“Well well well… Your first kills. How’d they feel?” Ben asked, smugly. I chuckled and wondered how to respond. 

The power flowing into me felt quite good if I was being honest. I felt myself growing stronger as a result of my actions, even though whatever was about to happen to the stirges was unclear. I felt my own ability to do things like drain blood increasing as I absorbed the powers and talents of those I had slain. 

My natures as a divinity, as a sanguinarch, and as an essence-being made me very able to absorb the traits of those I defeated. I knew that already. Still… actually experiencing it myself was something else entirely from knowing it in strict theory. 

I could feel… everything owned by my foes flowing into me. It was an intense, stunning feeling and it definitely left me wanting more. Had I not been immune to addiction this could easily have turned into one. 

“They feel good.” I told Ben, honestly and simply. I heard him out let a quiet chuckle into the connection we shared that allowed him to speak to me whenever he wanted. 

“I like your little… science experiment.” Ben told me, a second later. My companions turned to look at me, curious as to whether or not we ought to keep going. I responded, in a way, by going over to a wall and leaning against it silently. My companions nodded at me and began to explore the rest of the cave. 

They were especially interested in the drawings on the walls and so I mentally moved my mage hand to follow them to let them fully appreciate the drawings. I also dimmed the light emanating from my wand just a bit to make it easier for them to see the drawings without the art being obscured by the intense glow of my wand. Moderation was key. 

“It’s good that you’re taking this time to figure shit out. I planned to teleport you back home as soon as you finished off Nezznar, so depending on your actions it would have been easy for you to not find out what happens when you kill something before you return to Earth.” Ben confessed, causing me to smile softly. That tricky bastard! 

“So now… What DOES happen when you kill someone?” Ben wondered, revealing that even he didn’t know. The reason why we were both confused was that my decision to down countless essences in one go had caused me to have multiple abilities that overlapped. Among those abilities were several variations on afterlife possession. 

I had absorbed many different essences which granted me lordship over disparate afterlives, from essence of the anti-immortal to essence of the angel emperor, and even one of the best divinity essences, essence of the afterlife elder god king. With my enhanced intellect the best solution I could think of would have been for me to simply have an enormous, customizable afterlife for anyone whose soul would have been mine to claim for whatever reason. 

I knew the precise natures of my essences, and of the powers I possessed. I knew that I could bargain for someone’s soul, or claim it in combat by slaying them myself, or otherwise acquire them in a number of different ways. If I had some claim over their souls, somehow, nine times out of ten I would be the one to take possession of their souls in the afterlife, which was important for a divinity. 

What I didn’t know was how the possession aspect of my essences always worked. What that meant, in practice, was that it wasn’t always clear how the rules of my essences worked when it came to things that belonged to me. If I, in theory, had multiple forms of the same thing due to essence-drinking, or things that were similar enough… It wasn’t always clear what final form I would get of the thing in question. 

As an example of this, all I had to do was think about my personal reality. The sheer number of essences that gave some sort of personal reality was impressive. 

I drank just about every essence that allowed their drinker to possess some kind of self-owned dimension, and the end result was that my personal dimension was a mishmash of various essence-bestowed dimensions with an emphasis on the Earth-sized megastructure that came with the essence of the human science god. And even now my personal reality was changing as a result of the essences that were fusing with me. 

Afterlives were like personal realities in the sense that many sorts of essences gave me them. I really wasn’t sure what sort of final afterlife I’d be given, and that mattered given that I was a god of death and afterlives. It would also influence how often I planned to do things like slay monsters… Or other living things to increase in power. 

“I can sense your questions. Why don’t you allow me to show you what awaits those you slay?” Ben asked, causing my eyebrows to rise in curiosity. 

“Activate one of the essences that lets you clone yourself. And when you do, will the clone to spawn in your personal reality. From there I’ll take you on a tour of your afterlife, while also allowing you to continue your quest.” Ben explained, causing me to subtly nod and do as he asked. At the same time I walked over to my companions and motioned for us to continue our little adventure. 

My companions turned to me and smiled, all eager for us to finish being in this place. I didn’t blame them, we were all creatures who were greater than this adventure. It made sense for them to be bored, even if I wasn’t. 

I activated one of the sillier powers of the essence of the assassin and willed the clone I was creating to appear in front of Ben in the depths of my palace. As soon as the clone was called into being my benefactor abducted him with a wild grin on his face and took him somewhere new.

I had only existed in the clone body I had created for a split second before my benefactor placed a hand on my shoulder and whisked us away from the opulence of my palace to the surface of a strange new world. We found ourselves standing in front of what looked like a grand temple to some ancient greek god or goddess. 

The main difference between the temple in front of me and the temples of the ancient past was that this temple was immaculately well maintained and had modern appliances within it, as well as the fact that it was clearly meant to be a fusion of a greek temple and some sort of modern museum. The temple was surrounded by the sort of small town buildings I had seen on field trips into Vermont’s countryside. 

“Welcome to world one of your personal afterlife, Andrew!” Ben exclaimed, a wide and shit-eating grin plastered on his face. I studied the sight before me and wasn’t sure what to say. 

“This is… weird.” I confessed, after a second of careful contemplation. Ben nodded at me, catching me off guard, and making me let out a quiet chuckle. 

“Yes it is! You know why it’s weird? Because it’s not you. Not yet anyway.” He told me, plainly. He smiled at me as he began to rant. 

“You see, your soul is changing. All of your powers and stuff are active, and that is changing who you are on the inside in ways that matter. This afterlife has not stabilized yet, because youe soul hasn’t stablized.” He explained. 

