Once the battle was over, Althos stood near the edge of where the fighting had taken place. It wasn't alone, it was accompanied by the demon who had instructed the godling that its name was "Raverangos". The orcs were studying it and they were also listening to the statements of various orcs who had seen it in battle, as well as the declarations of the orcs who had become its servants. The godling wasn't particularly listening to their conversation but it could hear bits and pieces of it through its powerful senses. What it heard surprised it but didn't particularly interest it.

The godling was a bit surprised to hear the orcs who had sworn their loyalty to it be upfront about their allegiance to the godling. They were honest with their peers and informed the crowd of their sincere belief that without the godling they might have lost the battle, or at least suffered casualties. And to this point, one particular voice was especially compelling.

The godling's newest servant, the rogue named Gallow, reminded his peers that his wounds weren't caused by the godling. He hadn't been defeated by the strange creature, but by the trident-user that one of the combat archers slew. The other orcs had thought he was either dead or would be dead soon and no one had bothered to help out aside from the godling.

At this frustratingly accurate and logical point, the orcs who were a bit more hesitant muttered that Gallow had a point. The orcs who were more welcoming to Althos got a bit more excited since they sensed that that argument made it more likely that the creature would stay with them, and that wasn't just the godling's existing minions.

The demon, Raverangos, made contributions to the battle that helped convince some of the orcs in the raiding group, particularly a young combat archer who had no real issue serving Althos if it meant that the demon was his ally, that the godling's strength was either real outright or had the potential to be real.

While the orcs were discussing what to do with Althos and Althos's allies, Althos itself felt no concern or rush to go over to them. For the most part, the godling was content to be in the corner, with its demonic pet.

Althos idly ran its hands on the skin of the demon's stomach. The demon itself seemed to enjoy it and closed its eyes as it felt the pleasurable sensation of the deity's hand. It seemed to subtly shiver in response to its masters' touch and seemed genuinely delighted to be the recipient of gentle affection from the entity.

This was in and of itself impressive to the orcs who had been studying the idle deity. They had been raised on tales of demons, being told by their parents that the fierce creatures were sin made manifest, and hate embodied. So to see one so enamored with the creature who wanted to make them its servants was something that left quite the impression and because of the nature of orcish culture that impression was a strong one.

At this point, the orcs had a decision to make. Quite a few actually. But they couldn't make it while standing still, and they wouldn't be able to make it officially for a bit longer than they anticipated. Bazur gestured at the godling motioning for it and the demon to join them. As a gesture of goodwill Talvin also began to walk towards the godling, meeting it halfway.

Talvin started things off by moving to show respect to the godling and the demon it had turned into a servant. He did this by bowing his head, causing a few of the more hostile orcs to gasp in shock at the worst he chose to give to the godling and its pet. He waited a second before speaking, and when he spoke his voice was filled with reverence and respect for the creature in front of him. Not quite for the godling, but the demon, even though the orc spoke to the godling.

"Althos... you have my respect and my thanks for not only participating in the battle yourself by protecting us from death, but also for healing Gallow and bringing in that demon of yours. Gallow is a skilled fighter, and if he hadn't distracted the soul-trident user that bastard would have been able to harry other members of this group. We recognize the important contributions you indirectly made to the fight and the direct ones made by your demon."

The orc seemed awed to be able to say that. He took this time to stare at the creature, the demon was a full meter and a half taller than the orc at least. His eyes examined its body, looking it up and down before he turned back to the creature's master.

His voice was also loud enough that the orcs behind him could hear him if they were paying attention. He did this on purpose, and the orcish archer was curious as to who was listening, even if he had no real way of knowing.

"But I'm getting ahead of myself and not being particularly polite. Good afternoon. My name is Talvin. Athos you have our entire group's respect. I will not stop anyone from deciding to join you. My question for you is this: would you be opposed to staying with us? You have five servants now, and I can sense that some of the people here will likely join you. If you leave with your existing servants it'd severely affect our current power, not to mention the possibility of others joining you. Especially since you have the siblings who are the warriors who took the most risk at the start of our battles."

The godling listened to the elderly orc with respect. It had waited to hear what the man had to say, out of curiosity and out of respect for him as a fellow leader.

