I found myself standing in the large cavern I had excavated using my power over soil, stone, and dirt last night. Where I stood was roughly in the middle of this ma.s.sive cavern, and I allowed myself a brief moment with which to admire my own handiwork. The cavern that surrounded me was utterly gigantic. It was several times wider than all of Comillas and was perhaps a twentieth of the total length of the forest under which it was located. It wasn"t shaped in any particularly unnatural way, rather I merely wanted it to be ma.s.sive, to give me a wide amount of s.p.a.ce to work with. I had succeeded in that regard.
It was eerily illuminated by my own powers, specifically by my ability to generate light. I kept the place illuminated because I wasn"t comfortable in total darkness, an odd idiosyncrasy that I and the domains felt was probably due to the beginning of my life being a period I spent in darkness.
The glow that allowed sight-possessing visitors who relied on light to see was a powerful and seemingly sourceless one, but for a moment out of curiosity I looked at a corner of the cavern and willed the light to vanish. Only the area I was looking at was abruptly bathed in darkness, and after a few seconds, I allowed the light I created in this chamber to refill the darkened place. I turned my attention back to the matter at hand.
My shadow was inhabited by a strange demon, a creature known as a praereptor demon. I closed my eyes and allowed my not-so-mini-map to consume my vision.
The gigantic map had only recently stopped expanding. The "mini-map" that my "Tremor-sense" power had granted me was no longer a mini-map and now could be more accurately described as a sprawling thing, one that even in its miniaturized form informed me of every step taken by the several million inhabitants of Puerto Rico.
Studying either the miniaturized map or its more expansive form filled my heart with a powerful tug of ambition. I could see numerous locations filled with enough life for them to obviously be settlements of some sort that happened to be populated by sapient creatures. Only a few of those were located on the island"s surface.
Of the surface settlements, there was the city of San Gerardo, Comillas, the goblin tribe, a tribe of orcs, a number of satyrs and gnomes, a tribe of creatures called hyenoids, a small group of ogres and a final group of creatures called kobolds.
The surface was also inhabited by a handful of creatures who lived alone, or in pairs. Those included things like a solitary rusalka, an aquatic elf who lived along the coast furthest from San Gerardo, a single hag who lived in a clearing in the forest, and a handful of other apparently lonely creatures.
Unlike the number of settlements above the ground, there were many settlements of creatures who lived underneath the island. Of the living creatures dwarves, dark elves, driders, grave giants, gugs, reptilefolk, and insects dwelled in ma.s.sive colonies or other communities. Many kinds of deceased creatures could be found underneath the island as well, of a.s.sorted kinds of creatures.
Something that surprised me was that there were few solitary creatures who lived underneath Puerto Rico. The ancient black dragon dwelled in what appeared to be a ma.s.sive underground cavity, relatively alone aside from the company of small, unintelligent creatures like worms and other bottom-feeders.
Other solitary, subterranean creatures included a creature cla.s.sified as a "Shadowfolk", a single "Maddened-man", and a handful of other creatures with bizarre names. In time I"d turn my full attention to them.
For now, for the first time, I turned my full attention to one of the two cities of dark elves located underneath Puerto Rico. One was located not far from where my lair was located, and another was located further away from human civilization.
Both had a fair number of kilometers separating them, and a number of other settlements between them as well. I turned my attention to the one closest to me. I studied it, and carefully scrutinized what I could learn from my powerful "Tremor-sense".
And when I felt as prepared as I could I quietly teleported myself to a momentarily uninhabited tunnel that led in and out of the city, my shadow carrying my newest minion along for the ride.
I found myself inside a pitch-black tunnel. Off in the distance, much to my surprise, I could see a gentle glow that provided the strange city of dark-elves I was intent on visiting with something surprising: a source of insignificant, yet noticeable light. It drew my eyes, and so I hurled myself forward so that I could get a better look at it.
I sped through the tunnel, reveling in one of my odder abilities: the ability to move at the speed of light and found myself at the edge of a ledge overlooking the city. Thanks to that power I moved through the length of the tunnel at a speed exceeding the speed of sound.