“This afterlife is… Well it’s very, very customizable. You are in control here.” Ben told me, as he looked at the small town aesthetics of the area around the temple. 

“This area is one of the most stable areas on this world.” Ben told me, confidently. He seemed proud of that fact. I chuckled and studied him for a second. I… didn’t think he was telling me the truth. 

“This area isn’t my afterlife… Is it?” I asked him, skeptically, opting to call him out. There was something more to this place. It felt… too alive, to be my afterlife. As soon as I asked him that his smile stretched impossibly wide, almost frighteningly so. 

“Oh? So you’re accusing me of lying to you? What fun…” He uttered, as I called him out on his lie. 

“Oh well, it makes sense that your connection to your afterlife would be strong enough for you to see through this deception. We’re in the realm of your shadow servants. Your afterlife is somewhere else entirely.” Ben revealed, as he put his hand on my shoulder and I sensed him preparing to teleport us again. 

My “shadow servants”… The term “Shadow servants” referred to the essence of the anti-immortal. That laughably overpowered essence was my greatest innate stat booster. I knew that if I tried to look at my attributes, like this was a session of Dungeons and Dragons or something, they’d be absurdly high. There were many reasons for that but the greatest singular reason was surely the influence of the essence of the anti-immortal. 

The anti-immortal essence helped me slay high-tier cosmic beings, if I ever had to try and oppose them. It’d be useful if I wanted to clash with someone on the level of Khorne or if I got hurled back in time to the pre-Slaanesh days and got to fight against the gods of the Eldar. It also granted me lordship over a species of shadow-creatures known as “Shadow servants” who formed whenever I killed something from the least essential parts of the souls of my fallen foes. 

The majority of the essence of their souls were said to move onto disparate afterlives, wherever they were meant to go if the essence of the anti-immortal were the only essence I had imbibed. But in my case… I forcibly drew in the souls of those I slew and turned them into my worshipers and inhabitants of my afterlife.

Anyone slain by me wouldn’t just be partially drained of their souls and turned into shadow servants, the rest of their souls would be transported to my true afterlife… Wherever that was. 

“Alright, I’ll take you to your true afterlife. Plus that way we can visit your bazaar. It’s one of your more important places to look at, anyway.” Ben told me, smugly, even as we vanished from the currently empty realm that might one day be packed with shadow servants of mine. 

As we teleported from one dimension to the next I gained a glimpse of what I assumed had to be the omniverse. In between realms, realities, and dimensions, I saw what looked funnily like pictures of my own universe, but on a scale far grander than those miniscule images had been. 

I gazed at that strange sight and less than an attosecond later watched it disappear as Ben and I began to appear elsewhere. In the depths of my actual afterlife.

The cave that my party was in had a number of exits. I felt like going on an adventure still, partially because I could still get power from creatures I slew even if the fact that they were simulations meant that they weren’t turned into shadow servants or anything, and so I led my party towards one of the places that I knew held enemies. 

I guided us directly south from the middle of the cave and down a small hallway that led to two doors. One of the doors was on my left, and the other was on my right. My acidic ooze pet was right beside me, refusing to let me be anymore than a little bit out of reach of the thing. 

I turned to the door to my left, as I knew what terrors it held in store for the low level adventuring party that was supposed to be here. As soon as I turned to face the door, Almalexia took the lead and she boldly strode forth. She didn’t have my meta-knowledge and didn’t ask for any help. She was a goddess, kind of, after all. I supposed it made sense that she wasn’t exactly the patient sort. 

She walked to the door and opened it with ease. The area just behind the door was an old patrol station for the guards who had once been charged with protecting this place. Much of the furniture had been made of wood and had long since been looted, or destroyed. The bones of the dead protectors and invaders alike began to slowly shake and move to form the skeletal outlines of both medium and small humanoids. 

“You know… I never told you what happened to the old inhabitants of this cave. There’s a reason it’s abandoned now.” I uttered, as I willed my mage’s hand to point my wand in the direction of the nearest slowly forming skeleton. 

“Long ago… An orc tribe tried to take the cave, and a potent forge situated deep within the cave for themselves. They failed.” I revealed, even as the quickest skeletons turned to face my companions. 

They did not stare at me, their empty eye sockets were fully focused on Almalexia and the dragons behind her. They paid my ochre pet and I no mind at all, as they slowly lifted their arms and pulled their weapons in front of themselves. 

“The orcs failed, but not before they either wiped out the defenders of the cave and then died due to the wounds the alliance of gnomes, dwarves, and humans inflicted on them.” I said, as I chuckled. 

“Husband… Why are none of them looking at you?” Almalexia asked, her voice filled with curiosity. I managed to not chuckle as I answered her. 

“Because, wife, I am a god of death. They are drawn to the impossibly strong life-force and positive energy that you and the dragons are radiating, not my aura which reminds them of their own. You, as a pseudo-goddess of life, and the dragons as members of the mightiest race of mortal beings.” I explained, which caused Almalexia’s eyebrows to rise. 

“Oh shit. I forgot that where you are from dragons are immortal. That’s not the case in the worlds where these dragons were born.” I revealed, with a clever smile on my face. I sensed Almalexia’s confusion as she had to absorb numerous facts all at once, not the least of which was that the women beside me were dragons. 

I pointed my sword at the skeletons right as the fastest one of them let out a loud roar and charged at Almalexia, sword raised and cracks on its face fully visible as it stepped into the light produced by the goddess’s sword. My wand ceased to produce light and I stepped forward, my own sword rising to meet that of the skeleton who had charged at the Mother of Morrowind.