One of the big things Althos' massive notification taught him about was a simple rule that helped govern reality. He learned that two types of souls existed. Naturally occurring souls, and created souls. Naturally occurring souls were plentiful, being perpetually birthed in the heart of stars and in other places of high-heat and magic. Created souls on the other hand, were rare in the days when gods, the higher beings who could create them, existed in the thousands.

No new created soul had been willed into life in eons. And the last created soul perished eons ago. And yet, as Althos immaterially floated above the dark cathedral, he was getting ready to make one, mulling over the process.

This was the one power he wanted to experiment with before he released the devils whose souls had recovered enough to be resurrectable and therefore bring them back to life. He had refused to be denied this one, solitary cat-like act of playfulness.

He didn't seem to be deeply solemn as he readied himself to create a soul, because to him this was him experimenting with a power. Something that, at that very moment he quietly promised himself to do more often.

I have an ocean of powers at my disposal... yet how many have I actually used? How many evocation spells have I cast? How many creatures have I summoned? How many amputated limbs have I regenerated? How many limbs have I amputated? He curiously asked himself, reminding himself that he really needed to go out and gain experiences.

He took his new power seriously because even he could understand the power that came with creating a soul, but he wasn't wearing ritualistic attire or surrounded by his worshipers, he was merely invisibly floating above the dark cathedral and wondering what he should do.

He looked at the part of the massive notification he had gotten before and focused on it.

[New Divine Power Explanation: Divine Soul-Creation

This immensely powerful ability is the reward for gaining the second tier of influence over the soul domain. This power allows those deemed worthy of receiving it to create souls. To understand what that entails it is necessary to know and understand that there are two types of souls.

The first and most common are the naturally occurring souls, which are souls that are birthed in places of immense magic, life-energy, and heat or some other powerful animating force. All souls presently in existence are naturally occurring souls, though some are descended from created souls, which is the other type of soul.

The second type of soul, which are immensely rare things, are created souls. Created souls are souls that the gods themselves crafted into being. The original angels and other extraplanars were divinely created souls, but now all angels and all other extraplanars are their descendants. When doing so gods speak to the multiverse, pull from it, and then shape what they've pulled into something glorious, something resplendent. Something divine even.

There aren't actually any limits on the number of divinely created souls a god could create, but the old gods were set in their ways and had rules in place to limit the possibility of creating a divine soul that was too powerful, or one who started an inter-deity war, and so they rarely created more than a few for each of their titles. That coupled with the reality that only a few gods could create them in the first place prevented their numbers from ever getting too high.

Divinely created souls are capable of undergoing rituals that other creatures of their types usually aren't, so long as the creature performing the ritual is the deity who created them. They also spring to life as fervent worshipers of their divine creator, being the only kinds of creatures to spring to life with levels in special classes such as templar, inquisitor, cleric, monk, and other classes like that.

Created souls do not come to life with a body. Their creators typically craft or conjure them a body, race-specific bodies can be built by deities once they have a high number of worshipers from a single race, but deities can also experiment.

Something that all deities who could make souls learned as part of their notifications about crafting souls was that some spirits, like Fey, extraplanars, and elementals could be created through a loose definition of the word "body", particularly as it relates to nature.

Deities who experimented with their powers often got special rewards for being creative, and this was especially true for soul-crafting, the art of creating a divine soul. It's also worth noting that it's possible to forcibly shape souls into new, ethereal, forms.

Divinely created souls can also be used as part of the construction of immensely powerful, incredibly intelligent golems, or as the key component of cutting edge, evolving robots and machines.

In order to use this power as effectively as possible, whoever wields it needs to be creative, scientific, and open to exploring the possibilities that come with doing the unexpected.

Each time this power is used it'll ask for its user to give it basic stats. This isn't in reference to merely its health, but it tells the soul what to focus on as they grow. Users are also asked to provide a basic personality for their machines and can give them three abilities that are similar to their own divine abilities. This final part of the process is what truly distinguishes divine souls from naturally occurring ones. This number increases the more divine souls a deity creates.

