Less than two minutes after Camaxtli began throwing himself a pity party, the girtablilu became visible to the party members for the first time. The massive man-beast came at the party from an angle, emerging not from the top of the sand dune they were slowly climbing, but rather unintentionally racing at them from a perpendicular angle.

The creature noticed them, long after they detected him approaching and made the decision to attack the three creatures almost immediately. His thick pincers rapidly opened and then snapped shut in an effort to intimidate and disorient them.

The girtablilu was a gigantic creature, with the lower body of a massive scorpion and the upper body of a thickly muscled ebony-skinned man. He held no artificial tools, but his human upper body had the rippling muscles of a powerful barbarian. He wore no armor and his dark skin was fully exposed to the harsh elements of the desert.

He had a startlingly handsome face with sharp, predatory features and high cheekbones. His eyes were the lightest part of his face, as they were pure white orbs that contrasted sharply with the rich darkness of the rest of his human-like upper body. His eyes were calmly and methodically assessing the party even as he lunged at them, speedily skittering over and across the dune.

His scorpion-like lower body was covered in vibrant rust-colored chitin and was around five meters long, though it was just a meter tall. He had numerous composite eyes, something which distinguished him from actual scorpions, that covered the forward-most part of his body, the section that in actual scorpions would be the head or the cephalothorax. His version of a cephalothorax also had a second mouth, which he could use to eat as easily as his human-like mouth.

The scorpion lower-body also had powerful, meter-long claws that ended in intimidating-looking pincers. The pincers were constantly opening and snapping shut, producing a loud and disorienting sound as the powerful things impacted repeatedly.

His tail was the single longest part of his body. The thing extended for several whole meters and ended in a bulbous stinger that glowed a dark amber color, filled to the point of bursting with deadly venom. As the scorpion raced across the dune at the party, the stinger swung back and forth hypnotically, but no one in the party looked at it.

His numerous chitinous legs carried over the desert at a blistering pace and within seconds he was meters away from the party. His stinger reared back took aim at the jackaloid as the man-half of the body focused his attention on Althos.

Althos, not often one to initiate battle, scanned the creature's mind. These creatures look weak and delicious! The thing was excitedly thinking to itself, as it dashed closer and closer to them. It eyed them hungrily, though most of its attention was on Althos. That did make sense though after all the deity was the largest person in the party.

Should we fight...? Althos wondered, before remembering how Camaxtli was feeling. He weighed Camaxtli's feelings and the fact that the creature was a bloodthirsty predator dashing across the desert on some unclear mission, vs his tendency to not initiate battle unless something was attacking first.

But the thing plans to lash out... You know what? That's enough of a reason to fight! The deity quickly reasoned and then the deity began to grin.

Althos opened his mouth to speak as the thing moved closer and closer to the rest of the party. "Let's do this!" He said, excitedly. His eyes glimmered with excitement and he flexed his muscles, mentally readying himself for battle.

Camaxtli noticed that the man-scorpion's stinger seemed trained on him quite quickly because he saw the scorpion half's eyes trained on him when the thing closed in on the party.

He readied himself just in the nick of time as the stinger lashed out almost the instant it got within range. Oh damn it! Camaxtli thought to himself, as he leaped towards the stinger and shifted into his shorter jackal form in mid-air. He felt the force of the blow even as he managed to avoid the stinger itself, while slightly touching the thicker tail.

He was able to minutely dodge the sting and stuck his landing behind the scorpion, this time not tumbling through the sand. He was now behind the creature, and Althos and his pet were in front of it. Unfortunately, his armor and his spear alike were now in the sand, away from him because he had to abruptly transform.

The jackal that landed behind the scorpion was now out of the creature's sight but not out of its mind. It swung its lengthy tail madly behind it in an effort to catch and harm the jackal, but the creature was willing to stay behind the mad-monster and wait for a real chance to fight.

Althos and his newest familiar faced down the girtablilu even as its tail lashed out behind it, depriving it of one of its strongest weapons. The deity and the scorpion he had tamed felt confident even as their opponent leered hungrily at them.

The creature's human eyes were focused on Althos but its scorpion eyes stared down the dire-scorpion. It was surprisingly still as it wondered what its opponents would do next.

[I guess I'll handle the man-half and you take the scorpion-half?] Althos mentally asked his familiar. While Camaxtli had thrown himself through the air in an effort to dodge the first attack of the girtablilu Althos had checked his pet's mental state and was surprised to find that the scorpion was excited, not scared.

