something odd. "Vothori". "Prince", in the language of the dragons.
"I plan to destroy their property. I possess powers that allow me to do so while leaving their slaves unharmed, and even leaving them physically unharmed as well. If I want too." I explained. The dragons heard that and nodded, satisfied with my answer.
When more than a minute had passed, I quietly opened a massive portal behind them. I had grown tired of their quietness. "If you have no other questions, then part from my presence. I find being around mortals... A bit taxing you see. It requires I take on physical form. I would like time to myself." I told the dragons.
The creatures turned and walked into the portal. When they left me alone, I grinned. I now had time to ready myself. Others were coming. I wanted to make my floating island presentable. And so I set to work.
When he was alone, Althos quietly set to work. He reached out partway across the world with his mind and grabbed a hold of his tower. And then he teleported the entire thing to the island. The tower was taken from its subterranean birthplace and placed proudly at the center of the island.
The god then proceeded to widen and deepen the island, even as he willed it higher into the air. The island ascended at the same time as it endured a massive increase in size, rapidly becoming almost half the size of Puerto Rico.
He used magic and divine powers to hollow out the rocky interior of the island, creating a confusing maze of tunnels within the island that would be perfect for habitation. This took him a fraction of a second, thanks to his new talents with the elements, as well as his extensive memories of the world beneath Puerto Rico.
He mentally explored this area, familiarizing himself with it. This act took him little more than half a minute, despite the area being kilometers deep. When he was done he created two settlements. One of them was a strange hive-like area for Torunian members of the swarm, and the other was a city built for the undead.
"I need a place to house my forces. Aside from those who are already at home in Florida or along the coast of Iredale." He muttered. His mind was formulating plots and schemes and many of them involved him using his legions and his swarm. He wanted to keep them close and to keep them away from the world of the living, for now anyway.
The god then spoke to his undead and insectoid followers, sending each distinct group a unique message.
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Alert: The creation of a new hive Althos has created a new home for his worshipers on his sanctuary, a floating island over the Redoran Sea. He is calling to his insectoid followers and asking those of them who are not in remote colonies to come to the new hive he has created. He views the swarm as his children and seeks for them to be near their father. Come to him. Be near his radiant magnificence! |
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Alert: A new home for the dead Althos has created a dark new city for his undead servants. Come bask in the dark glory of the god of the undead, and rest your coffins, graves, mausoleums, tombs, and crypts near his dark majesty. The grave-god was inspired by the creativity and glory of the city of the undead created underneath Puerto Rico. He has created one of his own and is opening it up to all undead who seek to worship him. Come and join your god in this eerie and magnificent cosmopolitan grave-city. |
The messages went out to billions of being. And then countless portals opened up near the recipients of the messages. Seconds later all manner of living and unliving beings stepped through the portals and into the new homes created by Althos for his more militaristic and single-minded followers.
Althos was delighted that the island he had created so immediately gained inhabitants, and chuckled as he felt the hollow interior of the island become the home of billions of beings.
The god then quietly considered whether or not people should come to his island. It didn't take him long to come to the conclusion that he didn't want them to come to visit the island. And he moved to ensure that they didn't, by sending out a message to those his domain-sense alerted him were planning to come to him.
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Alert: Cease your activities. Althos is keenly aware that you are planning to teleport to or otherwise visit his home. You are not to do so. Althos will not permit your magic to take you to his island. He will visit you, at his leisure. Attempts to reach his floating island home will not succeed and depending on the nature of the attempt may provoke hostility from Althonians who live on the island. Althos is currently restoring the magical energy that has been expended in efforts to reach him. That said he will not permit any magic that would allow people to interact with his home to succeed. Cease your efforts immediately and go about your day. |
When the tide of creatures entering my island slowed to a stop, nearly an hour after it began, I called out to a single creature. A loyal servant who I wanted to speak with face to face.
I mentally grabbed the very first myrmekes queen I had ever met and teleported her to me. When she appeared in front of me I smiled at her.
