Castle Spree, a fortress that had not been controlled by humans in a long time, stood atop a hill overlooking the most distant portions of Spree. It was inhabited by a number of monstrous humanoids who had formed an uneasy alliance to defend it from the small town of people who lived within view of the skillfully crafted bastion.
Orcs, ogres, and even more bestial beings like werewolves and trolls inhabited the keep. They knew that they needed to work together, or else they risked annihilation the second that the humans gained an effective leader and so they reluctantly banded together for the sake of their mutual survival. They were unaware of the return of any so-called "Overlord", and so when the army of creatures assembled by the potent leader began to make their way towards the castle the place's inhabitants were not prepared.
By the time my vast army reached the edge of the small town that we had effectively conquered many of the town's inhabitants had lost much of their fear of us. We had not engaged in unnecessary destruction or any acts of unwarranted cruelty towards them so those of them that had watched us had learned that we were not driven by maliciousness in the sense that they had anticipated and feared.
Now we found ourselves in front of a gate that was being opened to allow us passage. The gate was a big thing made of thick oaken logs shaped into spikes and was lifted or lowered by the manipulation of a large wheel. I listened as a group of twelve brown minions carefully opened the gate, skillfully and intelligently using the wheel. As they did the wheel was being moved easily, due to their prodigious strength. Each of the minions was a potent being, after all.
The evolved minions, evolved due to my incredibly handy "Metamor Stair" power, were all far greater creatures than they had previously been. Not only did they feel the potent power of the Blacklight Virus flowing through their veins, but they were also enhanced by one of my more special abilities. "Metamor Stair" was one of my favorite powers since with it I could cause virtually anything to undergo some sort of potent evolution, though originally I had been limited to only using that particular power twice on any one thing or person. Fortunately, I hated such unnecessary limitations and had already made use of another power to do away with that limit.
"Free Climbing" was another astoundingly potent power that I possessed and with it I could manipulate perimeters of anything I could touch. Minutes ago I had placed a hand on my armor and boosted the limits of "Metamor Stair" from only being workable twice to being workable two thousand times per any singular object or person I used the ability on. And the mere act of doing so was so potent that I felt my mastery over "Free Climbing" increase, making the valuable power even more potent.
As I watched the gate lower in front of us, allowing us access to the area beyond it, I began to smile. I was drawing closer and closer to my first real taste of combat and that knowledge infused me with sinister, bloodthirsty joy. My grip on my sword tightened significantly, and all around me I could hear the tensing of muscles of my companions and servants, all of whom shared my bloodthirst. When the gate was fully lowered, I took my first steps towards the end of the town and into the area beyond it, that connected the small settlement to the fortress once inhabited by the town's most legendary defender; the "Lord of Spree".
The area just beyond the town was a small path that connected the town and its castle. The path was empty, devoid even of scouts or advanced guards for the precarious alliance of monsters and monstrous humanoids waiting in the castle itself. Before long even lesser members of my army could see the castle looming in the distance.
The castle was situated atop a massive hill and overlooked the settlement of Spree. It was a long deserted thing, that was only just beginning to come back to life due to the existence of a portal to Mareth situated within its bowls. The castle was constructed with massive amounts of white stone native to this world, and since I possessed much sharper vision than my minions did I could easily see the guards, monstrous orcs, who stood atop the outer walls of the place. They wore armor that they forged, armor that was surprisingly ornate in design and was, at a glance anyway, clearly quite sturdy.
We advanced through the path that stood between us with ease, as each of us possessed unlimited stamina due to my own potent powers and the fact that I was sharing my abilities with my servants. I possessed thousands of powers, many of which I possessed solely due to my own creativity, and I was actively making use of several even at the moment. I was excited to show them off in the heat of battle.
When we finished traversing the path between Spree and the castle we found ourselves at the foot of a hill, one with a rather impressive slope. Beneath us was a well-worn but not hand-carved path that led up to the entryway of the castle, and to where our enemies would likely expect to see us if we approached that boringly. Fortunately, we were not so easy to predict.
I glanced at the hill on which the castle was located and began to focus on it. The hill was astoundingly vertical, so much so that it was rather obvious to me, in my vast wisdom, that the hill itself came after the thought of putting the castle there, which suggested that either a lot of humans came together to build the castle and the hill, or that the castle itself was built on older ruins of some other structure.
As I studied the hill I began to imagine a potent creature materializing from nowhere to aid my servants and I in our mission. And as I did that I watched one such creature begin to slowly come into existence. All the while I kept my forces moving, sneaking ever closer to our enemies.
At the bottom of the hill on which Castle Spree was built there was an area from which one could begin to climb up the side of the steep hill. It was normally intended for creatures to be able to sit at it and gaze up in awe at the surprisingly majestic castle, but since the abandonment of the castle for many years, first due to radiation and then due to a lack of a lord who ruled Spree, the hill had largely begun to return to nature. Nevertheless, it was a perfect spot for Fohion's potent reality-warping.
A strange beast began to appear, one with a body of an utterly massive spider and the form of a powerful orcish warrior atop the thing's spider head. It was a mystical beast, one akin to a drider, a powerful type of unholy fusion between a dark elf and a massive spider.
The beast roared into existence, its loud screams heard even atop the vast hill on which the castle sat. The monstrous spider's roar caused the orcish guards inhabiting the top of the castle to dash into action, and to sprint to the edge of the castle walls, only for them to shout in shock when they saw the monster beginning to climb up the walls and quickly begin to ready themselves to fight the massive beast.
Its thick legs effortlessly climbed the wall and as it did the orcish head of the beast bellowed in fury. Meanwhile, Fohion's own forces continued to creep towards the castle, ready to engage in an unpleasant ambush of their enemies.
As my allies and I crept towards the castle I had a massive smirk on my face. I knew that the enemy would tire themselves out fighting the monster I had invented whole-cloth, especially since the beast was also infected with Blacklight and thus all it needed to do was bite an enemy once and we'd gain them as an ally.
The devastating power I had just used, my "Imagination Creation" power, was terrifying in its potential. With it I was never alone, so long as I was ready to use my imagination to bolster my capabilities. And that wasn't even my most terrifying life-editing ability. I intended to reveal that for the first time in the depths of the castle.
