There was a lot Althos didn't like about deserts. Sand. And sand. Oh and sand. But there was something the young deity did like about deserts: they were quiet. Their stillness and relative silence was something the deity came to appreciate during his trek across the layer's gigantic desert.

The deity was walking across the desert, alone, as he been told to do. He accepted that quite easily, figuring that his powers and intelligence were more than enough to handle this quest.

He had set off about an hour ago. At the time of his departure, it had been mid-day, but that wasn't too important given the fact that this layer was in a state of perpetual nocturnal darkness.

He carefully inspected the mental radar and minimap that were part of his H.U.D. and noted that none of them marked any creatures nearby as creatures who had settlements or complex social structures. None of them were marked with the necessary color, purple, that would alert the deity if they were targets the quest deemed acceptable.

At the beginning of his trek, he received a notification about an update to his radar that would enable him to identify quest targets with just his radar by marking them as purple dots. It was a useful ability that he intended to use a lot.

Althos quietly stopped his trek across the desert, when five dots appeared at the edge of his radar and were moving towards him. He looked in the direction his radar indicated that they were coming at him from, and noticed that it was the top of a great dune hundred of meters away from where he was.

Althos wasn't sure at a glance, but he was pretty certain based on their movements four of the creatures were fighting or hunting the scorpion.

Are... they fighting each other? If so, this may represent a nice break from the monotony of this trip.

The deity began to walk towards the dune, curious as to what he'd gain after this upcoming encounter.

The small hunting party dashed through the desert. The canine-like humanoids savagely, gleefully, and speedily, gave chase to their quarry, who was now dashing to escape them.

The pack of jackal-headed humanoids chased their prey, a massive but wounded scorpion, across the vast expanse of the desert. All four of the bestial humanoids carried two weapons in their pawed hands. They carried a melee weapon, like stone mallets or amateurishly forged swords in one hand, and a ranged weapon like a net or a slim crossbow in the other.

The scorpion they were chasing was bleeding, open wounds leaving a trail of slick blood on the sand beneath its many legs. It was a gigantic scorpion, over a full meter tall, and several meters long. Its black carapace made it stand out against the yellow sand it was sprinting over. It was dragging its tail behind it, the gigantic appendage having been damaged by a well-aimed crossbow bolt that one of its hunters fired at it when the pack began their hunt.

The scorpion skittered across the sand, dodging bolt after bolt, and thrown net after thrown net. The scorpion had been injured, but that didn't make it slow. The thing was proving to be quite a nuisance because it was exceptionally dexterous, and running over the sand didn't bother it. It dodged their attacks with ease, but it knew that if it stopped to fight them it would be defeated quite easily since it couldn't use its stinger and none of them were injured.

The jackal-headed creatures began to grow excited when they noticed that their prey was slowing down. The reason the thing was slowing down was that all five creatures were beginning to climb a sand dune and the scorpion was the only one far enough and small enough to noticeably feel the impact of the sandy slope. But it didn't stop running.

While approaching the dune, and the creatures on his radar, he got close enough to them for his radar to be able to identify one of them. The creature that was the closest to him was a massive scorpion, a creature he had learned about during the days of peace he had had after conquering Agowraith's tomb.

Days ago he had watched a lesser scorpion he bathed in divine energy, after the thing began to visit his fungal gardens, evolve into a dire-scorpion and had received a species knowledge notification about the things. They were gigantic, powerful scorpions, but still regular, killable creatures as anyone could tell merely by observing the battle the scorpion not terribly far from Althos was in.

It seemed this one was still weak enough to be hunted by some creatures he had yet to encounter named "Jackaloids", which he assumed were some kind of fusion between a local predator of some kind and humanoids.

Before he knew it, Althos could hear the sounds of a hunt echoing across the vast emptiness of the desert. It was muffled sure, thanks to the dune blocking much of it, but it was still pretty clear.

He could hear loud animal noises, noises he suspected came from the scorpion, and he could hear the howls of the creatures who were chasing it down. Every passing second brought all five of the creatures closer and closer to him. He grinned morbidly as they drew ever closer.

The scorpion was very clearly slowing down. It was losing the steam and adrenaline that had enabled it to dodge the numerous projectiles of its enemies, and each attack the pack of jackal-headed men launched was dodged by a slimmer and slimmer margin. But it could see the top of the dune ahead of it, and it knew if it reached the dune's peak going down the dune would be easier than climbing it.

Not only was the thing slowing down due to a loss of energy, but there was also the simple reality that climbing the slope of the dune was taking a toll on its legs. It was still pushing itself as hard as it could and it wasn't far from the top of the dune. Behind it, it heard a familiar sound: the sound of a net being tossed at it, and the thing mustered the energy to perform another dodge.

At the same time as the creature leaped to dodge the net, a new figure emerged. In front of it, it was surprised to see a figure ascend the dune from the other side, a single, odd-looking winged creature. The figure saw it and smiled.

When Althos reached the top of the dune, thanks to his quick walking speed, he looked to its other side and saw the creatures he had come here to meet.

