"I am power incarnate. And not just due to my ability to control the elements around me." Althos said, intentionally lowering his voice so that it reverberated through anyone who'd witness the vision and dream he was creating, but so that it added to the impact of his upcoming display of arcane power.
"I can change the world through magic alone." He told his future audience, willing away the jade-colored egg of flame and heat that surrounded and shielded him from view with but a reflex of his will. The flames were snuffed out as suddenly as they had leaped out of him, and in an instant, he was again visible.
Ecomancy, here I come. Althos told himself, as he searched for a suitably dramatic ecomantic spell at his disposal. It took a matter of seconds for him to find a spell that was perfect for theatrics like this.
[Spell type: Ecomantic
Spell name: Create lava
Description: Provided there are no anti-magic shields or effects on the area in question, ground in front of the spell's caster is immediately transformed into a pool of lava. The affected area is a square that is around three meters long by three meters wide, and anything on top of the affected area immediately falls into the lava.
Spell cost: 1,000 magical energy per cast.]
Althos simply snapped his fingers and his potent magical energy surged out of him like a tsunami, flooded the ground in front of him, and ate it away in an instant. The shallowed ground was replaced with bubbling lava in the blink of an eye.
Althos leaned down and dipped his hand into the lava, feeling its warmth wash over him and lap at his hand like he was sticking a stray finger into a hot-spring. "And this level of heat is nothing for me friends." He said, all while smiling at nothing more than empty air.
"But we don't want to get too hot now do we? Let's bring down the temperature." He told his future audience, continuing to speak in his calm, deep voice, and using it to wash over anyone who'd listen to him.
He willed a dark blue vapor into being with little more than an idle thought, the same sickly blue vapor he was fond of using to wipe away doubts and urge fanaticism towards him.
And then he readied another ecomantic spell.
[Spell type: Ecomantic
Spell name: Conjure snowstorm
Description: Conjures a snowstorm that affects an area up to a single kilometer wide. The snowstorm is not very intense, but it does cool down the temperature of its effective radius enough for the snow to linger the rest of the day.
Spell cost: 3,000 magical energy per cast.]
He rose his hand into the sky and a moment later a white flash shot upward into the sky. The clear blue sky was suddenly blocked from view by thick, blanket-like clouds. Seconds after that the spontaneously generated clouds began to exude thin snowflakes.
Althos was still, his hand flared towards the sky. Next, let's do some necromancy. Once the snow-flakes are within view I'll practice the dark arts. He thought while he posed dramatically.
He stood still until the first snowflakes began to leisurely float close enough that even mortal eyes would be able to perceive them in the distance. It took perhaps a minute or so before they slowly came close enough that he felt safe ignoring them. He softly grinned and drew his hand back to his side.
Althos rose his other hand straight ahead of him, opening his hand and turning it so that it was opened upwards. Let's start with a dark sphere. He calmly told himself, preparing to cast one of the first spells from the school he had gained. Shortly before he cast it, he received a nice notification that educated him as to the ample usages of the spell.
[Spell type: Necromancy
Spell name: Dark sphere
Description: This simple but useful spell conjures a sphere of darkness equal in size to the amount of magical energy used when casting the spell. This sphere of darkness can be hurled at enemies or slammed into the ground or a wall and whatever it hits is shrouded in darkness.
Darkness can be used in illusion magic, necromancy, and in a few advanced schools of magic. The sphere of darkness does not actually inflict harm on anyone unlucky enough to be hit by it, but it can blind them. Even extraplanar creatures can be blinded by this if they get hit directly by it, which is a rarity as usually such creatures are resistant to those conditions.
The spell may not directly do harm but it is dangerous. One powerful way it can be used is that it can allow spellcasters to drain life from the very world, stealing nutrients, consuming roots, and absorbing water from the soil and even killing things that dwell underneath the world.
It can also be used to control life that dwells underground, in soil, and in tunnels. Merely command the darkness and be ready to pay the magical cost.
Spell cost: Varies
Note #1: Spells like "Dark Spear", a powerful nightmare spell, require darkness.
Note #2: When used against another person or living creature this spell is more effective if the sphere hits someone in the face with it. It engulfs whatever it hits, including people, in darkness.]
A sphere of pure, inky darkness formed in the palm of his open hand. It wasn't a particularly wide thing, nor was it impressively big. But it absorbed light greedily, hungrily even. Only Althos could see the sights that were obstructed by the orb.
Thank goodness I don't need light to see. He thought humorously, as his eyes effortlessly saw through the orb. The only view the orb obstructed was the view of the plain behind it.
Althos chuckled and bounced the sphere in his hand a few times. The orb was a thin thing, tiny and bouncy, and it responded well to his playful interactions with it. It sailed out of his hand, reaching a height of a few dozen centimeters over his hand before lazily beginning to float back down to just above his open palm.
Althos bounced the orb once more, tossing the thing into the air for the sixth time, and this time he didn't catch it. He retracted his hand, and let it fall to the ground close to his feet. It sunk into the ground, passing into it with no resistance, and corrupting the ground at Althos' feet.