[I can do that.] The scorpion responded, clacking its own pincers together as if to further indicate excitement. Althos grinned but quickly and sternly gave it a warning.

[If this thing proves to be too much for you, prioritize your own safety.] He instructed the thing, his mental voice proving to be surprisingly stern. The scorpion beside him nodded. Althos noticed the nod and threw himself at the monster in front of both of them.

Althos jumped at the scorpion, his speed aided by a few flaps of his wings and easily surpassing the thing's expectations. As he sailed through the air towards the thing it brought up its pincers to try and block his approach.

Althos effortlessly sped past them before they could intercept him and the deity forcefully landed on the scorpion's lower body. This caused the creature's lower body to crash onto the ground, unable to support the deity's weight for a moment due to it being unprepared for him to suddenly be on top of it.

This dramatic motion gave his pet a chance to throw itself at the lower body of the distracted creature, effortlessly reaching it due to the strength of its own legs, and in its first strike Althos' pet managed to rear its stinger back and then jab it at one of the scorpion half's eyes. The stinger viciously sliced through the air and effortlessly embedded itself in the monster's eye.

The blow easily tore apart the eye and causing it to begin to leak thick, purple blood. Additionally, the stinger began to pour painful venom right into the monstrous form of its enemy.

The girtablilu reared back in pain and intended to use its pincers to slam into the dire scorpion. It never got the chance because it telegraphed its movements and Althos, noticing what was about to happen, stopped it by aiming a powerful kick at the joints of one of the monstrous claws. His kick penetrated the protective chitin that shielded the monster's limbs and inflicted significant damage to it.

This caused the girtablilu to hiss in pain and the human-like upper body of the creature lunged at Althos, its massive arms poised to brutally attack the deity. Althos grinned and rushed across the creature's lower body to close the distance between him and the man-half of the monster he was facing.

When he was close enough to strike he threw two simple but rapid punches at the creature. One of the punches was aimed at the thing's muscular abdomen, and the other was aimed at his handsome face. Both connected splendidly, and the man half of the girtablilu was sent reeling back by the forth of the deity's blows.

Althos laughed, the sound cruel, as he pursued the form of the girtablilu's human-like upper body. "Is that all you have?" He asked, his voice loud as he raced across the thing's armored lower body, "If you attack me, and my followers you need to be stronger than that!" He howled, his voice loudly disturbing the normal silence and stillness of the desert.

When he got close enough to strike again he leaped at the chest of the creature and lashed out with an aimed knee strike. His knee collided with the creature's abs and Althos heard the distinct sound of ribs breaking. As Althos looked at the creature's face, he was surprised to see it forcibly vomit blood, blood which landed on Althos' chest.

Camaxtli, still in jackal form watched Althos and his pet fight the monster while dodging the enraged tail that swung around behind it in search of him. The tail swung rapidly, its thick form difficult to dodge when coupled with its speed.

Damn it... damnit! Camaxtli thought to himself as he leaped over a particularly low swing of the tail that was attempting to collide with him. The jackaloid was feeling increasingly helpless, unable to do anything but dodge the relentless, perpetual motion of the venomous tail and the deadly stinger that was hunting him.

I want to contribute. Camaxtli thought to himself, his rage filling him with determination and focus.

I want to do... something! Camaxtli roared internally, his thoughts threatening to leak out, as he began to shift his focus from the fight Althos and the dire-scorpion were in, to the motions of the tail that sped through the air once again closing in on him.

The more he focused, the more the tail, which until that point was hazy and out of focus, began to come into view. It began to show itself to him, its rust-colored chitin standing out against the bright yellow sand and the purple-tinted sky above them. It was that focus that enabled him to dodge the next sweep of the tail, this time coming at him from an angle. Moments after that the jackaloid's mind was entered by a foreign presence, a new presence. Althos' presence.

[I can feel your rage. And your focus. Do you want to shed your inability to fight back? Do you want... power? The power to fight, not just here but anywhere?] Althos asked, his eerie voice ringing in Camaxtli's mind. Camaxtli didn't hesitate in responding, his intuition hinting that because he could hear the deity in his mind, the deity could somehow read it.

[Yes. I do want power.] The elderly jackaloid thought, his mental voice ringing loudly across the desert, louder than the sounds of battle and the roars of the monstrous girtablilu. Camaxtli heard Althos laugh, not externally or physically, but in his very mind. The sound was chilling.

