With but a thought Ravanthan and myself found ourselves back in my temple. Ravanthan began to look around and study the temple, an excited grin on her face as she took in her first view of the world outside of her prison in over half a million years. 

The temple was a simple place, but it was also homey. I didn't mind that this was my home since at will I could return to my divine realm, and I could also effortlessly teleport back to any other worlds I had visited in the past. I stepped out past where the portal had been and truly into the temple and smiled at my guest. 

"This is the first temple devoted to me in this world. There are other, grander temples elsewhere in the universe, but this one is humble which is a good reminder for me that helps keep me grounded. Or... at least as grounded as a god can be." I explained, as I glanced around the humble temple. It was a fairly empty place, at the moment, but I knew that that was going to change and soon. 

I sensed the prayers that the subterranean Terrans were devoting to me. I sensed their utter joy at the knowledge that the creatures who destroyed their lives were either now truly redeemed or utterly destroyed. I sensed Spartina's personal devotion to me in the wake of the knowledge, provided to her by the system itself, that I had successfully defeated Akamal and in doing so effectively destroyed the Temporal Temple. 

"I can't believe I'm out of that place..." Ravanthan whispered, as she continued to study the temple, and began to explore it. I quietly reached out across time and space and actually destroyed the temple, using my newly enhanced destruction powers to wipe the place that had imprisoned Ravanthan and had been the source of so much heartache out of existence. 

That said, "I" wasn't alone at the Temporal Temple. I had sent a manifestation of myself there to destroy the place, and in doing so "I" happened to be there at the same time as someone else. Someone I felt like surprising, even more than I already had with my actions over the course of the last few hours. 

The temple itself was situated in the middle of a field of powerful magical energy, magical energy that could annihilate lesser beings who tried to exit the temple's grounds. And maintaining that field was a source of constant effort on the part of Spartina, one of the few magic-users in the world strong enough to perform such a taxing magical feat. 

At the moment that Althos chose to bring an end to the Temporal Temple, Spartina had just entered the magical field she had created to trap anything in the temple in the area. She was far away from the temple when Althos reached out across reality and quietly acted to permanently destroy the place. 

She had been walking towards the temple, when she suddenly froze as she felt the faint presence of the god who had introduced himself to her hours ago, shortly after he first invaded her mind. She froze because his proximity instinctually reminded her of the fear that his presence invoked in her, the fear of the unimaginably immense power he possessed and could unleash with but a thought. 

She watched as an echo of him manifested in front of the temple. The transparent manifestation was of Althos in his Terran form, the form he had taken to interact with Leon, herself, and other Terrans. The illusionary entity was facing the temple and he rose an imaginary hand in the direction of the temple. When he did he began to smile gently, as if witnessing a tender scene. 

A split second later the temple ceased to exist. One second it had been there, a tragic and bloodstained reminder of the past, and the next it wasn't. Spartina was so shocked by the speed of Althos' immense powers that when she next blinked she half-expected the temple to be there again, and for her to have somehow simply imagined that the temple had been annihilated. 

When the human blinked, she saw that the temple was still gone. She fell to her knees as her mind began to unpack and process the reality that the thing responsible for so much tragedy and pain, the site where so much horror had taken place, was now gone. She relaxed her mind as she stared at the empty space where the temple had once been, and the magical whirlwind that surrounded her also, finally, slowed down and began to slowly come to an end.

That was her doing. She had finally stopped concentrating on the spell that had kept her people safe for decades because it was no longer necessary for her to focus on it. She stared at the transparent manifestation of her god and had to struggle to control herself.

She was in awe of the creature, the strange and alien hero who had come and within hours had dispatched of the terrors that robbed her of a chance at a normal life before she was even born and had been responsible for so much heartache for her family and her community. 

"Althos..." She uttered, as she stared at the most real example imaginable, to her anyway, of her god's powers. She studied the empty site where the temple once stood, and as she did she felt a faint pang of joy creep into her heart. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she considered that she now had the joy of fulfilling the oath she made to Althos. She didn't consciously realize it, but she had already become an Althonite, a fanatical devotee who worshipped the mighty god of power known as Althos.