"Hello." I said, greeting the queen. She looked at me, surprised at first but then her face relaxed and she began to smile.
"Hello creator. How may I be of service?" She asked, speaking softly. I chuckled as I heard her speak. I had almost forgotten how service-oriented she was.
I studied her figure once more. It had been over a week since I had last seen her. After a few moments, I began to speak.
"I would like to appoint you the representative of all Torus' ants within the swarm. This would put you near the top of the swarm's hierarchy and I would make you into a high priestess of mine. I want you to think about this for a day or two before letting me know what you think." I explained, revealing the reason for summoning her to me.
She let out a shocked gasp, which was a cute gesture on her part. And then she began to excitedly talk to me.
By the time an hour had passed wherein she had spoken at length about the various things, she'd done since evolving I suspected she'd eagerly accept my offer. It turns out that the first myrmekes queen I had ever met had become a chatterbox. I didn't dislike that.
I spent the rest of the day, modifying the island. By the time night had fallen the island was a vastly different place than it had been before. It was a home. My home. Tower, hives, cities of the dead, and all.
The strange and hostile world that laid underneath Puerto Rico was a mysterious place. It was one infested with ancient and alien horrors. And one such horror was more ancient than alien.
Deep beneath Puerto Rico, entire kilometers below the island's surface, one could find a gigantic chamber. This chamber was filled with two things. The first thing was treasure, a truly unfathomable amount of treasure. The second thing was a single, enormous, living creature: Ygaynth.
Ygaynth laid atop a pile of his treasures. The ancient black dragon, a beast whose age was measured in millennia, was beginning to awaken. The incredibly ancient, even by dragon standards, beast was in the process of slowly dragging himself back to consciousness, back to the waking world.
He used a pile of his treasures, a mere fraction of his wealth yet more than enough to purchase entire kingdoms, as an unorthodox bed. The umbral-tinted dragon was laying, like a lazy cat, on top of a pile of treasures that could inspire the greediest misers in all of the world.
Underneath Ygaynth's body were countless coins, and other, rarer treasures. The coins that the dragon was waking up on top of were ancient ones, ones from forgotten kingdoms the dragon had personally destroyed. Underneath his enormous weight were also precious gems and other brilliant treasures that the awe-inspiringly miserly dragon had collected during his long life.
The dragon slowly opened a single reptilian eye. It took nearly ten minutes before the gigantic eyelids that protected its scarlet eye moved fully out of the way and revealed the eerily catlike eye as the dragon began to force itself to awaken.
Nearly an hour after slowly beginning to awaken, Ygaynth would fully awake from his years-long slumber. By the time the dragon was fully awake, its thoughts were focused on something new: checking on its most reliable servants.
Ygaynth unleashed an eardrum-shattering roar once the ancient and mythic monster was ready to begin to move. One that bounced around the walls of its magically made lair for several minutes. The dragon spread its wings and examined its lair with lazy confidence, all while a part of it wondered about the strange creature who had healed it: the mysterious god, Althos.
The day that Althos revealed his existence to the world night fell upon the surface as it always did. But for the people of Comillas, the night which had once filled them with uncertainty and fear had never been less scary. After all, what could scare them when they had just learned that a friendly god lived amongst them?
The majority of Comillians found themselves in the town's square. The town's square was a mini plaza that was located not far from the Silver Xana. It had a firepit, from which a roaring blaze beat back the darkness. And it was filled with the sounds of conversation, joyful weeping, and other social sounds.
The town of Comillas was one of the only places in the world which had both Althonians and Cosechians. This was one of the odder consequences of Althos' decision to create a pseudonym. Godly lies were always more consequential than non-godly ones.
"Who in the Hells is Cosecha?" Asked one of the townspeople, a young woman not much older than Isadora. She was speaking to Sophia, Gustavo's beloved daughter. Sophia looked at her in confusion.
