The area that Sombra and I entered into when I passed through the door leading into the mansion was a massive foyer over a dozen meters tall and over two dozen meters long. At the center of the foyer stood a statue of a creature unlike any I had ever seen.
The statue was of a person. I could tell, largely because of the humanoid frame of the statue. It possessed two arms, two legs, a human-like head, and a basic stomach. The rest of it was... odd.
The statue's head had long, ruby-colored horns. There was a long tail that ended in a deadly looking stinger protruding from the creature's back. It had a set of draconic wings that were exquisitely crafted and matched the color of the thing's horns. I studied it for a moment until Sombra spoke.
"Morthos." It said, breathlessly. There was a touch of awe in its voice, an emotion I hadn't really heard it articulate until now.
"Althos, that statue is a depiction of the demon-lord known as the 'Silver-tongued destroyer.'. He brought doom to a thousand worlds just by speaking. Morthos." The demon told me, sounding genuinely inspired by the creature. I chuckled at the amazement audible in the demon's voice. And then I paused to consider the creature's reputation.
"He 'brought doom to a thousand worlds'?" I asked myself, curious about that. It was a fierce reputation to be sure, but I thought it was odd because he was also apparently the creature who ordered the city of Aronms to be built in the first place.
[The title is accurate. Morthos enjoyed creating destructive societies, especially ones that were destined not only to destroy their neighbors but also themselves. Dark elves were among his favored servants for this very reason. Dark elves in thousands of worlds, including ones that they weren't able to destroy before the end of the mythic age, served and worshipped him.] The system explained.
"I see..." I replied, wondering how many thousands, if not millions of servants he must have had throughout this universe. I didn't doubt that the number was immense if he somehow brought doom to over a thousand worlds. And that wasn't the only thing I was curious about either.
"What happened to the worlds that he 'brought doom to'?" I asked the system, curious to hear what fate befell the worlds he was apparently responsible for ruining.
[Well... If you're really curious I'll go ahead and tell you that one of the worlds he ruined is located in the solar system, the chain of planets that orbit a sun, that you inhabit. I won't tell you what's happened to it since then though. You'll have to investigate that yourself.] The system told me, giving me more of a reason to uncover the secrets behind interstellar travel. I grinned internally and finished my visual exploration of the statue in front of me.
This odd foyer wasn't uninhabited. Dark elves of all sorts wandered it, and before I went anywhere else I laid my eyes on them.
The dark elves here were elegant individuals. No matter their gender they were tall individuals, standing in the range of two and a half meters at the lowest to over four meters tall at the tallest. The difference between their shortest and their tallest members was an impressive sight.
The clothing that adorned their bodies were skin-tight things that were covered in three different motifs that I noticed. One of the motifs were animal imagery.
Their helmets were clad in the imagery of stylized bats, worms, and a few other animals like badgers and armadillos. I wasn't sure how I knew the names of the animal types, but at this point, I was ready to chalk it up the domains and their influence on me.
Another motif was that of the dark elves themselves. Some of the breastplates that guarded the dark elves' thin bodies were covered in artistically etched envisionings of dark elves. It would have been difficult for someone else to notice as the armor was dark and in the dark. I couldn't imagine another surface dweller's eyes easily peering through the darkness so to see what I had noticed.
The final motif was an odd one. There was a consistent theme of tiny, monstrous creatures covering the armor that protected the extremities of the dark elves. They wore arm guards and greaves that were covered in depictions of creatures that were a cross between humanoids and monsters. I looked at them intently for several seconds, having never seen anything like them.
"Althos you're looking at depictions of corporeal demons. Corporeal demons are monstrous creatures with equally monstrous powers. And they form the majority of demons. Sombra and other incorporeal demons are a minority." The domain of knowledge revealed, educating me gently.
After hearing that I nodded, appreciating the information, and finally readying myself to mentally scan the inhabitants of the mansion. I had come here to at least lay eyes on the historians who apparently had some influence over the people of Aronms, and it was time for me to focus on them.
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I closed my eyes and allowed my not-so-mini-map to fill my vision. The thing instantly consumed what I could see, and inside of the building it was powerful enough that I could see who all was inside along with me. I quickly applied filters to the map so that I could focus on a specific group: the aforementioned historians.
Countless dark elven outlines lost their color, and after a second only two in the building retained their vibrancy. They were blue, the color that the system had long ago meant neutrality on both the mini and not-so-mini maps. They were located above me, almost directly on top of me in this strange mansion.
Out of curiosity I quickly unapplied the filters and allowed my eyes to explore both the interior of the mansion and the rest of the city. There were a handful of red outlines, indicating a group that was just hostile towards me, and a small number of green outlines.
