The forest floor under my feet was soft, and each of my footsteps into it covered my feet in the healthy soil that littered the ground. I enjoyed that. I felt it between my toes, and its warmth was a good way to combat the chill in the air. It was colder now than it had been when I came to life.
I was proceeding through the forest at a steady pace, joined and followed by my four servants and pets. They were behind me, at various distances. The only creature was very close to me was the pitfall spider who had joined my small menagerie. It was right behind me, following me leisurely since its eight legs granted it a truly impressive potential speed and endurance.
We were in a part of the forest where trees were loosely spread, but the ones that were here were impressive to behold. This was a deeper part of the forest, and all around me, I could sense the strong lifeforce of the trees. It felt good to be in a place like this, one so deeply and anciently natural. As I pondered that, my mind was filled with idle thoughts.
This will make a good holy site. So much life to use and rule over.
I can sense countless creatures. Is this shiver the result of the cold or is it... excitement at the ways my powers can affect this place?
I feel so many things here. My connections to both nature and the earth at my feet are giving me a constant rush of information. Even I could imagine only some of the things I could do here if I became an overgod of nature and plants...
As I closed in on the little goblin whose mind was the first mind I ever copied, I felt a rush of enthusiasm for our meeting. It's a shame that Amelie doesn't feel the same way. I thought, before coming to a stop.
I motioned for my followers to stop as well. They all obeyed me immediately, aside from Shadow who walked until it was right beside me, and then came to a stop. I allowed this because it was clear that the creature was doing so so that it could protect me, as if I needed protection, more effectively.
In the distance, I could see Amelie. I had been able to see her for several kilometers now. And she still couldn't see the tiny circus of beasts and critters I had brought with me, or myself. I had chosen this place to stop at for a reason.
I focused my vision on Amelie and began to call the young woman's thoughts to the forefront of my mind. She may not be excited to see me, but that doesn't mean I couldn't change her mind. Especially if I was tricky about it.
I focused on my copy of the woman's stream of consciousness from the start of her life until the day we met. I studied it and pushed all other thoughts away for a moment.
I'll make her think she's excited to see me. I'll master her thoughts to the extent that she believes me to be anything she needs me to be, to serve me. I thought, wanting to gain the goblin's servitude and foolishly believing I'd be able to do it easily.
And soon she'll want to serve me willingly. I told myself, as my mind poured over every thought that the goblin had once thought. As I reached out and began to touch her mind, I quietly opted to surprise her.
I motioned for my servants to go and hide, directing each of them with gestures and pointed fingers, shortly before I used made myself invisible and rendered my body incorporeal.
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Amelie was smoothly traversing through the forest. Each of her steps was calculated, careful, and relied on her near-perfect understanding of the forest.
Her small body made the forest a dangerous place for her to be in. The forest, though safe for creatures like bears and wolves, was no safe place for a goblin. She had learned that lesson over and over again but in the wake of the day where she met and was saved by Althos.
She had engraved what she learned that day in her heart because it served as a life-changing reminder that this forest birthed horrors beyond her ability to imagine. When she reflected on that she wasn't thinking about the unicorn. Whenever she sat down and thought about that day her mind immediately turned to focus on the deity who had brazenly invaded her mind. It was him, and not the dark unicorn that featured prominently in her nightmares.
The young goblin studied what laid before her as she continued her travels. Her mind was focused on that, and that alone, which caused her guard to be lowered when it came to detecting magical infiltration.
Althos began to attempt to deceive her when she was still two kilometers away from him.
I wonder how he's doing... He whispered into her mind, eerily reproducing her voice. For a second she was tempted to stop but she didn't, telling herself that the thought was an intrusive one, and not anything truly sinister. She even told herself that the thought was in reference to her former captain, but that only lasted for a second.
Even as she told herself that a mental image of Althos emblazoned itself in her consciousness.
She shook her head as if doing that would clear her mind or afford her some special protection against the god she was unknowingly being manipulated by.