"Cosecha is the god who healed me. It did so days ago, and now it's healed you too." The young woman told her friend. Anita, the woman with whom Sophia was speaking, looked at her while confusion visibly twisted her features into a skeptical scowl.
"What are you talking about? We were healed by Althos." Anita replied, frightened by her friend's remarks. Sophia's own confusion visibly increased.
Unbeknownst to either woman both were telling the truth as they understood it and neither were incorrect. Neither woman was aware of the truth concerning the greatest lie Althos had ever concocted; an entirely nonexistent spirit and identity that the god had used when he first came to life.
Elsewhere in the town square, other conversations, and indeed other arguments, were beginning to increase in volume. They were also about the different notifications inhabitants of Comillas had received.
In a space that both existed and didn't exist, a quiet voice sighed. There was a touch of annoyance audible in its quiet, inarticulate, utterances.
[Why is he like this? Does he think I like autocorrecting him?] This voice uttered, expressing deep frustration.
"You aren't proud of him? He is no longer running from his powers!" Another voice, one belonging to a subdomain replied.
This space was populated by these disembodied voices. It was where they were situated in the multiverse and its existence was tricky to explain and tricky still to prove.
[Yes, but if he has to reveal himself this way, I wish he'd consider how much reality-warping needs to be done. How many people know him, how many people know of 'Cosecha', and whose messages need to be altered. People tell people things.] The system replied, wishing the subject of the conversation it was having would hurry up and acquire influence over the reality domain.
"It's not his fault that that domain is... picky." The subdomain replied, having paused to consider its word choice before characterizing the reality domain. It proceeded to sigh itself, but in relief, when the reality domain didn't cuss at it.
[Well... You aren't wrong. And I am glad that he did what he did. It surprised me. I never thought I'd be happy that he was a hybrid. If what he is can even be called that. As far as I can tell it was him evolving into an elemental overlord that has at least momentarily quashed his fears.] The system told the subdomain. The subdomain squirreled that knowledge away, ready to use it to its advantage.
After all, the corruption subdomain also had wants and needs.
A trio of mermaids swam near the very top of the surface layer, the epipelagic zone, of the ocean. Their cautious gazes were leveled at the same, odd object. Above them, and outside of the ocean floated an island, seemingly unmoving and eerie in its majesty. This island was gigantic, entire kilometers in length.
Waterfalls poured off over the edge of its dimensions and collided with the ocean. This gave the odd mermaids a clear path to the island, but they knew what lurked on the island and were afraid of unintentionally offending the deity who called the island home. Their mission hadn't been to offend a god, it had just been to investigate the ocean underneath the island.
"What do we do?" One of them, a woman who wore no armor and whose bare, wet flesh, would have induced lust in most human males, asked. She had broken the silence that fell over the trio of scouts when they had first reached the strange and shadowy area beneath the floating island.
"We should head back." Replied one of her peers, a male scout whose body was nearly unarmored. He wore light armor made of seashells that covered his most sensitive areas.
A waterfall was directly overhead and it was unmoving. They could climb it to the island like some sort of mountain if they wanted too.
"A part of me wants to climb this waterfall. Take it all the way to the island. And see a god myself." Muttered the scout's superior, a male druid who worn several pieces of jewelry. He held a spear in one hand and a staff in the other.
"But you're right. We should head back. We don't know how this god, Althos, would react if we attempted to visit his island." The druid told his companions. He wasn't about to risk his own life, or theirs, for the sake of satisfying curiosity. He gazed at the island that loomed darkly in the night's sky above the team for a moment longer before turning back to face the direction he and his subordinates had come from.
"Come. Let us return home. Our people will be happy to see us safe, and to learn about our observations." The mermaid remarked, his voice soft as he thought of home. Behind him his peers nodded and turned to face the distant mermaid community. It'd take them an unpleasant amount of time, a good few hours, to make it back. They enthusiastically began their journey
"Pride doesn't exactly come easy to me" I muttered. I knew this already but it had definitely been reinforced by the events of the last few hours.