Almost as if in celebration of this fact Althos himself was preparing one special gift for Spartina. And this one came with no strings attached. The gift began with the deity's manifestation fading out of existence, only to be replaced by the actual deity, who silently took the place of the illusionary entity he sometimes sent out to fulfill small tasks.

I also sent other copies of myself to different locations, including a phantom copy sent to the center of the galaxy in which Htrae was located, and another one into the area just outside of Ta Hendo's atmosphere.

I appeared where my manifestation had once been standing. I took a second to admire my handiwork, and allowed myself to stare at the empty place where I had just used one of my new destruction domain powers: "Annihilation". The temple was truly and utterly gone, and the knowledge that I had so thoroughly destroyed the site brought an almost cruel smile to my face. 

"Annihilation huh? I'll have to remember that one." I muttered, as though I were capable of forgetting anything. After a few moments, I chuckled and tore my gaze away from the empty site, and turned to gaze at my newest worshiper: Spartina. As I turned to gaze at her, I grinned and began to walk towards her. 

She was watching me, and when she realized that I wasn't an illusionary manifestation of myself but the actual deity she worshiped she froze. I felt an impressive mixture of emotions radiate from her, including awe, joy, fear, and other, more intense emotions. 

I shuddered as I felt the power of her worship surge into me, marking beyond any shadow of a doubt that she was my worshipper. She was one of many people to begin to worship me today, which made sense since mere minutes ago a universal notification was released that let the entirety of the universe know that both Ravanthan and I existed and were higher beings. The very same notification had also dubbed me the "Lord of Life", which was, even for me, an impressively ambitious title. 

As I approached her, I activated a number of auras, one of which was brand new. By the time I stood before Spartina, I was radiating power and causing anyone near me to experience joy and pleasure due to my presence as well as develop a fixation with me. I looked down at Spartina and smiled, and as I did so I felt a sudden temptation to reach out and use some of my newfound mind domain powers on her. 

The mind domain was an immeasurably powerful domain that afforded deities who invested time into it a considerable array of powers. As someone who had done that throughout my life I was now in possession of assorted, truly astounding abilities. 

On one end of the power spectrum, I had the ability to impart psionic abilities to anyone I felt like giving them to. This meant that if I liked someone I could make them telekinetic or telepathic. On this end of the power spectrum, I also had unfathomable psionic power myself, and as such could do incredible things with my own psionic abilities. If I wanted too I could now manipulate objects on a subatomic level, using nothing more than my mind. 

On the other end of the spectrum, however, were powers that were incredibly different. For a long time, I had possessed powers that allowed me to read minds, but now I could read the minds of any being that wasn't a dimension, such as the Heart of Darkness. And beyond that, I could now fully control minds, without needing something like a parasitic spore, which opened up a whole new world for me to have fun with. There were so many fun ways for me to mess with lesser beings I felt tempted to do so to Spartina.

As I considered it, I stared down at her kneeling form. She was on her knees before me, praying to me in awe in the wake of my astounding displays of power. I studied her kneeling form and mulled over all of the different ways that I could utilize my powers here. 

"Maybe if I just mess with her pleasure receptors... Then I could cause her to receive pleasure from hearing my voice and obeying me, which incentivizes her without actually enslaving her?" I mused, after spending a moment considering what to do. I wanted to use my powers, but as a general rule, I wanted to do so subtly. I didn't need to break her will to get what I wanted. Doing so would have been wasteful.

I reached out, with my mind, and imperceptibly altered the pleasure receptors of the human who was in front of me. I altered them to be stimulated whenever the woman heard my voice, which was an easy modification for me to make. I also altered them to send out pleasure whenever I was obeyed, prayed to, or even thought about which ensured that any attempt to even think about me would cause Spartina to feel euphoric waves of pleasure. I smiled at the human as I did this, ready to make her into my newest and most unique servant to date.

