The jackaloids stared in stunned silence at the creature who called them his "children" and informed them that it was "back home". The creature was a towering monster, with asymmetrical skin and features.

They understood the thing, as it spoke flawlessly in their language, but they couldn't make sense of what it had said to them. Its words were confusing, as they knew of no way in which this being could have been their father, nor did they know of a way in which their encampment of yurts could be its home.

Some of them readied themselves for violence. Those of them that were so inclined pulled weapons out of the loose leather armor they wore, be it bows and arrows, clubs, swords, spears, or other sorts of equipment. The pack was a pack of warriors, and they were would always fight for their home from any invader, even one who claimed to be their father.

Those of them that didn't pull out their armaments wondered how the odd creature would react to their defensive display. They wondered if it would act, now that it saw them ready themselves for combat. The creature did act, but not violently. Instead, it began to laugh. A cold, loud sound, that echoed across the sandy flatland the yurt camp was in.

Althos laughed, the sound eerily echoing across the sandy area the jackaloids called their current home. He laughed at their paltry display, the attempt made by the bravest and most foolish of the creatures to lift up their arms in quiet defiance of his power.

It's cute that they think that that would... intimidate me? Put me on edge? He thought to himself. He laughed for a few seconds, before abruptly ceasing his laughter. I suppose I should make it clear that I mean them no harm. He realized, aware that he hadn't made that clear and that to those who were rightfully skeptical of his claims lifting up their arms was a rational if ill-advised move.

"Children!" He said, his voice once again booming across the desert that surrounded him. The jackaloids, aside from the few who already worshiped him, all jumping back in response to his voice as the canine words escaped his lips.

"I have not come to harm you. I have come to heal you. I have come to free you! Yes, I am a liberator. A god who shall free you from the chains of ignorance that keep us at arms, and spear, length." He said, his voice piercing deep into the hearts of the jackaloids. To really bring the effect of his acting and deception home, the deity gathered magical energy in the palms of his hands and allowed his hands to glow in front of the creatures.

The effect was significant. Ember like energy wafted off of his hands and drifted to the ground at his feet. It dyed the sands near him an assortment of colors. It was beautiful to look at, and the deity allowed it to persist for several moments so as to demonstrate that he wasn't magically limited like they were.

He could hear some of their thoughts as he did this, and smiled.

That's... some real power. Thought one of them, in the animalistic language they spoke.

Look at it waste magical energy like that... what does it mean that it can do that? Wondered another.

I don't like that it can do that... if it's weird flame-like magical energy does that to sand, It thought, looking at the sand at Althos' feet that was glowing and changing color, I'd rather not discover what that energy can do to skin or fur.

Althos chuckled as the various assessments of his mystical display came in from the full encampment. Many were impressed with the show. Some were frightened. Others were intrigued.

While he did that, he also created copies of their memories, thoughts, knowledge, and secrets. That greatly expanded his awareness and understanding of their species. It made him feel far more confident in his plot, while also revealing to him the depths of the ignorance of the pack he was making his own.

Once the last creature to give an impression of some sort of the display had accidentally revealed her thoughts Althos began to speak again.

"I understand your confusion little ones!" He said, confidence dripping into his voice again. "It's as plain as day to me. You see, I suspect... no, I am sure, that someone robbed you of your memories of me. I believe that I can restore them. If you'll let me." Althos said, allowing emotion to subtly enter his voice at the culmination of the last sentence he spoke.

He grinned internally, chucklingly deviously to himself and no one else. This is a good plan. He thought. All I have to do is create a few memories each that have me in them and implant them into the minds of the jackaloids. He felt positively delightful and deceitful at that moment.

If I want too, I could even whip up something for some of them that show Paimon attacking them and robbing their memories, to whip them up against him. He deviously thought to himself. He felt himself enjoying deception more with each passing moment. This was nothing particularly new since he deceived his first mortal followers when he first met them.

The jackaloids were still silent, assessing the deity. Althos began to slowly lose patience with their skepticism, learning first-hand that successfully deception often required some measure of patience, and spoke up after about a minute of silence.

"Allow me to prove my claims to you! Not only do I have Martez with me, who remembers and worships me," Althos said, moving to the side and then gesturing to one of the jackaloids behind him, "I can also heal one of you right now, in front of everyone. I'll heal the chosen person, and they'll confirm that I being forthright." He declared, grinning broadly at the pack before him.

The jackaloids looked at each other and began to whisper amongst themselves. So as to help them feel comfortable, Althos willingly moved away from the yurt containing the trio of creatures who had first shown themselves to him. He backed up a fair amount, putting many meters between him and the encampment, and he told his worshipers to reunite with their pack.

The scorpion sent a quite message to its new master. [So what do you think happens next?] The thing asked, its mental voice chilly and dispassionate. Althos looked at it, its legs scuttling towards him and away from the encampment.

The deity quickly answered his newest familiar. [They send a creature over here, and I trick it.] He told the thing, curious as to who the pack would send. Althos, being a deity, could hear the discussion they were having in the encampment and chuckled as he listened in.

The voices in the encampment were trapped in a fierce debate. Althos heard them bickering and grinned as he heard them throw a range of arguments at each other.