"Yes but isn't it so much fun to pretend it does?" Asked a quiet voice in the back of my mind. The corruption subdomain had replied to me.
"When you pretend you're a proud being, creatures believe that you are a god more readily. Because mortals are weak and want to believe. You just need to give them someone, or something, to believe in." The voice whispered.
I sighed. I couldn't really deny that it was correct.
I had spent the day doing two things, decorating my island, and interacting with those who prayed to me, especially those who had just learned about me. And much to my annoyance, I quickly learned that when I was proud I gained more worshipers and the worshipers I gained were more fanatical about me.
"I hate that you're right." I told the subdomain. I heard a cough-like sound emanate from the thing and grinned. It was laughing.
"Of course I'm right. I'm always right." The smug subdomain replied, a few moments after it had begun to laugh at my remarks.
As I looked out at my island, and admired the new place I had created, I allowed myself to read. As I did so, I turned my attention to something that had been at the top of my vision for hours, and that I had ignored: a massive notification. The first one I had ever seen that was about a sort of higher being that wasn't a god.
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Elemental overlord alert: Congratulations! You are now a lesser elemental overlord. Elemental overlords are the mightiest of the elementals. Elementals are spirits composed of sentient fire, water, air, and earth, as well as other, lesser, primordial building blocks. An elemental overlord is capable of bending the elements in ways that only a god could have hoped to match. As someone who is both a god and an elemental overlord you are capable of incredible acts of devastation and creation. Elemental overlords were the supreme masters of the elements, capable of being challenged only by the gods themselves. They were incredible spirits whose usage of the elements encouraged even gods to treat them with respect. The rest of this notification will give you a sample of the powers you now possess. Functionally you are at the second tier of influence over the elemental subdomains and the nature domain. Lesser elemental overlord powers: Dehydration: You can dehydrate a targeted person or area at will. This deadly power allows you to manipulate environments or inflict devastating wounds on enemies that sap their vitality and strength. Flame solidification: This is an enhanced form of the mastery over fire power you gained at the first tier of influence over the fire subdomain. It greatly increases one way you can manipulate fire by increasing the magnitude to which you can solidify flames. Now you can create solid objects made from fire. This is a reality-warping power. Gas manipulation: You gain control over gases other than oxygen and hydrogen. This power allows you to induce explosions, create massive area of effect poisons and debuffs, even master evaporation. You can also animate gases. Sand mastery: You gain the power to control sand at will. Sand can be animated, including being fully brought to life, soul and all, or you can manipulate it like you can control the elements. Hemoanimation: Gods and elemental overlords with power over liquid possess a nasty ability. The power to animate blood. This power allows those who possess to animate blood and to turn puddles of blood into either their direct servants, akin to oozes and slimes, or tools for them to use. Hemomanipulation: You can manipulate blood in a variety of ways. You cannot yet manipulate blood inside of someone, but you can manipulate blood oozing out of them, and turn it into an assortment of weapons or attacks. Cleanse: By combining an assortment of domains and subdomains you gain the power to cleanse an area. This means that you can take on pollutants and either do something with them or will them away altogether. Druidic mastery: Druids feel an innate connection to a mysterious new being: you. Druids all over the universe feel your existence in their hearts, though those of them that do not know of you explicitly do not possess the knowledge to worship you. This is tied to becoming a greater druid than you currently are. This power also greatly aids in the creation of nature cults. |
After reading through a handful of his new powers, the god's attention was turned to another notification. One that brought a big smile to his face.
