As Althos asked himself if he had been lied too, the voice of the one he feared may have lied to him spoke up in defense of itself.

[I suppose I should explain.] It said suddenly making its way to Althos' ears, and Althos grimaced as he heard it. I hadn't expected it to react so soon. He thought, unsure of what it would say.

[I'll admit that your suspicions were correct. I had been intending to test you. It turns out that all it takes to get soul-healing magic is a deific knowledge level of two. That's unfortunate for me. I want you to trust me, and I was going to tell you the truth soon, I swear. But I understand not trusting me. As a consequence of that, I'll grant you the next lowest tier of influence over souls as soon as I come clean. But not a second sooner!] The soul domain informed Althos.

That means that the domain I'd have the highest level of influence over would be souls! He realized almost immediately. That news quite excited Althos, who tried to hide it, but couldn't from the soul domain. After all the thing was a supernatural manifestation of rules that governed existence, it could peer into the god's mind.

[It's okay to be excited by this. Gaining tiers of influence over a domain or sub-domain is huge news, it is in fact a momentous occasion.] The soul domain informed Althos. He nodded, still in two places at once: his mind, and invisibly beside Hagitha. Hagitha did not notice his nodding, and neither did Qiloth. At that moment Althos began to speak to the domain.

[So why you did want to test me?] He asked it, directly but not particularly rudely. His tone was more curious than upset and he struck the domain as willing to forgive, depending on what it said next. The domain didn't take long to answer.

[In order for any of this to make sense, there are things you need to understand. First of all, domains possess immense power. Each of us do. So do sub-domains but sub-domains are more specific, whereas domains are... immensely powerful in a generalized sense. Any deity who obtains the final tier of influence over a domain is granted absolute control over it. And domains want that to happen. We want to guide deities along a path that culminates in them achieving this.] The domain informed him.

He once again nodded in understanding, getting what the domain was telling him. So it continued its speech.

[I want you to become a god of souls. The subdomain of fire wants you to become a god of fire. The subdomain of necromancy, an eerie creature you've already met, wants you to become a god of necromancy. We want to guide you along paths that make you into an omnipotent deity.] The thing told him.

[We've always wanted to make a god into an omnipotent creature. We've never succeeded, but there's never been a god who got a feat designed for fey lords, great old ones, and not gods. You're something new. Something weird. And because of that... we see an opportunity. Some of us anyway. We're working on the others] It told Althos, who needed a second to process that.

Omnipotence... all-powerful. The god said, quietly. That was one of those words that all deities sprung to life knowing. It wasn't a word many of them had liked, but it was one of the mysterious bits of knowledge that swam around Althos' mind during what was his version of infancy.

[For our reasoning there to make any sort of sense, I suppose I should explain a few things. First of all domains, like angels. are naturally subservient to gods. But, unlike angels, domains start off as stronger than gods. Domains limit godly power, at first anyway. It takes a god getting to a certain tier of influence with a domain before their relationship shifts and becomes one where gods have the power, but that's to protect gods while they become more experience.] The thing revealed.

[Domains and angels want to serve gods. I want and need you to remember that. Since there are more angels than domains and subdomains out there that'll be easier to remember for them, but not as easy to remember for domains and subdomains.] The domain reasoned. Althos nodded at that.

[But listen... the domains will do what they can to push you in the right direction. The right direction for themselves anyway. You'll often find that two domains or sub-domains, or a domain and sub-domain don't agree on what "the right path" is.] The domain told him, before providing an example.

[For instance, the sub-domain of honesty and the domain of truth are excitedly cheering me on right now while until you realized my deception they had been angry with me. The sub-domains of lies, ignorance, and the domain of falsehoods liked that I tried to test you, and hate that I'm doing this. And those subdomains and domain actually like you.] The soul domain informed the curious deity listening to it.

At this point, Althos had a question, and so he decided to just ask it. [You say that domains have immense power... does that mean that gods with the highest tiers of influence over them can use their powers?] He asked, transmitting the question to the part of his brain where he felt the soul domain's voice emanate from. The domain quickly answered him.

[Yes. At the second tier of influence over souls, the tier you're going to be getting now, you can create souls. At higher tiers of influence, you can delete souls. Even souls within creatures that are still alive and thus are normally different to extract souls from.] The domain said, speaking reverentially as it unveiled the scope of its power. Althos stopped and considered what he had just heard. And then he spoke again.

[At the second tier of influence... I can create souls?] He asked, genuinely shocked by what he had just heard. The soul domain laughed gently at his question, understanding his shock.