[What would you do, for the power you seek?] Althos asked, his voice penetrating the deepest and most secretive parts of the mind of the long-lived jackaloid.

I have lived a long life. But now... I am growing weak. My body is decaying, not quickly, but I grow weaker by the day. By the hour. Camaxtli thought to himself. This knowledge colored the actions and attitudes of the jackaloid. It informed his every waking decision.

My pack will soon know that I am weakening. And when they do... they will not be kind. Camaxtli thought, having seen firsthand how other decaying jackaloids were treated by their kin when he himself had been a younger creature.

It's true that that scares me. But so does the thought of the pack being without an elderly voice of reason. The jackaloid thought, even in the middle of the battle, as he evaded the scorpion's tail which was rampaging around him in a fruitless search.

Age is not a weakness! But it does have a delibating effect on the body. The jackaloid confessed, agitated by that knowledge. Age was his enemy. It had always been. When he was younger it kept others from trusting him, believing him reckless, when he was middle-aged it gave him a limited amount of time with which to be at peak condition, and now that he was older it was eating away at his physical might and mental acuity.

What would I do for power? Well... it depends. The jackaloid thought as he slid under the tail, dodging its vicious attempts to bludgeon him.

I'd do a lot for the power to fight back. But if "fighting back" just means defeating this monster, I wouldn't do anything asked of me, just a reasonable number of things. On the other hand... The jackaloid thought, pondering the question.

If I could gain the power to rage against the effects of old age... the effects of time itself on my body... I'd do anything. The jackaloid realized, the realization surprising to even the one who made it. Althos heard this and grinned.

[You'd do anything? I can work with that.] Althos asked the first sentence, then told the jackaloid the second, all while grinning.

The man-scorpion fighting Althos grimaced at that grin and felt fear pump through his body, much like pain did from Althos' knee-strike and like alien venom did from the sting of the dire-scorpion. At that moment, another of the scorpion-half's eyes fell victim to the deadly sting of the dire-scorpion.

Althos, even in the middle of fighting the man-scorpion activated his codex and began to scan through the list of healing spells at his disposal. He wasn't feeling pressured by the monster in front of him so it wasn't challenging for him to both fight and read through the codex at the same time.

The codex manifested itself as a translucent list of spells that appeared in Althos' vision so as to not prevent him from seeing the enemy he was fighting. He began to quickly scan the spells at his disposal.

I'm looking for spells that can restore the body. Spells that can undo the effects of age. The deity thought to himself, racing through dozens of spells per-page. He found a lot of different interesting spells, including spells that could heal someone from diseases and spells that can temporarily increase strength, but finding spells that fought against age were tougher.

Althos was beginning to lose hope when he reached the end of the first part of the codex. The page was marked with surprising words.

[This is the end of the codex's list of healing spells that are available to deities with level 1 knowledge. Preparing the list of healing spells available to deities with level 2 knowledge in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...]

At that moment the codex felt like it expanded, through the feeling was more a metaphysical facsimile of growth meant to represent that Althos' expanded knowledge had increased the magical tools at his disposal. That made Althos grin, even as he countered a right hook thrown by his enemy. After doing that he moved to the next page of the codex and began to speed-read the spells it revealed to him.

This new list of spells were all considerably more advanced and powerful than the basic spells had been. They included spells that minutely healed even someone's very soul. And that was quite intriguing to Althos, who quietly instructed his parallel will to cast them on the still-recovering multitude of souls in his possession, souls he had taken from the digestive tract of the undying titan while completing the quest to be able to promote soul-orbs into imps.

As he mentally did that he allowed himself to take a single punch thrown by the man-scorpion in front of him. He reeled back from the force of the blow while grinning and casting healing magic on himself. He had felt pain from the blow, but only for a single instant as his healing magic quietly healed him and numbed the pain till it was gone completely.

The blow he had taken encouraged the man-scorpion who now charged forward, attempting to pressure Althos. The deity chuckled, and locked eyes with the monster in front of him, his heterochromatic orbs scaring the white ones of the man-scorpion.

As he did this he kept up his search for an appropriate spell until stumbling across one about halfway through the selection of healing spells at his disposal.

[Spell type: Healing

Spell name: Age Is A State Of Mind

Description: This immensely powerful healing spell defeats the effects of aging. Though nearly impossible for a single mortal spellcaster to use, this powerful spell undoes the negative effects of aging on the body. By casting this spell on a creature a spellcaster infuses them with an incredible amount of magical power that restores their body to its peak physical condition.

