At the very same time that the mighty dragon lord ascended to the skies above the town of Spree, the Blacklight virus that lurked within him and within the cells of hundreds, maybe even thousands of beings throughout three worlds, was steadily changing. The immensely adaptive virus had already devoured a staggering amount of genetic information from an astounding array of lifeforms, and each scrap of genetic information it had absorbed into itself empowered it even a little bit.
The intelligent virus was hellbent on serving the creature who it viewed as its lord and master; the Living God who had dubbed himself "Fohion Ironheart". To do that it sought out useful genetic information and on manipulating every organism it had infected and dominated from the lowliest fish and blade of grass to the mightiest warriors and sorcerers that it had been allowed to seep into and enthrall.
Over the course of the last few hours, it had been given much more freedom to do as it saw fit by its lord. For instance, the virus now existed in places that Fohion himself had never been, with one prime example being the Underdark of the world created by the elven goddess Nevermoor.
The Underdark was the dangerous and cutthroat region home to the dark elves and their vile slave-cities in the world created by Nevermoor. Fohion had converted several ambitious but relatively low-ranked dark elves to his side using his dark charisma and power as a lord of lies, and in order to more thoroughly secure their loyalties, he also infected them with the deadly disease that itself served his will.
The virus, overjoyed to have a chance to move largely unrestrained had eagerly filled them, and in doing so gained a foothold in a region where it was largely left to its own devices for the very first time. The sickness had scanned the genetic information of the dark elves and thanks to them had learned a considerable amount about mortal anatomy. It also permanently altered the mentalities of those it infected, turning them from willful dark elves who dreamed of a darker and more cruel world into altogether differently kinds of insane beings.
In the heart of one small dark-elven outpost, one of the newly infected dark elves was dressed in the elegant and masterfully crafted suits of spider-silk armor of dark-elven make. The young warrior, a man who was trained as a "Ranger", cleverly utilized the alternative senses granted to him by the disease to peer into the darkness of the subterranean terrain which surrounded him.
His eyes shifted slightly as he incorporated both forms of alternative sight that being an "Evolved" infected being granted him; "Thermal" vision and "Infected" vision. By fusing both of these forms of sight together he was able to ignore the total darkness of the Underdark and see unobstructed by the lack of light. As his eyes changed ever so slightly to reflect the new information they were providing him he immediately began to be able to ignore the immense and total darkness of his surroundings.
The dark elf was standing atop a cliff right at the very edge of what was considered "Civilized" territory by the highly elitist dark elves. His new and enhanced vision allowed him to peer into the dark abyss which began just a meter or so from where he was standing. He could see that had he taken just a few careless steps forward he'd have fallen to what would have previously been a humiliating death, though he was never in any danger even prior to his transformation. And now, as a servant of his dark master, he had been gifted with powers that rendered such a fate impossible even if he were somehow tossed over the edge of the cliff.
The ranger was a skilled scout who knew this area like the back of his hand. He was only standing here so that he could test and appreciate the powers that the Blacklight Virus had given him. His incredibly sensitive senses alerted him to all sorts of information that would have previously escaped his notice as he looked out into the strange abyss that led to the deeper reaches of the Underdark.
He could hear the foul sounds made by the native predators that lurked below at the bottom of the chasm. They were dark sounds made by unintelligent beasts, monsters fouler than any sort of conditions on the surface of the planet could cause to arise without deliberate magical manipulation.
The ranger's eyesight had also been sharpened to a ridiculous degree, allowing him to see for several kilometers in the darkness of the Underdark. He peered into the chasm and could vaguely make out distant shapes belonging to nightmarish creatures that sailed above the chasm's floor.
The monsters that sailed through the skies above the bottom of the chasm radiated the strange light that indicated that they were not infected by Blacklight in the eyes of the mighty dark elf watching them. That distinction was one he was aware of due to his nature as a powerful "Evolved" being who was intimately tethered to the potent hive mind that linked him to every other creature infected by Blacklight. They were gigantic creatures that the dark elf was halfway tempted to attempt to infect but for now, he ignored that temptation.
The creatures were fascinating, but the powerful dark elf was focused on infecting people who'd prove useful to the collective cause of the virus that had enspelled him and taken over his mind. He didn't want to engage in random violence to infect as many people as possible, his goals were more refined than that. He wanted to add the most powerful minds to the collective will and consciousness that now drove and empowered countless creatures and was gradually seeping across several different lands.
Elsewhere the dark virus was being less subtle than it was being in the Underdark.
In the city of Heaven's Peak, the ancestral home of this world's Ironheart family, Blacklight was at work just as powerfully as it was in the depths of the Underdark. In some ways, though, this city wasn't quite as lucky as the Underdark was.
In the depths of the familial estate of the Ironheart family, a large basement had been converted into something truly awful. The large basement owned by the rich nobles had become this world's first "Hive".
The basement was covered in sickly-looking red biomatter, and the sounds of the shambling monstrosities that were being conceived, incubated, and eventually birthed within the place shattered any hopes that this nightmarish place only looked worse than it actually was. The air was red, thick with Blacklight spores that would transform any sort of uninfected being who was forcibly dragged here into some sort of Blacklight being within mere moments of being placed within the room.