The pack was fiercely divided, as each yurt happened to contain a different family of jackaloids that had only banded together for the sake of convenience and not any actual sense of unity. Because of that, in moments like this, each family put their own interests above the interests of the pseudo-community.

Though Althos was grinning, his mind was still racing at that moment. He found himself criticizing the social structure of this pack. Having a group of families live in close proximity just because its convenient is no way to create a cohesive society. He sagely thought to himself. How should I correct that? He questioned. As he questioned that, he heard even more heated shouts come from the encampment.

"It was your son who ordered those ones," When the jackaloid who was shouting said that he gestured towards the creatures who now worshipped Althos, "To go hunting right? Then doesn't it make sense that your son be the one sent out to go and see if this odd... thing is telling us the truth?" The jackaloid said, practically barking the last few words.

Althos happened to know, thanks to the memories he stole, that that particular jackaloid was the mate of one of the friends of Martez, the jackaloid that Althos had given the partially complete sword earlier. She wasn't done either.

"If he's gonna bully those smaller than him into hunting, and they bring back invaders, then he needs to take responsibility for his actions!" She said, her voice filled with righteous indignation. Her outburst was funny to the young god who listened to her from a distance.

At this point, that jackaloid's father spoke up, his own rage being after being forced to endure the rage of this smaller, younger jackaloid for too long. "Shut up! There's a monster watching us and you're over here thinking about yourself! and your friends? This endangers us all. It should be you who goes out there and faces that... thing!" He said, and Althos could practically picture the older creature, red in the face from heat and humiliation.

Althos terrified them, and he didn't hate that. His form was definitely odd, and he could see why it invoked such fear in them. He assumed that part of why his form was so scary was due to their own ignorance.

His theft of the memories of the jackaloids who had been tormenting his new familiar revealed that at least not all jackaloids were aware of the existence of devils, or the fact that this desert was situated in Infernius. It was surprising news to him, but he took it in stride, and he had assumed that the creatures before him were young for their species.

In fairness, the deity hadn't met another of their kind until just now. He had no way of knowing that the whole pack shared the ignorance of the ones he had already tamed. That changed while he scanned the minds of the jackaloids earlier.

Now he knew that they were all ignorant of the reality they were in. Ignorance really is a sad fate... He thought to himself, in an uncharacteristic moment of something loosely resembling pity.

At that moment, one of the jackaloids approached him. It was a male jackaloid, who wore a leather breastplate but had nothing covering its legs and lower body other than his thick, matted fur. Althos smirked at him as he approached, trying to muster courage and stride intimidatingly over to the stranger who had invaded his home.

The jackaloid began to yell as he approached Althos, his voice carrying across the sandy flatland.

"Stranger! I am Atl. Our pack has seen fit to nominate me to go and test the veracity of your WILD claims. I am the one of us who selects who goes out on which hunts. I will be the one to stand firm in the face of your... healing." He said, snarling at the deity.

Atl was trying to intimidate the young god into confessing that this was all a scam. The deity, unfazed, stared blankly at the jackaloid for a few moments, and then greeted him with surprising warmth.

"I'm glad someone's coming!" He said, energetically. His excitement was genuine, and it was clearly communicated in the joy in the deity's asymmetrical and heterochromatic eyes. The jackaloid stared at the deity, disappointment spreading across the thing's face as he took in the genuineness of the deity's reaction.

Soon enough the jackaloid was within arm's reach of the young god. Althos smiled at him and focused pure magical energy into the tip of his pointer finger. The finger began to emit a soft amber colored light. Then the deity lightly tapped it against the forehead of the jackaloid. It was all for show.

That... that looks like I'm casting healing magic right? The deity mentally questioned, before actually doing what he set out to do. He touched the mind of the jackaloid, and forcibly transmitted fabricated memory after fabricated memory into the simple creature's mind. And as he did so he also examined the thing's decayed vestigial traits using his parallel will power.

[Spell activation occurring: Vestigial Examination

Performing scan of the creature named Atl.

Scan complete in 5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Scan complete.

External Traits:

Enhanced limited shifting

360-degree vision

Mundane weapon resistance

Muscular manipulation

Internal Traits:

Animal speech

Scent Shifting

This is a wide-ranging assortment of powers, with the most powerful being the ones related to manipulation. Both scent-shifting and muscular manipulation are potent powers that allow for Atl to deceive opponents and then deliver a range of devastating blows.

Enhanced limited shifting is unusual and powerful because it allows for Atl to gain greater control over his ability to shape-shift. With it, his body becomes a far more malleable and creative thing he can use to attack opponents in surprising ways. For example, he could throw a punch with his fist in human form and then open his hand, mid-swing and transform the appendage into a claw to scratch an opponent unexpectedly.]

Enhanced limited shifting was particularly interesting to Althos and so he resurrected it while editing one of the fabricated memories circulating Atl's mind to make it look like a blessing he gave to the jackaloid long ago rather than a spontaneous vestigial resurrection.

Atl froze as his mind was flooded with memories. Powerful memories snuck their way into his brain and exploded into the forefront of his consciousness.