[Yes, you can create souls. But you need to know that creating souls is not as powerful as being able to control them. And creating souls does not create bodies to go with those souls. Although... in creating souls you can forcibly create the lowest tiered extraplanars. Including the weakest of the fey, demons, devils, and angels. Oh, and in your case, you can create superior fungi. Like fungal folks, mold men, and even a few plant creatures. But! And listen to me here, you need to shape them quickly. They are only shapeable, changeable, during their first few moments of existence.] It said.

Althos stopped and he spent a few seconds trying to process that. [So I can just... create fungal folks now? Or when we're done chatting? And angels? And imps?] He asked, grinning while doing so. The domain, though invisible to him, also grinned. It could sense the happiness radiating off of it.

[Yes. And the reason why is because angels are souls. They are souls that are given physical form. Not bodies. Shaped. Tempered. And its the same thing with the other extraplanars. As for the thing with fungal folks, it's because you're the god of fungi.] The domain said, educating Althos.

[Your powers are... linked. As your influence with one domain or subdomain improves, you'll awaken powers in other domains and subdomains that you have power over. As you gain power over fire and the desert, you'll inadvertently gain powers related to glass. Think of that as an example.] It told him. But then he asked a question it found quite silly.

[But wait, why can I create souls before I can destroy them? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Or at least something that happens at the same time?] He asked it, unsure of why the order was the way it was. It was ready though and answered right away.

[The reason why you can create souls before you can destroy them is that a newborn soul is weak. A newborn soul, even under the guidance of a god, takes a bit of time to train. Especially without a body. But if a god destroys a soul... that's permanent. Unless that god has the right domains and subdomains under their control to be able to rewind time, once a soul is destroyed it's gone. Even a body can be rebuilt, or magically recreated. A soul can't.] It said, seriously.

Althos considered that response, mulling it over. After a few moments, he spoke again. [I hadn't thought about it that way. I suppose in my own way I valued life and creation more than destruction and death.] He said, unintentionally uttering something that straddled the line between profound and dumb. The domain chuckled at his response.

[I was impressed with your decision to use your advanced healing magic on the souls. It was a surprisingly thoughtful choice on your part. I'm awarding you with this tier of influence because I believe you can grow to handle it. And plus... you now know that souls remain stuck within you until you chose to release them. It's the same with the souls you create. If you're careful with that it should be fine.] The domain said, cautiously. Its tone was a bit excited but more than anything else it was cautious. It said one final thing before departing.

[I'm about to leave. And when I do, you're gonna get one really long notification. And after that you're gonna have far more diverse abilities than you did before. And from here on out, domains are going to approach you more often. There are dozens of us and just as many sub-domains. So... remember to use all of your powers. Not just convenient or easy ones. All of your powers matter. Good luck Althos. We hope you succeed.] The domain told Althos before vanishing.

And then, just as he was told, he got a very long notification. One that he immediately noticed awarded him with domain and sub-domain powers from a domain and sub-domains he was quite fond of but hadn't put any effort into truly pursuing. He made a mental promise to thank Silander later because her work was invaluable here. Althos had just been received the lowest tiers of influence over the plant subdomain, the animal subdomain, and the nature domain.

But before he read it, he spent a few moments reflecting on the fact that Nefarious Devil-Kiss, the father of Althos' second cleric, was awake and moments from resurrection. Today... today I resurrect many different devils. But most importantly I resurrect Nefarious. I should make this a surprise. He thought. And so he decided to chat privately with Nefarious. And more importantly, he decided to try something new: crafting a vision.

One that was extra special. Custom-made for Nefarious. To test him. To see how he'd react when he faced things he'd never seen before. Because Althos knew that the devil he was about to resurrect had never seen a god of fungi before.

The cathedral of the dark saint was a place in motion. A place in flux. Days ago it had been a mostly abandoned chapel, a tiny, black blemish on a sandy sea. And now it was something more. It was a small island of greenery in an otherwise arid region.

And in the hours since the jackaloids had arrived and spoken to Tristan, it had become a small settlement. And no one present at the burgeoning settlement imagined that it was just minutes from becoming a settlement with dozens of inhabitants, not just around 40 sentient inhabitants.

While Althos was reading through the notification, and warning Salifinos that the imp was about to have several more students, the cathedral's inhabitants were busy.

Outside of the cathedral itself, a place that was only inhabited by Tristan and the imps at the moment, a variety of sounds could be heard, scents could be smelled, and scenes could be seen.