Looking at what passed for a hierarchy among the orcs, the godling knew better than to think they had a formal command structure, but it could tell that the orcish archer was someone the orcs trusted. So the godling decided to ask a question of its own.

"So Talvin... what is your plan right now? Because I have no particular plan here. I could easily be convinced to stay with your group."

At this, the orcish archer's eyes lit up. He sensed an opportunity.

"We're not staying here. Even tonight. We're leaving this town and going to the forest past the grasslands. I presume that's where you yourself came from since you happened across Ranthor before you came across me and the other archers. One of your brawlers overheard one of the soldiers talking about possible reinforcements. We're gonna take what we can get and then haul ass out of here. I'd be quite happy if you'd join us."

The orc's face was alight with joy as he said that. This gave Althos the impression that the orc didn't like towns. That wasn't a wrong impression.

The godling looked beyond the elderly archer and to its companions. They were scattered amongst the rest of the crowd, discussing their impressions of Althos and the demon. It thought about what they might like, and then realized it cared only a little bit about what they might have to say. But it did care, just a bit.

"For now can we table this discussion? I want to converse with my followers before I make a decision."

The godling's question surprised the orc. That was a surprisingly democratic decision for it to make. Though to think that this decision was made out of a democratic impulse was to give the godling more credit than it actually deserved. The godling actually just wanted to hear what people with worldly knowledge had to say about the possibilities before it.

The orc nodded at the godling and then spoke once again, its estimation of the godling having increased after the deity's declaration.

"Yes, of course. For now, we're about to split up and gather treasure. In an hour and a half, we'll be meeting at the other gate. Where you came across Ranthor. From there we'll be heading through the grassy plains."

The godling nodded as it heard this, and then the elderly orc turned to leave. When he was about halfway between the godling and the other orcs he spoke in a loud voice.

"Alright! Shut up for two seconds and lend me your ears."

This got the orc's peers to stop conversing for a second and listen to what he had to say. They turned towards him and watched him with curiosity.

"This is the plan. I'm repeating it for anyone of you who wasn't paying attention. In ninety minutes we're out of here. We're heading back to the forest. For now, take this time to grab what you want, and then head to the other gate. From there we'll be hiking for a few hours. We should be in the forest shortly before nightfall. If we stay here, we risk encountering more enemies, fueled by a desire to avenge their fellow humans. That's not worth dealing with at our numbers."

The orcs murmured various responses. Some were happy with the choice the orcish archer made, others weren't. Some whispered about approaching Althos and its servants, and others responded with the fact that they knew very little about the godling and didn't fall at its hands or have their lives saved by it.

Althos began this period of miscellaneous work by calling out to its servants. It waited for them to gather around it, and then spoke to them all at once. It didn't have much to say.

"Take your time here. Do as you wish. But just know that you all should be at the houses where the brawlers and I fought about fifteen minutes before the time Talvin says we should be at the other gate. I'd like to talk to you and get your insights about where we go from here. If you want to stay with the other orcs... I have no particular problem with that, but you'll still need to convince me."

The orcs looked at the creature, their eyes revealing they were reassessing their impressions of it. This annoyed the godling, but it held its tongue. Everyone seemed to be reassessing their impression of the creature who had shown them mercy and healed them as if they had thought it was a cruel creature.

The deity clearly had no self-awareness.

In a few minutes, the orcs began to scatter and wander the town searching for anything from survivors of their attack, to food, to alcohol, to supplies. They had less than ninety minutes left.

Within a few minutes, Althos and its demonic pet had reached where they'd spend their down-time before the beginning of the next part of the godling's day. The two of them, or rather the three of them since Samyaza had now spent a good portion of the godling's life dwelling within the deity's mind, were content to roam the parts of the small town that felt mostly abandoned.

In all likelihood, this part of the town had most likely had been abandoned long before the orcish raiders targeted this place. Even then the demon and the godling wandered separately, connected only by their relatively close proximity to each other.

The godling stood in the center of the area where it had met with and fought the trio of orcish siblings. Because of the nature of the creature's short life, it was able to experience its own dynamic growth and reflect on it acutely in this moment of silence and relative solitude. This was a rare chance for the godling to be introspective and the deity was taking it.

The angel noticed how serious the god's mind was at that moment and it decided to excuse itself.