He "recalled" Althos. He recalled meeting the devil-deity for the first time. He recalled being blessed by the thing. He remembered the dogma the deity made all of his shape-shifting worshipers recite by heart. The dogma of knowledge, deception, and shape-shifting.

He remembered a lifetime of blessings and struggles that he and his pack had undergone in the desert, protected and aided by Althos' mercy and wisdom. He remembered the knowledge that the creatures had taken from other desert dwellers and had given to their master. The praise they had earned from the creature.

The jackaloid fell to his knees as his mind reeled. It's... true. All of it. He realized, heartbreakingly.

And then the jackaloid's mind reeled again, as Althos sent another set of memories into the creature.

This time the thing "remembered" Paimon. It learned of and also grew terrified of the true-devil who lorded over the city of Bastille. It "remembered" a savage assault on the encampment that never actually happened. An assault wherein Paimon and a small army of humanoid looking devils laid siege to the encampment.

The memory was vivid, a scene filled with scents, sights, and sounds. Atl could remember the smell of the devilish overlord, could hear the creature's haunting laugh in his mind, and would never forget the sight of those cat-like eyes. It left an undeniable impression on him, one he swore he would never forget.

That assault ended with the dastardly true-devil seizing each of the jackaloids by the throat and viciously tearing memories right out from their very minds. Memories of Althos and the blessings he had bestowed upon them.

This bastard... came into our camp and quietly stole us away from our master! Atl thought, the simpleton falling for the fabricated memories quite easily. Althos sensed the rage building within the creature. He sensed the cornucopia of emotions the thing was feeling, the grief over what had been lost, and the joy at what had been restored by Althos.

"Welcome back... my son." The god said, his voice soft and kind in the ear of the jackaloid. He embraced the creature, truly acting as if he were a parent reunited with a son lost ages ago. The jackaloid began to cry, wet tears dampening his face.

Far away from them, the other jackaloids witnessed this sight and they felt a bit of their skepticism fade away. They watched, their eyes wide with wonder, as their emissary became convinced of the truth of the claims of the mysterious newcomer. Some of the younger ones, ones inspired by Atl, found the display moving enough on its own.

Their minds rejected their former skepticism and they wished to be "reunited" with Althos, in the same sense their friend had been. They were, after all, young creatures whose skepticism wasn't tempered with experience but came from a place susceptible to peer-pressure and group-think.

Althos and Atl began to walk back towards the others. Both creatures were grinning broadly, and Althos had created an illusion to make it look as if tears were welling up in his eyes as well. That further softened the hearts of the youthful jackaloids in the camp.

Over the course of the next three hours, Althos carefully met with and "healed" the jackaloids individually. He carefully and deviously modified both actual memories the creatures had, as well as freely infected them with fabricated memories using the knowledge he had gained from them and from the jackaloids who were already his worshipers.

He also resurrected a single vestigial trait in each of them, and used his fabricated memories to make it look like the trait he had resurrected in them was actually a blessing he gave them at birth. Though some of them needed some convincing that Althos was actually a deity of theirs who they had forgotten, none of them truly resisted him for very long.

I think it must be the power I reawaken within them... He thought to himself after converting the 5th jackaloid to make a weak-hearted attempt to cling to the truth and not believe Althos' deception. He noticed that the creatures stopped resisting his fabrications after they began to explore their new abilities, and the more they liked the abilities the more easily they took to praising their new god.

The whole thing went off with a hitch and at last, the deity was face to face with the oldest jackaloid in the pack. The grim-eyed geezer and the deity were inside of the shape-shifter's yurt, which was the one closest to the still-burning fire. They were alone, and the silence of the yurt was only interrupted by a loud chorus fervently reciting Althos' dogma from outside of the yurt.

Althos looked at the elderly creature, and carefully appraised him. The geezer stood a full two meters and three-quarters tall, taller than the other creatures in the camp and only a bit shorter than Althos in his present form. He wore a full outfit of painstakingly hand-crafted leather armor. His fur was almost entirely white as if to reflect his age.

He was in his hybrid form, his lower body that of a conventional human but his upper body covered in fur and his face completely canine. He had deep-set amber-colored eyes that starred at whatever his focus was with determination, wisdom, and an undeniable pride.

The two creatures stood face to face, sizing each other up. The elderly canine-man fearlessly looked right into Althos' eyes and the god stared back. Neither of them blinked for a full minute.

Althos saw a lot of things in the elderly shapeshifter. He saw wisdom. He saw pride. He saw knowledge. He also saw someone he thought might have had the potential to be a good servant even without the deception.

So he decided to explore that idea. He thought for a second about what to do to test that idea out.

"Before I heal you... would you like to accompany me on a hunt? Maybe see my other, non-restorative powers, first hand." Althos asked, his eyes shining with amusement and curiosity. The jackaloid looked at him, expecting a lot of things but not that.

Soon enough the wizened jackaloid quietly nodded at the deity. And then the man spoke. "You know what... sure. After all, I'm gonna be 'healed' soon, so I may as well go make some more memories before I regain what you and others claim I lost." The jackaloid said, almost chuckling grimly at the deity.