The morning chill felt through the ruined town would have bothered lesser insects. Unevolved ones. But the swarm that was responsible for the devastation that decimated Florida was not made up of lesser insects.
The soft, unkempt dirt roads that crisscrossed and connected the buildings within the tiny community of Florida were busy and more well-traveled now than ever. But the feet that strode over them were not human or dwarf feet. They were the feet of gigantic, evolved, and sapient insects.
The town was no longer silent. The droning sound of insects skittering and flying over the town filled it with noise, a sort of dull and maddening noise. The noise was dull but deafening since the town was now populated by thousands of insects.
The air smelled of blood, death, and decaying corpses. It also smelled of the nauseating venom that the bees, even the thraies, used in the massacre they inflicted on the Floridians. The venom Althos' worshipers used induced paralysis, and it also numbed the pain receptors in the body. Those who felt its sting died painlessly, aside from the pain they felt when first stung by an Althonian.
Bees and the eerily human-like thraies were far from the only creatures wandering the town. Ants, and their relatives: the myremekes wandered the streets as well. As did enormous wasps. The insects, not always friendly towards each other or even themselves, did not bother each other. They weren't freely communing, but they weren't aggressive towards each other. It was a strange, unnatural sight.
And far from the town of Florida, silent observers were keenly aware of the unnatural nature of it all. Silent, terrified observers. One of them, a half-elf with wide green eyes, looked to his commander. His commander was a human on a horse. Both the man and his horse were dressed in light armor. The human and the half-elf had binoculars in their hands and scared looks on their faces.
"Insects... But ones unlike anything I've ever seen..." Muttered the mounted man. His voice was quiet, and his underling noticed the fearful tremble in it. There was a look of fear in his jade eyes. His underling, the half-elf, studied him carefully. And then he asked his superior officer a question.
"Do you think this is the work of a druid? If it's someone like me..." The half-elf asked, wondering aloud if there was a member of his species and class who was powerful enough to command the insectoid swarm that had destroyed Florida.
The mounted human shook his head. The half-elf stopped speaking, unsurprised by his superior's response. Neither of the military-men had ever heard of anything even remotely powerful enough to command a swarm of evolved insects of that size.
"Come. We should get back to Midas." The human told his underling, before dismounting the horse and motioning for the half-elf to come and get on. They were egalitarian and took turns riding their shared mount.
Far away from them, within the boundaries of Florida, one of the thraies turned in their direction. He was aware of them but said nothing. All of the human-like creatures, thraie and myrmekes alike were well-aware of the two humanoids. They only stayed their collective hand because their order was to destroy Florida. Not anyone or anything outside of the small settlement.
After a few moments, the bee-man looked to his comrades and went to join them. Each insect had more important things to do than gawk at strangers.
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An hour after Florida fell I found myself standing in a royal chamber that dwarfed the chambers belonging to Rachel. It was also more inhabited.
I was surrounded by dwarfs. All of them wore either heavy-looking metallic armor or ornate robes denoting their status as high-ranking government officials. The dwarf in the most ornate looking robes was King Abel. He was a tall member of his race, standing just under one and a half meters tall.
He wore purple robes, which were unnecessarily dark given the fact that we were in a nearly lightless chamber belonging to the monarch of a subterranean monarchy. I had just finished telling him and his closest advisors, the other dwarfs that were around Rachel, Amaris and I, about my life so far.
The cabal shared knowing looks, furtive glances, and concerned body-language and I could tell even with a glance they were communicating in some way. I studied them for a moment, focused on those in robes more so than those in armor, and came to suspect that this wasn't telepathy. Eventually, I spoke up and shattered the tense silence that had overtaken the room.
"Will someone please share their thoughts with me? I can only read so much of one's mind, I'd rather us just... talk to each other." I said, annoyed with the subtleties of the politics I had allowed myself into.
When I was done speaking, one of the heavily-armored guards turned to me and lifted the sword he held. I turned to him and sighed. There was a look of anger in his eyes, and he was tense, his hands tightly gripping the sword and shield they held onto.
"You can read our minds?" He asked equal parts angrily and defensively. I sighed at the soldier, unsurprised that he was reacting that way.