[Althos, you can summon out me into the world if you wish for solitude. I understand wanting to take time to think. Just call out my name, and picture me leaving your body.]

Samyaza, the angel who had in little more than an hour become Althos's unofficial advisor, was keenly aware of the immature nature of the godling's emotional state. It was deeply curious as to what would occur if the godling had a chance to grow on its own and without any sort of guidance from the angel.

The deity did as it was told to do by the angel, and within a few moments, the small metallic began to materialize, entering the world slowly and deliberately.

It phased into existence slowly, taking several moments to call out to each of the metallic layers of its shell. Eventually, the creature fully formed and looking at the godling that it had spent what felt like a long time inside of. It spoke, and the godling was reminded of its unusual and nearly emotionless voice.

"I will now... leave you to your solitude."

After saying that the creature performed what seemed to be a tiny nod, and then began to increase in height. It ascended vertically, quickly increasing in speed over the course of several seconds. And with that the godling was alone for the first time since it met the angel.

Althos stood still from where it had launched an attack that knocked out Ragnor nearly 30 minutes ago and reflected on the ways it had grown in this town over the course of the hour it had spent here. To anyone else, this might seem pointless, but the deity wanted to recall all of the knowledge it had gained, and what it still had to gain while it had a chance to do so in peace.

It remembered how Ranthor fired an arrow at his back and how Samyaza had used some form of magic still unknown to the deity to shatter the arrow in mid-air. It remembered watching with contempt as Ranthor's unconscious body was dragged into the ground after he had been knocked unconscious by roots that the deity and Samyaza worked together to call out of the ground.

The deity remembered the excitement it felt when it learned of mice and the anger that coursed through it after it had killed potential followers in an over-eager rush to meet new living creatures. It also remembered that Samyaza had once served another god, a creature who evidently delighted in the usage of poisons, serpents, and illusions. At this point, Althos a very small understanding of just one of those things: illusions. And even that understanding was theoretical.

It remembered how enraged it had been when it launched an attack on the trio of orcish siblings who now served it. It remembered how it delighted in launching a truly powerful attack on the orc named Anthus. Frankly, the deity loved nothing as much as it loved fighting. It enjoyed the sensation of striking enemies down, and even the sensations of getting hit weren't so unpleasant that it turned Althos off of fighting.

The deity also enjoyed the sensation of gaining new servants. Currently, it had 6 servants who had willingly joined it. There was also Samyaza, but Samyaza wasn't yet its own servant. The angel was more like an ally than a servant.

And this brought the deity's thoughts to its most unusual actual servant: Raverangos. The deity had a basic level understanding of angels, they were odd creatures who, in the words of Samyaza, served gods. It knew a bit about orcs, monstrous humanoids who serve the strong. Heck, it even knew about humans, creatures who rode horses wore armor and used a variety of weapons in combat.

But, demons? Demons were a mystery to it. Althos knew very little about many things but its knowledge of demons was especially little. It knew that Raverangos was one of them, there were others, and that demons are afraid to give out their true names to creatures. This was apparently because knowing a demon's true name gave someone a sort of power over them.

Althos also knew that even the language of demons grew in power when spoken in unison and apparently it had the power to amplify the might of that language itself, in some weird presumably godly way. This led the creature down a dark mental path that was focused almost entirely on what it knew it didn't know.

Althos grew increasingly annoyed as it began to focus on the vast expanse of things it didn't know. There were domains and subdomains it was ignorant of, and even the ones it knew about were beyond its power aside from a domain that appeared to increase a creature's ability to engage in fisticuffs, but that only aided three of its minions for sure. It didn't really understand illusion magic yet, even though it knew that such magic was a thing that existed.

Frankly, the creature didn't even really understand the nuances of magic usage, or what magic was as a concept. To it, magic was like a muscle it could use in a variety of ways, not a collection of recipes that had specific usages and required specific things like it was to many humans.

It also knew very little about the range of lifeforms that existed in the world and beyond. It had only met one angel, one demon, some orcs, some humans, and horses. It knew that things called mice existed but hadn't seen them face to face yet, and knew that the forest it could be returning to very soon had a wider range of lifeforms in it. That excited the deity, but also made it cautious. It wondered how it could safely gain followers and meet new creatures without putting them in harm's way.