Cooldown rate: N/A

Target: N/A This power is a creation ability. Unlike many of Althos' divine powers that affect targets, this power creates something. From nothing. Many of the most potent divine abilities are creation abilities. This is the first creation ability Althos has unlocked, which is noteworthy in and of itself.]

Althos read that part of the notification. And then he reread it. There were a lot of new words in it, words that he either hadn't heard before or had never heard in the context of his powers. It was eye-opening and quite humbling for him.

Golems, robots, fey, inquisitors, and elementals... That's a lot of cool new words for me to research. He told himself, childishly grinning all the while.

And then he activated his newest divine message. While doing so, his main train of thought centered around what sort of powers he'd like to give to the soul he was creating. Oh, I know what'd work perfectly for creating a soul! The answer is as plain as can be. Surprisingly he realized what he was going to give it without much difficulty.

The art of soul construction was an art that required a delicate touch. It was a tricky process that involved three steps and three ingredients. The first step was using magic to form the soul's "skeleton" so to speak. Magical energy, the same sort of magical energy used to cast spells, was consumed in the process of creating the outer shell of a soul.

The moment Althos' divine ability activated, magic exploded across the cosmos, seeking to fulfill his will and indulge his whims. Magic of incredible power and undeniable magnetism radiated out of him in pursuit of his objectives. It flew out of him and into the vast, cosmic wilderness of the multiverse.

It flew and flew, reaching a speed far faster than the speed of sound, before eventually, it reached a part of the multiverse only accessible to gods and the souls they created by their own hands.

The place was a sort of factory. A factory of souls. It was where divine souls were created and where a part of them was stored until they are given bodies to inhabit, or shaped into extraplanar beings. And the special soul that Althos and the system were creating at that moment would spend far more time there then its younger siblings would, thanks to the care and freedom Althos was giving the thing. Not that it would learn that right away.

Magic of unimaginable power, of such potency, that if its costs were calculated would have been in the billions, was what stitched together the assorted, metaphysical components of the soul that Althos' divine ability began the process of creating. Magic called together the various energies needed for a soul to not only come into being but also not collapse.

Althos' magic created the basic intelligence that suffused the soul, forcefully weaving together a brain and a mind. It infused every incorporeal nanometer of the soul, infusing it with an ability to think, even to feel from the moment it sprung to life. And then the second part of creating a soul began. The part that required the second ingredient: divine energy.

Divine energy, the energy used by godly powers, was the second ingredient in the process of crafting a soul from scratch. It was a necessary expenditure if someone wanted to create a soul that had both a unique personality and also for it to be powerful. The soul that Althos was creating was still, magically held still, while divine energy took aim at it.

Divine energy then blasted the soul, soaking it in the raw divine power that infused Althos, all the while opening the soul equivalent to pores, and filled them with power. The thing was thoroughly exposed to pure, unmitigated divine power and like a divinely crafted sponge, the thing absorbed the residual energy that'd one day mutate and transform, making the creature far stronger than a typical member of its kind, whatever that kind happened to be.

Divine power infusing the cells of a soul, making its small form store and save up the power, ensured that it'd never be weak. It filled each cell, each molecule of the soul with as much power as it could before finally coming to a stop when the soul-to-be couldn't take any more divine energy infusing it.

Magic, divine energy, and will. Those were the three components needed to divinely create a soul. And of those three, the will was the most unique. Althos' youthful will was the final component in soul creation. And once the soul had been crafted by magic, infused with powerful, mutative divine energy, there was one final step in creating it: infusing it with a will.

Althos' will infused the soul with the spark of animation that carefully brought it to life. His will infused it with the final bit of power needed for the thing to spring fully and truly to life, to awaken as a truly living creature. As it did that, the things first memories were of Althos making a bold choice in determining the thing's personality.

[You can shape the personality of your divinely created soul to suit your whims and your needs. Describe the sort of personality you'd like for it to have.] The system alerted and then asked of the god who was crafting the soul.

What sort of... personality I would like for it to have? He wondered, feeling strange about the question. The deity himself wasn't hugely controlling. It's true that he sought out worshippers of his own volition and deceived them, but he felt that that was a thing that deities did when they wanted worshipers.