"Yes I can. Now please put the weapon down. I am no enemy of yours, and if I was then that sword and shield wouldn't be enough to stop me." I told the warrior, speaking honestly. The dwarf kept his tools up and looked around at his companions. When his fellow warriors gently encouraged him to put his weapons down, he reluctantly sighed and did as they suggested he do.
"Tsk..." The dwarf guard hissed, glaring at me angrily. Out of curiosity, I did scan his surface thoughts, but they contained nothing of interest to me. More than anything else he was jealous of the fact that both Amaris and Rachel were close to me, as far as he could tell.
Shortly after the guard and I exchanged words the dwarven king, Abel, cleared his throat and looked at Rachel, and then at me. He had deep brown eyes, and the fullest beard I had ever seen. There had been a twinkle in his eyes as he had listened to my story, and there was unexpected energy about him given that he was faking being sick and had sloth as his personal vice.
"Althos!" He said, speaking loudly after he and I locked eyes for a few moments. His voice was loud, far louder than I would have expected.
"First, allow me to express my gratitude. You have done much for this kingdom, far more than you appear to realize. Freeing Rachel from the lecherous and ambitious desires of my rival, Duke Dagwood, was an act of great kindness and mercy on your part. And now, trusting us with the information you've shared..." The king said, speaking rather regally of the events of the past hour.
"You are far kinder than you may realize. And the knowledge we've gained from you is what will allow us to help safeguard the underground from the machinations of the demons." The king proclaimed, speaking as if I had handed him information on the demons themselves. I hadn't.
I now possessed a keen awareness of the demons I knew I needed to oppose. This awareness came to me thanks to my newest detection ability, the one that allowed me to map places illuminated by the light from the star at the center of my solar system. Thanks to it I had a live-action map of all of Torus.
There was a specific faction of demons who sought to remake this world and turn it into a part of the dimension they were from, the dreaded "Heart of Darkness". This faction originally included Sombra, the praereptor demon who possessed Troik and was now my servant.
They were my foes, and I intended to stop them from enacting their vile machinations. Doing so would be much easier since I now knew their locations. This was knowledge that I hadn't shared with Rachel, Amaris, or King Abel.
The truth was, I wanted to meet these demons myself. I was eager to make more demonic allies and to learn more about the demon named Agustino. Agustino was the demon at the center of the plot to twist Torus into a world compatible with the Heart of Darkness. After thinking about this for a moment, I looked at Abel and smiled.
"Thank you King Abel. I was happy to help Rachel." I told the king, speaking quite honestly. Aiding Rachel was a smart move on my part that granted me this opportunity and the worship of a number of dwarven nobles who Rachel spoke too and then I converted, through dreams.
I was worshipped by three separate dwarven nobles, all of whom were located in different parts of Atlantis. All of them were lawful in alignment, and so far I had found them to be useful allies. I looked forward to building deeper connections with them in the days to come, especially since I wanted to gain access to Morehammer's artifacts eventually.
"Althos, do you seek more worshipers? Please tell me and my advisors what your goals are. If they are compatible with ours we should consider an alliance. It would be a fitting reward for one who safeguarded my daughter's freedom and protected us from our foes." King Abel said, speaking as though he had the unanimous consent of his court. That said, none of the dwarves voiced any opposition to the king's remarks.
"I am seeking more worshipers. My goal is to safeguard this world, while also expanding my own powers. For now, as a newborn god, I am... being cautious. I engage more readily with those who pray. Like your daughter did." I told the king, smiling as I spoke. I looked him in the eyes and added a bit to my remark.
"You raised her well. You taught her about the old ways. The ways of Morehammer. Those ways saved her. Those ways are righteous ways." I told the king, assuming that her free form of piety was a cultural cornerstone that was a result of Morehammer's influence.
The king smiled at me. There was a genuineness and a gentleness in his smile. It was the smile of a father, not a king.
Behind me, I sensed Rachel's happiness as well. My actions had transformed this family's life. It wasn't the first time I had done something to save a family, but this moment felt... special. It felt like I had used my powers for good, and in doing so I had kept a family together. I felt joy well up within me.
"No Althos... You saved her. I know not the hows of what you did, but you did this. You spoke to her. You gave her this gift. Thank you." The king told me, tears visible within his eyes. The king might have been lazy, but the love he possessed for his daughter was genuine.
