The very instant that space seemed to distort around me my ultra-sensitive perception noticed my allies be forced out of sight from even my enhanced vision. That didn't alarm me though, as I was aware that something odd was about to happen. Which, of course, turned out to be accurate when the teleportation effect of the portal I had just activated stopped and I didn't find myself in the middle of my throne room but instead in an empty white room.
I studied my surroundings and found that I was totally alone in the room. It was a vast, rectangular space that was utterly and totally white. As I studied the place I found my mind slowly and unconsciously opening up, and after a few moments I even heard a soft voice whisper into my mind, a voice I instinctively recognized as the voice of my unconscious self.
"Initializing scan..." The voice began, causing me to chuckle internally. I felt my unconscious self inspecting my conscious self, as well as the litany of powers and abilities I possessed.
"Scan complete." The voice whispered a few seconds later. And then I felt it begin to get to work, activating a number of hidden abilities related to my status as a divinity.
"Activating hidden powers. Prepare yourself for a flood of abilities." The voice uttered, as I felt my mind filling with a tidal wave of information, and memories.
In my mind's eye, I began to see a number of dark visions. Visions that I instinctively recognized were actually my memories.
A warrior clad in white armor wielding a strange white sword dashed at me. There was a look of malice in the depths of his white eyes. A smile was on his lips when he pointed his blade at me and thrust the thing towards my neck.
The "holy" warrior laughed when he saw my blood splatter across the eerie blade he held. There was a wicked smile on his face as he began to repeatedly stab me, having caught me off-guard.
"Die you fiend!" He howled in cruel delight as he attempted to slay me, a nascent living god. "I will never allow you to plague this world or any other like your ancestors once did!" He roared, his eyes filling with his hateful wrath. The younger me in my memories gritted his teeth and roared in fury even as he began to "die".
"I will succeed where my ancestors failed, vile one. I will wipe out your species!" The hateful "Hero" roared, fury visible in his eyes as he repeatedly stabbed me with his baleful sword. "Now... Die!" He roared, before stabbing me in the head with his blade, causing my vision to darken and my consciousness to fade away.
The memories that filled my mind made me experience a dark sense of wrath. Nevertheless, I was in control of myself and took a deep, calming breath, even as I finally began to awaken the memories of my past life. It seemed that the ignorant warrior had not been aware of the potent effects of "Meta-Immortality" one of the abilities that had been awakened within me in the minutes before he attacked me. Annoyingly it seems that the holy warrior had attacked me fast enough that meta-immortality had not fully activated so he could harm me but not actually put an end to my life.
At the time that I was injured my body had entered a sort of hibernation and had teleported itself away from the world of my birth, a planet named Earth, and gone to some location where I could rest and recover from the ordeal. When I first appeared in the Netherworld it was years later since the sword that the man had used on me was itself a sort of holy artifact meant to hurt even immortal beings, and thus it had inflicted wounds that my unawakened self needed time to recover from.
"Memories of the last moments of your first life have been implanted into your conscious mind. Current status: adjusting." The voice from earlier proclaimed as I felt my mind acclimate to the potent knowledge I now wielded.
Had I been anyone else, anyone lesser than my current self, I would have been left reeling from the knowledge that I now possessed. I was a member of the most potent species that I knew of, a "Living God", a divinity beyond the sort of divine being that the people of this planet worshiped. But it turned out that my unconscious mind was not yet done telling me of my circumstances.
"In order to recover from the damage done to your body, you were placed in a sort of hibernation-like state in the depths of the omniverse. Your warehouse absorbing the Netherworld was... unexpected." The voice revealed, somewhat casually and somewhat curiously.
"Nevertheless, adjustments were made and now you possessed all of the powers you ought to have possessed before, including the one power innate to your unique master spark, the potent 'Ex-Nihilo power." The voice proclaimed while my conscious mind suddenly filled with information about my "Spark".
For a living god, their "Spark" was their soul. It was the potent fire that burned inside of each of us. It was the source of both our existence and also the powers we wield that allow us to warp and alter reality as freely as we do. A spark can have varying levels of power, and I knew that mine was especially powerful, hence why it granted me such a potent ability right away.
"Ex-Nihilo" was a destructive power that allowed me to alter reality by destroying anyone or anything I wished to destroy. With it, I was a master of non-existence, capable of weaponizing nothingness to annihilate any enemies I possessed, or their weapons, or even their knowledge. It was a "Master Spark" power, one of the greatest powers even a living god could possess. My younger self had been unaware of my true nature, so I hadn't been able to awaken it within myself, but now... Now I could use it.
