A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse

"Good afternoon Gnorl." I said to the orc, greeting him as he sized me up. He didn"t look particularly perturbed by the fact that I knew his name, and instead continued to calmly study me. The orc"s pet, the infamous Hunahpu, dismounted from his back and stepped between him and me.

And then the thing, an enormous, ebony-furred feline, bared its fangs at me, its amber-colored eyes narrowing to thin slits. Guskaxa stepped between myself and the panther and growled at the panther. I chuckled at my wolf"s display.

Gnorl himself was about two meters tall. He wore armor fashioned from some sort of dark green chitin, unlike any chitin I had seen so far. His armor was dense like it was fabricated from a gigantic insect that dwarfed any I had seen to date, including my ma.s.sive spider-ghoul.

Gnorl possessed healthy, thick muscles, and he had an intimidating looking sword at his side. There was also a faint aura of multi-hued magic that surrounded him, magic unlike any I had seen to date. When I researched it, I heard the voice of the domain of knowledge whisper into my mind.

"He"s a shaman of some sort. Shamans commune with lesser nature spirits, ones that care to commune with mortals. They grant him weak but flashy magical spells, ones just strong enough enough to cow weaklings, like the goblins." The domain explained. And then the domain of magic chuckled, before adding that the domain of knowledge was correct.

I waited for a second to see if Gnorl would talk first and quickly concluded that Gnorl wasn"t going to initiate a conversation. Which meant that I"d have too.

"What can I say, or do, to get you to engage verbally with me Gnorl? I would like for you to serve me, and it"s more difficult... though not impossible, for me to figure out what you would like without you talking to me." I explained, deciding to deal with the orc honestly.

Gnorl looked at me curiously, one of his eyebrows raised when I said this. He studied me a moment longer, before beginning to talk to me.

"Who are you? And what have you done with my goblins?" He asked. His voice was a low growl. There was a look of annoyance on his face and agitation flashed in his eyes. I chuckled and smiled at him.

His question made sense. The goblins continued to prostrate themselves, even in front of Gnorl.

"There, that"s it! Was that so hard?" I asked, a smile on my face as I asked that question. And then I considered how to reply to the question. I opted for honesty. Or at least, I opted for honesty in my intention. As for honesty with regards to my background, I was going to tell Gnorl the same lie that I told the goblins.

"I am Cosecha, a friendly spirit. I am a relative newborn and I seek to gain worshipers. Now, what would it take for you to serve me?" I asked, openly displaying my ambition and intention. But something changed in the orc when the word "spirit" left my lips.

His eyes opened wide in shock, and a cruel grin danced on his lips. He slowly rose a hand up towards me. Shortly after I finished my statement, he opened the hand he had been raising towards me and I watched his multi-hued aura come to life.

On the minimap, his icon turned red. And a shadow shot out of me, speedily crawling through the ground in an inhuman and terrifying display of undead rage. It went through the panther between us, causing the thing to freeze and begin to vibrate intensely, like it was having a seizure or something.

I quickly checked its condition with my ability to appraise people and animals. It listed the condition of the creature as "paralyzed and scared", which explained why it didn"t try to attack the shadow.

A second later an ethereal net was shot out of his hands, and it flew towards me.

My shadow reached him before his net reached me. And then the thing leaped out of the ground, suddenly going from a one-dimensional puddle of darkness dashing through the floor to a three-dimensional ent.i.ty that was determined to attack the orc. He took a step back, shocked by this, and pulled out his sword. Meanwhile, his net was still sailing towards me.

It sailed towards me at an incredible speed, but it wasn"t fast enough that I couldn"t react to it. The thing that was whipping through the air towards me was clearly magical, as conjuring it caused Gnorl"s aura to flare to life. It was made of a strange sort of airy material and was growing thicker and thicker the closer it got to me as if it were expanding to accommodate my size.

I watched it and allowed it to approach me. I was confident in my abilities and could recognize what this was: it was an attempt to capture me. Which logically meant that whatever the orc had just tossed at me, some sort of spell of binding, would be something that attempted to impair my movement. Which meant that it would fail.