That eerie deity... Could he be doing this? Is he here? She questioned, drawn to that conclusion by her fear but unknowingly arriving at the right one. Her heart began to hammer in her chest. The goblin ceased her otherwise relentless traveling and began to frantically search her surroundings,
In the distance, Althos was impressed by how quickly she caught on. The truth was that he came on incredibly strong and his approach was comically aggressive. After all, this was his first time trying to do this sort of thing without any magical assistance, and so even he wasn't sure of how to do it. That said, not all was lost.
Althos waited while Amelie fearfully searched her surroundings, and took that time to stealthy snatch up a copy of her memories, thoughts, knowledge, and secrets. And then he absorbed them, mastering them in less than a second because it had only been two months since the first and last time that they met.
What he learned surprised him. And made him smile.
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Oh wow... she is terrified of me. I realized, an instant after snatching up what new thoughts and memories Amelie had had and had made since our first meeting.
In her mind, I was synonymous with fear itself. I sighed as I realized that this meant that my earlier approach had been far too heavy-handed. And to add to the humble pie I was making for myself I made a mental note to make sure I knew everything my target knew if I opted to be deceptive like this in the future, and not move recklessly.
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And that wasn't the only thing I had learned within her mind. What little things she knew were incredibly interesting to me. The knowledge she had gained since she and her companions disbanded in the wake of the day we met was all tantalizing.
So many opportunities. I'm lucky to have found her again. Just to give me a taste of what's to come. I realized, as my face took on a cruel appearance for a second.
That said, I wasn't about to give up on my attempt to have some fun with the small goblin. Her panicked reaction was amusing to watch in its own way, and if I wanted it to be, her fear of me could just be temporary.
Manipulating emotions and memories is something I've done before and something I'll do again. I reminded myself, grinning openly and invisibly at the thought of what I could do to Amelie's mind if I felt like it.
I let her search around herself for a bit longer before once more whispering into her brain, in a pitch-perfect replication of her voice.
As I did this, I once more channeled my own divine energy and mixed it with the trickier of both the Trickery domain and the subdomain of Lies to pull off a better performance than before.
[If you two still want to have some fun, either watch or help me pull off this... prank.] I told the two. Over the course of the past few hours, my wounded pride and other hurt emotions had gradually been mollified.
I still needed to know who had voted for what with regards to keeping me in the dark, but at this point, a small part of me was beginning to warm towards the idea of reconciliation. Reconciliation and that I kept working towards mastering alternative styles of divine power usage so I can be freed from the fetters of an overly structured and restrictive type of divine power usage.
In the depths of my mind, I heard soft chuckles of amusement and approval, presumably from them, as I began to whisper more next intrusive, subversive thoughts.
I need to calm down. I whispered into the goblin's mind, pretending to be her still. I watched as she slowed down, but kept searching for me. I watched this and was amused by it.
I was amused because the goblin had rightfully figured out that I could be responsible for even a passing thought about myself in her mind, and since I knew every thought she had ever thought I could confirm that not once in her life had she ever thought I could be invisible or that I could see her from a distance. If I were a more petty god I could almost be insulted by how uncreative she thought my abilities were.
She's smart, but not that smart. I thought as I began to move to get her walking towards me again.
If I want her to come to me, I may need to be careful. And instead of swooping in and taking her for my own I could instead... get creative. Though it will take patience. Playing the long-game always does. I thought, referring to con-men terminology for a hustle that took months to pay-off.
The reward is more satisfying though. And in this case could result in me getting more goblins, especially civilized ones, to worship me. I told myself.
I decisively moved to take action. And the action that was I decisively moved to take was to quickly weigh the pros and cons of both immediate, brutal action, and for a scheme that may take a while to build up but result in me getting a better reward.
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What to do... should I be patient and not show myself? Or should I come in like a natural disaster and forcibly pull her to my side?
If I pull her to my side, I'll gain her worship but I may damage her. Just like earlier, I don't always remember my own strength...
On the other hand if I wait I can corrupt her. And in corrupting her I can use her to more easily gather her friends. Plus, if I don't break her by accidentally pulling too hard I can use her as a safe place to experiment with some of my... odder powers.
