Moments after the dragon was falsely resurrected, the beast submissively bowed before me. As it did, Sombra walked until she was beside me and quietly grabbed my hand. I allowed this, as I was more fascinated with the dragon than I was with opposing the tiny affections of my demonic servant.
Sombra and I walked up to the beast and she paid it little mind. She was far more fascinated with me than she could ever be with my new pet. I suppose that made sense, at the end of the day those who could tame dragons were often more interesting than the dragons they tamed. That said I had plans for this beast.
I reached out a single hand, the one that Sombra wasn't holding, and placed it on the dragon's face. The dragon's head was solid and frigid. I was touching ice-cold scales but it was still physical contact with a dragon, and I quietly activated one of my favorite powers that I hadn't yet had a chance to make use of: "Magical disease infection". I infected the dragon with "Demonic Infection", the potent and arcane disease that allowed for demonic possession.
The moment I infected the dragon with the disease the area that I was touching on his face momentarily glowed a sickly red color. It was pleasant to observe, and I enjoyed the pained sound that escaped Glacial's toothy maw. The red color that the dragon's face quietly glowed reminded me of dried blood but the glow faded almost instantly.
Sombra, though not particularly interested in Glacial, appeared to sense that the dragon was infected with one of her favorite diseases. She was quiet at first, but after a moment began to speak.
"Master... Do you plan for me to possess this dragon?" She asked, curiously. There was a note of annoyance in her voice, but I chuckled and ignored that. My response was one that I suspected she'd like.
"No. I plan to summon more of your kin, more praereptors, and have them share this body. For now." I explained, cryptically. The truth was that I was largely winging this, but I could definitely have fun with the idea in my head. That said, my words caused the dragon to begin to stir, but I was faster and calmed it by placing a soft, incubus kiss on its cheek. The kiss was impossibly quick and the feelings it stirred, even in someone who wasn't sexually attracted to me were impossible for a mortal to resist.
The kiss calmed the beast and it ceased its stirrings. I felt some of the dragon's strength and willpower flow out of the beast and into me, and I grinned at the thing. I rarely made use of this power, but my succubi and incubi powers were potent and they were ones I actually quite liked. I just only rarely sated the lusts I felt, mostly because there weren't many creatures I was attracted too.
"I shall use Glacial, this creature, to begin a demonic and draconic cult in the frozen wastes of the north." I told Sombra, even as I lifted my hand off of the beast's face and began to conjure one of the few types of demons I had dominion over to me: praereptor demons. Sombra shivered and to this she did pay attention, sensing the potent call of my powers over shadows calling more of her kind to me.
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Towards the beginning of my life, I had acquired powers over shadows and creatures composed of shadows. I didn't make use of this power particularly often, but one especially useful type of creature I had gained influence over as a result of this was the scout-type demon known as the praereptor. Sombra herself was in essence something new, perhaps an unofficial evolution of such demons, but originally she had been a bodiless praereptor.
Praereptor demons were masters at possession, and the creatures were supremely useful for that. That was why they were often utilized as scouts by greater demons, and in the mythic past, by the long-extinct demon-lords. That said, I could do a lot more with them than just use them as scouts.
As a god who could control shadows and creatures made of shadows, I could give the bodiless praereptors actual bodies and otherwise manipulate them. It was like I was a skilled artist and the shadowy souls and essences of praereptors were clay in my hands. This was how I had given Sombra a real body and not just the strange, shadowy form she once possessed.
Over the course of my life I hadn't really made contact with many praereptors, but I had made contact with enough that word was beginning to spread of me and my supreme powers over the race even in the Heart of Darkness. I had a fair number of praereptor worshipers in the darkened and chaotic realm, as most of the envious demons would do anything to acquire a body of their own and not have to live parasitically off of others.
My powers over conjuration allowed the "call" I was making for praereptor demons to come to me to extend across the universe, reaching even into other dimensions like the Heart of Darkness. I was still aside from my lips curling in a cruel sneer as I felt countless demons begin to eagerly answer the call.
In answering the call, the demons were instantly transported to my hand, and Sombra gasped in shock as the shadowy creatures began to materialize insofar as their immaterial forms could materialize. Physically this resembled my hand suddenly darkening as the eager and shadowy demons began to latch onto me. I was enjoying this for a moment when I received a notification that made me chuckle.
