The tension in the area just beyond the gate leading in and out of Spree was palpable. One guard stood in front of his lord and master, the Dark One, and menacingly pointed his weapon at the man who had attempted to be defiant and snarky to the man he viewed as the rightful and natural lord of Spree.
"How dare you talk back to our lord!" He hissed, his eyes filled with fury as he glared at his neighbor and sibling, Lopez. Lopez was hurt when he scanned his sibling's eyes and saw that his brother didn't care about the fact that they were siblings. It was as if, in Antonio's eyes, the only thing that mattered was that the man had attempted to deny the self-proclaimed overlord, had attempted to reject him.
"But Antonio that man is... He's just a man!" Lopez replied, confusion and hurt visible on his face. Antonio snarled in response to his words, the virus that filled his mind telling him to reject his brother and to only care about one thing: the will of the overlord. The man, being of average intelligence, was helpless to resist the virus since it was currently bluntly hammering him with instructions.
Meanwhile, as the two siblings bickered, and as the tension between the two grew worse, spores wafted off of the vile creature responsible for their fighting. The spores filled the air around the deity, almost like an invisible aura, and in doing so provided him with an effective form of protection. As for the deity himself, he wickedly smiled and stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on the shoulder of Antonio.
"There there... I hate to see families fighting." He uttered, cruelly, a harsh but handsome smile on his elegant face. He moved his hand and with a gentle but dexterous motion pulled the bow that Antonio was aiming at his sibling down so that the man couldn't shoot his brother with it.
"Antonio, I think you need to be a little more empathetic towards your sibling. He is just confused. Lost. He doesn't know what you know." The man stated, his voice soft, filled with genuine-sounding empathy as if he truly felt for the strained siblings. And as he spoke Antonio relaxed, his eyes losing their hostility and even filling with tears.
"I... Lopez..." He uttered, softly, As his voice escaped his lips his brother was tempted to dash forward and hug him but he stopped himself before he could. And, invisibly, the spores wafting off of the overlord drifted ever closer to the man, creeping closer and closer.
I enjoyed this. There was something fun to forcibly infecting people, but what I was doing here was far more satisfying. I
"Antonio... Go to your brother's side." I told the man, turning to face the figure next to me, the man who zealously sought to defend and protect me. As I did I whispered telepathically to the hivemind, informing it that now was the time to be subtle.
"We are safe. We can take our time corrupting and infecting others. We do not need to rush things." I informed the potent hivemind that linked myself and all of the creatures that I had infected to date. And at the same time I felt the potent web of infected people and beings spreading ever further as my minions carefully spread the illness in subtle ways.
Distantly, the halflings who had accompanied me were able to reach a local lake and stuck their hands in it. I felt potent Blacklight droplets and particles seep off of them and into the lake, before immediately and efficiently going on and infecting the inhabitants of the lake, like moss and fish.
That brought a satisfied smile to my face, as it meant that I would maintain a presence in the region no matter what. It was also why I had carefully infected plants all over the area with Blacklight, so as to ensure that even if someone manages to escape or resist the virus it will have opportunities to try to infect them again.
With my powers, I could play things safe and be subtle in my movements. I didn't need to use strict force or disciplined military tactics I could just wait and make sure that Blacklight was present in things like food and of course insects and vermin. Plenty of mosquitoes had already been infected and would, in the days to come, be incredibly potent vectors of transmission. That said, Spree was a very interesting place.
I allowed my gaze to fall on Tamani. The little goblin blushed as she gazed back at me, her eyes subtly shifting and changing colors to reflect her mood. Her mind was also incredibly easy to read, almost as if it were completely open to me, something that could only be done intentionally. The goblin was a refugee from another universe, and the knowledge that she was here somehow was especially intriguing to me. As was her open attraction to me.
I could sense her abject desire. I could hear her heart hammering in her chest, and the sounds of her body reacting to my gaze. I could see the blush on her face. I could smell the pheromones she emanated. I lacked memories but not knowledge. I knew how to read both her and the other living beings I had come across in the hours since I had awoken. I understood them, and better yet wasn't blinded by inaccurate understandings of culture and subjective social cues. I could see to the hearts of people.
My empathy was a valuable tool in my repertoire, especially since I intended to rule over living beings and not just depopulated ruins. That was why I preferred to use subtlety and manipulation rather than destruction to get my way. I could easily destroy things, I had the power to do so with ease, but that wasn't as fun to me as persuading people to do my bidding, be it through trickery or through the potency of Blacklight. Nevertheless, I quickly refocused and looked out to the rest of the people of Spree, all of whom were quickly beginning to gather in front of me and my minions.