For all of the odd and negative personality traits of his, he's never tried outright controlling the sort of faith that others prop around him, something that unbeknownst to him actually weakened him. It reduced the speed at which he gained influence over domains, and resulted in fragmented cults that viewed themselves as distinct and not part of a larger family.

But he did this because he wasn't the overly controlling sort. All of this stemmed from a fundamental enjoyment of freedom. A weird, and inconsistent enjoyment of freedom, but one that made him think carefully as he contemplated what sort of personality he wanted this soul to have.

What I do want is for it to be free. I want it to not feel shackled. I don't want the thing to be alone like I was in the beginning. I want it to know who its family is, and that knowing things is cool and it should aspire to know things and share that knowledge. He thought to himself. And after a few seconds, he came to a decision about what to tell the system.

[I want it to be free. First and foremost. I want it to have its own agenda and goals. If it could spring to life knowing anything I'd want it to spring to life knowing that it's not just me who is its family, but all of my worshippers. I also want it to come to life knowing that knowing things and sharing what one knows is cool.] He told the system, smiling as he did so.

[Implimenting suggestions right now... What powers of yours would you like it to have? Before answering this, please keep in mind that whenever a divinely created soul uses the divine powers its creator has granted it, the god who created the soul gains experience with that power.] The system asked Althos.

This question wasn't difficult for him to answer. He didn't even really have to think about it.

[I want to give the newly created soul as much freedom as possible. And so I'm going to give it its own version of my divine language ability, and the teleportation power that comes with the first tier of influence over the teleportation subdomain. And my shapeshifting ability.] He informed the system, giving the soul he was creating omnilingualism, the ultimate freedom of movement ability, and a highly powerful shapeshifting ability. He felt pleased with his choices and smiled contentedly.

[Granting the soul its own versions of these powers... preparing to give soul over to you. In 3... 2... 1...]

The soul burst to life in the wake of being infused with Althos' will, awakening for the first time on its own. It awoke just before Althos was asked to influence its personality, unaware of anything but a single word. The name of its creator. The name of the creature whose divine energy suffused its very being.

Althos. It thought, blankly recognizing the word, but not in an intellectual way. More in a familial way. It knew the word was the name of its creator, and it knew that that creator was a god, but it had no understanding of what that meant. Instead, it knew what that name made it feel.

The soul felt love, loyalty, and happiness when it heard Althos' name. When it repeated the single word to itself. It wanted to nurture the warm feelings that the immature soul felt at the name of its creator and wanted to continue to feel those things. And at the same time as it realized that it wanted to protect the feelings the mere mention of Althos' name made it feel, it received two final gifts from its master. Well, three actually.

[Althos greets you, young one. You are a yet unnamed soul that he has personally created. The very first soul he's created. He is young, but he's also growing at an amazing pace. He is a god who still... has a lot of learning to do, but he created you and wanted you to be free.

Unlike many other beings of your type, your personality will be shaped by you, and by the environments you find yourself in. That's a rare thing for divinely created souls. Consider it the blessing of a deity who cares about you.

He wanted you to spring to life knowing the following things: you are not alone, and knowing things is great. You have a family in Althos and his followers. And Althos, knowing that his greatest weakness is that he often lacks knowledge, created you and asked for the system, the voice you're hearing right now, to inform you that knowing things is great, and so is sharing knowledge.

Althos' final gifts to you, beyond the life he's instilled in you, and the freedom he's given you are three powerful abilities. Abilities that bring you closer to him than any other creature. His first gift to you is that the gift of divine language, or omnilingualism. This gift gives you the freedom to speak to all creatures. You will never be burdened with having to learn a language to be able to convince someone to worship Althos, to join your family.

His second gift to you is the ability to teleport at will, including into other dimensions. This gift gives you freedom of movement. You can vanish from one place and instantly appear in another, even if the distance is vast. You can teleport to new places, bringing you to lifeforms who've never heard of Althos.

His final gift to you is the gift of shapeshifting. The freedom of form. This gift gives you the power to modify your body, change your appearance. With it you can freely choose your appearance, allowing you to live among various communities at any time. You can use this power to not frighten people at first glance and to get close enough to tell them of Althos.

