Telin. Mana. Magic. Wells. Affinity Cores.
Sorcerers.
Devils. Deals. Curses.
Classes. Spiritual Bodies. Evolution.
The Realms.
The Gods.
Now that I finally had some time to myself, I thought long and hard about what these things meant and how they applied to me. I knew Telin had an influence on my lineage and magic. I knew I had absurdly powerful mana coupled with groundbreaking affinity cores. I knew I was half-drow, though I knew essentially nothing of my elven side other than the language and a brooch. I was also considered half-devil. Not as a result of being born in the Underworld, from having an ancestor who was an integral part of its existence. And the same with the Shadow Realm. On top of that, I knew I would one day become a god. But that was it, essentially.
That was all I knew. But based on the things I’ve learned and heard, I assumed I could make deals. Curses. I assumed I’d have a Prestige Class as a result of Sorcery and from whatever my relationship with Telin was. But the assumptions I cared most about regarded the Master Classes. If meditation and emotional control were all that was needed to step down the monastic path, I’ve been there since day one. The Artificer Class too, if I assumed the actions of my past life counted for anything at least. My wealth of knowledge and experience came from spending over a century studying and doing virtually everything short of being a sovereign without pause. In this one, I’ve redesigned more things than I’ve made. But I also had a city back in Maru producing and selling products in my name.
That had to count for something, I assumed.
But like all assumptions, those were baseless. Worse, there was nothing I could do to promote them from assumptions to theories besides doing everything I could to step down the paths now. That, and turn my focus towards the things I could brainstorm about. The Realms. Particularly, about what I wanted to do in each of them. About what I wanted to do with Maru. With the portals. With Odissi. With my vassals.
Going in reverse, I wanted them to lead their own lives after our business in Maru was done. Nothing would make me happier than seeing them with their own estates. With their own districts, brands, companies, and kingdoms. I’d love to see Jaimess and Jonet settle down. I wanted to see Toril retire as a legendary man like Grandpa Lich- something he wanted just as much as I did. I, however, just wanted to explore. To follow my whims with no hints of responsibility or duty. And to do that, I needed more subordinates than just a city and a half dozen vassals. I needed tens, if not hundreds of thousands of highly trained individuals to join my guild so my empire could later flourish without my presence. And so, I decided that now would be the time to recruit.
Recruit. And try out the laundry list of things I wanted to try. A frustrating endeavor as it was now, as any training environment lacking any prying eyes was locked behind a paywall. I had plans to spend my points elsewhere.
Although, I supposed keeping my abilities under wraps would be moot after my duel. After all, it was a given that everyone and their mother would be present for the first set of duels for the year. Besides, there was no particular reason for me to hide my power in the first place. Both the teachers and I have already given my identity away. Not that I cared about the opinions of others regarding my being a necromancer- a devil, in the first place. And witnessing my other affinities wouldn’t mean anyone would even understand what they were. So I decided to smother the primal lizard part of my brain and moseyed to the gym after meditating to train, test, and hypothesize to my heart’s content.
---
Come sunrise, the party was gathered in an annex on the far side of our courtyard, edging the towering woodline that would serve to become my training field for the next year.
“Alright, guys.” Doyle huddled us around him with beckoning hands. “You’ll be spending the day roaming the woods as a team. Feel free to explore to your heart’s content. The Headmaster won’t allow you to leave the Zone. So spend your time growing accustomed to the topography. Do some hunting and foraging, or get to know your teammates better. You’re free to take lunch whenever you want. Come three o’clock, you can return to the dorms as a team or remain out here until sundown.
“Before you go!” He called to the quickly dispersing crowd. “The challengers have finalized their duel times and fighting environments. The first set starts at eight tomorrow morning; Corundum versus Elurial. Roheisa Deapou versus Zohnos Lagunath will be at eleven. Zarzok versus Edgar Lope will be at two in the afternoon. And Amun vs Winston will be at six in the evening. You can come and go as you please or otherwise treat it as a day off.
“That’s all I got.” He dismissed us with a wave.
With that, I led Zakira and the others on an ambiguous heading through the forest to begin taking plants almost at random, as I was eager to read their attributes in my horology book later. But other than that we wandered around aimlessly, plucking plants and strange stones from the ground and studying animals from afar to have our books updated while we conversed about who was fighting and why.
It was quickly agreed upon that no one in our class was up to duel simply just because. But Slate commented that he was feeling confident enough to challenge Corundum- one of the other Goliaths in their group.
“If she’s the strongest, what’s your ranking?” Peter asked.
“I am the winner of twelve bouts between the four of us. Thus I am in last.” Slate explained with resolute indifference. “Corundum is the winner of fifteen. First place.”
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“So, she’s strong.” Els huffed as he shrugged with his hands. “You talk like you love her.”
“Her mind is what makes her strong, Elsgril.” Slate leaned down with a smile that seemed to infuriate the dwarf beyond belief.
After seeing their ensuing argument about the proper protocol for addressing those of a shorter stature commence, Peter strode ahead to where Zakira and I were walking to nudge my elbow. “Uhm, Amun?”
“Sup?”
“Are you not worried about your duel?”
“Nah.” I snorted.
“But. He has-”
“An ultimate defense?” I smiled at him. “There is no such thing. There are loopholes for everything, you see, because everything has rules. And rules can always be exploited.”
Slate pried himself off Els to rush to our position, nearly huffing. “I would like to hear of these ways.”
“In this case, the easiest way would be to use their defense against them.” I shrugged. Then turned to Slate, tapping on my temple with a knowing smirk. “If that doesn’t work, attack the one thing that remains unguarded.”