This moment of warmth and solemn joy lasted a few moments longer before I decided not to overstay my welcome. I took a step back and smiled at the dwarves around me. "Friends, it is time for me to depart from this place." I told the dwarves.
"I am your friend, and I intend to earn your worship. In the days to come, I will meet with you again. And in the meantime, I shall aid your people. You shall know, and feel my presence. I possess... many powers. Remember me, and pray to me. Allow me to know you, and I will come to your aid when you need assistance." I said to the dwarves who had gathered around me.
Sixteen total dwarves were crowded into the chamber. Three of them were either royalty or direct aides to royalty. Five of them were guards and military leaders. The other eight were valuable advisors, skilled experts the kingdom relied upon for advice and leadership. All of them silently watched, as I smiled and willed myself out of royal chamber.
I teleported from the dwarven kingdom to the top of a tall, active volcano.
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In an instant, I went from a stuffy, well-populated chamber to a point high in the sky, at the top of a volcanic mountain. I was standing on the edge of the volcano's crater and if I looked down not only could I see the magma located dozens of meters below me, I could also see creatures swimming in said magma.
"Hello there!" I said, practically shouting into the crater. I quietly used my powers over sound to ensure my voice carried the dozens of meters that separated me from the ocean of magma, and from the angels that swam in the magma as if it were a temperature ocean.
The angels, a pair of the things, froze when they heard my voice a mere instant after I spoke. All I could see of the things were tall, bony spines that broke through the magma they swam in. The spines had previously been lazily moving through the lake of magma they were in, but now the spines froze, tensed up.
I had been expecting them to come to me excitedly. The system, just two days ago, had informed me that the things were ready to come and serve me. They hadn't.
"It's me! Althos!" I said, after the angels froze and didn't move a muscle. But my second remark did provoke a reaction. The pair of angels shot out of the ocean of magma, flying to the top of the magmic chambers that contained the magma they lived in.
I watched, fixated, as the creatures sailed out of their home. They had wings of flames, bodies that loosely resembled those of butterflies, and the antenna of assorted types of insects. They flew with frightening speed, and only flapped their wings twice while ascending to the peak of the volcano that housed them.
As they drew nearer and nearer to me I began to feel the heat radiating out of their bodies. I chuckled and relished it since it was nothing compared to the heat generated by the sun. As they closed in on me, I heard the voices of the system and assorted domains cheer in excitement in my head. I grinned, sharing their excitement. I was about to meet angels for the first time!
The two magmic angels came to a sudden stop in front of me. Up close they were enormous, easily more than twice the size of a human man. They had glimmering red bodies, a darker red than magma.
Both of the ridiculously warm entities floated over the crater they had flown out of. They seemed to suspend themselves in mid-air as their wings weren't flapping yet they floated, undisturbed by gravity.
I studied their insectoid bodies. I hadn't expected volcanic angels, creatures of magma and heat, to take on such a familiar form.
The creatures studied me as readily as I studied them. They had all of the strange and distinctive features of butterflies, including their compound eyes. In both cases, their eyes were fixated on me. We stared at each other in silence, until I broke said silence.
"What are your names?" I asked, looking at both of the entities with a curious, almost childlike joy. I was excited to have encountered angels.
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Angels were a species of extraplanar beings. In the mythic age of the old gods, they were a species of creatures who loyally served the gods.
What I knew about them was actually fairly limited. I knew that these angels were volcanic angels, creatures of magma, and ash. I also knew that these specific beings were volcanic angels with wrecked minds, which was in and of itself a mystery waiting to be solved.
These specific angels had now recovered to a functional state. And that was why I was here, engaging with them. I wanted to meet them, and to truly recruit them.
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"We lack names. Please give us names." One of the creatures replied, a few moments after I asked the pair of entities for their names.
"Hmmm..." I replied, making a sound rather than actually speaking. It took me a moment to come up with names I actually liked.
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"Your name is Lahar, and your name is Pagsabog." I told the creatures, speaking confidently after spending a few moments in contemplation. The flying creatures considered my names for a few moments. As they did so they began to approach me.
As I was doing this, my projections were busy. One of them was readying itself for another day of lessons with Dr. Cortes, and another was inside of my tower. The one inside of my tower was making itself truly useful.