Althos has freely given you these gifts. And now... you can meet him.]

As soon as the message was done, the soul bonded with Althos and a fragment of it was teleported to where his main will was.

Without giving the soul a chance to prepare, the cleverest fragment of it was flung from the depths of the multiverse to one version of Infernius, the version where Althos was floating above the dark cathedral, incorporeally, and opened his eyes just in time to see the soul materialize in front of him as a neon-green, glowing orb, not unlike the soul-orbs.

And a part of it, a sort of echo of it that it remained faintly connected to was left behind. Alone, in that darkness. Alone, but not for long.

"Hello there little one." He said to it, his eyes peering into it, recognizing it as his creation. He grinned at the thing. And in response, the tiny orb looked at him and thought to itself: Althos. Waves of joy swept over it, as it was united with its maker. Deep, heavy feelings of belonging rattled its heart. It was home.

Althos watched the tiny green orb, watched as his first creation was still and as it processed that it was with its creator. For a moment he considered focusing on this, but then he remembered that he had other, deeply emotional tasks to do in the next few minutes. And so he reached within himself and released the 35 devil souls that had recovered enough to be resurrectable.

The process of reaching within himself was a literal one, one that involved him reaching into his mind, activating a menu, and manually selecting the devils that were able to be released. And then he selected where they were to be dropped, where they were to arrive when they were released from within him. For 34 of them, he selected the area right in front of him, right outside of the dark cathedral, and called out to Tristan and the imps, telling them to come outside.

And for the 35th devil, he selected a special place. The sacristy. The 35th devil was Nefarious. Tristan's father. He knew that any second now the devil would be appearing within the sacristy, and so Althos began the process of making himself truly visible.

For the last few minutes, while interacting with the soul creation menu, he had stayed within the area above the chapel that shimmered and changed color when he first returned to Infernius. It was intended to ensure that he was left alone to experiment with the menu and create something, and it worked spectacularly.

And now that he was done experimenting with his new power, he felt fine making his presence known. Something he began doing, while 34 magical circles appeared in the area in front of the cathedral, just beyond where Silander and Gallow had stopped fighting after noticing the area Althos had transformed, situated right above the top of the cathedral.

The two of them had been joined by Tristan and the imps, who stared at the circles in open curiosity. No one spoke, confused as to what the circles were meant to mean or be.

The 34 magical circles turned the light green grass they were on top of a shade of deep, cerulean blue. The sand shined as the energy within the circles intensified incredibly quickly, rapidly beginning the process of restoring the slain devils to life.

Althos flew out of the odd little crack he had temporarily made a quiet lair and transformed his ethereal form into something visible and corporeal. What sort of body should I make this time? He asked himself, enjoying the chance to choose what sort of new, physical form he'd give himself this time.

His mind quickly sorted through the possibilities even as the devils he was resurrecting were starting to form solid, physical bodies, having enjoyed Nefarious' reaction to his fungoid monster form, but ultimately settling on a simple look: an evil human-like creature who belongs in Infernius. The sort of creature who truly looked like true-devils were supposed too, handsome, malicious, even seductive humans with just small hints at alien or supernatural natures.

As he sailed through the air he willed a new physical body into being, focusing on the image in his mind and using magic to stitch together a body out of ambient mystical energy while flying, and he crafted it in the form of a powerfully built, darkly handsome human-like creature, which landed on the ground in front of Gallow and Silander, two simple iron blades in its hand.

Althos magically stitched together an outfit like the palace guards in Mahmud's early childhood memories wore. A simple open, white vest, breathy black trousers, and shoes that protected his feet from anything that might cut into them. The two iron blades in his hands were magical in origin as well, and the deity had used a magical effect to create them. He held them out in front of him as he waited for the magical circles in front of him to finish their work.

For once Althos' true power was palpable. Not just as the source of the strange, life-restoring arcane circles, but radiating out of him. He was allowing his divine power to leak out of him in mighty waves of mutative and restorative waves, waves that suffused the air around him, so that the devils would immediately recognize him as a powerful, superior creature, and not attempt to attack anyone.

