As Althos led his party deeper and deeper into the forest, he silently reflected on what sort of deity he aspired to be.

I want knowledge. Right now, more than anything else, I lack a real awareness of the world around me. As far as I know, there aren't many limits to my powers, but since I'm ignorant, my weakness is that there are simply so many things that I honestly don't know.

Because of that I am in a weird position where I have tremendous power and incredibly little knowledge. How can I correct that?

I already know that I plan on having my worshippers share their knowledge with me, but what else can I do? How else can I gather knowledge? Are there things that store knowledge?

Within Althos's mind, the intensity of his thoughts and the tone of his self-reflection was fascinating to the two beings who whispered their counsel to him, in exchange for a home in his head. They listened intently from their mental abode as Althos quietly brooded on his perception of his weakness.

Neither creature disagreed with his assessment, and they were growing increasingly fond of what was gradually becoming the deity's first obsession. Both creatures were amused by the deity's ignorance of the existence of books and other written things, so Samyaza decided to reward the deity's attempts at self-reflection by informing him as to the existence of books.

The metallic angel thought about how to phrase it's message politely. After thinking about it for a few moments, Samyaza sent the creature it was accompanying a quick message.

[Hey Althos, M.A. and I can hear what you're thinking about and we just want you to know about something called a book. A book is an object which contains writing, a written form of language, and that writing often contains knowledge in a semi-permanent state. Do you think that maybe you should look for books?]

Althos didn't physically react to this new knowledge, but it caused his mind to race.

There are things that contain knowledge in a somewhat permanent state? I must know more!

Althos's sudden and energetic thoughts were heard by the voices who dwelt within his mind. His mental voice was loud, eager, and clearly excited. He then issued an abrupt demand to his mental guests.

[Tell me more about books. What do they look like?]

The two voices in Althos's mind chuckled at the same time and once again Samyaza took the lead in responding to the mentally energetic creature they advised.

[Well Althos, books don't come in any set shape but many of them built by humanoids, creatures like humans, orcs, goblins, and other creatures you've yet to meet, are rectangular objects, that are often made of wood. They have wooden frames and contain pieces of paper called "pages" which are covered in markings known as "words". We are communicating with words, but some people can turn our speech into symbols and therefore leave it behind.]

Althos reflected for a few moments while continuing to silently lead his party deeper into the forest, before remarking, mostly in passing, about the illusion he cast on Tristan in Infernius.

[They are wooden rectangles? That's one of the things that appeared in the illusion I used on Tristan... Does Tristan like books? If it appeared in the illusion built from her memories and desires then I suppose she must value them... Books would be good to have.]

The level of confidence in Althos's mental voice was initially quite small but as he mentally spoke it grew and grew. And by the time he was done thinking his thoughts he felt confident again.

He quietly gave himself a small objective: to gather and figure out how to use some books as well as to use them to gather more worshippers.

After giving himself a new goal, Althos reflected on the nature of the spells he used on the half-fiend companion he had gained while in Infernius.

The cruel combination of illusion spells Althos used on the half-devil Tristan to gain her service had given him a chance to search her mind for a lot of information, and though he had seen images of books in her mind he hadn't focused on them. Because of that, the deity only knew what books looked like, not what they actually were.

The spell he used on her to show her a vision of the future he could give her hadn't shown her a future handbuilt by the deity. It actually made use of Tristan's own thoughts and desires to feed her an intoxicating and personal message that would appeal to her.

He quietly thought about the new goal he gained in learning about books while continuing to lead his party into the depths of the forest.

A forest which before his very eyes was subtly shifting, but not so subtly that it evaded his detection.

Several minutes later the diverse adventuring party had continued their pursuit of the footprints. Their pursuit compelled them to sneak deeper and deeper into the forest with every step they took.

And as they did so the forest itself began to conspiratorially but noticeably change around them and in doing so become something altogether more eerie than a natural forest.

The forest would go from being an arboreal wonder to being a place of oppressive closeness over the course of the kilometers-long march into its innermost reaches that the party was undergoing.

They had been quietly following the footprints they happened to find in the ground and at no point deviated from the tracks. Each group within the party noticed the forest subtly changing around them in unique ways, but over time the changes stopped being subtle.

Althos was the first member of the party to notice the unnatural changes happening with each step, even in his unfocused state. The deity gained an awareness of the forest's subtle shifts thanks to his powerful vision.

He would occasionally look up and around him. While doing this he'd glance at nearby trees. He quickly realized that he could see the distance between the trees shrinking with each set of trees he glanced at.

Silander was the second member of the party to realize that something about the forest was different. She realized this because she, like Althos and Raverangos, was barefoot.

The ways the twigs underneath her feet snapped when she stepped on them felt different in this deeper part of the forest than they had when the great frog and her allies were closer to the river dividing the forest.

Her lightness made her aware of the ways things moved and shifted underneath her whenever she walked. Because of how rare it was for grass to bend underneath her weight she was extra sensitive to the sensations that she felt whenever her weight disturbed whatever she stood upon.