It was finishing up the requirements to earn the first tier of influence over the subdomain of conjuration. It had been hard at work for nearly three hours now, inching towards the completion of that subdomain.
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The conjuration circle within a small room within my tower was a beautiful thing. It was made from Sombra's own blood, and it gave the otherwise drab room a splash of color. I was accompanied by another demon as well. A newcomer.
Sombra was beside me, staring at her work with masterful attention to detail. She visually inspected every centimeter of her blood-circle.
Conjuration circles were finicky things. Even a single mistake would make an imperfect circle, and imperfect circles gave those who were summoned by them the freedom to step out and lash out at anyone who called them to this world.
I allowed Sombra to do as she wished, but I had already used this circle. I had already summoned and unleashed several demons using this circle. I sent them to various parts of the world, most notably the city of Aronms and the city of San Gerardo.
I had summoned eleven demons. Three of them were succubi who like the other succubus I had summoned freely acknowledged me as their king once they received the notification that they were being summoned. I then proceeded to unleash them on the city of Aronms, where they were to investigate the noble families.
Five of my demons were incubi. Incubi were handsome, powerfully built male sex-demons. The other three were different, stranger types of demons.
One of them accompanied me. It was a beheman, a powerful demon of sloth with the lower body of a serpent and the upper body of a corpulent male human. It held a warhammer in its hands, and its long serpentine form took up space around the chamber we found ourselves in.
The other two had already left to enact their duties. One of them was an asesinato demon, a demon of murder and bloodshed. I had gifted the bizarre being a human form, and commanded it to begin to search for murderers who could easily be converted to my worship.
The other demon was an arana demon, a gigantic spider. I gave that one a simple task: awaken spiders. I gave it a stick that I enhanced with my awakening ability and commanded the creature to build up an army of spiders dedicated to me, and bestowed the beast with the cleric class. The creepy thing crept off to exact my wishes.
All in all I had summoned fourteen demons. I just needed to summon one more. I was quiet as I thought about what to summon, as I wanted it to be something special. I spent a minute in silence before I heard a quiet voice.
"What are you thinkin' about?" The voice asked. It was a voice that came from within me, so I knew it was the voice of a domain or subdomain. I replied to it mentally.
"I'm thinking about what is the final sort of demon I ought to summon." I explained. A second later the voice had an interesting suggestion.
"Is that so? Why not summon a pesadilla demon? Pesadilla demons are nightmare demons. Making them into your followers will increase your ability to torment mortals and to make societies more vulnerable to your influence." The voice suggested. It was an interesting suggestion.
"Nightmare demons? Hmm..." I thought, in response. I mulled it over, before realizing that the voice, most likely the dream domain, had made a really good point. Having an army of nightmare demons at my disposal would give me an incredible tool with which to weaken mortal societies.
"You know what? I like the idea of an army of nightmare demons." I told the voice, speaking to it in the confines of my mind. The voice began to chuckle, sounding rather sinister.
I quietly activated the ancient spell I had used to summon the other demons and chuckled when I saw the same notification I had grown familiar with over the last few hours. It was a simple thing, asking me to describe the sort of demon I wanted to summon. I was a simple man, with simple tastes.
"Call to a demon that seeks to inflict nightmares on mortals and is willing to do so at my command. One would enjoy tormenting families, and would happily serve as an attack dog of the god of nightmares." I commanded the notification, speaking to it with the familiarity one would speak to an old friend.
A few moments later a purple smog abruptly began to come out of the ground on which the circle was etched. And within the circle, within the smoke, a hazy form began to come into being. The creature in the smog was a strange, amorphous being.
The creature in the circle didn't have a physical form. Its body was a misty thing, indistinct and incorporeal. I could sense it, and it could sense me, but I knew that I reached out to pull it out of the circle I'd be pulling on demonic gas.
The creature looked, in so far as it could anyway, in my direction. I chuckled and walked over to the circle. My two servants, Sombra and Servente, watched me curiously. They gasped when I placed my hand on the circle, and in doing so undid the thing's protective properties.
The creature in the smoke began to scream. The sound was one of triumph and elation, utter delight at the freedom it had just acquired. The sound the creature made was like the sound of boiling water. As it made that noise I received a new notification.