"Spartina! It is quite good to see you." I greeted the human, warmly. Spartina blushed in delight at my words. 

"Lord Althos... It is a delight beyond words to see you again, in the wake of your inspiring victory against the monsters who once called this place home." Spartina replied, a gentle smile on her face as she spoke. 

"I never imagined that there'd come a day when I'd be free from guarding this place. A day when I could release this spell. And yet you came and freed me of this terrible burden. There is nothing I could do that would adequately repay you for the incredible deed you've done, but please let me know if there is anything you'd like for me to do, anyway." She proclaimed, her words filled with emotion and a tear rolling down her face as she considered what to say next. 

I chuckled softly and silently appraised her. When I first met her I wanted to do something surprising: I wanted to grant her transcendence, which is the process by which humanoids evolve into newer and stronger species. She was the first-ever mortal I had met who was level forty, and she was strong enough to have indisputably earned a chance to evolve. 

I reached out and put a single hand on her face to tilt her head upward so that I could gaze into her eyes. We locked eyes for a few moments, and I felt her feel the power of my auras, which inwardly made me grin.

"There is something you could do for me..." I said, purposefully playing up the moment. I heard her heart hammer in her chest, even as her pleasure centers were stimulated both by my presence and my words. I sensed desire begin to emanate from her, to radiate out of her as she gazed into my eyes. 

"Spartina... Would you like to become even stronger?" I asked, after having had some fun by messing with her head. She froze as she considered my words, and as what I actually said was replayed in her mind. When she played it over in her head she realized that I wasn't suggesting the sort of fun she had anticipated me asking about. 

I watched her focus, even as she endured another wave of pleasure crashing over her due to my voice. She thoughtfully mused over my words, before looking back into my eyes and then nodding. 

"I... would like to be stronger. How might I grow in power beyond even my current strength?" She asked, seriously wondering what I was proposing. I gazed at her and filled her mind with knowledge of "Transcendence", and of the fact that I had the power to trigger that process in mortals. I even knew what kind of creature I wanted her to become. 

"There is a race of creatures that are on a superficial level indistinguishable from humans. They are called 'Espers', and they are capable of using powerful psionic abilities. I am the font of all psionic power in the universe, as of my victory over Akamal in the Temporal Temple. By becoming an esper you step closer to me." I told her, speaking honestly. 

I didn't mention that espers were an incredibly rare race that by and large only arose when they mated with their kind and not when someone evolved into them, but she didn't need to know that. I had plans to create more of them, from Althonites. 

"I would like to transform you into an esper. In doing so you would attain significant psionic power, such as telekinesis, telepathy, and teleportation. You would also become biologically immortal, never needing to fear that death would separate you from your people." I informed her. I could make choices for her, if I wanted, when I activated "Transcendence manipulation", but I didn't want to have to do that.

Spartina fell silent for a few moments as she considered my words. I watched her internally weigh the benefits of undergoing the transformation, vs of staying human. I didn't try to sway her anymore than I already had, as I knew that I had already done enough. 

It didn't take her long to make up her mind. After a few moments of silent deliberation she began to nervously nod at me, signaling her acceptance of my offer. I smiled and gazed into her eyes as I activated my power and caused her to begin to glow a radiant white light which began pouring out of her head but quickly began to pour out of more and more places until her entire body was radiating the vibrant white light.

The instant the last bit of her body was overtaken by the vibrant white light a single notification filled her vision. At last it was time for her minor ascension! 

While I was busy in the area directly around the now destroyed Temporal Temple, I was also busy elsewhere. My mind was expanding every few minutes thanks to the efforts of the various versions of myself roaming the universe. That said the particular version of me that I switched my focus too wasn't one of the ones roaming the universe. 

I focused on the " me" that was floating in outer space just outside of Ta Hendo. There was work to be done that required being in outer space. Work that I knew I was going to enjoy immensely.