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Alert: Demons Making Mistakes
Though you possess powers over corruption, darkness, chaos, and evil, you don't yet possess enough power over darkness and you possess no power over envy, so you don't have total control over praereptors. Some of the eager demons were envious enough and ambitious enough to try and possess you.
Obviously this hasn't, and wouldn't ever, work. You are incapable of being possessed and their attempts to possess you have actually had a... peculiar effect on them. Gods possess a number of formidable defenses against possession. These defenses are actually based on the things that a god has influence over and your defenses are particularly nasty.
The praereptor demons who tried to possess you are now zealous, utterly insane worshippers of yours. The eldritch and faith domains utterly warped their minds, and have left them forever alerted as a result of that.
Five demons tried to possess you. Their names are Asmodeus, Abraxas, Forcas, Kore, and Daeva. These demons are now utterly unlike their kin. They seek little more than to serve you and to spread your worship far and wide.
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I chuckled as I read through the notification, and I quietly selected one of the aforementioned demons, Asmodeus, and called the shadowy creature to materialize in my hand. The strange being did as I commanded, and a single line of darkness went from residing in my bicep to oozing its way across my arm. It stopped when it reached the center of my hand, and pooled into a single orb of darkness. I smiled at the obedient demon and began to act.
I quietly expelled the thing from my body and the darkened orb detached itself from me like a mosquito that had just finished sucking my blood. I grabbed the orb and began to seep my disease-based powers into it. I quietly infected the demon with "Possession infection", and I felt it moan in delight as its powers greatly increased.
"This little one is having fun." I muttered as I studied the demon. The orb of darkness was beginning to convulse in my hand and I chuckled. I connected our minds in the same way that I connected Sombra's mind and mine, and then I tossed the orb at the dragon.
The orb made contact with the dragon's face and then, like the blood oozes I had created earlier began to spread across Glacial's face. Unlike the oozes though, the demon was looking for a way into the dragon, and when it found one, in the form of the dragon's nostrils, it immediately and eagerly oozed into them.
It was at this point that I had a sinister idea that I well and truly liked. I targeted Asmodeus and granted the slavish demon the cleric class. Then I began to speak to Glacial.
"Glacial, you are now possessed by a demonic worshiper of mine. If you seek my approval, you and this demon will work together to create a cult of half-demon dragons that spread across the glacial wastes and conquer it." I informed the dragon, before beginning to speak to Asmodeus.
"Hello Asmodeus. Normally I suppose I would be annoyed by your actions, but you've given me a new toy to play with... You. I know you seek my approval. If you seek it, make use of the cleric class I gave you and create a successful cult. Cooperate with Glacial and create an army of draconic worshipers of mine." I told the demon, before hearing an annoyed sound escape from within Glacial. The sound of an annoyed demon.
"I may bring you back to me, if you help create an army of demonic ice-dragons who worship me. Because that would prove your worth. That said, I have given you a powerful tool to help with that... Glacial himself. You are starting off inside of a dragon who is well-known and well-respected in the frozen wastes. If both of you are clever then you can find ways to cooperate. You both have the same goal." I reminded the demon and the dragon it was possessing.
I quietly and forcibly expelled three of the remaining four unique praereptors and launched them at the dragon as well. I did this silently, but my actions were visible and visually striking. The dragon itself didn't have time to react, not that it could have dodged the strikes since I was close to it as I was. I kept one of them, Daeva, on my person for now. I then began to speak once more, even as I connected all of the ambitious demons together.
"Demons... Dragon... Your goals are the same. That said, I have a plan for the other demons. Only Asmodeus is to stay inside of Glacial, long-term. The rest of you are to possess other dragons throughout the frozen wastes Glacial calls home. And you are to go to distant corners of the icy region and find more dragons to infect and incorporate into our plot. Take over the dragons that Glacial mates with, and twist their minds to our dark purpose. And then use them to breed demonic dragons." I commanded the demons, taking advantage of knowledge given to me by Sombra, the domains of knowledge, biology, life, and evil.
