While the potent entity known as "Fohion Ironheart" to the people of this world waited for the madam of the brothel he now owned to appear, he turned both inward and outward simultaneously. In one respect he turned outward, both walking to a small, private lounge located within the first floor of the building and also utilizing his immensely potent psychic abilities to scan and study the minds of the elven sex workers located within the brothel.
In another respect he turned inward, his immense mind now fully focusing and studying the powers, perks, and traits he possessed. His mind raced, effortlessly learning about each of the potent powers he possessed, including powers that were thought by the people of the world he was invading, to be unique to elves and the very rare elven subrace known as the high elves. His sudden desire for knowledge delighted the potent part of him that was more fully aware of everything known to the living god.
As he walked towards the small lounge he had opted to make his destination, his form only grew even more resplendently handsome. That unearthly and celestial beauty was the consequence of two powers mixed together; "Eternal Ascension", which boosted every single positive trait and attribute of his to greater and greater heights with every passing second, and "Celestial Substance" which allowed his body to be a perfect reflection of his living soul; the master spark that burned within him.
His current circumstances were a direct result of "Eternal Ascension" since that ability caused the powers he possessed by virtue of being a living god to explosively emerge at the moment of his defeat at the hands of a mysterious, self-proclaimed "hero". That power, mixed with "Meta-Immortality", allowed him to survive what would have slain lesser beings and fully recover from those injuries while he underwent his immature apotheosis.
At the moment he was still restraining the true scope of his beauty, so as to avoid burning the eyes of anyone who saw him, but even so, he was a strangely and supremely handsome being. His form was akin to a masterfully made statue of an ancient hero, with powerful muscles that showcased his masculinity and majestic eyes that pierced through all illusions and attempts at subterfuge.
Had anyone been present to focus on him they'd surely have noticed something peculiar about the stranger. Despite the fact that he had, at least to the eyes of lesser beings, an appearance which should signal that he was a full human, he possessed an impossible, uncanny grace that no human should have been able to possess.
With every fleeting movement of his, this impossible grace and dexterity seemed to grow, and become paradoxically, more apparent, and more subtle at the same time. If one lacked eyes but could sense his movement they'd be fascinated by the beauty of it, and would see through the obvious lie that "Fohion was a human", but to anyone plagued by vision the true divinity standing before them would be able to confuse and stun those who understood the limitations of humanity.
Fohion's nature as a true divinity, as an impossibly powerful spirit embodying both creation and destruction, allowed him to be unbound by rules that limited lesser beings. He could, for all intents and purposes, be both a "true" human and also some sort of never-before-seen "supreme elf", gaining the powers and perks of both species while having none of the limitations that held either back. He had the adventurous spirit of a human, combined with the peerless grace of an elf. He had the stillness of mind of an elven sage and the boundless energy of a young human. He was not bothered by the incredibly limited lifespan of a human, nor the potent xenophobia often demonstrated by long-lived elves.
What's more, beyond the normal abilities that the eerie creature possessed due to his nature as a living god, there were the unique traits he possessed due to his nature as a creature who possessed "Modes Of Transcendence". He possessed four particularly distinct "Modes" at the moment.
The creature's soul burned with the foul knowledge that came from the dreaded dark enlightenment, his soul shone with the brilliance possessed by gods of gods; true divinity, he was aware of the nature of existence as something akin to an image which he could modify and redraw at will, a "Living Image" and his role as said image's artist or dreamer, and perhaps the strangest of them all at the moment; he was aware, in part, of his true origins as a creature from the darkest corners of the omniverse which granted his powers a foul, eldritch touch.
All four of these fonts of ascension, apotheosis, and transcendence colored the ways his powers manifested. And they were far from the only things that did so. His mighty soul had grown during the time he spent in hibernation, recovering from the wounds his foul nemesis once inflicted on him. During that time various powers awoke within him, filling him with even greater power than he ought to possess given his youth, powers which he was now fully aware of.
The strangest aspect of the admittedly incredible strange "Modes of Transcendence" that I possessed was the ways that they could affect my abilities. As I studied myself, fully and unbiasedly for the first time, I felt the powers I possessed filling my mind's eye. And even more than just their sheer numbers were the ways that they could be modified by the "Modes" I possessed.
With particularly strange but potent powers, such as my "True Anointed" power, I could modify them in ways that altered the beliefs of those I affected. For instance, if I gave an elven cleric enlightenment as to the nature of reality, that it was in many ways a dream dreamt up by higher beings such as myself or the lesser goddess Nevermoor, and then allowed to take on a life of its own, I could also cause them to fall in love with myself as one of the greatest of the dreamers responsible for reality, by coloring the power itself in the color of the "Living Image" mode of transcendence.
With other powers and other modes, the fusions became even stranger. I could use "Metamagnus", or "Heaven's King" to heal, and color either power in the shade of the "Dark Enlightenment" mode of transcendence, and rather than speeding up the body's natural healing processes or strengthening the soul of the recipient of my healing I would simply erase whatever sort of wound I was in the process of affecting. And what’s more, is that I knew that there were other modes out there, modes that if acquired would allow me to gain other "Master Spark" powers beyond the one I currently possessed; "Ex Nihilo".