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Good domain details: By healing the entire world without judgment and without reservations you have performed a miracle of goodness and life. This epic action has been deemed worthy of granting you influence over the good domain, also known as the goodness domain and the domain of goodness. The domain of goodness is a potent alignment domain. It grants those who master it powers related to goodness. It is the final alignment you needed to gain influence over to be able to eventually earn influence over the neutrality domain. Goodness as a domain governs kindness, unselfishness, righteousness, incorruptibility, mercy, and virtue. Goodness is difficult to describe but in essence, that which is good is that which unselfishly helps others. It is that which protects people without expecting rewards, which aids others even at the expense of those who do it. True goodness, or neutral goodness, is the alignment that most closely matches your actions. It is not the alignment that most closely matches your mindset. To gain further influence over the domain of goodness you must create good-aligned cults and use good-based powers. Good domain passive powers: Kind-hearted: Those who are good-aligned see the part of you that reflects themselves. They are more likely to worship you, and are more friendly towards you when they don't know who you are. Goodness detection: You can detect good-aligned creatures more easily and you can pinpoint spots of concentrated goodness. Areas that radiate concentrated goodness are areas wherein good extraplanars came into this dimension, areas where good-aligned miracles happened, and where good-aligned cults are more likely to congregate. Good empowerment: You can bestow a gift upon mortals that empower them if they perform acts of goodness. This gift makes them stronger, smarter, and more charismatic the more goodness they perform. It also allows them to more easily change their alignment. This power is a consequence of you gaining influence over the final non-neutrality alignment domain. You also now have variants of this power for the other alignments, and they are passive powers not active ones. Positive energy manipulation: You can manipulate positive energy, a form of energy that is the opposite of both unlife energy and unholy energy. This energy is a greater sort of energy that animates living things. This power is a synergistic one that takes from your power over the subdomain of healing, the life domain, and the domain of goodness. Positive energy infuses living, mortal targets, with an urge to perform acts of kindness and heals their wounds. It empowers good-aligned extraplanars and helps them conceive. It harms undead creatures, and inflicts even greater harm on evil-aligned extraplanar beings than it does to undead beings. Celestial captain: This power is a necessary one to eventually become the lord of good-aligned extraplanars and become the sort of higher being that commanded them in the past. It grants you greater power over celestials, good-aligned extraplanars and thanks to your influence over the conjuration subdomain allow you to know how to summon them. The term "celestial" refers to good-aligned extraplanars no matter what their other alignment might be, be it neutral, lawful, or chaotic. Kind healer: This is a triple synergistic power that takes from the domain of goodness and the subdomains of healing and pain. It makes it so that you can grant someone a condition in which they more quickly heal from wounds and gain temporary immunities to pain if they perform acts of goodness. Goodness aura: This is an aura of pure goodness that frightens neutral creatures, and terrifies evil creatures, and heals good creatures. It gives them greater strength, makes it hard for them not to follow your orders, and gives those who see it and are good more energy. Goodness domain active powers: Suggestion: This is a synergistic power that takes from the mind domain and the goodness domain. It allows you to implant suggestions for good-behavior and good-acts in the minds of good people. It can be used once a day, but on well over 150 targets at a time. Goodness animation: Only the most purely evil souls do not possess goodness. If a creature possesses some level of goodness, hidden somewhere inside of them, this power brings that goodness to life. It creates a projection of the targets goodness in a form similar to their own. Evil creatures invariably confront this part of themselves in combat and neutral creatures are confused by it. Good creatures talk to it and learn from it, possibly atoning for their mistakes. This power can be used once every two hours, on a single target. An equivalent power now exists for all of the other domains you can influence. Goodness domain blessing and curse details: Blessing someone with the good domain empowers them if they behave kindly and goodly. This grants them greater health, charisma, and intelligence. Cursing someone with this domain weakens them if they are or behave evilly. It tempts them whenever they come across chances to be good, and saps their energy if they behave evilly. |
A darkened chamber deep underneath the familial estate of the Ardors smelled of a hedonistic mixture of bodily fluids. A number of dark elves were within this chamber. Some of them, the Ardors, had grins on their faces. Many of their companions did not.
