Fikre and the others spend the rest of the day discovering their new powers. The Words of Creation, as they discover, are extremely flexible, and miracles can perform almost any task related to their Words.
"You haven't shown off your own powers yet, Beelzebub," says Inge. "Come on! Show us what they are!"
"I would r-really prefer not to," he says.
"Pleeease?" Inge pleads.
"F-Fine. I am the god o-of Insects, Madness, and F-Fear."
"Oh... oh. Okay, maybe you shouldn't..." Caterina trails off.
"Gift of Madness: Idee Fix!" Beelzebub shouts and points to Barbatus.
"Are you fucking kidding me!? How many times am I gonna be the target for this shit!" Barbatus yells.
Beelzebub's voice echoes through the chamber, "Going outside will kill you."
Barbatus scoffs. "Nothing happened. What was that supposed to do?" He walks for the exit door. "Nothing will..." His hand stops short of the door to the outside as his breathing starts to pick up in speed. "On second thought... maybe I won't go outside..." Barbatus backs up from the door quickly. Damn. That was fast.
"A-Abilities that affect your mind can be... resisted with enough willpower," says Beelzebub," b-but since... none of us are trying to resist each other's powers, that will l-last for about a week."
The doors to the chamber open loudly and The Lich walks in. "Sorry about that," he says, "I was setting up defenses around my palace. I assume you have all grown accustomed to your power?" They all nod.
"A question, if I may," says Nitocris. "If you know all of this because the Word of Knowledge let you know, how did you know how to use its powers to figure all that out in the first place?" Everyone looks at The Lich, expecting an answer.
"Well, erm, there are also other kinds of powers that the Words provide us that we don't even knowingly activate. One of mine, which I have named the Omniscient Scholar, gives me access to all mortal spheres of knowledge. It has made me an expert in every single subject you can think of," replies The Lich. "That's how."
"So you're saying ancient scholars studied gods before us? Has this sort of thing happened before?" Asks Caterina.
"Only once. The old gods were extremely evil and corrupt, so the ancient theurges sealed away the power of the Words when they were inevitably slain by their followers for being so evil."
"So how did that seal break, then?" Asks Fikre.
"Not even the Word of Knowledge will tell me that. Whatever caused this must have been from a completely foreign power not from this world." I think he knows more than he's letting on.
"Back to the matters at hand, though. You all still have yet to master the innate power that comes with having any Word of Creation. By focusing on a person, place, or thing, you can receive a vision of that as if you were there, assuming there are no theurgies or low magic wards that block you from seeing in that area. Go ahead and try it now. Close your eyes and focus," says The Lich. Fikre closes his eyes and concentrates hard on his mother and sister. A hazy image of them appear in his mind, and he thinks he can make out what they're saying.
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"Mommy, where's brother?"
"I don't know, little one. Keep running."
The vision abruptly ends. "That's not all," says The Lich. "By focusing very hard, you can reposition yourself anywhere in the world instantly. Observe." The Lich closes his eyes, and suddenly, he disappears and reappears about a foot to his left.
"Incredible!" Shouts Barbatus. "We can travel anywhere in the world instantly!?"
"Correct," says The Lich. "Although that doesn't make you invincible by any means. Traveling straight to the heart of a volcano would still probably kill you, but for any of us it would probably take a few minutes. There's yet one more thing we have yet to discuss, and that's the power to receive followers. Now that we are gods, each of us has a variety of abilities we can utilize to accept and aid worshippers. These, however, will come to you naturally as you accumulate them, so there's no need to go into detail here. Now that everything is out of the way, you may all be on your merry ways. Farewell for now, friends. R'luh Bthnknahorr!" As The Lich chants something unintelligible, everyone except Beelzebub is lifted up by a seemingly invisible force and gently placed outside the palace.
"Well, it's been terrible meeting all of you," says Nitocris. She instantaneously blinks away using the technique The Lich taught them; the others quickly follow suit.
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Well, shit. Looks like I'm all alone again. What now? I've got nowhere else to go, no home, and people will probably run in fear the second they see me. I suppose all I can do right now is try my best to help whatever survivors of Ancalia I find. Fikre closes his eyes and concentrates hard on the lake he met The Lich at. When he opens them, he's there. Wow! That was way easier than I thought it would be. I guess the first thing I need to do is make some sort of home for myself. Fikre walks around, looking until he finds a suitably large cliff face. "This will do," he says. "Gift of Underworld: Cavernwright!" His speech seemingly springs to life as the face of the cliff molds itself into a cave shaped exactly as Fikre envisioned it. Okay, this can work. Fikre walks inside, feeling the damp floor under all four of his feet. How is there water in here already? It was just formed. I also need a way to close off the entrance so only I can get inside. Otherwise, I can't fall asleep completely safe. Hmm... "Gift of Underworld: Cavernwright!" A wall of stone closes off the entrance to the cave, completely hiding the cave's existence. And now I can use another gift to pass through the wall. I can enter/exit the cave as I please! Fikre focuses on walking through the wall of stone, and he phases through it as if it wasn't even there at all, ending up on the outside.
"Wow, that worked better than expected," he says. I can use my constant gift of Underworld, Borer Beneath, to effortlessly pass through natural stone as I please. Now all I have to do is figure out what to do next...
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Mengu is about to fall asleep in his quarters when he spots a humanoid figure sitting in the corner of his room.
"State your business here," says Mengu.
"I-I am here to... invite you to a... m-meeting," says the figure. It steps out from the shadows, revealing itself to be a hideous insectoid creature. Mengu feels the urge to vomit.
"Did that damn skeleton send you? I already told him I am not interested! I can discover my own power through meditation. I don't need his pity or instructions!"
"He is not... a-asking this time," says the insectoid. Mengu quickly draws his sword and moves to attack the creature, but his sword simply moves through its body. For a split second, Mengu notices the area that his sword struck briefly turned into a swarm of insects before reforming itself. "Y-You really think... I would come unprepared to m-meet a god?" Mengu furrows his brow in anger. The insectoid turns to leave, but Mengu stops him.
"Before you go, tell your master that using the armor as a spell battery has far deeper consequences that he could ever possibly fathom. Not only has he destroyed the seal the ancient theurges used to hold off the night roads, but he has also alerted something far, far more dangerous," Mengu says. The insectoid collapses into a swarm of mosquitoes and flies out of Mengu's window. For but a moment, just as Mengu is falling asleep, he swears he sees a lanky, dark figure standing over him.