Maybe I should play it safe for now. And play the long-game. That way I can more reliably gain more goblins, instead of just getting one and possibly breaking her in the process. I don't know if I want more Rinor's or Urgoth's. I don't fully know how I can use the Rinor's and the Urgoth's I already have, and until I visit the Splendid Dreams cult I shouldn't be too frivolous in doing things that may break my worshipers.
Okay, that's what I'll do. For now I'll play it safe. But that doesn't mean I can't scheme. And that last thought brought a cruel smile to my face.
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And with that, an inkling of a dastardly scheme, one that would delight a number of domains and subdomains began to form within my mind. And it was a hell of a scheme too, even in this early stage of planning it.
The scheme involved some of the domains under my control that I had yet to really use, even though they quite excited me. And sadly, I knew that the scheme was one of those ones that would take a bit of time to come to fruition, which left me to focus on my initial reason for coming to the forest: to make it into my first holy site.
For the moment I pushed my scheme to the back of my mind. And what was pushed to the forefront of my mind was creating a new disguise for myself. I opted to make one unlike any I had ever made before.
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If I don't hurry I'll be late. Althos whispered to Amelie, this time drawing upon her most recent memories to inspire his intrusive whispers. His voice was once again a perfect forgery of hers.
She slowed to a stop seconds after that thought entered her mind. And then she sighed. Shit. I need to get back on track. She thought, and this thought was genuinely her own. She turned back in Althos' direction and shook off what fear remained in her heart.
The goblin began to walk again, faster than before. As she moved towards the god, he grinned in her direction, though she remained oblivious to his presence. He continued to quietly assail her with subtle thoughts. And this time he challenged himself. He opted not to be selfish, as a way to truly flavor the humble-pie he was eating.
I miss them...
I can't believe we've gone so long without even seeing each other. We haven't seen each other since we found Olizeo's remains.
After I stop by the council's chambers I should go and meet with Brutus.
Althos' approach this time wasn't a selfish one that centered around himself. Instead, he was planting tiny seeds in Amelie's mind, hoping to make her want to be done with her duties soon. Something Althos, even in his disguised form, would be able to help with.
Amelie had been rushing for about eight minutes when she heard Althos' newest form for the first time. It sounded different. And though she didn't know it yet his new form was incredibly different from the form he was in when they first met.
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When Amelie got close enough to me that a human would reasonably be able to hear her I dramatically turned in her direction and lifted a longsword that I had created using my chaotic illusionary powers, aiming it squarely at her chest.
"Halt! Who goes there?" I asked, projecting my incredibly different voice loudly enough that Amelie would hear me before she came face to face with me.
I wore a suit of metal armor, making it out of the same material that Drow and Mianthus' armor was made out of, but coloring it differently before I made it a real thing. My sword was designed to be sharper than obsidian but looked like it was made of copper since I knew that the fae who lived in this forest hated iron. In moments like this, I was grateful that I had copied Amelie's memories.
A small part of me wondered if I'd be able to create suits of armor and swords out of thin air using the powers of the artifice domain one day, or if this was something I'd only ever be able to do with my strange and still mystifying illusionary abilities.
I could see Amelie, but I knew that a normal human wouldn't be able to see her at the distance that separated the two of us so I feigned ignorance of where she was and pretending to scan the forest behind me. Amelie slowed down and kept her gaze straight ahead. She didn't stop, which was why she eventually got close enough to me that I could stop pretending I didn't see her anymore.
I stopped one act and began another by putting my sword down and feigning relief. I sighed, making myself sound exhausted, and then began to speak.
"Oh hey, you're a goblin!" I said, sounding rather delighted and speaking in a wholly foreign voice. I didn't have to act to sound delighted, I really was excited to be near her, just not for the reasons I was about to pretend I was. I was holding a sword and a shield, and playing the part of a young paladin.
Amelie studied me for a second. She didn't speak, but she did stop. She looked me up and down, studying my armor, my sword, my face, and then my figure. And then she began to speak.
"And you're a lady, possibly a lady of some court, who is in a very dangerous place by herself. And I don't mean the forest. Or... just the forest, anyway." She said, confused by my appearance. I looked at her and smiled.
"'By herself'? Oh, darling, I'm not by myself." I said, my voice soft as my companions began to come out of hiding.