I tapped on one of the red outlines, just out of curiosity to gain a bit of insight into who my enemies were. I heard the familiar voice of the automated system begin to speak into my mind, ready to educate me as to the status of my foes.
"The selected enemy is Duliha Ardror. The Ardor family is a family of well-known slavers in the city. As things stand they oppose anyone who opposes slavery, and thus they are your enemies. Duliha herself is a powerful berserker, a potent warrior whose rage fuels her. She's a minor daughter of the family, who serves Lady Dilva, a noble in a noble house." The voice explained, letting me that because of my desires I had at least one enemy household. I swiftly turned my attention elsewhere.
The green outlines marked people in need of assistance, who had a quest I could opt to fulfill if I felt inclined to do so. I tapped on one of them and waited for the brief second it took for the system's automated voice to once again fill my ears.
"The selected quest-giving figure is named Simer Darkheart. Simer is a beastmaster, but he has a problem: the arena results in the deaths of too many evolved creatures. Evolved creatures are a rarity, as only gods and a handful of other higher-beings can bless creatures to the point that they evolve. Simer needs assistance in acquiring more evolved creatures." The system announced.
This intrigued me. It felt like an easy enough quest, and it came with the implication that through it I'd gain a greater understanding of how helping creatures evolve worked. I made a mental note to check in with Simer before I left. I wanted to fulfill that quest.
I tapped on another green outline on the map that encompassed my vision. This one was located near the edge of the city, a healthy distance away from me. The system's voice filled my ears once more.
"The selected quest-giving figure is named Dumme Runeshatter. Dumme's career revolves around the expansion of the city. A few weeks ago a demon attack left his last dire badger died in a demon attack. Dumme now has two problems: he needs help figuring out who launched the attack, and he needs a new stable of animals that can dig through stone to create new tunnels." My automated companion revealed, informing me as to another quest.
This was another intriguing quest, and as I readied myself to go to where the historians were located I figured I'd be able to drop by Dumme's current location before I left Aronms today. With that, I refocused on my objective: at least seeing the historians at work. Sombra and I went directly overhead, phasing into the ceiling that separated us from other floors with ease.
We had to pass through two floors onyx colored things made from sinisterly shadowy stone, both decorated with statues of Morthos and other demonic artwork and populated by dark elves flitting to and fro before we made it to where the historians were located. And as it turned out, we found ourselves in the midst of a conspiratorial meeting.
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The chamber two floors higher than the entrance that we found ourselves in wasn't a particularly lavish one. I had expected it to be much gaudier than it was. It was a decently sized chamber, the centerpiece of which was a large table crafted from some white substance that provided the chamber with a sort of natural, ambient lighting that didn't rely on something that could be put out like a torch.
The table was rounded by nine chairs, thick, egg-shaped things that protected anyone in them from literal backstabs, at the cost of preventing them from seeing who approached them from behind without leaving their safe outer shells. Of the nine seats, only two were inhabited at this time.
One of the figures seated in an egg-shaped seat was a male dark elf. I took a chance to study him. He stood shorter than most dark elves, standing at about two meters tall. He was muscular though, and his face was covered in long-since healed scars.
The well-built dark elf had armor covered in dark elves on his body. He wore a heavier looking suit than the other elves did as well. His armor actually looked like armor and not like clothing. He had entirely white orbs for eyes, and they seemed to almost radiate power.
I studied him to see if he radiated a magical aura, but after a few seconds, I concluded that he didn't. It was a bit surprising to see that he failed to radiate any particular color, and almost a bit disappointing. But what it suggested wasn't something I missed: this man's power was probably martial, which was impressive in and of itself.
The other seated individual was a female dark elf. She wore skin-tight clothing as the other elves did. I had an intuitive sense that the clothing she wore would protect her, but upon close inspection of her and her armor, I realized that it was because the armor she wore radiated some sort of magic. It was difficult to tell what sort of magic the armor radiated though because the woman herself radiated a thick miasma of yellow-tinted magic.
She was tall, and even sitting down she was close to two meters high suggesting her height was close to four meters when she stood up. Her hair was a mixture of gold and white, and her eyes were golden orbs, something which suggested she wasn't any ordinary dark elf.
"Listen I'm telling you we may need to ready... a plan to deal with the D'Rorce family. They are a thorn in my side." She said, her voice starting off fairly high but dropping a good deal when she said the words 'thorn in my side', so much so that the final word was little more than a growl.
Anger flashed in her golden eyes. She studied her companion, who seemed to be paying her little mind. This evidently angered the dark elf, because her eyes narrowed and a burst of yellow energy shot out of her and was clearly aimed at her companion.