One of the sounds that could be heard was the sound of fighting. It was the sound of combat. And it came from a rogue and a monk in training. The scent of their sweat and sight of their bodies in motion, violent, speedy motion, greeted anyone who left the cathedral.

Gallow and Silander were out in front of the cathedral, sparring in the same area Althos and Salifinos were in when they first met Tristan. They were two of Althos' most devoted minions, and they spent at least two hours every day of the last few days sparring.

Silander fought using her various powers, trying to learn to match Gallow's speed and dexterity. Gallow didn't have or use any particularly special abilities, instead, he learned to fight her while relying on his speed and his skill with his weapons.

The two of them fought until one of them sustained a minor injury, or until one of them said that it was time to end the clash. They were watched by a few of the jackaloids on break. The creatures were closeby, sitting around a small fire they had set and silently watched Althos' of first servants hone their skills.

Hours ago their pack had begun the unpleasant work of building the first building in their monastery, which they intended to be a sort of monk-only rectory. The first thing the pack had done, under the leadership of Camaxtli, was assign shifts so that they could work around the clock but not be exhausted.

When they went on their scheduled breaks they tended to visit the other parts of the grounds of the cathedral, typically stopping by the fungal gardens, and then heading to the actual cathedral so that they could speak with Silander. They were eager listeners, who carefully absorbed the limited teachings Althos had bestowed upon her, before heading back to the repetitive work of laying the foundation for their own private rectory.

At that moment three jackaloids sat by a tiny fire. They were cooking bits of fungus that Silander had told them was safe for them to eat. Their eyes were glued to Silander's thin frame as she practiced dodging Gallow's skillful swipes with his dagger. She attempted to study her partner, mid-spar, so that she could predict where his next blows would be aimed at.

Silander wasn't the most effective fighter herself, but she had become a lot better since the battle against the undying titan. She had started to practice with Gallow, as well as obsessively train her mucus powers and her ability to generate pheromones when she was alone. It was because of her dedication to training that her system alerted her a few days ago that she had become a monk on her own. She had even gotten a specialty!

All of this greatly encouraged the winged great-frog, and that same dedication inspired her to push herself whenever she clashed with Gallow. I can do this! She told herself with every punch she threw, every kick or knee-strike she tried to hit her roguish friend with.

Gallow, for his own part in all of this, also pushed himself. He carefully assessed her strikes and avoided her attempts to use her odd, natural powers on him. He did have an edge up on her though, one that she wasn't aware of: he could read minds. It was a tough power for him to use for long periods of time, but it let him know that she was a monk now, and because of it he could ready himself for whenever she used a mucous attack.

He fought tactically, knowing that she had a greater variety of strikes than he did and that his powers weren't the most effective for sustained sparring, only for assassinations and for intelligence gathering.

At one point, he only narrowly dodged a sharp kick she hurled at him after sailing into the air and then coming down on him from up above. And at one point she saw him lunging at her with his dagger outstretched in front of him, and so she dodged by waiting until he was close to her, jumping at him, and punching him in the face.

The two of them were both skilled, courageous fighters, and the jackaloids could see why Silander had become one of their father's chosen followers.

The five creatures who were gathered outside of the entrance to the cathedral were the first five to see the sky above the cathedral begin to shimmer and change color, which was the first sign that Althos had returned to Infernius.

Within every god existed a space to safely store souls. If someone told this fact to a mortal it could have heard like they were saying that every god had a soul. Which was true. But it also wasn't what that meant.

Mortals could not store souls within themselves. For a mortal, there was space in the body for one soul: theirs. The only exception to this were the few mortals with the ability to digest souls, with stomachs so powerful that they could suck out the powerful energy that even the weakest souls contain.

Gods did not have this weakness. Godly bodies did not exist, not in an unchanging, definitive way anyway, but godly souls did. And godly souls were as small or as large as the divinities willed them to be and had the power to make them. Godly souls could absorb mortal, extraplanar, undead, or any other sort of non-godly soul with ease. And that was what Althos had done when he and his allies slew the undying titan who had taken over Agowraith's Tomb.

Nefarious Devil-Kiss, once an infamous and unusually pious Moth-Devil, was one of the souls that awoke from an incredibly long slumber, inside of the part of Althos that safely stored souls. And unlike other devils, he awoke within a vision that the young god had crafted specifically for him.

Nefarious's last moments as a truly living creature had been spent in a pitched battle against the deadly and strange creature who had invaded and conquered the tomb of Agowraith. The last thing the moth-devil remembered was being buffeted by air as a gigantic hand dropped him into an open maw that was lined with sharp fangs. He didn't even remember the titan who slew him chewing him up, just the darkness of being swallowed whole.