A part of me considered using my power to change the orc"s hostility, even though I could only use it twice every twelve hours. I knew that if I did that I could engage the orc in conversation, and possibly prevent whatever fighting was about to occur. Probably stop the fighting in fact.

That would have been an easy option to pick. It would have made sense. But a part of me wanted to allow this battle to occur. I was strong enough that I didn"t have to worry about losing this fight. There was no real chance of that happening. And I could use this fight to see what choices I have in battle. I also knew that winning this fight in combat would make me even more awe-inspiring in the eyes of my followers.

I weighed the two options in my head for a second. And then I decided that the occasional fight was fine, so long as I didn"t let it get out of hand. Especially if there were things to be gained by fighting.

And after a split second of waiting, the net reached me.

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The strange net that the orc threw at me made contact with my skin, specifically, it made contact with my flaming arm. And then it was repelled off of me, by some invisible force I wasn"t aware of. Before my very eyes, the net had touched me and then was forcibly pushed off of my skin. It was like someone was batting it away. And then I received a pleasant and enlightening notification.

[Alert: An alteration spell ent.i.tled "Net Of Hate" was just cast and aimed at you. The spell hit, but since it was a spell that would have immobilized you, it failed to affect you. The spell "Net Of Hate" has been added to your grimoire via one of the magic domain"s newly unlocked pa.s.sive powers.]

This surprised the orc even more than it surprised me. He was able to watch it while fending off my shadow, as the thing was a b.e.s.t.i.a.l ent.i.ty with no intelligence to speak of. It mindlessly swung ponderous appendages of semi-solid darkness at the orc, who batted each strike away or swung his sword through them. It wasn"t a challenge for him.

Gnorl was angered at how ineffective his attack had been. And so he opened his mouth, a large maw filled with sharp, dagger-like teeth, and issued a command. "Hunahpu! Kill the traitors." He bellowed, now determined to keep me on my toes.

His pet panther reared back and lunged forward, dashing towards the goblins that stood between all of us. They had largely ignored the orc, seemingly focusing on their devotion to me, but the panther was another story.

The goblins understandably got up and dashed away, scattering in a number of directions. This was a bit annoying, but I didn"t mind that they weren"t slavishly loyal. It was probably better overall that they be intelligent and preserve themselves more than that they were zealots, especially because it wouldn"t have made much sense for them to be zealots at this point. I hadn"t really earned that sort of loyalty yet. I would, in time, but that sort of trust and devotion has to be earned.

That said, I didn"t give the panther a chance to do anything, opening up the earth underneath the feline with my ability to control the earth. I did so in eerie, menacing silence. The panther immediately fell into the hole that opened up underneath it.

I wasn"t planning to hurt the creature, so I willed the earth that had just opened up underneath the thing to soften to the point that it wouldn"t hurt the panther and would allow it to breathe while I engaged its master, while grabbing the panther with my mind so it didn"t fall far.

And then I willed the hole I had created to gently close, trapping the panther underneath a thick layer of dirt and rock. I released my mental grip on the animal and turned to look at Gnorl.

Gnorl was still engaged with my shadowy servant. The thing had taken on a resembling something akin to a bear, albeit one of the same inky darkness as shadows. It opened its mouth in a motion that resembled a roar, but a silent one, as it rose a ma.s.sive, light-absorbing and destroying limb, and swung it at the orc. Gnorl batted it away and roared at the bear-shadow, and a second later turned to look in the direction of the goblins.

He was surprised to see nothing. No goblins, no panthers. The goblins had speedily fled to the treeline that ringed the encampment and were now watching this strange confrontation. And his panther was stuck underground, alive and unhurt but indisposed.

This moment panicked the orc shaman, who proceeded to unleash a monstrous roar and savagely punched the shadowy bear hara.s.sing him in the face, sending the thing into the dirt and sprawling away. He then turned his gaze back at me and began to attempt to cast a magical spell at me. I wouldn"t let him.

As he moved to attack me, concentrating on me, I felt an ocean of hostility surge into me. That was thanks to the connections I shared with my undead creations, who were hostile to anyone who threatened me. I took a deep breath and willed the hostility away, forcing my servants into a state of pa.s.sive-aggression as opposed to aggressive-aggression.