The Ardor family had had little over a full day to adjust to their new reality. Their dark lord had fulfilled his end of the promise almost as soon as they had struck their agreement, giving them control over a horde of tireless and surprisingly powerful undead warriors, laborers, and servants.
He had also taken their slaves away almost as quickly, liberating them moments after their deal was struck. Gods operated on a speedier scale than mortals did, as the Ardors had forcibly learned. That said, the family didn't mind. They now had new toys, new powers, and a dark master who had ideas in mind for them.
The family was currently celebrating the success of the deal. They were doing so at the expense of their fellow dark elves. A number of dark-elven men and women who weren't Ardors were in this chamber in various states of mind, unrest, and undress.
More than a few of the dark elves that the family had felt like toying with were meant as meals for their newly revived ancestors and had been sliced and stabbed so that they'd bleed. The remaining dark elves were intended to be used by the living members of the family, and unfortunately for them, the Ardors had unusually sadistic lusts even among dark elves.
In one dark corner of the massive chamber the family's leaders were in, a single female dark elf cornered and approached a male. She smiled as she closed in on the small male. Duliha Ardor was massive even for dark elves and stood well over two and a half meters tall. She wore the ornate robes that befitted her status as a noble, despite the fact that she was a savage berserker.
"Why are you running little one? Don't you want to be... protected from the wrath of my relatives?" She asked, her voice deceptively gentle, before she began to cackle cruelly. She was having fun as she "hunted". Her prey stood no chance of escaping her selfish gaze unscathed.
In another corner, silence reigned supreme as one of Althos' vampires feasted on a now-deceased dark elf. His teeth were deep in his victim's neck and he delightedly drank the precious, scarlet fluid that once gave the dark elf life.
The vampire held onto the drained dark elf. He supported the fallen figure as he lazily feasted on the pathetic creatures' life-force. The vampire was one of Althos' first gifts to the Ardor family, and was a fervent worshiper of Althos who mentally muttering a prayer to his creator, even as his vampiric talons held his victim upright.
The vampire clung to the dark-elf, drinking his life-giving fluid long enough that the pathetic, deceased creature was able to begin to reanimate in his arms. True vampires, like the Ardorian ancestor, possessed an innate ability that reanimated their victims as lesser vampires.
The deceased dark elf began to shake and shudder in the sinister embrace of the creator of his unlife. The lesser vampire, whose eyes had been open as he died, began his unlife by closing his eyes and sighed in unholy pleasure.
This hedonistic scene was only the first that the Ardorians would create. And in the days to come, they'd become both more lascivious, and more depraved. Their master had ordered them to be decedent and they intended to obey him.
I wasn't with the Ardors, but I sensed them. I sensed their dark delight, and the cruel ways they celebrated their new powers. I wasn't alone in what I sensed either.
"The Ardors are growing on me." One of my mental companions muttered, before sighing gently. The corruption subdomain was apparently growing fond of them. I was annoyed by that declaration, but if I removed my history with them and my thoughts on their former practice of slavery from my judgement, I could understand where it was coming from.
The Ardors were a family of physically attractive dark-elves with wealth, power, and influence. I had easily turned them into my allies, and in giving them power and being honest with them I had gained devoted new worshipers. New worshipers who selfishly fixated on their own pleasure.
Their devotion to their own pleasures was considerable. It was the thing that had dominated their minds over the course of the last few hours. They treated members of their own species as nothing more than sources of pleasure and inflicted themselves upon their kin without remorse or kindness.
Their devotion to their own sinful urges was so powerful it was almost contagious. A small part of me wanted to visit them and see their lusts firsthand. Even experience their lusts and let them stain me with their desires. Or stain them with my own.
"Should I go to them one of these next few days? I know if I appeared, and ordered them to indulge in their lusts they would..." I mused, wondering how long it'd take before one of them, be it Milene or someone else, attempted to entice me into joining them.