And as odd as that memory was, it didn't explain why he found himself in a strange vision of a landscape that was an eerie, otherworldly version of a forest.

He stood on top of soft, warm, and wet grass. His feet were bare but also ethereal, translucent things. He spent a few moments looking at them, half expecting them to grow more substantial, lose their translucency, but that didn't happen. After a few moments, the moth-devil huffed impatiently and looked up from the grass. What he saw amazed him.

A normal forest was a densely wooded area, kilometers of trees in every direction. What he saw was similar to that, but instead of trees surrounding him in every direction, he was surrounded by hundreds of the thickest and most gigantic mushrooms he'd ever seen.

Mushrooms of every color imaginable, each of which was a varying shade of bioluminescent, surrounded him. Their neon shades illuminated the forest and provided what light Nefarious used to see them.

This was due to a lack of natural light, because though he hadn't noticed it yet, since he hadn't looked at the sky, the caps of the tallest mushrooms blocked out any sort of sunlight or moonlight. The rainbow of mushrooms was one of the sources of the mushroom forest otherworldly ambiance.

He looked around and on one side he saw mushrooms that were jet black, pure white, a shocking shade of yellow, and the sort of green that matched the grass he walked on top. When he turned to look in the other direction he saw mushrooms that were azure blue, soft pink, neon red, and regal shades of purple. It was an incredible sight.

And while he was distracted by the sight, the grass at his feet changed. It was a noticeable change but it happened quickly and silently. The grass at his feet went from being a bright shade of green to being an earthy brown. And it wasn't just the grass right under his feet. It created a trail of sorts, a path for him to follow to go deeper into the forest.

When he looked up to see the sun or moon and make a determination as to the effective time of day, he was surprised to see that he was in a gigantic cage of sorts. A fungal cage. One larger than anything he had ever seen. Mushrooms surrounded him on all sides, forming the walls of the cave, and the tallest mushrooms had caps so high and so thick that he realized that they effectively blocked out the sun. Or the moon.

"What is this place?" He asked, his voice quiet and low. He felt a vibration under his feet, and he looked down at them, only to see the natural path that had color-coded itself.

He visually followed the path and saw that it led in one direction. He turned to see if it extended behind him, but wasn't surprised to see that it didn't. "Well... I guess I'm about to find out." He muttered quietly. And then he began his walk.

Althos' physical form and its pack walked almost aimlessly over the sandy wastes for another ten minutes before climbing to the top of a sandy dune and seeing something brand new off in the distance: a path. And more than that, a long line of people. People who looked like Althos, or at least looked like he did at that moment. Desert giants.

The trial was located on a long patch of sandy, flat land. The pack noticed that the sand was kept at bay as they got closer and closer to it. At one point Althos' secondary will looked at his followers and spoke a single word, cryptically, trying to guess how they did it: "Magic." He uttered, assuming it was a druidic spell of some kind, or some powerful artifact that always kept the trail home visible against the desert wastes.

Within a few minutes of walking the party managed to get close enough to the line to see where it ended, a place a few kilometers away from the city itself. They were still far away, and the smaller party members could easily hide their canine forms in the shadow of Althos' disguise. But instead, the secondary will made them shapeshift into their human disguises.

He turned to them and began to speak. His new body was a tall, muscular form, and the voice that emanated from his throat was a deep, manly one. When he spoke, when he commanded them, they listened.

"Listen to me you all, I'm going to say that I'm a ranger and that the scorpion is my animal companion. It's easier for us if you say that you're my companions, and you enter the city in your human-forms. I know you prefer your animal ones, but hey this is just the easiest thing for us to do, for now. Until we know more." He said, calmly. His canine-companions grumbled but they obeyed his command.

They spent the next few seconds painfully transforming from their canine forms to their human ones, and Althos' second will listened awkwardly as their bones snapped, creaked, and otherwise forced themselves into where such things belonged on a human skeleton as opposed to a canine one.

The painful sounding process took about half a minute, and by the time it was over the desert giant was accompanied by two human-looking creatures who wore fur armor. One of them was a tall, statuesque redheaded woman, with deep-set blue eyes, and the other was a lanky golden-blonde man with wiry muscles and a fearful resting facial expression.

The three of them moved towards the end of the line in the distance, unnoticed and ignored by the few desert giants close enough to spot them. Everyone on the path to the city of Namira had places to go and people to see, and none of those people or those places were near where the party was, so no one paid them much if any mind.