[Conjuration subdomain details:
The conjuration subdomain... This subdomain is your first real tether to the other dimensions that exist in this universe and in other universes.
Conjuration magic is potent magic that creates portals and pathways that can link together even other dimensions. They cannot, at your current level of influence anyway, tether together separate universes.
Conjuration magic allows you to call to extraplanar beings and summon them to serve you. You can conjure phantoms, which are mere shades of actual extraplanar beings, or you can conjure actual extraplanar beings. Conjuring actual extraplanar beings is an act of great power, and it brings real beings over from other dimensions. You've already felt its power.
This school of magic is tied to your alignment and the alignments you have influence over. This is because extraplanar beings, true extraplanar beings, are entities whose alignments directly influence them in real, material ways.
Each alignment has a specific type of extraplanar it holds influence over. These extraplanars are fanatically devoted to gods of their alignment and serve them zealously.
To gain influence over this subdomain, use its powers and summon more extraplanar beings. Gaining their worship also helps increase your sway over this subdomain.
Conjuration subdomain passive powers:
Multidimensional portals: You can now create portals that link together separate dimensions. These portals still can't link you to other universes, but any dimension that is tied to this universe can now be traveled too.
Angelic creation: You can create angels. This synergistic power fuses the domains of life, faith, souls, and the subdomain of conjuration to create angels. For now, you can only create minor angels, such as angels of agriculture, and angels of the mind.
Angelic knowledge: As a god with power over the domains of life, knowledge, souls, and the subdomain of conjuration you now possess knowledge about angels.
In the distant past angels were the legendary servants of the gods. They were the feared or loved messengers and warriors of the gods who enacted their wills in the mortal worlds. Angels cannot hide from your detection abilities, and you can immediately learn what kind of angels dwell int he worlds you can detect.
Angelic summoning: You can summon angels. With this power, you can construct angelic summoning circles.
Banishment: Upon striking an extraplanar being you can banish them to their home dimension. This power can be resisted by greater extraplanars, and cannot be resisted by lesser extraplanars. If you opt to do this your strike is rendered harmless, even if the banishment is resisted.
Demon knowledge: Synergistic fusions of powerful domains like knowledge, chaos, and evil, allow you to more effectively study demons and gain knowledge of their strange home. Demons cannot hide from you, no matter their power. The Heart of Darkness, the home of demons and other... stranger beings, is now also something you can study.
Devil summoning: You can summon devils. This power teaches you to construct infernal summoning circles.
Leye knowledge and summoning: Leyes are a class of lawful extraplanar beings. They can be of any alignment on the good-evil axis.
Leyes are servants of gods of law. They are fanatically devoted to such beings and are incredibly intelligent, orderly entities. You can now summon them.
Pain-bringer knowledge and summoning: Pain-bringers are a class of evil extraplanar beings. They run the gamut in terms of their other alignment-position. They can be summoned by you.
Pain-bringers are servants of gods of evil and pain. They worship and serve such gods eagerly. Morningstar pain-bringers are the lowest class of such creatures, and they will eagerly serve you once you summon them.
Salvaje summoning: Salvajes are the chaotic class of extraplanar. Like pain-bringers and leyes they worship and serve gods of chaos. This power is their equivalent of the powers for pain-bringers and leyes.
Class granting: You can grant your followers the "conjurer" class.
Conjuration subdomain active power:
Phantom army: Once per week you can conjure an army of phantoms of up to a hundred phantoms to serve you. This army lasts up to an hour and a half and follows your orders for as long as it exists.
Phantoms are semi-corporeal copies of extraplanar beings. They serve you eagerly, and loyally.
Conjuration subdomain blessing and curse details:
If you bless someone who has the conjurer class they can summon stronger creatures and more easily bargain with those they summon to acquire their services. If you curse them then they lose some of their summoning abilities and creatures they summon are harder to bargain with.
If you bless an extraplanar being with this subdomain their ties to this dimension are strengthened, granting them increased power, hitpoints, and increasing the experience they gain while here. If you curse an extraplanar being with this subdomain they are weakened. Their power decreases, they begin to suffer daily hitpoint damage, and lose the ability to recover naturally from wounds.]