I could tell Slate didn’t quite catch my drift. But he was at least pondering it rather than outright asking me for the answer. A respectable outcome that saw me leave him to it in favor of searching the area for any of the other teams.
I’d grown acquainted with mine, but no one else in the party. I needed to change that before I began recruiting. More so, I wanted to speak to Urshure, Duke, and Curious Twig to learn more about their cultures. And possibly their languages. Thankfully, it only took around ten minutes to find the Dragonborne walking by his lonesome a few meters away from team 3. He and Kaolinite were the only non-humans in the group. And he didn’t seem to be very sociable towards anyone.
But I knew a way around that. Courtesy of Azrael.
“What do you want, human?” He rudely asked after seeing me approach.
“I’m only half-human.” I snorted.
He simply huffed and turned away while he kept walking. So I followed.
“I only seek information,” I said. “About dragons.”
“Then become a Dragonborne.” He huffed. “Or leave.”
“Fine. Fine.” I shrugged with my hands, making sure to flash the glasses hanging on my forehead. And thankfully, he took the bait.
“That device.” He squinted. “I detect magic in it.”
‘Detect? That wasn’t written in the pamphlets they gave us.’ I squinted suspiciously at him for a few long moments before saying. “It's enchanted.”
“Give it to me and I will answer a single question.” He grunted.
I acted as if I were thinking about it for a second before taking it off. In reality, my vassals’ lack of night vision is what made me buy the glasses in the first place. And I bought dozens more than what I needed, so I wouldn’t have missed this one at all.
Besides, it wasn't as if I would have used it.
The way he eyed it made it clear he wanted to add it to his horde. As such, this was essentially getting information in exchange for a rock, adding to my amusement as I placed the glasses in his hand along with ten gold coins. “Ask wisely.” He grinned smugly.
“Okay.” I grinned back. “Is there such thing as a Void Dragon?”
While I was curious about my dreams, I truly wanted to know more about dragons. By playing up the question, it’d lessen the significance of my true aim, making him more inclined to give a truthful answer in the end. The additional coins were only icing on the cake. This was all about building rapport, after all. If he allowed me to approach without aggression going forward, I’d consider that a huge win. But surprisingly, his scaled head rocked back and forth as he pocketed his treasure.
“I have heard of such a tale from long ago. A tale from the time before the Platinum Dragon and Queen Tiamat- before any life on the Mortal Plane existed. They suggest that a Cosmic Drake and a Dragon of the Void were the first primordials to ever exist. Entities of energy and entropy. The creators and destroyers of life.”
“My dreams,” I commented aloud.
He seemed confused at my reply but replied nonetheless. “I was unaware the Fae even had dreams.”
“They aren’t exactly dreams,” I mumbled, lost in thought. ‘More like memories of our past lives. Of our ancestors.’
“Your inquiry proved to be interesting.” He grinned wider and gave his bag a quick pat. “I will allow for one more.”
“Alright.” I genuinely smiled. “How would I go about befriending a dragon?”
He stopped in place after hearing my question and stared at me, growling for an endless second. “You wish to tame a dragon?”
“As far as I understand, they’re far more intelligent and powerful than elves even.” I snorted. “As far as I’m concerned, such a thing is highly improbable. If not impossible.”
“Hmph.” He growled before continuing his pace. “Then you are wise. Even a young dragon would be aware of the fact that it was at the pinnacle of creation. Thus one could never simply tame a dragon, regardless of age. I can see that you are powerful, wise, and wealthy enough to at least be recognized by a dragon. But your alignment will be seen as nothing but a threat to the metallic dragons, excepting iron or perhaps cobalt. And even if you would be recognized or even acknowledged by a chromatic dragon, it would be a safe assumption that it will view you as nothing more than its pet. Do you still wish to proceed?” He grinned smugly.
“I do.” I nodded. “And I have more questions.”
“That will require more payment.”
“Will more gold suffice? I asked, reaching into my sleeve.
“Ten per.” He nodded.
I pulled out fifty and stashed it in his clawed hand. “You mentioned my alignment. First of all, how do you know what mine is? And what does that have to do with the different types of dragons?”
“Metallic dragons worship Bahamut, and are largely considered good,” Urshure growled. “Chromatic dragons serve Queen Tiamat and are largely evil. You.” He pointed his claw at me. “Are an abomination in the eyes of both.”
“Excuse me?” I raised a brow.
“In you, I sense wicked darkness.” He said. “That makes you evil by nature. Yet, there is divine light within you. You are a contradiction. An abomination.”
“Wouldn’t that make me neutral?” I scoffed.
“Dragons believe in no such thing.” He huffed.
‘Whatever, I got more than I needed.’ I turned away from him with a snort and a wave over my shoulder. “Thanks. Keep the change.”
After separating myself a fair distance, I sat atop a giant root to smoke and shake my head at what I just heard. “Definitely not what I expected.” I laughed incredulously.
It was safe to assume that the ancestor I’d been dreaming of since being born into this world was this... void dragon. Meaning we were devils in more than just name. But that still brought burning questions. What was it? Where were they buried? How long ago did they live? What was their life experience? And most of all, how did that tie into my Sorcery? My Prestige Class?
The only answer I could find was just an alteration of what I’d already assumed- that I had the potential to evolve into either a devil or some kind of draconic entity. Or perhaps both. But there were also the facts regarding my pre-birth to consider. Regarding Telin and his claims of me being a living god in this world.
Regarding that, my mother already told me I was a cleric. Thus it would stand to reason that such a Prestige Class would be the catalyst.
And so, together, I would become a fiendish god.
A devil deity, If you will.