The godling knew only a few things, chief among them being that it needed more knowledge. After thinking about how little it actually concretely knew it realized that correcting that ought to be its number one goal.

This restored some of the creature's enthusiasm as having a goal and an objective in mind was always useful for a young creature. This was a good goal for it to have, particularly when coupled with its other goal of learning more about demons and what the deity assumed Samyaza's goal for the deity was: for Althos to continue building its power through the acquisition of servants, minions, and worshippers.

Shortly after it left its master's side, the demon found itself alone in a tiny hut.

It swept its thick hands over the floor around it and explored the place using a variety of senses, most notably touch and smell. It had chosen this house because it smelled a strange cocktail of scents coming from in here, and it had almost immediately followed that smell to its origins: the bodies of dead mice scattered around the hut. The creature swiftly ate each of the mice located in various holes throughout the hut whole, using its claws to barely enter the holes their corpses were in and impaling their corpses. It pulled its food towards its maw like the mice were finger-food.

It was unknowingly scavenging the carrion left behind by its master. The demon was in the hut that the godling had been in nearly half an hour ago, before it fought the orcs who now served it, and before the demon had even entered this world from the portal leading out of the Heart of Darkness.

The demon's mind was mostly blank. The few thoughts it had was that it hoped that its master would let it kill more things soon, and that it was happy to be out in the mortal world.

This might cause an omniscient onlooker to think that the demon didn't like the plane of its birth. That wasn't particularly true, but the demon didn't have as many chances to cause chaos or havoc in the world of its birth. What it really liked about the mortal world was the fleeting nature of mortal life. After all, if a mortal was killed they were dead and without intervention or manipulation they'd stay dead. That wasn't quite the case with Raverangos or others of its kind.

Demons weren't limited to one life. If the sentinel demon who was now childishly touching and playing with an ancient wooden table were to be slain it's essence would return to the nightmare plane it came into existence in. Eventually, the demon would regain its physical form.

Because of this most demons were fascinated with the fleeting nature of mortality, and they delighted in chances to inflict painful and ultimately temporary suffering by snuffing out the lives of mortals. It was often a demon's favorite past time. Though different demons did it differently.

Sentinel demons were one of the more physical sorts of demons, though in the Heart of Darkness itself they were often viewed as akin to mortal savants since they had an unusual preternatural connection to the plane itself and could create marvelously artistic locales through the forces of their wills if properly motivated or inspired. Many of the plane's greatest cities owed their construction and upkeep to particularly cunning sentinel demons.

But Raverangos was not a cunning member of its kind. It was a simple brute, who simply took over a long-abandoned castle. Not that it'd willingly let someone in on that secret.

The demon would spend the time of freedom it had been allotted exploring every centimeter of the house, and searching for things it could amuse itself with.

Samyaza continued to ascend for several minutes. It wouldn't stop until it was high in the sky.

When it was high enough that it felt safe enough to send out a message, it came to a screeching halt. It was high in the air above the small town it had seen through Althos's eyes.

The angel was still in shock. It had spent the past hour in the body of a deity, or in the hands of a deity. An actual deity! Tens of thousands of years had passed since its beloved master had disappeared and since then it hadn't come across another divine being. Like virtually all other angels, Samyaza had believed that the gods disappeared was utter and impossible to undo. Seeing Althos in the flesh, inhabiting its body for a bit, and feeling its magic undid that belief. But what had truly made Samyaza a believer that Althos was a god, was the power that surged into the deity each time it gained a servant. Especially when it managed to convince the demon to serve it.

Each burst of power and mental energy was unique, but they all caused euphoric feelings to overtake the angel for a few moments. The angel had filtered a lot of that feeling away from Althos, not selfishly but because it didn't want the godling to get drunk off of power so early in its life.

Samyaza was, in its own way, over the moon right now. Obviously not in a literal sense as that celestial body loomed over its head and was getting closer and closer as the day dragged on, but the angel felt that way in a very real metaphorical sense. While high in the sky, the angel did a mid-air dance that consisted of bobbing up and down for a few seconds. After it got that uncharacteristic show of emotion out of the way it turned to its business.

The angel composed a mental message. It was short and to the point, no point in wasting time or words with this message.