Thanks to my high-speed reflexes I noticed the energy escape her body and had time to react to it before it got anywhere close to her target. For a moment I wished I had the ability to identify magic at a glance so that I could determine what she had just done. And that was when I got a handy message from the system itself.
[Would you like to make that a new power? Because we can design it... All you've got to do is ask us too.] The system reminded me, harkening back to the one time I had had a new power designed for me, my potent "Stone prison" power.
"Oh absolutely. Can you let me identify spells at a glance?" I asked, and I felt the system do its own version of a nod. That brought a grin to my face. I focused to the extent that time itself almost seemed to stand still as I waited for the next message indicating that I had received a new power.
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The yellow energy hung almost motionlessly in the air. I stared at it, curious as to what the elf was planning. That said, I could do a lot here and I wouldn't act until I had more information, so I opted to take this chance to appraise the golden-eyed dark elf. Which was when I learned that she was more than met the eye.
[Name: Lilith Silverstone (Level 15 enchantress)
Species: Half-Dark-Elf, Half-Succubus
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Personal virtue: Diligence
Personal vice: Wrath
Magic sensing: Lilith Silverstone is an extremely skilled enchantress. Lilith takes the natural powers possessed by succubi, such as charming people, invisibility, and seduction, and mixes them with the dreadful powers over darkness possessed by dark elves.
Faith sense: Lilith possesses no current significant loyalties in one direction or another. She has a lover, has a family, and is a leader in her community, but her desire for power, her impatience, and the culture she lives in render her devoid of any meaningful ties in any direction.
Authority detection: She possesses significant authority and influence over the city of Aronms. Lilith's influence is felt all over the city and there isn't anyone in it who doesn't at least recognize her name.
Soul sense: Lilith has the soul of a witch. She craves power and is happy to work with those who can provide it to her.]
Her entry intrigued me. And it was precisely at that moment that I received an alert from the system.
[Alert: You can now use two new magic domain abilities:
Interruption: This power allows you to disrupt magic by lashing out at the mind of the caster. It is a synergistic ability that ties together the mind domain and the magic domain. Usage of this power automatically grants you the magic you've interrupted.
Identification: This power is a straight upgrade to the 'Detect magic' power you possess curtsey of the magic domain. It allows you to identify spells even if they're midair, at a glance. You can also claim spells you've identified. It works automatically.]
I grinned as I read the entry before me, and immediately turned my attention to the spell. I laid my eyes on the vague energy and was delighted to see it begin to be identified. After a few seconds, a single word appeared underneath the spell. "Dominate".
At that moment I received a welcome notification. My new power had just activated!
[Alert: Thanks to the power of your 'Identification' ability you can identify the magic before you.
You have laid your eyes on a potent enchantment spell named 'Dominate'. This spell forces targets hit by it to try and resist its potent effects. Failure to resist causes someone to become enthralled by the spellcaster.
You can now use 'Dominate'. This spell must be focused on to keep working but gods can focus on many things at once.
Furthermore: You can tell that a yellow aura depicts someone with significant enchantment powers and ambient yellow energy is a sign of powerful, long-lasting enchantment magic.]
I chuckled and tilted my head in Lilith's direction. I took a moment to take aim at her, all while keeping my mind in a hyper-focused state. When I felt certain that my power would affect her, I envisioned her spell falling apart and then willed my new "Interruption" ability to lash out at her.
I watched as Lilith suddenly hissed, possibly in pain. Her companion turned to her, having willingly ignored her words but still being present enough to notice that she was suddenly distressed.
Her magic, which had begun sailing through the air, dissipated but not before suddenly illuminating the room in a sudden flash of yellow energy. And with this, I stopped focusing so intently. That caused my perception of time to return to normal, and therefore return everything to a normal speed.
Lilith, recovering from the potent shock caused by the power of the "Interruption" ability suddenly turned in my direction. She wasn't quite looking at me but she somehow sensed my proximity. I chuckled and made the conscious choice to make the sound distinctly audible. Her eyes widened as she realized that whatever suspicions she had were correct.
"Who goes there?" She asked, her voice filled with anger at being watched by an unknown force and at her attempt to ensnare a new servant being interrupted and thwarted. I was silent for a second and considered how to proceed from here.
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"What should I do?" I asked myself. The room was now dead silent and even the male dark-elf I had saved turned to look in my direction. He had a curious look on his face, and Lilith had a rage-filled one on hers.
"I suppose I ought to introduce myself..." I mused, chuckling at the fact that I had opted to out myself so as to prevent someone's will from being snatched away. I turned to look at the muscular dark elf and studied him for a second.