I focused on Gnorl so that my power would properly target the chieftain and then attempted to lift him off the ground with my telekinetic ability. I didn"t even physically aim using my hands, instead, I relied on my mind to be capable of handling the task of lifting one orc into the air. I wasn"t disappointed.

The orc was suddenly, unwillingly lifted into the air. I didn"t struggle at all with his weight, which was unsurprising since I had dealt with the goblins earlier, and the panther just now without any problems and my version of this power was supposedly a limitless version. He ignored his sudden weightlessness and continued preparing a spell to unleash at me.

Before he could unleash his spell I envisioned my mental grip on him yanking his arms back and his head straight up so that he couldn"t target or see me. He howled as my power obeyed my mental envisionments, yanking his arms behind him and twisting his head. The howl was bloodcurdling.

"Enough!" I shouted, cutting off the orc"s bloodcurdling cry. A sudden and intense silence filled the air. I willed my shadowy servant, a creature that the necromancy subdomain generated for me, back to me and back into my shadow. The ent.i.ty willingly came back to me, once it studied the orc and determined that he couldn"t do anything to me anymore.

And then I pointed a finger at the orc and made use of one of my more potent abilities: the ability to shut off a magic-user"s magic for a full day. A thin ray of eldritch, white light shot out of my fingertip and stabbed into Gnorl"s chest, aimed squarely at his heart.

The orc"s eyes widened in disbelief as both he and I began to watch his magic fade and dissipate. He did so internally, no doubt aware of his magical energy fading into nothingness, and I did so externally.

I watched the multi-hued aura that surrounded him fade into nothingness, and he began to make pitiful noises of disbelief and sorrow, even as I placed him on the ground. I didn"t even drop him, I actually placed him respectfully on the ground. He fell to his knees and began to sob as if he had just learned that a close personal friend of his had just pa.s.sed away.

This display lasted a few minutes, and in the middle of it, I even released Hunahpu, Gnorl"s pet. When the orc finally stopped crying, I began to talk to him.

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"Are you done? Or should I ready my shadow to attack you once again?" I asked, annoyed that the creature had dared to launch an attack before even asking me for my name. I thought it was rude.

"What do you mean "Am I done"? You... could have killed my pet, and you dared to take my magic from me!" The orc said, looking up at me. His eyes were filled with rage and with sorrow.

I sighed. "You attacked me first. All I said was that I was a spirit and you took that as a sign that I was okay to attack. That was obviously a mistake. I am far stronger than you, and I have no clue what led you to believe you"d not only survive attacking me but actually come out on top." I explained and also revealing, showing the orc that I was genuinely mystified by its remarks.

Gnorl hissed at me, the sound surprising, deep, and probably scary to a human but not to me. I willed the earth and dirt underneath him to soften to the solidity of quick-sand and watched for the split second I allowed the earth to swallow him up for. He let out a gasp as his lower body and arms sunk beneath the earth"s surface.

And as quickly as I had unsolidified the earth, I returned the liquid-like earth around his kneecaps to its naturally solid and dense state. He was trapped, once more.

"You didn"t answer my question Gnorl. Are. You. Done?" I asked, allowing the orc"s breaths to determine when I whispered each word of my final question.

The orc looked down at himself, acknowledged that his pet was here and unharmed, and then back at my elemental form. And then he nodded, grudgingly. And his icon on my mini-map went from red to blue, which I took as a sign of his sincerity.

I willed the earth that trapped him in an unmovable prison to soften, and then I lifted him up using telekinesis. The earth underneath him solidified, and then I dropped him. He landed well and began to look at me once more.

His eyes were filled with a mixture of emotions. One of them was sorrow at the fact that his companion could have gotten hurt, and that his magical powers had been stripped away. Another was anger at the fact that he was soundly defeated. And the last was a bit of respect for me, the creature who had defeated him in the first place.

"Now... care to explain why you attacked me?" I asked, looking at him studiously. The orc nodded and then began to explain.