The circles were arranged in seven rows of five each, aside from the last row which was made up of just four circles. Magical energy began to fill the air, weighing it down with mystical density and power, and sparks began to expel outward from the first row of circles, a sign that they were about to begin their critically important task.

The weakest of the 34 devils were the first to begin to emerge. The creatures that the first circles began to restore to Infernius, and to life, were red-skinned, metal-clad warriors who held parma shields that had intimidating and intricate infernian designs in one of their hands and imposing longswords in the other. They had thin spears strapped to their backs that they could take out at any time.

A total of five of them, a single row of war-ready creatures, were being formed within the circles. They were a type of devil known as phalanx devils, basic, orderly warriors who formed the lowest rung of the devilish military hierarchy. While they were first appearing from within the circles and getting their bearings, Althos noticed the odd way the circles worked.

The way the magic circles appeared to conjure the devils was not what Althos had been expecting. I thought maybe they'd crawl out of the ground. Or emerge fully formed... but it's weird to see lights restore a creature from the top-down. The magical circles brought the devils back from the dead from the top down, so a wave of light appears at the top of the circle and descends, and the devil slowly reappears from the head down.

The creatures were disoriented at first, confused and mystified as to their sudden resurrection, but the minute they laid eyes on Althos they could sense a tiny bit of his power and recognized him as a devil who was greater than they were so they each knelt on one knee in recognition of Infernius itself recognizing Althos' superiority. This pleased the god and stroked his ego a bit.

This group of devils didn't just have men though, three of the fierce warriors were men and two of them were women. Or at least as male or female as devils could be. The males were shorter than the females but built more stockily. The females also had hair, one of them had brown hair, and the other had black hair. The armor they wore was also slightly modified so as to accommodate their different body shapes.

The devils behind them also began to be formed by their circles, but only the next five. This was another type of military devil, types of devils Althos hadn't yet met until now aside from the mace-devil he befriended a few days ago.

These ones had heads that ended in thick horns rather than hair, and they had cruel, snarling faces. They came into being holding bows in each of their pairs of arms. Like Ranthor these devils had four arms and hands, and they carried two thick looking metal bows in each pair of arms. They were shirtless, revealing tight, well-maintained and well-trained muscles. They wore trousers made of a metal Althos hadn't seen yet. It's probably something local to Infernius. He speculated.

In this group, there was only one female but she was significantly taller than the other devils, and her bows looked denser than the bows of her companions. She had silver eyes she immediately trained on Althos, before grinning and bowing. She was the first of her companions to do so.

They saw the phalanx devils bowing and sprung to life confused, but then they looked up and saw Althos. Just like the phalanx devils before them, they quickly adopted an obsequious position, kneeling down behind the phalanx devils and not daring to look the true devil before them in the eye. These were archery devils, something Althos would learn when he first spoke to them.

10 warrior devils... wow. Is this the beginning of an orderly, but tiny army? Althos asked himself, knowing the composition of a total of 13 of his new minions since this group also included Nefarious, Heryensis, and Agowraith, devils whose types he understood and knew already.

The next two rows of circles immediately began to conjure the creatures they were resurrecting. These two rows were evenly split between men and women of the same basic build of devil. The creatures that sprung to life within these circles were hulking devils, tall and muscular bipedal beastlike things with active eyes that flitted from place to place in search of something to do. They had a range of skin colors, hair colors that were exact replicas of their skin colors, and came to life grinning.

They also wordlessly knelt before Althos.

The row behind them lit up, almost blocked from view because of the large masses of the hulking devils, and began to recreate the devils it was to resurrect. The creatures that these circles brought back from death were smaller than their earlier fellows, closer in size to the phalanx devils.

Some of them wore robes similar to the ones worn by priests and as they came back to life they had a similarly serene expression on their faces as a priest in the presence of a loving god might.

They were calm things, with grey skin and closed eyes. Each of them was lightly smiling and when they were fully back they opened their eyes, saw Althos, grinned, and then happily knelt before him. These were pious devils, devils that were well known in Infernius for being religious leaders and believers in the near-divine might of the arch-devils. Might they sensed Althos exceeded. They were truly happy to be in his presence.