I chuckled as I read through the notification. This didn't quite increase my own power, but it was an extremely handy subdomain that greatly diversified the sorts of potential servants I had at my disposal. And even in reading through the notification, I had just received I gained a good deal of knowledge about both my powers and the sorts of extraplanars that existed in the multiverse.
The nightmare demon "looked" in my direction, in so far as it could, curiously. As did Sombra, and Servente. I looked back at the trio of demons and chuckled.
"I just gained new powers. And it's all because of you all." I told them, obviously happy. They shivered, unsure of what new powers I had just gained.
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As I received the conjuration subdomain's notification the pair of angels floated just a few meters away from me. We had silently observed each other for a few minutes. The angels turned to face each other and then spoke.
"We accept our names. Do you have any orders for us, Althos?" They asked, speaking in a strange and otherworldly unison. I smiled at the angels, and considered their question. It was an important one, and one that I knew I needed to answer carefully.
The system once remarked that these creatures were in all likelihood the strongest creatures I had met to date. They were immensely powerful and eerie entities, and I needed to be careful with them so as to not misuse their power or accidentally cause meaningless destruction.
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The newly christened angels watched me. Their compound eyes tracked my movement, and even the slightest shifts I made were noted by them. As I mulled over their question, whether or not I had any orders for them, they kept their eyes glued to me. It was odd to be the subject of their gaze.
"What have you been doing since your minds were destroyed?" I asked the pair of angels, studying them carefully. They were quiet for a moment, before speaking in unison.
"We have been here. As have our comrades, though in other volcanoes. We have been... existing." The pair of angels replied. I watched them carefully, studying them as they replied to me. My eyes narrowed when they replied that way.
"And is there a reason why you two are together?" I asked, looking at the angels with something akin to suspicion in my gaze. They gazed back at me, reverentially while formulating another answer to my questions.
"We are together because we are a mated pair. Angels can reproduce in a manner similar to terrestrial butterflies." The angels replied. For a moment their monotonous voices becoming somewhat warmer as they spoke that time. I smiled, understanding their connection a bit more.
"You're a mated pair? So are you... in love?" I asked, curious to hear their answer. They nodded at me, at least as far as they could nod.
"What is that like? I don't... feel emotions in the same way you do." I asked them. I also hadn't had many chances to engage with creatures in love yet.
The two biggest examples of loving relationships that I knew of were the parents of Isadora, and Gustavo and his wife. I couldn't ask Gustavo without looking odd, and if I asked the parents of Isabella they would badger me with questions. They had before when I had spoken with them. So this presented me with a neat opportunity to learn about something without being badgered.
The pair of angels studied me for a moment. And then only one of them spoke.
"Being in love means wanting to share your life with someone. It means that you care for them as much as you care about yourself. More even." The one closest to me, Lahar said. Then Pagsabog closed in and spoke.
"Being in love means you care enough to protect that person. It means you care enough to risk your life for them. It's when you feel, truly deeply feel, that your life is better because they are in it. Being in love is... a willingness to sacrifice your own happiness for someone else. Have you ever felt anything like that?" Asked Pagsabog.
I thought about that for a moment. I was silent as I mulled it over. It didn't take me long to realize that the answer was no. A moment after I came to that realization I looked at the angels.
"No. I haven't. I don't even know if I like people in general." I told the angels. They were silent as they thought about my answer.
"Hmm... Maybe you should think about that." Lahar suggested, encouraging me to be introspective. I grinned at the angels, appreciating their advice. And then I refocused and decided to ask them another question.
"So wait, if you know you're a mated pair of angels does that mean you have other memories as well?" I asked, looking at them expectantly. They subtly shook their heads at me.
"We don't. We know we're in love, and that we're a mated pair, but our memories... They are stuck behind a mental... wall." The two angels said, speaking in that almost monotonous unison once more.
I looked at them and then reached out a hand. They glanced at the outstretched appendage and were silent. I chuckled.
"I'm gonna heal you. Eventually. Your minds were destroyed. And when I heal you we'll discover whoever did this to you. I... want to speak to them." I told the angels, a wry grin on my face as I spoke.