"Inhabit Glacial, for now, the dragon is my worshiper and this is my will, and use him to spread our dark influence far and wide. It is like we are a disease, and he is our patient zero. Let this moment mark the coming of a new and evil pandemic." I told the demons. This provoked peals of evil laughter, the sounds varied and distinct yet all coming from deep within Glacial himself.
"In time I shall reveal secrets to you. Not the least of which is how to conjure other demons, though a few of you already know how to do that. I shall use you to create an invading force capable of bringing entire worlds to their knees. Do not fail me, demons." I commanded, speaking like a true and wicked overlord for one of the first times in my life. I allowed silence to fill the air for a moment, before I opened up a portal in front of Glacial. It led back to where the dragon was from. I then spoke directly to the dragon once more.
"Glacial... I am glad you are my worshipper. Obey me and be blessed. Aid Asmodeus and you too shall be uplifted. Enact my will and you shall see the ascension of ice dragons everywhere. Serve me and I shall grant you ever greater power and influence than you ever dared to dream you'd possess. Serve me and become a general in and father of this great army of ice dragons we shall build together." I told the dragon.
The thought of an army of ice dragons who zealously worshiped me was a delightful one. I quite liked the idea of having a force of living beings with that level of power who in a very literal sense owed even their very lives to me. With enough numbers, such a force could easily conquer entire planets, and I had the ability to instantly transport even the largest armies across galaxies if I wanted.
"Go... Go through the portal and spread my demons. Go through the portal and forget the life you once had. Build a new one." I told the dragon, a wicked smile on my face as I spoke. The dragon didn't know it, but I had powers over life and I could ensure that the next three female ice dragons he mated with became pregnant, as well as became possessed by my shadowy worshipers. In hours one of the demonic worshipers of mine would spread from Glacial to the first of the ice dragons Glacial mated with, like a truly malevolent sexually transmitted disease.
Glacial proudly sauntered through the portal, now a wicked Althonian and an altogether different person. When the dragon stepped through the portal, I closed it behind him and smiled. The final creatures in the cavern were Daeva, Sombra, the multitude of normal praereptor demons within me who hadn't tried to possess me, and myself.
"Now... What to do next?" I asked aloud, my voice heard by the many people besides and within me.
"I suppose we should start by visiting the giants, shouldn't we?" I asked, asking a rhetorical question. I opened up a portal leading us back to the icy village and quietly stepped through it.
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The next few hours would be spent conversing with the people of the frost giant village. I appeared to them in my physical form this time and they would quickly and quietly thank me for saving them and their home from a rather watery fate and probably a liquid grave. I didn't tell them about the ice dragon I had just saved them from.
I rewarded the frost giant who spoke earlier by infecting her with "Demonic Infection" and allowing another praereptor demon, a normal one this time that I had granted the cleric class, to possess her. Unlike many other giants, this particular member of her tribe had a good alignment, and I had lied and told her that the creature that possessed her was an angel of faith of mine and not a demon.
I granted some of the men in the village the templar class, and I commanded that they extract ice from the glacier and use it to build a temple to me. Building this monument to me, and to worship me as the frost giant priestess commanded were the prices I demanded for my earlier actions of stepping in and saving their home. They readily agreed to those terms and I would watch as the first of them set about mining ice from the glacier to make into a wonderful temple dedicated to my glory.
The giants were a simple civilization, but their faith was real. My reappearance was enough for many of them to convert to my worship. And thanks to them I felt stronger than ever, and through my actions gained access to the initial quests for a new domain and a new subdomain.
It was only after this that I would return to my tower. This would be the first time I returned to my tower since I left it prior to Ava's death. When I opened up the portal to my strange home, I began to ponder and reflect on the events of the past day and a half.
However as I opened the portal, I saw an unexpected face waiting for me on the other side. Staring back at me from my portal was the face of my enemy, the vestige of the dwarven creator god, Morehammer.
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Alert: New Quests Available
Domain of emotions: To gain access to the first tier of influence over the domain of emotions inspire in a follower of yours a significant emotion and have that follower of yours devote their life to that emotion, be it anger, fear, love, sorrow, or any other significant emotion. Keep in mind that this is one of the domains where you pick what sort of powers you gain when you first gain access to a tier of influence over the domain.
Subdomain of art: Have five followers of yours create artistic depictions of you. These can be paintings, statues, sculptures, or even magical displays of you.