2 of them were women and wore the habits associated with nuns, and three of them were men who wore the ornate robes one might expect the head of a church to wear. Tristan looked at the women who were clad like she was, and couldn't suppress the grin she felt worm its way onto her face. She looked at her comrades and excitedly spoke to them.

"Those devils... they are wearing what I'm wearing!" She said, shaking the shoulders of her comrades for just a moment, while also transmitting her thoughts to them. Her companions were confused as to why she was excited and asked her what was exciting about that. Gallow both spoke and transmitted his thoughts to her, curious about her reaction.

"Why is that a big deal?" He asked, genuinely confused by how excitable her reaction was.

She once again spoke and transmitted her thoughts to them, while watching the things kneel before Althos.

"I've never known why my father wanted me to dress like this. He told me it reminded him of his past and never expanded on anything beyond that. I guess this is why..." She said, a cocktail of emotions sneaking into both her voice and her thoughts as she spoke to her friends.

She took a second to recover, and then she spoke again. "But are these devils our friends, or our foes?" She asked, her eyes narrowing as she carefully considered the possibility that they were enemies. That would explain why Althos is here physically... I should be there, beside him! She thought, readying herself to move forward and even taking a step forward before Althos stopped her with just a few words.

"Tristan. These are not our enemies. But I think you should go to the sacristy. There's something there you need to see." He told her, speaking to her in the language of Infernius. She couldn't see him, but he was smiling softly as he considered the real value of what was waiting for her in the darkness of that preparatory room. She heard him and she took a step back. She considered his words before saying what she said next.

What does he have in there, waiting for me? She wondered. There's only one way to found out, I guess. She thought, before turning around and beginning to talk towards the chapel. "Yes sir. I don't know what it is, but I'm already excited to find out." She said, smiling. And then seconds later she was on the chapel narthex, and then inside of the building, out of sight.

Seven devils left. Althos thought to himself, curious as to what those seven remaining portals would reveal to him and his followers.

It took longer than it had taken the other circles for the next five to begin to resurrect the devils contained within them. A full minute of silence passed before the next five circles began to emit the telltale sparks that the devils whose essences they contained were ready to return to the living.

As per the past few sets of circles, the creatures within the circles started to appear from the top down. And at the top of these creatures were slimy tendrils, things which whipped around and covered their surroundings in slug-like ooze, even before the faces of these creatures could begin to be recreated. And what revealed itself next wasn't a horrifying slug-devil, but something else. Something that in its own way was just as unsettling as a slug-devil would have been,

By the time the things were fully formed and bowed before Althos, he was trying to piece together what they were.

Devils with slug-like stalks at the top of their heads, the claws of wild bears, the faces and torsos of human women, and the tentacles of octopi... Devils sure are a varied species. Althos thought as he examined the eerie women who meekly bowed before him.

These were attendant devils, servants of the nobility of Infernius who delighted in planning fiendish events that took place in places of class and elegance and involved pain and torment, especially of the elderly or the infirm.

And now... for the final two. Althos thought to himself, as he and the rest of the assembled creatures watched and waited for whatever came out of the very few remaining circles, only two of which were unknown to him.

Tristan was alone as she walked through the aisle of the cathedral's nave, an area she and her father had built a long time ago. She was lost in her thoughts as she passed a number of pews, pews that were now primarily used as the seating for a classroom since Salifinos had become the unofficial teacher of the imps.

I wonder if those new devils will convert to Althos worship... To the Order of the Dark Saint. She thought, as she pushed past the final row of pews.

"It'd be really nice for this chapel to see use. Especially if the ones using it aren't animals." She said, complaining half-heartedly about the fact that the latest people to use the chapel for religious services were Silander and Silander's animal followers.

She walked past the pulpit, and as she did she noticed the faintest hint of a familiar smell. A smell she knew she'd never forget. It made her stop for a second, as she moved to crush a faint bit of hope that she sensed bud within her.