"We see..." The angels muttered, the spines on their backs lighting up as they spoke. The spines were one of the only features that ruined the illusion that they were ordinary giant butterflies. The objects were dark red, almost blood-like in color, and protruded from their backs. Their faces subtly twitched in discomfort when they spoke, and their abrupt silence clued me in on something.
I sensed that the pair of angels had just tried to lie to me. It made me want to chuckle.
"Did... did you just try to lie to me?" I asked, a grin on my lips. Both of the angels looked down, radiating guilty energy. I chuckled at their discomfort.
"I have an ability that prevents mortals from lying to me. I suppose I know now that it can work on angels too." I told them, speaking smugly. They were silent, and I allowed the silence to fill the air between us for a few moments.
"For now, my orders are to stay here. In the days to come this will change, but before I use your powers I need to master my own." I told the pair of angels, once I decided to interrupt the silence that had overtaken the air between us. When the entities nodded at me, I grinned and vanished from view, teleporting away from the pair of creatures.
I was teleporting to a place where I could be alone with my thoughts. I needed a moment to think.
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I teleported myself to an unusual location. I went from standing in the volcano to standing within one of the areas populated by the undead horde I had created. In an instant, I went from standing at the edge of a hot volcano to standing within a city built by and for the undead.
I found myself within a large, unlit plaza, one that was only partially completed. Even the unstoppable tide of undead couldn't complete this within five days mostly because they were too disorganized. Their disorganization was one of the things that made this place a perfect place for me to go to when I needed to think.
The necropolis was a project that was started by a few of the more intelligent undead I had created. It was led by a council of Grave-giants, who were themselves organized and led by Nivar. Nivar was the first of the Grave-giants I had reanimated, and one of the very few I had reanimated and then later deanimated so that I could transform her into something else.
My thoughts turned to her and the unusual trajectory of her life as I examined the plaza in detail.
The plaza around me was surrounded by ramshackle buildings. At the center of the plaza stood a number of open tents, inhabited by a number of minor, even by the standards of my powers, undead. The open tents were inhabited by ghouls and zombies.
I looked into a tent and saw a single ghoul, one who was originally a human male. It stood still, eerily inanimate. There was a thick crust of dried blood on the thing's face. I looked into another tent and saw a female dwarf who had been reanimated as a zombie stand around lifelessly. The dwarf zombie had beautiful blue eyes, but they were vacant and lifeless.
The other tents were inhabited by corporeal undead, and the air above us was rife with incorporeal spirits. It was an eerie, albeit fantastic sight. I examined it for a few moments before making myself incorporeal and deciding to play around for a few moments.
I rose a single hand, aiming it near the tent that contained the dwarven zombie. I then activated one of the life-creating "shortcuts" I had recently acquired. A second later a fully formed adult cow appeared, as if out of nowhere, and came to life with a single loud moo. This noise carried far in the strange city and provoked a flurry of action and violence.
A tidal wave of the undead suddenly dashed towards me and my bovine creation. Undead exploded out of their tents, and hateful incorporeal beings swooped down on the cow. I watched, lazily, as the closest undead reached my creation and tore into the thing.
The cow mooed in pain, as the zombie reached the beast and bit into its hide-covered loins. The zombie energetically bit into the thickest part of the cow, but the other undead were more efficient. One of them, a powerful wright, held an iron axe and used it to swiftly decapitate the bovine beast.
The cow's head was blown off of its body. A spurt of blood shot out and provided the almost entirely black and white backdrop of the city with a single, solitary splash of color. The body provided the undead with food and entertainment for nearly an entire minute, before the thing was reduced to bones.
I wasn't going to allow the bones to remain idle. I wordlessly cast a single spell and reanimated the bones of the beast, creating the newest member of my legion of the undead. The skeletal cow ambled to life, reanimating as speedily as it came to life. This bored the other undead, who quickly went back to their homes or just mindlessly shuffled around the plaza.
[Althos...] The system muttered, sounding annoyed.
"What? The undead were hungry and I can do what I want with the cows I create from start to finish." I replied, annoyed at the system.
[This is one of the first arguably evil acts you've done in days.] The system replied, causing me to be surprised.
"What do you mean? I do evil acts all the time." I told the system, while trying to come up with examples. None came to mind.