That said, the effects of my newfound self-awareness and self-mastery were not limited to me gaining a greater understanding of how to flavor my powers. My ability to perceive and even manipulate reality itself was altered by my newfound self-awareness, in an array of ways, ways which became stunningly clear to me even as the seemingly young elf in charge of the brothel in my absence approached me.
I was currently seated in the opulently decorated lounge, a vast room filled with all manner of ornate decorations from plush sofas to gigantic beds fit for nobility. The lounge suited me, and as I examined it I found it hard not to smile.
I had learned many new tricks in the wake of my moment of introspection. By allowing my mind to fill with the knowledge that reality itself was little more than a dream or an illusion I could allow my vision to penetrate things like physical obstacles, as though I were channeling my innate power as one gifted with knowledge of the great dream or dispelling the illusion. I did that with ease and allowed my eyes to peer past the walls that separated the two of us and fall on the brothel's madam for the first time.
The brothel's madam was a beautiful golden-blonde-haired elf with back-length hair that was clearly carefully and luxuriously cared for. She had an intensely youthful face, making her look like someone who was perhaps eighteen years old despite the fact that she was actually so old her life could be measured in millennia, due in part to her friendship with an incredibly skilled, equally ancient female elven alchemist who lived in the brothel.
As my eyes rested on her I began to see visions of her memories and life flash in countless "mini-theaters" in my mind's eye, which allowed me to immediately witness the totality of her life with but a single glance. I learned of her every memory, even forgotten, repressed, and long-discarded ones.
Who she was, down to every atom and cell within her, was known to me. And, due to my newfound self-awareness and power, I knew that if I wanted too I could take away or even modify any part of who she was with the same amount of effort it took for a mortal man to blink. All it'd take for me to change her was a desire to do so, thanks to my modes of transcendence.
At the same time, I could have just as easily reached out and snuffed out her existence. With but a twitch I could utterly wipe her from existence, extinguishing her so utterly that even Nevermoor, the goddess and creator of this universe, was incapable of remembering her and legitimately incapable of resurrecting her. To wield such power and to be aware of the capabilities of it, as fully as I now was... It was perspective-altering, to the extent that I was now more humble in my appreciation for my own power as well as now had a higher opinion of myself.
And then she reached the door that separated us, that kept her from seeing me, and opened it. As she did, she began to move past the thing and while doing so laid her eyes on me.
To lay one's eyes on a living god, even at their least beautiful, was to lay eyes on an impossible vision of beauty. Living gods possessed the sort of physical perfection that inspired obsession, devotion, and adoration from lesser beings, even lesser gods. In the case of Fohion, this was especially true at the very moment that the brothel's madam, an elf named Solana Xyrris, happened to see him.
Fohion, having just learned of the strange natures of the modes of transcendence that he possessed, had undergone minor physical transformations which only further accentuated his dark majesty. Despite the dark heart that he possessed the creature's physical form was one of unequaled, rugged masculinity, not a monstrous form as one might hope such a thoroughly evil being might possess to alarm and frighten potential victims of his wickedness. To gaze upon him was to gaze upon the body of someone who truly embodied the parts of manhood that revolved around power, warfare, destruction, and sexuality.
Fohion wore the clothes of a common man, a simple outfit made of a long tunic and a pair of trousers, but he also had a distinctive feature in the form of the gauntlet affixed to his hand. It was a part of him and was visible to anyone who gazed upon him, and it colored the arm it was attached to, making his skin look asymmetrically colored, due to the skintight nature of the bond between him and the powerful artifact.
He had an expression of supreme confidence and self-assuredness plastered onto his face, but he wore it well. He wore it as only a god of things like pride, wrath, and sin could. His perfection was not the immaculate perfection of a sinless being, but the corrupt perfection of a god of lust and pleasure, one who could persuade those around him to devote their lives to base pleasures with a single whispered sentence.
Solana gazed at him and she felt a not small part of her mind envision the two of them entangled in all manners of sinful positions. And as she did, she felt a portion of her body heat up, as her nipples hardened and a rosy blush began to spread across her pale skin.
As she urged herself forward, her nostrils filled with the heady scent of the powerful overlord in front of her. He smelled of sin, of lust, and of pleasure, and she found it difficult to focus around him. The elf, who had lived for so long that she had seen entire civilizations rise and fall, had never in her life been so immediately taken by someone. She felt herself becoming besotted with him, and as she pushed herself closer and closer to him the effect got stronger and stronger.
"Hello, Solana." He whispered, his voice itself as staggeringly attractive as every other part of him. Her blush widened across her chest and deepened in intensity in the wake of his whispered sentence. He had a powerful, baritone voice that rumbled out of him with every word, and was itself a potent reflection of the dark, masculine power he possessed. Solana nodded at him, still unable to fully focus due to the powerful effects he had on her even without using any of his powers.
"Hello, Mr. Ironheart." She greeted, sounding almost drunk. Her words slipped and spilled out of her mouth without any of the usual elven grace, causing her to look bashfully at the ground after speaking. Fohion smiled at her, warmly, gently, and began to speak again.
"Come. We have much to discuss." The figure said, a surprisingly sweet smile on his face and lips after he spoke. She nodded, bashfully, at him, losing much of her confidence, and stepped forward, walking until she reached a chair in which she could sit. She had no idea how thoroughly her life was about to change.