This sensitivity alerted her to how twigs breaking underneath her weight felt. The twigs in this deep part of the forest felt brittle underneath her, weak and easily broken, not like the twigs from where she was from.

In her place of birth, the twigs would have withstood her weight and not snapped at all, as opposed to breaking with fairly little resistance like the twigs here did.

Raverangos, the hulking sentinel demon who had decided to serve Althos in exchange for chances to commit violence, could taste a change in the air around them.

The part of the forest the group was in before tasted natural and fresh to the demon, but now the demon could taste a subtle taste of magic in the air, like someone applied the most gentle of spices to it. It was more pronounced whenever a soft breeze blew over the party.

The orcish siblings had a harder time detecting the shift in the forest. They didn't have the magical senses of their allies, nor did they have any familiarity with the forest.

They became aware of the change in the forest by sight like Althos, but the sight that tipped them off to it was different than the sight that tipped off Althos. They noticed a change in the color of the grass they were marching on because they were following the mysterious footprints by sight alone and their eyes were glued to the forest's floor.

The grass they were walking on top of was originally a bright green, but with each passing step, the green grass was becoming a quiet mix of blue and green. It was pretty, but in time it became undeniable and clearly out of the ordinary.

Ranthor the orcish archer was made aware of the changes to the forest by sound. He leaned in on his training as an archer and was carefully listening for the ambient sounds one expected to hear in a forest. But the deeper the party went into the forest the quieter it became.

Normal animal noises ought to have been all around them. Ranthor ought to have heard nearby animals living their lives in the forest, climbing trees, and scattering piles of leaves while playing fun games or hiding from predators. Yet what Ranthor heard was a slow, and gradually encroaching silence.

Ranthor's search for sound caused him to find relatively few sounds where he should have found an abundance. He should have heard bird noises in the background, high above him and the treeline but he didn't.

He should have heard the sounds of leaves drifting on the breeze, but he heard very few gently falling to the ground. He should have heard the ambient shuffle of animal feet crunching leaves and crushing grass, yet he had to struggle to pick up the faintest sounds of animals in the distance, in the same direction that the party had come from.

Gallow's empathy and his awareness of his comrades were what gave him an awareness of the suspicion his comrades felt. He was looking at the ground beneath them all like the orcish siblings behind him, and so it took his vague awareness of his comrades gradually tensing up around him to alert him to the oddness of the situation around them all.

The rogue reached into the jacket-like armor he wore and grabbed one of his daggers. He swiftly pulled it out of the thin jacket-like armor he wore and readied himself for combat.

In doing this he was the first of the party to physically react to the oddity of the situation they were in. His comrades followed his lead and mentally readied themselves for anything to come.

The party stopped moving for a second when the relative silence around them was interrupted by the sounds of Gallow pulling out his weapon.

Althos, a combination of his ignorance and his power granting him the confidence to be still in this situation, stood still and waited to see how the forest around them would react to the actions of his worshiper.

The orcish brawlers rushed forward, going from being in the middle of the party to the forefront in moments. They spread themselves in three directions, so as to be ready to respond to attacks from a variety of directions.

They rose their firsts and readied themselves to be attacked at any moment. They were brawlers who were ready to put their lives on the line to defend their companions from any attempts on their lives.

Silander and Raverangos moved to their master's side, approaching from behind Althos and taking positions near him. The hulking demon stood directly behind him, so that it may act as a barrier that would oppose any attempts by any enemies to rush Althos.

Silander quickly moved to be beside her master and wondered what she'd actually do if any enemies came close to her. She was unsure herself since she knew nothing at all about combat.

The orcish archer Ranthor moved to a position between Althos and the orcish brawlers who had taken charge of intercepting anyone who may decide to approach since they were now clearly aware of the unnaturalness of the forest around them. He lifted his bow in front of him and gazed out at the forest around him, waiting to see or hear something approach his allies.

Gallow stepped behind Bazur, the middle sibling of the orcish trio, and waited to see what would happen next. He held his knife in a way that allowed him to quickly lash out with it if necessary, and his eyes scanned the area directly in front of the party.

The party held their breath as they waited to see what came next. Like the party, the forest itself was frozen and tense, as if it were waiting for a command from someone or something nearby.

The forest's next move was to fade from view as a dense fog emerged from between the trees and moved towards the party from a variety of directions.

The aggressive vapor that obstructed their sight quickly had them surrounded and charged at them until the fog was so dense and so near to them that even the trees that surrounded them were impossible to make out.

In response to the haze surrounding them, the party huddled closer together. They neared each other and took a few seconds preparing themselves in a variety of ways for whatever came next.

Althos passed the time by going through the variety of spells at his disposal. In doing so he studied a variety of illusion and evocation spells he hadn't really had a chance to check out.