It took Nefarious ten minutes of walking to reach the place where the path came to a stop, which was also just beyond the edge of the. And while he had been following it he walked with his eyes firmly on it, watching it like a hawk. Now, for the first time since he started his mini-journey, he looked up off of the path and straight ahead.

What stretched out before him, so close that if he took another step forward he'd step into its outermost edges, was a darkened, void-like, circular clearing, a place that lacked the illumination the mushrooms provided. And he had had no idea why there was a path leading here. Or where "here" was. He was just deeply confused.

He boldly took a step forward, stepping partway into the darkness and found that the soil there was different than the grassy earth which his other foot was on. His foot in the darkness ontop muddy, slick and slippery soil. For the briefest of moments, he was unsure of his footing, but he quickly found it again and righted himself. Rather than take another step forward he grimaced and shouted into the void-like darkness.

"Is anyone out there?" He shouted, speaking in his native, Infernian tongue. His voice was low, sultry, and charming, even though he felt the slightest, gentlest touch of fear, out here in this alien, possibly abandoned forest. The only sound that responded was his own voice, echoing and slightly distorting as it traveled around the eerie fungal cage was trapped in. The devil sighed and took another step forward, now fully within the darkness.

And then a source of light from within the darkness appeared, illuminating the ground underneath where the heart of the circular clearing was locating, slowly climbing up and out from what steadily revealed itself to be a small body of water. The light lazily swam up the water, and when it reached the top of the body of liquid it leaped out and landed on top of it. It gave off a clear, strong, white light that made it difficult to make out any specific features on the creature, but its shape was clear.

The thing was a humanoid-shaped, walking, swimming, and leaping, bioluminescent fungal mass. It had the limbs of a person, arms, legs, a torso, and even a head with what looked like a blank, featureless face. Its head wasn't topped with hair though. Its head was topped with a thick, chalk-white mushroom cap.

After Nefarious examined it, it examined him. It turned in his direction, shuffling so that it could peer at him from a distance. And then the featureless face changed slightly.

The creature gave itself a mocking imitation of eyes by lifting its hands to its face, and tearing out a small bit of fungal skin from its face, creating eyeholes right where its eyes would have been if it had a real face, and not a blank slab of fungal flesh imitating human skin. The creature didn't try to mimic eyes themselves, and all Nefarious saw when he peered into the eye holes it created was the same inky darkness that its bioluminescent skin illuminated.

Nefarious considered moving, possibly running from the thing, but only for a moment. He began to think logically about his situation. I'm stuck here, aren't I? This is a mushroom forest... and that thing is a fungal monster. There's almost certainly no way for me to escape it that way. So that means I need to do something else. And then his thoughts were interrupted, a voice intruding into his mind.

[Why don't you try approaching me?] A voice asked. It was a strange voice, a masculine one, and sounded far more human, or at least humanoid than the devil had been expecting. But it wasn't done.

[I'm waiting for you. And I'm not alone. My name is Althos. I wanted to see how you'd react to seeing something you've never seen before. This is all just a vision. And you're close to the end.] It confessed.

Nefarious was cautious, but he was impressed by the thing's ability to speak, to enter into even Nefarious's closely guarded and private mind and speak directly to it. And so he began to approach the thing. He took even bolder steps into the darkness, needing to cross through it before he could reach the strange entity.

Nefarious moved forward like a moth venturing through a dark night to get to a bright campfire. Oblivious to danger. And as he did so he heard a peal of warm, child-like laughter.

[You meet some new creature, in a dark, impossible, mushroom forest, and when it asks you to approach it, you actually do? Oh man, I can see where Tristan gets her fearlessness from. Nefarious... my first impression of you is that I like you. I can see us getting along just fine. Remember my name. You'll be hearing it soon. Welcome back to the world of the living. Welcome back to Infernius. Your daughter has waited a long time for you to come home.] The voice told him, the last two sentences being spoken more grandly and more ambitiously than the other, more lighthearted sentences.

And then as abruptly as Nefarious had awoken in the mushroom forest, he was surrounded by darkness again, absolute darkness. But this was a different kind of darkness than the darkness of the titan's gullet. A less permanent kind. A hurricane, a tornado of darkness. Frightening and powerful, but impermanent, passing. And that helped him wait out the silence of the darkness.

While in this swirling miasma he felt things moving around him, and things near him forming, coming into being and settling into place. And before he knew it he was in a familiar place. The sacristy of the cathedral of the dark saint. Home. He realized, with a start.