That said, it was a fate that was better than the bastard who hurt me before deserved. No... I wanted to do something awful to him since even the thought of him made me vaguely feel the pain he had caused me in the past. Nevertheless, for now, I wanted to avoid a confrontation with him. I wanted him to learn that his efforts had been for naught before I went and avenged myself.
"This warehouse is your personal possession. Unlike many of the living gods of old you are... Well, you are alone. This warehouse is your sole possession. Or at least the sole possession that is yours by virtue of your nature and status as the inheritor of the will of the living gods. Nevertheless, it is a potent place that you can do a lot with." The voice quietly informed me.
"From here you are able to explore the rest of the omniverse, as well as get suggested places to explore, corrupt, conquer, and more. By coming here you can also freeze time in places you've been, due to your peculiar nature as a living god, and the domain that you have just acquired influence over; time." The voice explained, even as my mind filled with ideas of worlds to visit and universes to conquer and corrupt.
"I, in fact, recommend that you go visit one of these worlds right away to test and grow familiar with the incredibly wide array of new abilities you possess. The world you are in is one with a surprisingly powerful divinity, and a potent usurper of gods, and thus taking it over will be complex, unless you just annihilate anything in your path. However, if you were to say visit the world created by Nevermoor, the elven mother-goddess of an entire mini-universe, you would be able to explore your powers in relative peace even if you fought against her." The voice explained, offering a fascinating suggestion.
I didn't mind the idea of exploring a relatively safe world where I could freely explore the new abilities I possessed. Plus while not all of my old memories were back I had more than my own memories within me: I also had Gnarl's, and those of my minions. I knew what elves looked like. I could have fun exploring a world where elves were one of the big factions... After just a moment of hesitation, I chose to go visit this strange new world, eager to go around and explore the cosmos since with my newfound abilities I could do almost anything I wished.
I felt reality itself seem to slow to a total stop around me, even as the sheer whiteness of the space I was in was replaced by something altogether stranger than my previous surroundings: the nave of a decently large temple dedicated to an elven mother goddess, complete with various statues of the aforementioned goddess.
At the chancel of the temple stood a pair of elven clergy-people, one a priest and the other a priestess. They had not yet noticed me, due to the potent effects of "Subtle" one of my newly awakened powers, and they were in the midst of studying the holy book of their faith. They studied the thing silently, each looking at different parts of the same page.
The two elves were tall, thin, blonde creatures who possessed a sort of otherworldly, ethereal beauty. Both of them had rather feminine features, such as long hair, full lips, and soft faces, as well as their thin clothing which only loosely hid their bodies from view. Nevertheless, I sensed that their power, their strength, and their agility, eclipsed any of the living beings I had encountered to date. Neither of them could hold a candle to me, but they were still incredibly skilled beings, leaders among their pious species.
For a moment I considered utilizing "Ex-Nihilio" on them, but that was just a passing thought. It was as easy to resist as it was spontaneous. I wasn't about to immediately murder two potential servants.
They studiously studied the text in front of them, able to calmly study in the silent temple dedicated to their goddess. I turned to face the statues, eager to see what they looked like, and studied the artistic depictions of the mother goddess of the elves.
The mother goddess was, according to the artists who created the statue, a radiant being of motherhood, purity, nature, and elves. She had many of the features elves were known to have, such as a tall form, pointed ears, blonde hair, innate magic, and power over light itself. I walked away from where I had appeared in the middle of the nave, and kept walking until I was in front of one of the statues. The thing was incredibly tall, perhaps eighteen feet tall, and it towered over everything else in the temple aside from the other statues which adorned each of the empty spaces on the other side of the pews which themselves filled most of the space in the nave.
"This thing is... It's a lot right?" I asked myself, aware that utterly no one else could detect me at the moment. Not even the mother goddess herself could detect me at the moment. "Subtle" was that powerful. It was a potent ability that was itself capable of defeating even the mighty perceptions of lesser gods and goddesses.
After I studied the statues for a few moments I turned my attention back to the priest and priestess. The two of them were still carefully and studiously examining the holy text of their divine creator, and I considered the ways that I could have fun with them, especially in my capacity as a potent divinity myself.
"I should... have some fun." I whispered, speaking quietly as if they'd hear me if I spoke too loudly. They wouldn't. So long as I didn't actively wish to be seen, heard, or otherwise detected, they'd be unable to detect me. Nevertheless, I began to consider ways that I could mess with the holy pair, and especially ways that I could subtly nudge them towards corruption and of course, towards myself.