Raverangos spent seconds sniffing the air around itself and picked up a scent it had an ill-defined sense of nostalgia about, but couldn't specifically place. It was an odd, but not unwelcome scent.

Silander spent the moments by lifting getting down on all fours and warming up her muscles for some intensive movement, because she feared a fight was moments from breaking out.

The orcish brawlers made a display of grunting and trying to sound intimidating towards whoever was watching them from beyond or within the fog that surrounded them.

Ranthor's sharp eyes gazed out into the mist, and he poured his energy into his vision. He strained his eyes looking for something to target, but was annoyed to find that he couldn't make out any distinct shapes, or even any moving ones, from within the mist.

Gallow was considering doing something he felt was an appropriate thing to do in the moment but felt a bit embarrassed by.

Oh man, how do I even begin this? How does prayer work? Will Althos hear me? I guess there's no harm in trying right? I mean... if I plan to be a good and faithful worshipper, I suppose I ought to start when it's inconvenient right? That way prayer gets easier later on?

In that moment Gallow was grateful to have a mother who remembered orcish customs, including antiquated ones like prayers to show devotion to the gods. It was her piety that was responsible for his own limited awareness of how to show fealty to the gods.

The orc who owed Althos his life put in the effort to invent a basic prayer, and took a few moments to utter it in the safety of his own mind.

Althos please bestow upon me the skills needed to steal that which you desire, and to most effectively carry out your will. If it is your will, please direct me as if I were a knife in your own hand so that I silence those who oppose you, and so that your enemies may feel the pain of your wraith. Thank you for your kindness in saving my life, and I pray that you may grant me the chance to be your instrument.

Althos was alerted to this unexpected but welcome development because he received a notification.

[Alert: One of your worshippers has recited a prayer to you. Gallow has asked for your blessing via prayer, and his quiet show of faith is the very first traditional act of worship anyone has directed at you. Due to his occupation, devotion to you, and the nature of his prayer, his skills have been increased and so have your own abilities related to stealth, and theft.

Reward: You have are inching closer to being able to exert influence over the domains of Stealth and Theft. Gallow's own skills in those areas have been improved, and so have yours.]

Althos grinned upon reading and then willing away the notification. The deity quickly used a form of magic he was becoming quite familiar with, mind-magic, to establish a mental connection with his roguish worshipper. He immediately sent the rogue a simple message.

[Your prayer has been heard, and as a way to meet your devotion, I will now connect our minds. This way you can more easily understand my will and act upon it. Your devotion is real and I recognize it. I will see to it that you receive a reward for that, in the near future.]

In response to this sudden development, Gallow's cheeks flushed with a mixture of excitement and joy and the orc took a moment to enjoy being praised, even in this tense situation.

The party wasn't approached by whatever creatures called the fog into being, as such an aggressive mist was clearly unnatural. Instead of revealing itself to them, the party was forced to wait.

At least an entire minute passed before whoever was responsible for the fog made their next move.

The party was surprised to hear, rather than see, a mysterious creature call out to them from somewhere they couldn't see, presumably somewhere within or just on the other side of the fog.

"Akuwhack malubranche. Am Tua Qut, dark caballo."

Althos's companions couldn't make out what the voice was saying but they cringed as they felt the words wash over them. The voice spoke in a language the mortal creatures couldn't understand. Rather unexpectedly, Raverangos could understand the gruff language.

Althos, like his demonic pet, understood what was being said. To the deity, the voice came out and spoke in a rough, masculine, voice that was speaking confidently and clearly. He heard a gruff and simple greeting.

"Hello, strangers. I am the dark unicorn, Qut."

The language the self-described dark unicorn spoke was the twisted and corrupted tongue of the Heart of Darkness, the fiendish realm from which Raverangos hailed. Althos's servants instinctively disliked the language and as they felt it wash over them they had looks of disgust on their faces.

There was a pause, as Althos and Raverangos both considered responding but were unsure of what to say or even where to look. The creature hadn't revealed itself while speaking, so either being would have to project their voice.

Qut must not have been known for having patience because after an awkward silence filled the air between the two groups the dark unicorn spoke again. This time it ceasing its feigned politeness.

"Y buta tu pews. Q ui alu ors? Wo cew iu nedu wu p?"

Even with the language barrier, Althos's party could pick up a tonal shift. The words were faster, even if there were more of them, and there was a soft whining noise at the end of the second question, a sound that reminded Althos's allies of the noises a horse made.

Althos's abilities to speak to and understand all creatures were once again incredibly useful as it automatically translated what Qut said to the god and Althos immediately knew what the creature had said to them.

"I have your friends. Or are they not yours? If not, what do you seek from here?"

This alarmed Althos, and the deity immediately began to fear the worst.

And at that moment, Althos's unparalleled vision finally glimpsed a bit of the dark unicorn named Qut. Deep within the mist, Althos could see a pair of darkly glowing ruby eyes peering at him and his allies, and slowly inching closer to him and his party.