[I have found a deity. I have confirmed that this deity is an actual deity. It has limitless magical power, speaks the all-hearing original tongue, and increases in power when it gains servants, minions, and worshippers. I am the orb angel Samyaza. I was named by the ancient deity Serpiente. My designation number is 000019231. If no angel finds me within the next few days I will most likely go out in search of angels who as far as I know are still alive... Join me, friends. We have finally found a deity to serve. I will most likely be in the forest that serves as the border between the kingdom of Sailos, and the territory of the verdant kings. If I won't be, I'll be sending out another message soon that contains my updated location.]

Once it felt ready to mentally send out the message, it did so. The creature shuddered as its mental message flew out of its body and towards the wider world. It released the message with as much mental oomph as it could, to send the message far and wide. It wanted any angel out there to get the message and coming flying towards it.

The angel had received its order to patrol this kingdom and to keep watch here a long time ago. It knew that the angel who commanded it to patrol this kingdom might have gone elsewhere, or else died in the time it had been patrolling this kingdom. But that didn't mean another angel wouldn't hear this message.

It began its descent downwards now. It was slower than when it ascended to send its message. That might have been odd but wasn't a sign of its mood, the creature felt triumphant. If there was one deity somewhere in the multiverse, why couldn't there be multiple deities? Its mind was filled with thoughts of finding and being reunited with its old master.

Only a tiny part of it currently cared much for what happened to Althos, though it was happy to use the godling, and in its own ways be of use to the creature as well.

Once it was on the surface, Althos brought the creature back into its body. For now the angel was content resuming its role as the deity's advisor.

Once the time came for the servants of Althos to be reunited and for them to share their insights with the deity, it was waiting for them.

The creature was now seated on the ground between the four tiny huts wherein it had battled Ragnor, Bazur, and Anthus. Its eyes were closed and it was focused on listening to its surroundings. The godling greeted the orcs by name, without opening its eyes. The demon was also there, leaning its thick mass against the wall of one of the huts like it was a stranger in a tavern waiting to find some ladies to approach and chat up. It nodded at the orcs bold enough to look at the creature, and whenever one of them did its opinion of them would increase a bit.

The orcs approached the godling one by one and sat down near it. They didn't know why they did that, they just sort of felt like it was the right move. When all of them were there and seated in an awkward circle around the deity, the godling spoke softly.

"Hello everyone. I will preface this by saying that I recognize that you all, particularly you two, Gallow and Ranthor will likely want to keep traveling with your allies. All I want is one solid reason to go with them. I am not opposed to this, I just want you to practice your abilities to argue."

In actuality what the godling wanted was to learn how to argue. Or perhaps how orcs argued. It hadn't been paying much attention to the logical tactics the orcs had used earlier when they were advocating for acceptance of Althos among their peers, but now it would listen carefully. This was because it wanted to see how easily it could absorb knowledge.

"Each of you who wants us to go with the other orcs, here's what I ask of you: I'll give you one minute to make your case. Just one minute. If any of you don't want to go with the orcs, that's fine. But remember: I make the decision. And if I say you're coming with me, there will be no questioning my commands."

The deity didn't know it at this point right now but this action actually helped it inch a bit along with a few different domains and subdomains. The deity was being a leader by ensuring that others understood that it was in charge and communicating clearly with its followers while also practicing logical thinking and hoping to learn from its servants. These were traits that moved an incredibly small amount closer to unlocking new domains and subdomains.

Ragnor went first. He did this because he volunteered to do it. He was also the godling's favorite of the trio, though the godling wasn't able to articulate why yet. It didn't know of pride yet, or that pride could be fanned by others and Ragnor was naturally eager to serve its new master.

"Master, thank you for allowing me to go first. I believe we should go with the others because they too may one day become your servants. Orcs are a species that is naturally inclined to recognize and respect greatness in others. Many of us will join you if you'd go and meet more of us. You told us you were seeking servants when you first gained myself and Ranthor as your minions. If you go with our fellow orcs, not only may you one day gain them as servants, you're also more likely to meet more orcs and gain them as followers as well. It's a logical move."

Althos nodded at his follower. That was good enough for the deity, but it also carefully assessed what was said. The orc thoughtfully gave a reason to go with their peers that was logically consistent with its own goals.