I visually memorized every centimeter of his body. And then I crafted myself a dark-elven form based on his body but considerably taller. Once the new form was complete I transformed into it and allowed myself to corporealize. This whole process took about half a minute and I carried it out in silence.
The only differences between the armored dark elf and myself were that his eyes were sheer white orbs and mine weren't and that he was clad in armor and I only gave myself light-crafted pants so as to hide my genitalia. I came into being standing and very literally looking down on the seated dark elves. Both of them were shocked to see me, and in their eyes, there were flashes of recognition as they realized they were looking at a copy of the male in the room. I grinned at the pair.
"First of all, allow me to apologize for borrowing your form." I said, almost immediately beginning to speak to the male in the room. This seemed to shook him more than anything else, and he merely slumped back in his chair. I grinned at him and continued to speak.
"If you're annoyed or upset at me there are two things you should know: I just saved you from an attempt, by her," And with that remark, I turned to look at Lilith for a second. "To dominate you. Magically." I explained, causing the male dark elf to look over at and glare, both angrily and in shock, at Lilith for a moment before turning back to me.
"The other thing you should know," I said as the dark elf turned to look back at me. "Is that I don't have a 'true form'. I tend to use a human form, but as a god, I don't possess a single, definitive form. So my choice to mimic you wasn't anything personal." I announced. My declaration that I was a god wasn't missed by Lilith.
I had attention focused on the male, but when I finished speaking to him I turned to address Lilith. "And as for you..." I said, a confident smirk on my face.
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"My name is Althos. I am a god. And I have come here seeking to make contact with the dark elves, and add this city to my empire." I told her, inferring from her way of talking that she saw herself as a leader. I intended to make use of what I felt was her arrogance and to appeal to it.
Lilith looked at me and studied me for a second. She was clearly unnerved by the fact that I was basically a taller version of her colleague. When she did speak her voice was tinged with skepticism.
"Your 'empire'?" She asked, clearly skeptical that I was telling the truth about having an empire. I grinned at her and nodded.
"I'm a young god, but I do have forces of my own. Thousands of troops ready to die for me." I told her, mixing truth and fiction together. I did in fact have my own forces, and there were, in fact, thousands of them, but saying they were ready to die for me was a bit of fiction on my part.
"What sort of forces do you command, 'Althos'?" She asked me, inquisitively and mockingly looking at me. There was disbelief and even scorn in her gaze. I laughed, understanding her skepticism.
"I have an army of millions of ants under my control. And I possess strong necromantic power and have risen thousands of undead in my name." I told her, speaking honestly this time. She smiled, mockingly, at me.
"Your armies are ants and zombies? For a god, you don't have impressive servants." She told me, speaking arrogantly. I shrugged my shoulders at her, indifferent to her skepticism.
"I know my power. My forces are not to be underestimated." I replied, somewhat understanding her point. I didn't bother to correct her idea that my forces were zombies and regular ants. I was quiet for a second and envisioned my current list of necromancy subdomain powers.
[Necromancy subdomain passive powers:
Lesser undead mastery:
As a god of the undead, you become the undisputed master of the lowest caste of undead beings. Lowly legions of ghouls, ghosts, skeletons, zombies, wraiths, shadows, vampires, wrights, and mummies, as well as lesser entities like hungry hands and undead plants, begin to worship you and obey you once they become aware of you.
This power grants you divine authority over all lesser undead, including those that were intelligently created by necromancers or those who transformed themselves into the undead which is often the case with vampires. It subsumes their wills and makes them yours.
This power is also felt by undead strong enough to resist your ability to subsume the wills of lesser undead. It makes you more persuasive to them and increases the likelihood that they'll obey or listen to you willingly even if they won't worship you.
This power adds zombies, hungry hands, and shadows under your control to your swarm but gives you total control over them. When you issue commands to them, that doesn't cost you your usages of that power the way that it would when you use it on the insects under your control.
Reanimating plague:
This synergistic power ties together the disease domain and the subdomain of necromancy. It allows for those who die due to a disease you infected them to be reanimated spontaneously as undead under your control. These undead serve as carriers of the disease and infect anyone they attack with the disease that killed them.
Unlife energy mastery:
This power grants you utter control over the deadly energy that enables the undead to be undead. You can manipulate this energy as surely as you can manipulate the earth, and you can use it to a wide number of ends.
You can infuse your blows with this energy, causing them to sap a living creature's lifeforce, you can weave this energy into items to create artifacts that cripple those bold enough to try and use them without your permission, and you can make living creatures immune to it, as well as countless other things that are up to you and rely on your creativity.
