Mana. I finally had enough to work with, and the air was rich with tiny crystal droplets. The sheer concentration of magic around me was beginning to push back the irradiated aura of the desert, slowly healing the land of the masses of wild magic soaked into it from that long-ago war.

And the world heard me. Things came in from the deep desert, hares and scrawny-legged deer dipping their cautious heads towards the waters. Predators lurked now, taking their picks from the grazing animals, retreating into the grass.

Hyenas prowled the oasis today, walking among the grass. They had the usual spotted skin and dark, laughing eyes, but their environment had warped them. They carried the ghosts of their ancestors in a cloud around them, a black mist that sometimes bent in the shape of a hyena’s muzzle, staring out watchfully with dark eyes and letting their growls fill the air.

Even they kept their distance from Ramses, who had taken up occupancy in the shallows where I'd dug up a swathe of soft grey mud to bathe in.

Deathpack Hyena

[ Bronze ]

Kingdom Animalia

Age - 3 Years

Physique - Unranked

Arcana - Bronze

Psyche - Unranked

Diet - Grazing Animals

Biome - Arid Desert

Cycle - Flexible

Highly coordinated hunters, the Deathpack hunts by exhaustion, following their prey through the wastes and coralling them. Adapted to go for days without water and to maintain a steady pace for hours, they employ magic to conjure howling illusions of their fallen kin, the sound of their howling able to terrify larger predators and flush out game. In lean times, they can crack bones with their teeth to suck out the marrow.

Notable Features - Resistant to radiation, extreme desert adaptation, pack mentality, minor instinctive necromancy.

A very interesting adaptation. For a moment I allowed myself to be distracted as one of them came too close to the depths, chasing a rabbit that vaulted through the shallows in splattering hops, and Lazarus surged up from below. A black shadow exploding from the water, his one good claw snapping forward to take the prey by the throat. The rest was inevitable - his weight and his armored shell winning out against the thrashing, snarling thing in his grip. The ghosts howled, barked, yip and laughed in a hysterical mob, but there was nothing they could do.

The waters closed over and the battle went on for a few seconds more below. I felt the triumphant bellow of satisfaction in my creature’s mind, the poor lobster’s pride needing a little nurturing after the loss of his hand. The new one was growing back but still small.

I turned my attention back to the matter at hand after claiming my spark of soul.

With Mana from the dead elves, I could make my own hunters. Not just defenders like Lazarus and Ramses, but ones that would roam the desert, bringing back prey for me to study and devour. I had dreams of crocodiles and jackals but- for now- I was limited to what I had to study.

The hyenas were already making a quick retreat, and it was hard to alter a creature in a state of panic. Their souls would fight the Mana and warp my designs, possibly fatally. My plans for them would have to wait.

Instead, I settled on a seemingly small and innocuous thing that had been lurking in the shallows for hours. A soft, golden-furred marsupial, something between a squirrel and an ape - a lemur. It had wide and wing-like ears combined with a short muzzle, but what struck me most was the creature’s enormous golden eyes, their pupils doubled and fused so that they resembled hourglasses. Those eyes-

They would be terrifying on a predatory creature. As would the furless and leathery hands, just close enough to human to be unsettling, with four incredibly long thin fingers ending in curved dagger-claws.

I fed the surplus of Mana down into the nervous thing as it stood trying to crack a bit of dried seed with its jaws. It hunched, confused, but I soothed it with calming thoughts, making it see my memories of the Goddess while I worked. The seed toppled from those lanky fingers. It stared up at the statue I had made, even as its body warped under my sculpting will.

It needed to be bigger. Much bigger. I was still limited in my capacity to change a living thing, too much interference causing its own inherent Mana to lose cohesion. To truly get the apex predator I wished out of such a humble beginning I’d need multiple courses of guided evolution, broken up by time for the creature’s Mana-flame to adapt - a process would be sped along by it devouring others and consuming fragments of their Mana.