The scent was a scent from her childhood. The second she smelled the distinct, unique scent of pollen that her father's wings expelled with every flap, she felt a tiny bud of hope rear its ugly head. She felt tears well up within her eyes, threatening to stream down her face, and did her best to fight those too. She took a second to crush the hope, and to regain control of her emotions. She also used that second to question her senses.

Why am I smelling that smell? It's been nearly a week since we killed Narcolept and this has never happened before. It's been decades, centuries even since I last saw him. I've never met anyone with his power. She thought to herself, wondering what the actual source of the smell was.

She allowed the worst of the feelings in her heart to pass, and hardened her heart, steeling herself before she readied her and continued walking towards the sacristy. Within seconds she was outside of it, the door leading in and out of it stood closed before her.

The smell was stronger here, but she was ready for that and quietly opened the door into the small office. And when it opened enough to reveal the whole office to her, she was shocked to see a lone devil standing there. His back was turned towards her but she knew she'd never forget it.

It was etched onto her memory, burned into her subconscious because it was the last part of him she had ever seen. The devil had been studying something she had written a long time ago, but long after he vanished.

In front of her stood the broad-shouldered, winged, and muscular back of her father. In front of her stood Nefarious Devil-Kiss, an ancient moth devil who died in the Tomb of Agowraith the Kingwhisperer.

Father... it's impossible, but that's... father. She thought, knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that the figure before her was her father, between the sight of his back and the scent that heavily filled the air in the office, even though such a thing shouldn't have been possible.

She had let go out of the door when she saw her father, and when it swung nearly as far as it could, it collided with a loose pile of books on the floor. The collision caused them to collapse, clattering to the floor. The resulting sound alerted Nefarious that he wasn't alone, because until then he had been distracted reading her writing, her interpretations of the trials that the second dark saint would have to endure.

The noble moth-devil had been engrossed in her writing, her provocative interpretations of the ancient prophecy, but when he turned around and saw her he immediately crossed the office and pulled her into his arms. "Tristan..." He said, breathlessly. "I've missed you so much." He said, his soothing voice and his warm presence becoming, for the moment anyway, the only thing in the world that mattered to her.

She wanted to respond, but she couldn't think of the words. She couldn't find the language to express how much she had missed her caretaker. All she could think about was that he was here, with her, in their cathedral. "Father..." She said, her voice the softest and happiest it had ever been, between gentle, joyful sobs.

After a few moments in her father's arms, hugging the person she missed the most in the world, she asked him a simple question. "How are you back? I mean... it's wonderful, but how did it happen?" She asked, excitedly. She was pretty sure she knew how, there were a ton of clues after all, but she needed to confirm it. She needed to be sure. I want to know. She told herself.

Her father chuckled, an insectile sound, like the sound of a bee buzzing near someone's ear, and then he uttered a single word. "Althos." Even his voice was incredulous like he himself couldn't believe it, even though he was the one who had died and come back to life.

She laughed, the sound mixing with her emotions and a gentle, happy sob, before muttering just one more thing. "Of course... Of course, he brought you back!" She said, relieved that she was right while grinning like she was in on the funniest joke she had ever been told.

Meanwhile across the desert:

Althos' original physical body, the will that was piloting it, and the creatures accompanying him had traveled maybe a few meters along the line to get into the city of Namira. They had entered it at its rather long end, but now some people had gathered behind them.

Some of the people behind them wore combination outfits, outfits that combined the parts that dispersed heat and made it more tolerable, as well as armor that protected their most critical giblets. They reeked of long, successful hunts. The smells coming off of them was the unholy mixture of monster guts, sweat, and unwashed clothing.

The giants eagerly chatted about their successes in battle, and the varied monsters they had come across during their travels. The will listened to them, silently thankful for the distraction on this otherwise monotonous journey, but wishing that this line would move just a bit faster. Eventually, he had to complain, so he spoke to his allies using his universal language ability.

"This is taking... a really long time." The will said, speaking to both the scorpion who was clinging closely to it, and the jackaloids who had joined him in their human disguise. The two jackaloids nodded at him, agreeing without needing to use words.