Miasmic aura:
The auric power granted to you by the first tier of influence over the subdomain of necromancy is one that strengthens undead allies and weakens living foes. This aura is unusual in that it also activates if you are near an undead creature strong enough to resist the compulsion to worship and obey you, further pressuring their wills to be vigilant around you. The aura is one of unlife energy.
Sinister shadow:
This power creates a persistent bodyguard in the form of a shadowy wraith who lives in your shadow. It springs to life whenever you are attacked, and attempts to kill and reanimate your attacker. If it successfully kills its targets then the targeted creature will reanimate as a ghoul or vampire under your control.
Create Undead:
You can now create the undead as a simple matter of flexing your will. If you wish to transform a corpse into an undead entity all it takes is for you to touch the thing with unlife energy and for you to will it to reanimate, allowing you to create undead in areas with anti-magic defenses.
When you create the undead in this manner you'll be asked what sorts of undead you wish to create just like if you used the 'Create Undead' spell. You can create any of the undead you can command via "Lesser undead mastery". This power allows you to swiftly create undead armies.
Fleshcrafter:
So long as a creature hasn't been dead for over five centuries you can restore its flesh and bone, so long as you have a single fragment of bone or flesh to use. This greatly enhances the number of corpses you can use to create armies and grants you the ability to salvage destroyed undead.
Unlife energy infusion:
The same energy that infuses undead creatures now infuses you. As a deity, you can possess both life-energy and unlife energy. You can also possess infinite amounts of both.
Mindtether:
You can tie together the minds of the undead. If you do this with a horde of lesser undead, like zombies, you can grant them elevated intelligence. If you do it with greater undead you can ensure greater cooperation between them.
Swarm Loyalty:
Members of your swarm are automatically reanimated as undead under your control when they die. This power means that enemies effectively have to kill them twice, once when they're alive and then again when they reanimate. It takes them just seconds to reanimate.
Additionally, creatures killed by undead members of your swarm rise up as undead creatures themselves.
Class-Granting:
You can give someone the necromancer class. When they receive it from you they receive a notification alerting them to the fact that you're the cause of them gaining the class. The notification's exact text can be modified allowing you to create another persona if you wish too or otherwise hide that you're the cause of the target gaining a new class.
Spell-Granting:
You can grant someone various medium-ranked necromantic spells. These spells include but aren't limited too 'Create undead'.
Undead they create using these spells serve and worship you, but they are automatically given instructions to obey the caster of the spell, which they follow unless you command them otherwise. Your commands are the commands they actually follow, including if you command them to not follow the orders of the spellcaster who created them.
When spells like 'Create undead' are granted by you to other creatures and those creatures use the spells they are just aiming a spell that is, for intents and purposes, cast by you. This power can be used to create some amusing and potentially devastating schemes.
Undamaged material:
Non-deific necromancers can only reanimate the same body so many times. This limitation doesn't apply to you. Provided the corpse isn't damaged you can bestow sparks of unlife onto the same corpse as many times as you wish, allowing you to punish failure and reward loyalty in rather creative ways.
Send sensation:
This power allows you to transmit sensations to the undead who worship you. If you want to transmit anger, jealously, lust, happiness, peace, or any other emotion, you can with but a thought. You can also cause undead beings to experience sensations like the feeling of fullness after eating a full meal or cause them to experience lifelike sensations of discomfort or frustration.
Past necromantic deities used this to send their servants feelings as omens or as a reward. And plenty of gods used this as a punishment as well, punishing undead who failed them by making them uncomfortable in various, often creative, ways.
Necromancy subdomain active powers:
Remotely create undead:
This is a rare active power that'll become a passive one once you reach a higher tier of influence over its domain or subdomain. With this, you can reanimate a corpse you're aware of two hundred times per half-day.
Miasmic burst:
This once a day active power is a direct and unholy offensive power. It creates an explosion of unlife energy wherever you aim it that decimates any living thing nearby. Anything caught in the attack that survives gains a permanent condition that only you can lift, which guarantees that they'll reanimate as undead creatures in your service once they die, whenever that might be.]
Recalling my powers made me feel powerful. And it reaffirmed just how mighty I already was. I knew my power wasn't to be underestimated, and I chuckled at Lilith's arrogance. I took a second to look over the details of "Shadow strike" the spell I had gotten that would blind those afflicted with it.
As soon as I did this I closed my eyes and targeted three members of the Ardor family with the spell. I activated it with a casualness that surprised me. I felt a chill creep down my back as I received a new and welcome notification.
It was alerting me to the award I had just earned: the first tier of influence over the domain of darkness. As I read it, I grinned and felt stronger than I ever had. And more ready than ever to demonstrate my immense power.