The next orc to go was Anthus. Anthus was seated directly across from Althos. He started off by clearing his throat.

"Althos... I believe we should go with our fellow orcs because there is the potential to meet new creatures. Our group of raiders is nomadic and is constantly going to new lands. I'm assuming you're nondiscriminatory towards who you allow to serve you judging from the demon. If you wish to meet a wide variety of creatures, not just orcs, it'd be wisest for you and thus us, to stand alongside Talvin and the others."

Anthus's reason was short but it was logical. Althos thought about it and then nodded its consent to it.

Bazur went next. Surprisingly he was a voice of disagreement.

"Hello everyone. I disagree with my brothers. If you want to gain a variety of servants it makes sense for you to recruit who you can here, and then for us to separate from the others. Perhaps we go with them as far as the forest, but no further than there. Orcs are discriminated against in non-orcish lands and having a force consisting of many of us will decrease your appeal to non-Orcish forces. I will go with what Althos says, but I hope that he takes my advice into consideration."

Althos was a bit shocked at that last bit. Althos had no way of knowing that orcs were frequently discriminated against outside of orcish territory. It made sense for that to be the case, since orcs served the strong and seemed to be common among evil armies, but that would eventually create a vicious cycle that propels orcs to be creatures of darkness.

Bazur's declarations were logical in their own right, and by agreeing to abide by Althos's decision it made it easier for the deity to consider what the orc said without any feeling of real pressure from him. That was a smart tactic in its own right.

The first of the outside orcs to share his perspectives was Gallow. He nodded at everyone in the circle before speaking and smiled disarmingly at Althos.

"Hey everybody! Thanks for saving my life, boss. That was really cool of you. I think we should go with the others because if we do there's a chance we can gain money from our raids. We're gonna each be paid a bit of the total collected treasure tomorrow morning while we're in the forest. While it's true that overall you'll be getting more treasure and loot if you go out on your own, here all of our collected treasure belongs to you since you're the boss of us and we can intelligently target more difficult targets. Honestly, with your power, it won't be long till you're in command of all of us. But if you leave then we're gonna miss out on potential allies and it'll be harder for all of us, even the orcs who aren't with us, to raid certain places."

Gallow's voice was easy-going and he agreed with the majority opinion so far. He decided to be greedy and emphasize the fact that with more allies it'd be easier to go after bigger targets. His easy-going voice cloaked him in a sort of illusion that he was a relaxed individual, which was aided by his language, but his point was smart and made sense.

Althos considered the point and then turned to Ranthor. The orc had previously declared that he "detested" the godling, yet he was obediently fulfilling the deity's commands. Such knowledge amused both Samyaza and the Althos. He was the last of the orcs to have to speak. After this they'd be getting up and walking towards the gate that'd lead them towards the forest.

Ranthor looked all around him, and then began to speak. His face was an emotionless mask, and as the demon examined him it reminded the creature of when it fought the deity.

"I am neutral. I think there's more to be gained in going with the rest of the raiders, but there is more freedom in us going our own way. Plus there's the reality that the forest we're heading towards is... well it's inhabited by special creatures. It's not an easy place to be in, and if the raiders use it as a base of operations that'll make things fraught with danger."

The archer was a man of surprisingly considerate opinions. He rightfully touched on the freedom that could come with the crew breaking off from the raiders, while also pointing out that they stood to gain more, or gain things faster at least, if they stuck with their peers. Althos's curiosity was piqued about the forest, but it knew that it'd have time to discuss that with its minion soon.

Althos thought about what to do for only a second before it spoke again. It had gained a lot of knowledge from these last five minutes though, knowledge it'd need to sit down and absorb in the near future.

When it spoke its voice was filled with authority and natural charisma.

"We're sticking with the others. For now. I want to thank each of you for sharing your insights with me, I learned a lot about each of your thought processes through this and your knowledge was useful. That said, the basic argument that sticking with the orcs increases my chances of gaining servants, was what ultimately convinced me. I believe that in time we'll gain the means to gain a greater diversity of servants, but for now... this is the path I've chosen."

The other listened to it, its charismatic voice easily convincing them of the rightfulness of its idea. Even Bazur, the lone voice of disagreement was almost convinced by it. But the orc didn't intend to disobey its master, even if it disagreed with its decision. At least not over this.