The deity took a few steps back as the ball's darkness spread and drained the color from the earth itself.
"Shadows and darkness give me power my children." He told those lucky creatures who'd get to witness this vision in the near future. His voice was sinister and sly, designed to sneak into the hearts of those who watched his display of eldritch mysticism.
Feed me. Althos instructed what the darkness, his mind commanding the thing authoritatively. He felt the darkness begin to devour the magical plain at his feet, though at the time he instructed the orb to act he didn't know that was how his orders would be followed and watched with a shocked expression as the darkness eroded away the surface he stood on.
Energy surged into his mystical maw, causing him to feel stronger for a second even as he began to float because the darkness greedily devoured the magic that made the floor at his feet.
Huh... well that was unexpected. He thought, his eyes widening a bit at the open-air underneath his feet.
[Whoa! We weren't expecting that. Althos the surface here is hollow and made of solidified magic. Because of that the darkness eating away at it wasn't draining life, it was absorbing the magic that you stood on.] The system revealed, to an internally chuckling deity who floated carefreely above the new, tiny pit.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
[Oh. Well that can be fixed easily enough.] He responded, pouring his own energy back into the pit, and uttering a single command to the darkness. Cease.
The darkness came to an abrupt stop the instant he began to mentally utter his second instruction to it. Fade. He told it, and before his eyes, the darkness dissipated, fading into nothingness. That is some power. He realized, acknowledging the might of the odd spell.
I may need a chance to practice this magic soon. Gain true familiarity with it. He realized. But how? I can't really use this school of magic alone, can I? I need... victims. Test subjects. How can I get them? He realized, grimly even as he practiced his abilities theatrically.
But he quickly committed that question to the back of his mind rather than focusing on it. I've got more pressing tasks to attend too. He remembered.
"Evocation's next!" He shouted, and he instinctually opened his codex, one of his menus that contained all of the hundreds of spells at his disposal.
The mental menu was a potent place, one filled to the brim with hundreds of spells. At the moment that Althos was flipping through its countless spells.
The tome contained well over a thousand ways that mystical energy could be manipulated and countless descriptions of ways to use the limitless magical energy that made up the inner workings of the god so that he could bend reality.
His mind eventually settled on a pair of evocation spells that he thought were suitably dramatic. One was a potent lightning spell. And the other was a mighty spell that struck foes with acid.
This'll be fun. The experimenting god thought, as he took a hand, pointed it at the ground, and willed lightning to shot out of his fingers.
Five streams of blinding, electric, lightning flew out of his fingers and penetrated the ground underneath the floating god, the very same ground he had just recreated.
The ground stayed strong in the face of his arcane onslaught, only being scarred by the superheated rays that Althos cruelly unleashed, instead of falling apart or cracking in the face of superheated, electrical, eldritch energy.
"Well... that ground is surprisingly strong." The odd deity muttered under his breath after subjecting a small part of the plain to his experiments.
"It won't be for long though." He said, subtly casting the second spell he had settled on, but channeling it through his floating feet. The acid spawned just underneath Althos and was pulled by gravity onto the plain from the sky above it.
The acid dripped onto the earth and produced a deep hissing noise. It immediately began to eat away at the arcane surface. This caused the dark deity who was enjoying experimenting with more of his magic to grin darkly. He began to speak shortly thereafter, this time relying on little more than instincts to guide his speech.
"My powers are not just destructive. I am a god. And gods are beings of more than mere destruction. We are creatures of creation." He told his audience. He began his show of creation with a boom.
The deity threw himself at the ground underneath him, and right as he landed on it he spontaneously shapeshifted. His form was transformed from that of his human body into something considerably more lupine.
He took on a hybrid form, his clothing retracting into him and was speedily replaced by armorlike black fur that allowed him to take on a far more bestial appearance.
His face shifted and contorted uncomfortably as his noise and mouth fused and stretched into a fierce, canine snout. His teeth quickly sharpened and elongated, becoming daggerlike fangs and destructive weapons in their own right.
His chest broadened even as it was hidden from sight by the forest of fur that covered his body. His arms were enlarged by his transformation and his fingers and nails transformed into intimidating claws. Even his mind wasn't spared from a transformation.
These features... I am a living weapon. Will I ever get to use these claws, or my jaws on my enemies? I want them to bleed onto my claws, to plunge these limbs into their chests... Or even sink my teeth into their skin, injecting them with my spores, or my bestial instincts, and turn them into my whimpering servants. He thought, his mind swimming with images of savage violence.
What am I thinking!? I need to get a grip. For a second the explosive nature of his transformation overwhelmed even him, allowing it to not so subtly infuse him with bestial bloodlust. But he quickly recovered, quieting the lust for violence that crept into his mind and tried to creep into his heart.
His legs were not spared from the monstrosity of a transformation he was undergoing. They expanded, both stretching taller and wider, due to an increase in height he was going through and an explosion of muscle mass throughout his body.
A thick, clublike tail of knotted fur sprang from his behind and began to swing idly behind him. The next thing he knew, his vision was partially taken up by an explanatory textbox.