Frantically sprinting up the dune was a single heavily injured dire scorpion, a gigantic thing with an injured but still dangerous looking stinger. It was being chased by four loosely armored humanoids whose bodies looked like the bodies of tan, muscular humans, but with the heads of long-eared, sharp-jawed canines.

The creatures pursuing the scorpion speedily climbed the dune while launching ranged attacks at their quarry. Althos had ascended the dune just in time to watch one of the hunters fling a thick looking net at the scorpion.

Althos beat his wings once and the gust of wing that his flapping wings generated slammed into the net and sent it sailing backward into the sand, empty. Then Althos healed the scorpion with but a wave of his hand, not even bothering to watch as the numerous gaping wounds that covered its body quickly faded, leaving strong chitinous plates in places where its blood had been leaking out each time the thing dared to move.

The scorpion's tail slowly began to rise, regaining its former vigor, much to the shock and mild horror of the creatures who had been pursuing it. Althos grinned as the creatures hunting the scorpion realized that their lives had just gotten a lot harder. And that was before they truly noticed him. He reflected on the fact that the jackal-headed things were not applicable quest targets according to his radar.

These little warriors are not applicable targets for my quest for some reason... Oh well, I'll make them mine anyway. They may know something I don't about this desert. Plus I'd like to know more about them anyway. They are fusions of humans and some odd desert creatures. Researching them may yield some neat results.

The deity felt like researching new creatures and gaining the knowledge only locals would have of the desert so he quickly settled on making the creatures his newest servants.

Althos began to speak, speaking in the universal tongue that gave everyone present an understanding of what the future archdevil was saying.

"Well... All of you look like you could be useful. So I'll be proactive, and make all of you mine."

It was only when he spoke that the jackal-headed things looked up at him and realized he was there too. The creatures looked conflicted, nervous even. And that was before Althos began to radiate power.

Althos allowed some of his power to leak outward, radiating just a touch of his limitless magical energy and allowing it to coat the sand at his feet.

His eyes glimmered dangerously as he quite literally looked down on everyone present. All five of the creatures recognized the devil before them as an unbelievably dangerous creature before he even began to move. And then he took his first steps towards them.

The deity considered how to make the creatures his in the most efficient way. He wasn't sure if they would bow to him on the basis of his superior power alone. So he decided to try out a new type of spore. He willed the spores inside of his body, spores which were perpetually prepared to be fired at any time, to mutate and change types.

[New Divine Power Explanation: Mind-Control Spores

This potent power transforms the considerable host of spores dwelling inside of Althos into dangerous things that practically ensure that anyone who inhales them becomes a servant of the fungal lord. Upon using this power any spores that Althos exhales, injects or otherwise uses against any living creature become powerful tools of mind-control, that clash against the wills of those who've inhaled them.

Those who lose their mental battles against the spores become dominated by the fungal lord for an hour.

Cooldown: This power can be activated once a day, but so long as it's active, any and all spores launched by Althos are mind-control spores. There is no time limitation on it.

Note #1: Creatures who fail to resist the power of the spores have their wills eroded bit by bit. This doesn't just have the effect of making them more likely to lose future battles of the wills against the spores, it also slowly warps them into worshipers of the fungal lord, who willingly and eagerly obey the commands of the guardian of all fungi.

Note #2: Creatures whose wills have been totally taken over by the effects of these spores will seek to live the rest of their lives in ways that empower fungi, including perishing in a way that results in their bodies giving rise to fungal creatures after their deaths, and to do things that honor the mightiest of mushrooms and the most fetid of fungi: the fungal lord.

Note #3: This power can be upgraded through repeated uses and as a reward for completing fungal quests. The more it's upgraded the harder it is to resist, the longer the effect lasts, the shorter its cooldown, and the faster it overtakes the wills of those who fail to resist it. Upgrading this power holistically improves it.]

Althos grinned at the creatures and in his mind, they were all already his. He felt the spores underneath his skin mutating and laughed as he readied himself to fire them at his opponents.

The deity's eyes had been sheer black orbs until that moment. But the moment the spores he intended to use to dominate the creatures before him were ready, the deity's eyes began to glow a bright shade of green.

The deity reeled an arm back and then swung it wide, coating the air his hand passed through with hundreds of tiny spores. The air that was now infected with the spores had a slight green tint to it, a similar albeit less intense shade than Althos' own eyes.

He wordlessly cast a single spell from the evocation school of magic, a spell that conjured a gust of wind and aimed both the spell and the spores in the direction of the creatures he thought he could have fun with. The green-tinted air sailed towards them, sped on by the magically conjured win and collided with the creatures.

Two of the jackaloids instantly collapsed into the sand and began to convulse, frothing at the mouth. The other two were frozen stiff, and Althos quickly realized that they were clashing with the spores they had ingested. The sight of the struggling jackaloids made Althos smile.

And the deity noticed that the scorpion was also frozen stiff. He wondered if the thing would successfully win the battle of the wills it was locked in. He doubted it.