In a span of time that took less than a heartbeat, I had gone from inside of my lair to standing on a ledge admiring something I had never seen before: a city.
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What stretched out before me was a gigantic city. It inhabited a cavern more than three times the size of the cavern my lair was located in. The top of the cavern was so high in the subterranean cave the city was located in, I had to stretch my neck upwards to see it. It wasn"t anywhere near the edge of my vision but it was still several kilometers high.
The buildings that made up the city were carved from stone but it wasn"t the same stone that I trodded on with each step I took. The stone I was walking atop was a dark, coa.r.s.e stone, but the stones that made up the dark elven cityscape before me were multihued and were partially responsible for the light that faintly drifted upwards and provided the city with the weak glow that made sight difficult, but possible within the city.
I could see differently sized buildings throughout the city, and they were all harshly made, with a clear focus on functionality rather than any sort of focus on decor or aesthetics. They varied in color but the larger buildings, by and large, were made from stones with darker hues and thus were made all the harsher on the eyes, requiring someone to squint to see them properly.
Some of the buildings stood out even at a glance. The one that stood out the most was a building that sat within and then expanded out of a depression on the cavern"s floor. This building was a large one, which stretched upwards into the cavernous sky that loomed above the city. It was inhabited by many people, all of whom were dark-elves.
The city had countless inhabitants but not all of them were dark-elves. Many were, several thousand of the place"s inhabitants were members of the race I had come here seeking to make contact with, though others weren"t. I could sense humans, dwarves, elves of other kinds, and a number of other races within and throughout the city.
Another building that stood out to me wasn"t a building in the traditional sense but was instead an impressive arena. From there I could hear the sounds of combat, and of audiences reacting to bloodsport. The noises coming from the arena were, in fact, some of the loudest noises I could hear.
I ignored the arena for now and focused instead on the gigantic building that sat in the depression. I studied it, and wondered what it was for a few moments before ultimately deciding to use a power I had never used before to get a good look at it and actually learn about it: "Peruse the past".
I targeted the building and then willed my power to activate. I was pleasantly surprised when I received a notification that gave me a great deal to consider.
[The Morthonian mansion: This ancient temple once served as the holiest site dedicated to the demon-lord Morthos located in this world. This temple was built by some of the founders of the city of Aronms, dark elves who spoke to Morthos himself and found themselves enthralled by the voice of their master and patron. They even said that it was at his command that his city began to be built.
Morthos was the demon-lord of persuasion and was believed to have had a silver tongue. He was a master persuader and was rare among demon-lords because he sought to behave non-violently and tempt mortals into evil actions without violence. He was worshiped by countless evil cultists and his followers were depraved individuals who valued the power of a subtle word over a swift stab.
The purpose of the Morthonian mansion now that the mythic age is over is one of administration and record-keeping. This strange building serves as the seat from which the city"s bureaucrats do their work and serves as the seat of power of the city"s historians, influential individuals whose words are heeded in and out of the city.]
I considered what to do first, but a part of me, that ambitious spark located deep in my soul that salivated at the thought of building a subterranean empire, was fully awake now. And that part desired for me to stop by the building known as the morthonian mansion and see what sort of mischief I could raise there. I grinned and began my descent into the city.
I did so by taking several steps forward. My final step forward saw me step off the ledge I was standing atop of and beginning a careful, controlled descent to the ground far below me thanks to my light manipulation ability. This caused me to get another pleasant notification.
[Alert: You may now complete the quest to gain the lowest tier of influence over the subdomain of the air. To do so, simply allow a creature to fly. It is enough to allow them to believe they have flown, so this quest can be done with some creativity.] Explained the system, bringing a wide grin to my face as it did so.
"I see we"re using the word "fly" very loosely." I excitedly and somewhat sarcastically muttered, even as I began my continued my downwards descent into the darkened depths of the city"s lowest levels. I chuckled at the wittiness of my own remark and waited to reach the ground far below us.