[New Divine Power Explanation: Predatory Pate.
This is one of the minor powers that come with the animal subdomain. It affords those who gain it the mind of a predator, particularly when they are in the form of an animalistic hunter. Their instincts become keener, their thoughts more brutal, and their bodies more suited for violence. This power activates for the first time whenever a deity takes on the form of a predator.]
Figures. Not a bad power though. Althos thought, idly dismissing the notification seconds after receiving it. That ought to help me fight it though. Knowing where it comes from helps make it easier to push down. This lust for brutality isn't mine. it's not a part of me, or at least it's not an organic part of me... it's just an eerie power. He thought, explaining away the savage influence of the power.
"I can create new forms for myself." He explained, grinning animalistically at an audience that would soon view this strange transformation. "And I can create more than just that." And then the wolf-god began to ferociously howl, even as his shadow expanded and his newest creations began to pull their way out of it.
The god's howl was incredibly loud, a powerful noise that roused the stranger things he could create, who were forcing their way out of the darkness his muscular shadow created within the plane. While he made that noise he was creating numerous divinely crafted souls, and beginning to wonder what he could shape them into.
I should create something... lupine. Just to keep this up, thematically. Do I know anything like that? He wondered. Fortunately, he was answered quickly enough by the system once again.
[Hey Althos, create hell-hounds. Hellhounds are devilish beasts that you can create directly from souls, rather than creating a soul, forcing it to become an imp, and then promoting that, you can just create a hellhound.]
[When you gained the first tier of influence over the animal subdomain they became a thing you could create so you can force yourself to gain knowledge about them, even before creating one. Plus they are massive lupines, so they fit with your current form thematically. To learn about them, just force yourself to gain a knowledge notification.] The system said, offering exactly what Althos was looking was for.
[Oh hey, that's perfect! Thank you!] Althos said, grateful to the mysterious voice that sometimes aided him in accomplishing his diverse goals. Now... give me that notification! He thought, focusing, demanding and willing it to happen, not half a minute after he thanked the system for its assistance.
[Alert! New Species Knowledge Gained: Hellhound.
Hellhounds are a type of Infernian predator, the realm's own perfected and muscular version of the wild wolves that haunt the forests, plains, and frozen tundras of mortal worlds. Hellhounds mix the appearances of particularly potent wolves with Infernian traits.
Hellhounds are sapient beings with a fierce devotion to hierarchies and order, who also happen to have the intimidating appearance of some of the most feared predators in many mortal worlds. They obey their alphas, often by serving as scouts, literal attack dogs, and rarely as prized pets.
Hellhounds have keen senses that allow them to track prey across planes, they can fly by gaiting across the sky, they can breathe fire, and they can temporarily paralyze those whose eyes they look into.
Hellhounds don't evolve, but they can be mutated into some interesting creatures, including the shapeshifting intermediately-tiered fiends known as barghests.]
Althos' mind immediately received an image of one of the fiery, imposing creatures. The brutal, hellish thing was, to the wolfish Althos anyway, quite striking and regal. It had a thick, lionlike mane of flames and unholy energy, as well as razor-sharp fangs that promised an efficient but messy death to anyone unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of them.
The canine warrior who was putting on a dramatic show for his followers and worshipers began the process of shaping a handful of the newly created souls, souls made for the express purpose of becoming lupine things of some sort into the hellish warriors and hunters he wanted to craft.
His mind speedily withdrew from his body so as to focus on the difficult process that was shaping a soul. And the god kept howling all the while.
The small part of his mind that was reservedly working on figuring out how to most effectively practice his twisted, necromantic abilities was beginning to suss out the most effective ways he could do that. At the moment he considered three possible routes.
The first route was to help the orcs. I could do some scouting, find a nearby village or even just a group of people.
And then I could inform the orcs of that village or those people. We'd attack, I'd gain some experience with collaborative battles, they'd get to know me.
I'd take a few, or even just one, of the survivors with me. And then I'd experiment on them, maybe even rope in aid from my Mi-Gos. That option would work, but was also cruel and random, unless the orcs had an enemy of some sort to rally against.
The second route was more purposeful but also disdainful in its own way. I could help Hagitha with the establishment of her cult. And together we could pick the cult's first sacrifice.
Once we know who we're going after... it's a simple matter to secure them. I've no doubt I could create something new and use it to secure whoever our target is. Afterwards I could experiment on them, until they are inches from death. And finally, I have one of her allies finish them off. Helping Hagitha was something Althos didn't want to do, but it would ultimately push her to work harder and therefore increase his strength and necromantic powers.
The last route was random and helped no one but Althos. I could go out on my own and wait until something attacks me. But with my influence over the animal domain that's a lot of creatures that won't go after me... which means it'd take long unless I just attacked something without provocation.
Or I could turn some of Paimon's minions into my toys. Which feels... needlessly violent without real cause and I don't think it's very real if I go to them for the sake of getting them to attack me. He realized, annoyed at how challenging this seemed to be.