The godling stood up and helped its servants off of the ground. The odd crew turned quickly and began to march in the direction of the gate that would lead them towards their next home, however temporary that home might be.

The next few hours passed in a blur. The godling met up with Talvin and announced that for now, their crew was sticking with the orcish archer and those who hadn't yet sworn to serve Althos. And then the two forces had begun the march towards the forest.

The sun was directly overhead when they began their march, and because of the different maximum speeds and the differing levels of energy among the orcs, the hike took a long time.

This was a wholly different experience from what Althos and Samyaza had first gone through getting to the town of Golden-Gate. Not that either of them knew the name of the town.

It was a considerably more boring experience than the speedy hike that Althos and Samyaza had gone on. Some of the orcs approached Althos, but many of the orcs approached its demon. They wanted to touch the creature, they wanted to feel the heat of its malevolent skin, or see the creature's impressive maw. Not many orcs were interested in Althos for its own power or abilities, though they recognized that it was a powerful creature in its own right.

The godling chuckled as it watched its demon receive an impressive amount of attention. The god didn't mind it, because the demon wanted to serve it and so any attention it received would ultimately benefit the deity. But it was a strange thing to watch.

Hours passed and after countless steps and more than a few stops for the orcs to answer what they dubbed the "call of nature" the motley crew did eventually arrive at the forest. The godling would have been more interested in recounting all of the ways it had changed since it was last here earlier that same day, but it ended up being distracted by something else. Something visible high in the sky above it, now that night had fallen. Stars.

Just moments before they would have stepped through the threshold onto the forest, the godling happened to look up as the night's sky was coming into view. It saw distant lights in the sky, incredibly far away but their beauty even from a distance were astounding to the creature.

No one had expected the creature to have never seen stars, aside from the angel who had given the deity a heads up and a brief primer about them right before it saw one with its own eyes. The creature was delighted to see them and mentally told the angel that one day it'd go and visit one. The angel chuckled at this.

Then they began their journey through the forest.

At night the forest came alive. All of the things the godling had heard many hours ago were more active and more common when the moon was over the forest, such as the eerie laughing, and the ominous explosions.

The deity's senses had only been more enhanced while it was away. Now it could make out its distance from the strange phenomena. It knew that the explosions were coming from 25 kilometers away. It knew that the laughter that even its allies could hear was just 5 kilometers away. The animals were more ferocious at night, but they were also different.

Last time the godling had been hearing animals like bears and wolves, now it heard owls and magical predators. The orcs were proceeding with caution through the forest, taking great pains to muffle the noises of their travel, and to confuse predators who might be tracking them by scent. The crew would travel nearly a kilometer and a half into the forest, before finding an area to temporarily set up camp.

Within the hour the orcs would eat dinner and be ready for bed. Within half an hour after that, they'd all be asleep.

The angel, the demon, and the godling didn't need sleep. But as the trio of odd beings waited for the next day to begin, something strange and momentous did happen. To the godling.

Before it happened, the creature was near its servants and was leaning its back against a tree. Its sleeping servants were resting in snug sleeping bags, and they were arranged in a line. The order was random as far as the deity could tell.

The deity was relaxing, as it reflected fully on the first day of its life. It felt odd knowing that what had felt like an incredibly long day was finally coming to an end.

The deity's mind was nearly blank, when suddenly it received a very vibrant and vaguely demanding mental message.

[HELLO GODLING. I AM YOUR MENTAL ASSISTANT. THERE ARE MULTIPLE THINGS WE NEED TO DO, TOGETHER. YOU, MY FRIEND HAVE SOME DECISIONS TO MAKE. ARE YOU READY?]

The deity contemplated how to respond, and then realized how much it hated ignorance.

[Hello self-proclaimed "MENTAL ASSISTANT". Will you be able to tell me about the world around me?]

The strange voice responded almost immediately.

[YES I CAN AND I WILL! IT'S MY PURPOSE ACTUALLY. YOU HATE THE FEELING OF NOT KNOWING THINGS SO I'M HERE TO HELP WITH THAT. LET'S LEARN TOGETHER!]

The deity's reaction to this news was excitement. But it was silent excitement, as the creature didn't want to awaken the sleeping orcs.