For now, I focused on size, filling in wiry muscle as the creature’s limbs stretched and its spine extended out, gaining new vertebrae with sudden popping, gristly sounds. Soon it stood hunched, the size of a large ape, with a fur that now shone in colors of red and gold striped down its back.

It let out a confused little chirp. Ramses burbled from the mud nearby, watching with amusement as it scurried up onto a rocky mound, excited, feeling the new strength and poise flow through its body. I was surprised myself - that elongated body had an accordion stretch to it that made the beast comical, even as its huge eyes were, admittedly, quite unsettling. I wouldn’t want to see them watching me from a dark place.

I had one last change to make. I changed the middle finger of the right hand, thickening it to become the central post with the rest of the still-thin digits radiating out. The claw, formerly meant for digging insects out of holes, became a scything curve of sharpened bone. Since I wasn’t obligated to work only in natural materials, I forged the length from obsidian. Terribly sharp stuff. Glittering black.

In the night, it would almost be impossible to see the blow coming.

The lemur stared in amusement at its deadly tool. Amusement turned to excitement as it cut down a swathe of grass with a flicking gesture.

Scythe Lemur

[ Bronze ]

Kingdom Animalia

Age - 12 Years

Physique - Bronze

Arcana - Null

Psyche - Bronze

Diet - Flesh

Biome - Arid Desert

Cycle - Diurnal

Once a small and frightened thing surviving on sharp hearing, agile movements, and its ability to forage for tiny grubs, this creature has been blessed with a core's strength and made into a predator. Those very traits that served it as prey now let it hunt with ruthless efficiency, long limbs and a single bladed finger granting it a significant advantage in reach over most animals. Born from the Oasis Dungeon.

Notable Features - Resistant to radiation, sensitive hearing.

I was finding the lemur's mind quite pleasant. Bright, sharp, curious in a way none of my past creation's had been. It was constantly scouring the world with a playful gaze that I found infected me easily.

So. I gave it a gift. When I'd leveled I'd unlocked a choice of new Schema or a Boon. One would strengthen the diversity of my domains, while the other would strengthen a single creature.

I was very curious what my options would be.

O’ Soul of Magnanimity, Beneficient Core

He Who Fills The Skies With Light.

Choose A Blessing

Blessing of the Dowser - Within the desert, water is life. The blessed will gain an instinctive sense of water within a short radius, increased by the acuity of their natural senses.

Blessing of the Firstborn - Only available to the first of a new race, this blessing bestows boundless fertility and guides the next generation, allowing the ancestor to impart fragments of wisdom in their offspring.

Blessing of the Mimic - This blessing grants the ability to flawlessly mimic the calls of any creature the blessed has devoured. Does not grant the ability to speak true langauges.

It only took a moment of consideration before I took the Dowsing boon. The Firstborn was interesting but slow to give results, and the Mimic was clever but not impressive. The ability to find water was far more impressive, because it would allow them to find where other creatures congregated, little green spots in the oasis. Much like the hyenas come to poach from my shores, they could find prey by following water.

The blessing became ribbons of golden light, entering the beast's body and combining with its soul. Its bright eyes blinked, once, but barely seemed to understand what had changed.

With my gifts complete my hunter was ready to set out - but not alone.

The oasis began to froth as Mana-fires surged below and I brought forth life. It was exhausting, draining, to follow every bone and sinew as I formed it from nothing, working fast, needing to hold everything in a kind of stasis to keep it from dying half-formed. It felt godlike. The constant flux and weave of Mana was like blood pounding in my veins, invigorating me. The cold clarity of focus was intoxicating.

From the waters emerged two more predatory lemurs, brothers to the first. They chittered together and wove around each other in a circling, bemused show of curiosity, socializing among themselves. The skittish mentality of the little prey animal I’d started with remained, but I’d added a new kind of instinct.

To hunt. To find and test themselves against the dangers of the desert.

That pack of hyenas would make a good first task. Difficult but rewarding prey.

Go. I commanded. Hunt and return.