By using it on an elderly creature who is enduring the effects of advanced age it is possible to turn back the physical clock on their body for decades or even centuries depending on the type of creature. This spell shows its power best when used on elderly knights, monks, or beasts.

Spell cost: 100,000 magical energy per cast.

Note #1: Under ideal conditions this spell can be used to promise someone immortality. But it'd take an immensely powerful magical creature to do that.

Note #2: This spell doesn't end the effects of aging, nor does it prevent someone from dying of natural causes but it basically allows for someone to regain the body of their youth.

Note #3: This spell can be used to undo crippling wounds or injuries that take away someone's ability to walk or move a limb. It does not restore lost limbs though, though cheaper spells exist in this same school of magic that can do that.

Cooldown: This spell can only be used once a day.]

Althos read over the spell and grinned at it. Perfect! This is exactly what I was looking for. He thought to himself. And then he mentally messaged Camaxtli. But before he did he activated the strange power of the devilish deal, targeting Camaxtli so as to eliminate any possibility in the jackaloid's mind that the god was lying to him.

Camaxtli got a surprising notification and willed it away right after reading it and right before Althos messaged him. It informed him about the inability of the deity to deceive him for the time being.

After that and over the course of the next minute, Althos told Camaxtli what sort of creature he was and even informed the jackaloid about the true nature of the things he had done to the shape-shifters packmates, including the creation of the first dogma made by the deity. He was positively forthright with the canine, who was still dodging each of the creature's swipes with its tail.

He also told the jackaloid that he had read his mind, and knew everything about him. That annoyed the jackaloid, but he knew it was the truth. No point in pretending otherwise. The jackaloid thought to himself, angered once again by his inability to fight back, but at least somewhat grateful and humbled by the deity's interest in him.

Deception involves intelligence in action and those not smart enough to see through a disguised form or an untrue word are lambs who can and should be led, be it to the slaughter or to the temple. Camaxtli repeated to himself, amused at the truth of it, seconds after Althos finished his explanation of his true nature, as he watched the girtablilu continue to futilely try to knock him out with its tail.

It's a good dogma for a creature like Althos... Camaxtli thought, surprisingly respectfully. It was just after this observation, that the deity approached him with his offer. Althos' voice rang out in Camaxtli's mind once more.

[Camaxtli... serve me. Worship and serve me and lead your kin in the worship of me and, and I shall not only restore your body to its prime, but I shall also see to it that you are treated with the respect you deserve by your kind. For as long as you wish.]

Camaxtli was aware that the power of the devilish deal was still active, and thus that Althos meant what he said. This was no game, it was an earnest attempt to recruit the jackaloid. The jackaloid only took a few seconds to make up his mind.

[Althos... If you restore my body to its prime and elevate me to a position of legitimate respect among my kin, I shall worship and serve you loyally and eagerly. I shall obey you in all things, even leading my kin, but that itself is not my desire.] Camaxtli informed the deity. Althos grinned, and immediately targeted Camaxtli with the spell. Then, with the same ease as pulling a simple trigger, Althos cast the spell.

The resulting explosion of magical energy caused Camaxtli's body to begin to shine and radiate a ridiculous amount of bright light that coated the dune in blinding mystical energy. While the light blinded the man-scorpion and the dire-scorpion, Althos took that moment to dash forward and finish the battle against the monster by reaching into the thing's chest with a simple thurst of his arm and steal the beast's heart out from its chest.

His hand had entered the thing's chest from the front and brutally exited it out the back while clutching its thick, still-beating heart. Althos grinned as he took a second and crushed the dense organ in his hand, causing blood to splatter even further across the back of the girtablilu, and causing it to coat even more of his arm.

While doing this he also cast Harvest Soul on the dying thing, even as the last of its life fled from its body. His grin was maintained as he promptly absorbed the very same soul he had just earned. He felt its power surge into him, causing him to shiver involuntarily for a moment. But the shiver came and went almost instantly.

"And that's that." He said, not bothered by the powerful light that illuminated the darkened desert around them. He turned his gaze to his new companion and his soon-to-be faithful worshiper. He could peer through the blinding light and watched as it restored the jackaloid's body to its youthful handsomeness. He wondered what his newest worshiper would look like when the spell was completely finished remaking his form.