"People of Spree, hear my voice! I have come to safeguard your lives and to provide you with protection and stability unlike what you've been able to experience to this day. You may call me the 'Tyrannical Overlord', but underneath me you will be protected. If you exist in my domain and follow my rules I shall keep you safe, I shall allow you to live fulfilling lives, and I shall be an effective ruler." I began, my voice booming out of my form and spreading to be audible throughout the entire village.
"I shall, as a sign of my honesty, go to either clear Castle Spree of the monsters inhabiting it, or tame and lord over them in the days to come! Either way they shall cease to be a problem for you all in the coming weeks. I shall become the new and permanent lord of Spree." I proclaimed, ambitiously. My words cast a shadow over the people of Spree, as they felt how serious I was and realized that I somehow knew of the fierce monsters inhabiting the eerie castle where the lord of Spree had once, in the distant past, ruled over this region.
It seemed that this world had no concept of psychic powers, which were some of my stronger abilities, and so I possessed an incredibly potent advantage over the people native to this particular land. That said, there was something about Tamani's mind that suggested that perhaps her native universe was one where such powers were known to exist... I hadn't fully scanned her memories, but something about her sort of awareness struck me as more developed than that of the people of Spree.
Truthfully I'd need to bring her home, sometime soon and thoroughly... interrogate her, in the days to come. But, rather inconveniently, my thoughts were interrupted by a sudden desire of the hivemind. A potent one. One echoed by dozens of minds.
"Master... Something strange is occurring at home. Something weird, with the tower itself. Please come back soon." The voices in my mind, themselves the mental voices of the minions who I had infected with Blacklight, uttered as one. I could see, in my mind's eye, a strange white wall present in the area of the dark tower where the minion hives were located. And something about the white wall felt... familiar, somehow.
"How strange... Guard that wall for now, and wait for me to return." I ordered the creatures, mentally, while I refocused on the scene before me.
"My name is Fohion, and I am the one true overlord. It is my destiny to rule over the totality of existence. And when I clear out Castle Spree, I will install an administrator in it to help me properly rule over you all. If you wish to make things better for yourselves and for your children, if you wish to stop being raided by halflings, if you wish to stop having to fear the castle to the north, and the encroaching elves to the east... Join me! Join Lopez, and the other guards who have seen the power of my forces and who have accepted the potency of my presence." I shouted, my voice exploding out of me and carrying the spores within me further and further.
Some of the spores were able to seep inside of the bodies of some of the closest humans and I ordered the things to rest, dormant, inside of their new hosts. My long term plans were more complex than mere conquest, and instead, I wanted to slowly corrupt the people of the village. I had already done enough today just by making my first big appearance right now and I had discovered that there was more to Spree than I had anticipated there being, between Tamani's presence here, the problems to the north, east, and west, and the humans I had already infected I had earned enough victories for today.
"That said, I know that too much change at any one time can be overwhelming. I shall leave you be, for now. My forces and I shall be back in a few day's time, with an army with which to march on Castle Spree. When we return we shall be returning as conquerers. Remember that." I ordered, dramatically, before turning around and leaving alongside my minions.
As "Fohion" made his way out of Spree and back to the eerie spot where he had first appeared in the fields outside of Spree, something began to occur within the strange overlord. The potent deity felt his body beginning to change, and his powers begin to grow as more and more creatures began to worship him.
Both far away from him and deep within him, he felt new and eerie powers making themselves known, even as the dread-deity neared where he was heading. The virus that both resided deep within him and made up his physical form was responsible for this, as the thing was uplifting the minds of every being he had infected, from plants eager to be eaten to spread the corruption, to fish swimming through clear lake-water, now on the hunt for uninfected lifeforms to infect with their flesh. They all sang the praises of the deity, even if they did so mentally and telepathically rather than physically. All of this concentrated worship was empowering their deity.
The god, now having a name, was able to be truly and properly worshiped. And that was important to a divinity who sought to grow. Names were important for pious purposes, and those infected with Blacklight were nothing if not pious. Their reverential worship was causing the deity to slowly make progress towards the acquisition of new "Domains". As Fohion realized this, he began to smile even as he reached the area where an illusion had been placed by clever blue minions of his.
By stepping atop the hill where he had previously been teleported to when he first reached this place, he stepped into the boundary where the illusion that made the hill look mundane vanished. And as he did he was able to see a particular set of stones, stones that the instant he stepped onto them would teleport him back to his throne, in the depths of the Netherworld. With a smug smile Fohion reached the stones and vanished, immediately whisked away to the strange dimension where the Netherworld was now located, the enigmatically named "Cosmic Warehouse".