I questioned if I'd resist them if they did attempt to entice me, or if I'd join them willingly and slake the quiet desires I felt towards their sinisterly beautiful and handsome bodies. That said, other things were happening. Other things that required my attention as well. Like Ygaynth awakening.
"I suppose I should intervene." I muttered as I teleported from my lair to a place not far outside of the dragon's lair. I chose a place between the reptilefolk encampment and the dragon's lair, solidly in the middle of the two places, even as the dragon began to fly right in my direction. A natural tunnel that connected the two places.
The shadow-scaled dragon was currently in mid-air. The gigantic beast lazily flapped its wings through its own utterly massive cavern lair. Its massive body slowly sailed towards one of the walls that separated its lair from the rest of the world below Puerto Rico.
The monster was a gigantic and terrifying beast, a nightmare given physical form. It was only lazily flying, but it still moved with terrifying speed and horrifying ease, through the confusion architecture of its treasure-filled lair.
The treasure that littered this cavern was piled dozens of meters high in some places and should have made flying in this place a challenge especially for the massive creature. It was not a challenge for the dragon who expertly maneuvered through his home.
The beast was making his way towards one of the walls that defined his home. Had any untrained eyes been locked on him, they would have noticed that he looked to be going towards a dead end. The dragon was not bothered by this fact, as it was the one who had made its home.
When the dragon had closed in on its targeted wall the monster opened its maw and unleashed a magically charged and guttural roar. The sound exploded out of the elephantine beast and collided with the wall. The wall stood firm for a moment, and then immediately began to collapse.
By the time the dragon would have hit it, there was no wall to obstruct him. Instead there was an opening into a natural tunnel that the sapient beast had once widened to fit its gigantic frame. It took the dragon next to no effort to fit itself into the tunnel, wings open and all, and to begin to fly towards its destination.
Stones and soil posed no risk to a black dragon. Such creatures were practically made from the stuff. Their magical blood and potent souls gave them eerie powers over even the greatest rocks and the most fertile or least fertile soil.
The dragon believed it was now free to fly carefreely until it reached its target: the reptilefolk encampment where it foolishly believed an easy meal would be waiting for it. Unbeknownst to the beast, it was on a collision course with destiny.
When I entered the tunnel that connected the encampment and the dragon's lair I realized something. I found myself inside of a massive tunnel, one both wide enough and tall enough to house an entire city, one big enough to dwarf even Aronms or San Gerardo.
"So this is the dragon's power..." I muttered as I waited for the beast to appear off in the distance. The tunnel around me was amazing in its dimensions and haunting in its disuse. It was as if anything sentient that might once have lived here had long been scared off.
"This place... The dragon made this." I mused, as I studied the dimensions of the tunnel. It was almost lifeless, hauntingly unused by any sort of natural life aside from small plants and fungi.
The cavern was tall enough that even my deific vision couldn't quite see the natural ceiling that existed above us. It was amusing to try and strain my vision so that I could see it, but also a childish distraction I occupied myself with just once before refocusing.
[Dragons are among the strongest mortal lifeforms in existence. And ancient dragons are the pinnacle of their kind. An ancient dragon could defeat armies on its own. Ancient dragons in this world are older than empires and many of them have singlehandedly brought entire kingdoms to their knees.] The system told me, excitement slyly sneaking into its not quite robotic voice.
A smile found its way onto my face as I listened to the system. It was right when the system finished speaking that I first heard it: the incredibly distant sound of wings flapping against the still air of the cavernous tunnel I found myself in. And a moment later, the beast came into view. The gigantic dragon.
For the first time in my life, I could see the black dragon that had once cowed the ancestors of the reptilefolk. It was the single largest living creature I had ever seen, and it was moving towards me at an impressive pace. But the dragon hadn't yet noticed me. It would soon though.
I lifted a single hand and chuckled as I began to manipulate the earth that surrounded me. Deep underground I was in my environment.
This epic action has been deemed worthy of granting you influence over the good domain, also known as the goodness domain and the domain of goodness.
Goodness this is good