The world's first lesser Blacklight beings were born here, in this horrible place, and they were immediately set to work by their wicked overseers. A single "Evolved" Blacklight being watched over the small army of "Walkers", the least powerful humanoid type of Blacklight being, and whenever one was born he ordered the barely living mass of flesh to go to the basement's southernmost wall and get to work tearing it down.
Dozens of the creatures were currently tearing at the stone wall. These monsters loosely resembled humans but their faces were covered in tumorous growths and one of their hands ended in a misshapen attempt at forming a "Blade arm" or another sort of bio-mass-shaped weapon. These creatures were far more like zombies than they were any sort of truly living being. They slammed their hands against the wall, lacking anything like fatigue or even an awareness of any pain that might otherwise lessen their efficiency as they sought to obey the orders of their masters.
The creatures were the result of the desire of the dominated Ironheart family's new mission; to plunge the ancient city into fear and to turn the place into a dark farm for both lifeforce and bio-mass. Each member of the Ironheart family and the staff members that they had already converted into "Evolved" was hard at work at advancing that mission in one way or another.
The wife of the family's former patriarch had set about ensorcelling the family's estate and had cleverly utilized her magic to thoroughly enchant the property of the prominent household. The former patriarch himself was working on preparing the city to be invaded and overrun by the vast horde of walkers that were bashing the wall of the basement. Once the wall was down they'd only have to dig a tunnel to an appropriate spot where they could create a hole that'd allow them to drop down into the city's sewers. From there they'd just need to walk into the city.
In days, at most, the city would once again know fear, for this was far from the first time Heaven's Peak was the site of a zombie apocalypse. As the night slowly passed Fohion was made consciously aware of this goal and he found it rather humorous so he allowed it. He knew that this was creating a context in which he could enter the city and be seen as a liberating hero, and the sort of gratitude that that entailed, so he gave the plan his dark blessing.
It'd only make it easier for him to become a dark tyrant who lorded over the city with an iron fist, if he could first be hailed as a hero who stopped a zombie plague.
By the time the suns of three separate universes had risen lowly into the skies above the worlds they illuminated, all three worlds were in a worse place than they had been twenty-four hours ago. All three planets were already much darker than they had been just a day ago.
Monsters capable of more subtlety and more violence than any other had arisen in the outskirts of all three planets. These deadly monsters were all capable of multi-universal communications and capable of drawing upon the resources of their allies. And what was the worst fact of all was that all of these monsters were bound in unity and submission to a calculating, wicked superintelligence far more intelligent than any of them could have ever hoped to be.
Shapeshifting, predatory, evolving monsters wandered the darkest corners of all three planets. Minotaurs with strength and intelligence far beyond even their quick-witted and physically powerful kind usually exhibited were slowly but steadily making their way out of the mountain range at the one corner of the planet known as Mareth.
The worst aspect of that, for the forces that ruled the world of Mareth, was that the Blacklight Virus was an evolutionary agent that absorbed and dispersed genetic information. It absorbed critical, beneficial genetic information and then, with the blessing of the god of disease, spread that information to any number of "Evolved" infected it wanted. It could do things like give its victims the power to shapeshift into other infected people, or anyone they consumed, or even enhance the magical abilities or physical attributes of those who were infected by the powerful disease.
Magical minotaurs who had the power to cast spells without wands or any sort of arcane focus, and at a truly absurd level of power, were making their way to the stronghold of the demon queen Lethice. In time they fully intended to infect and dominate the demonic horde that was devastating the world of Mareth, as well as take over the small number of remaining population centers that had protected themselves from Lethice's horde.
Dark elves, orcs, and even wicked humans in the world created by Nevermoor advanced a wicked agenda that would culminate in shattered minds, fractured cities, and a war on the world's creator goddess herself. An agenda that still escaped the notice of the powerful goddess, due to her inability to read anything but the most shallow, surface thoughts of the infected.
In the world of Northos, a town had been claimed in the name of Fohion. Beyond it, and even beyond the actions of the god in the Ruborian Desert, or his "relatives" in the city of Heaven's Peak, the few halflings who had been infected by the mad god's sanity-destroying disease had already spread the infection to their lovers, to their relatives, and in some cases to their neighbors. By the time the sun had risen over the halfling settlements not far from Spree, the places were hotbeds of infected activity.
Throughout the night I largely relaxed and allowed my virus to do its work as it pleased. Each of my avatars found a place to rest and settled wherever they felt they could best do so. My avatar in Mareth selected a private chamber deep beneath the forest where he repeatedly pleasured Bellatrix and the two of them grew stronger and stronger for it. My avatar in Northos settled within the refurnished castle he had conquered. My avatar in the world created by Nevermoor chose to rest within the brothel that my "family" within the world owned.
My virus was an ever-active force. The thing never rested, never settled down, and instead continued to work on empowering those it had infected, and on birthing more and more infected when possible. Whenever a new walker was born in the depths of some of the very few hives in existence I felt my mind expand a little bit and was immediately connected to the strange new beings.
One of the few things that I did was an experiment with some of the hive-birthed Blacklight beings. I tested what would happen if I granted them sentience and powers, and was delighted to find that they were incredibly receptive to being granted such things, and such beings were freed from the boring tasks assigned to their lesser cousins.
These new avenues of interacting with the world were all quite exciting to me, and as the sun rose over all three worlds that I inhabited I felt more energized and eager to explore, alter, and corrupt than I had ever been before.