"I am a shaman. But not the usual kind of shaman. I"m a hunter-shaman, one who hunts down spirits. You are a spirit so I hunted you down. Or... I tried too anyway." He told me, explaining it as if it made all the sense in the world. I looked at him in disbelief for a few seconds. After realizing he was being sincere I wanted to smack him upside the head with one of my tendrils.

"Do other spirits look like me?" I asked, annoyed at his obvious lapse in judgment.

He turned to look at me and studied me for a split second. "No... But, spirits are shapeshifters!" He confessed, before adding in something that was probably true and probably was a fair counterpoint. I hissed, aware that he might well be right, and moved on before he could try to add anything else to what he said.

"Now back to the matter at hand. I want you to serve me. Was my shadow and I trouncing you enough to secure your loyalty? Or am I gonna have to do something else to secure it?" I asked, hoping that the fight at least had the upside of securing another servant for me to have.

He thought for a second about what to say, before shaking his head. "I"ll serve you! Just... let me have my magic back, could you?" He asked.

I wasn"t sure if I could restore his magic before the twenty-four period was up, but I was alerted by the domain of the knowledge that I could just end the condition on him. I did so by wishing it done and watched as his magic power began to slowly recharge.

Tears of joy filled his eyes as he began to feel his magical power coming back to him. He began to silently weep, grateful to feel his own power coming back to him.

And with that, began another period of peace. One that would last for two hours, until the sun began to set, marking the end of my third day alive and awake.

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I didn"t return to the Silver Xana as the sun descended below the horizon, covering the lands beyond the forest in the darkness that the forest had grown familiar with. Instead, I found myself in a corner of the forest, unsurprisingly in a clearing that allowed some early-night moonlight to shine down upon it, with my allies beside me. I was once again in my human form.

I carefully studied the ground at my feet. I felt it underneath me. It was soft to the touch and only somewhat resistant to the effects of wind and rain. I was standing on top of an entrance to the strange underground region wherein most of my undead servants had come from.

They surrounded me, looking excitedly at the ground I stood on top of. This wasn"t because they wanted to worship the ground I walked on, but because they recognized that I was standing on top of an entrance to the place many of them came from. I looked up at them and smiled.

"Alright, we"re gonna go exploring the world underneath us. But while we"re doing that I"m gonna get to know each of you." I told them. They looked up at me and nodded, most likely as appreciative of the fact that I wanted to understand them as any regular undead being was whenever the necromancer responsible for it wanted to get to know it.

They didn"t know it, but my thoughts were divided. In the time since I left the goblin encampment, I had been thinking about and doing several things at once.

The first thing I was doing was both gaining control over more ants and getting my ants to evolve. I pumped the creatures full of statistical boosts, causing my number of myrmekes to skyrocket.

I had ordered them to come to where I was, and even now my enhanced hearing could pick up the noise of their powers to control the earth chipping away at the distance between them and I. A part of me, due probably to the influences of the domain of civilization and the subdomain of Hymenoptera wanted to build a vast, bug-based empire that spanned entire planets.

That part of me was excited by the fact that there were millions of ants, bees, and wasps on this island. They far outnumbered most other living creatures, and certainly outnumbered all of the humans I could detect. Almost comically so.

The second thing I was doing was mulling over an idea that the system had put in my head. A worldwide burst of healing energy. I liked the idea of it, of announcing my emergence into this world by performing a world-spanning and undeniable act of goodness and thereby generating endless goodwill. I wasn"t sure if I wanted to do it just yet, but I couldn"t deny the appeal.

And the third thing was studying the list of synergistic powers I had gained in the wake of the tutorial coming to an end. It was an extensive, and fascinating list of powers.

As I studied it, I grinned at my undead followers and felt my Formicidae minions inching closer and closer to me. I could hear their feet, their acid, their claws, and their powers at work in the cases of the ma.s.sive myrmekes" that aided the unevolved ants working to reach me, to breach the surface.

I could have helped, but I wanted them to practice breaching the earth by themselves. I wanted the myrmekes among them to practice their own version of earth control, and to master it quickly.