[No you don't. You didn't even kill slavers, which... wouldn't really be evil, though it'd be closer to evil than most things you do.] The system responded.
[You aren't even really chaotic neutral. If you were a mortal your alignment would definitely be neutral good.] The system told me, saying something that surprised me.
"Wait, really?" I asked, shock coloring my voice. I heard an almost robotic voice chuckle in response to my shock.
[Yes! The evilest thing you've done, the first interaction you had with Okig, you did on accident. The next most evil thing you've done was you killing slavers, and you stopped killing them as soon as they surrendered. They were also practicing humanoid sacrifice. You were very clearly the good guy in that scenario.] The system said, speaking oddly snarkily as it did so.
[Do you not want to be neutral-good in alignment? After a while, I just sort of... figured you wanted to be neutral good.] The system remarked. At first, I thought it was being sarcastic but I realized it wasn't when the silence between us filled the air. It was at this point that I came up with a rebuttal to its claims that I didn't act evilly.
"I destroyed the town of Florida!" I told the system. It chuckled at me.
[At the behest of the system. Your acts of good have always been unprovoked and only rarely bring you a real direct benefit. Your acts of evil have almost always required significant prodding from the system and the promise of greater power.] The system said while laughing robotically.
[You don't act evilly for the sake of advancing evil, you sometimes do things that are kind of dickish either by accident or for the sake of gaining greater power. Power which you proceed to use... To improve life, for the living. Even when the living are assholes.] The system added, chuckling.
I sighed, annoyed at its remarks. I was mostly annoyed that I felt like the system was right and I couldn't rebut it.
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I didn't want to be a good-aligned god. I felt that that was... restrictive. I wanted freedom. I wanted to be able to influence everything, good and bad alike, and for people to know to expect that. Being a good-aligned god felt like it would lead to me being stuck in a role I didn't want to be stuck in.
I hated slavery because it infringed on the freedom of others. I didn't want my freedom to be infringed upon. I didn't want to be restricted. Being neutral felt like a way for me to acquire the freedom for myself that I knew I wanted. It felt like... a way for me to be true to myself.
It was that sort of thinking that led me to say what I said next.
"I don't want to be neutral good. Whether it's by standards that are mortal in nature, or divine. I want to be neutral. That is how I feel that I can most acquire the sort of... spiritual freedom I want." I told the system, plainly stating my desires for one of the first times in my life.
[Then why don't you act like it?] The system replied, speaking to me in a way that was somewhat refreshingly frank.
[You are not balanced. You are not neutral. Or at least you don't act like it. You are... good, fundamentally. Maybe neutral good, maybe chaotic good, but basing things on your actions alone you are definitely some form of good.] The system told me, stressing it. Stressing me.
"I don't want to be. And shouldn't that count for something?" I asked, feeling... anger well up within me.
[It does, but if anything it highlights the reality that you are not neutral. At least... by mortal standards. The fact that you resist your nature accentuates your goodness, it doesn't undo it.] The system proclaimed, speaking arrogantly. This deeply angered me.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, anger seeping into my voice.
[It is more challenging to resist evil urges and behave kindly, or justly, than it is to behave kindly, justly, when it is one's nature to do so. As a god, you've consistently resisted your innate desires because your innate desires are not always conducive to the needs and desires of those who possess less power than you do. Your acts of kindness, even if they have sometimes been in your self-interest, are meaningful. They color your soul.] The system explained, speaking a bit more gently now.
I considered the system's words for a moment. And then made me reminisce. I reflected on my life, and on the things I had done to date. I recalled the times I had felt dark urges well up within me, and the ways I had resisted those urges. It felt... odd to reflect on my life to date.
"I don't want to be good. And I suppose it's time that I act on my desires." I said, a few moments after I began to think back on all of the events that led me to this point.
"I want to be free. And tying myself to goodness is not freeing. It doesn't give me the freedom I want to have." I muttered, feeling a few of the domains within me growing a bit excited at what I was saying. I could feel their dark impulses surging within me. I sighed and pushed them back down.
"That doesn't mean being an unrepentant monster. I must... find my own way." I said, not wanting to be a scourge who decimates and destroys without feeling. That said, their excitement still lurked within me, just dulled to an extent.
"But what do I want?" I asked, not speaking to the system, but to myself.