A walking nightmare trudged along the border between the verdant grassland Althos had created and the desert. The thing that stalked the outermost edge of Althos' home was a massive cross between a powerful ape and a tusked pig.

It walked slowly, tirelessly serving the whims of its master. At the moment it hadn't captured any new creatures, though over the past few days it had taken dozens of tiny and sometimes poisonous animals to Tristan, one of the many creatures who also served its master, the odd god Althos.

Raverangos scanned the area in front of it, its pitch-black eyes obsessively searching for new presents for its master. The hulking, winged demon also wanted the chance to rake its teeth along the flesh of a living creature, as it was a simple and often cruel creature who desired little more than violence.

"Where... are... you?" It sang out, the abyssal words it spoke ringing out painfully across the infernian landscape it stalked across. The eerie monster had spent the majority of the past few days doing this, spending innumerable hours searching for creatures on which it could satiate its innate lust for violence.

Each time the sentinel demon opened its mouth, rows of frighteningly sharp teeth were exposed to the warm desert air. And with each word, warm desert air filled Raverangos' lungs. The demon didn't mind it, as the air here wasn't totally unlike the arid air that was located in the demonic castle it had once lived in.

Raverangos continued its endless hunt, energetically exploring the odd boundary that marked where Althos' territory ended and Paimon's territory began.

The angel had shifted herself slightly so that her imposing mass no longer obstructed the family's view of their fields. What her move revealed to the two giants rendered them momentarily speechless.

Behind her, there were countless crops, ranging from tomatoes to peaches, to cucumbers, to other sorts of crops like cannabis, poppy seeds, to rarer plants like lemon verbena and erect spiderlings. The entire field was growing and expanding before the eyes of the two giants and their angelic, illusionary, visitor.

"What... what is this?" Arza, the female giant who had spent the last few minutes watching her son labor over the fields, asked. Her question wasn't directed towards anyone in particular and lingered in the air, even as the newer and newer crops began to energetically burst out of the dirt as if they had always been just beneath the surface but only just now got the energy needed to escape their dirty confines.

The beautiful angel Althos had created using illusionary magic looked straight at Arza before she responded. She waited for the giantess to make eye contact with her before she next spoke. When the giantess turned to her, eager to learn about what had just happened, the angel opened her mouth and began to speak.

"It's as I said. Althos is fulfilling the prayer of your son. He sent me as his emissary and to inform you of his existence. And now that I have and you are informed that he exists, he seeks your worship." She said, her voice beautiful and haunting. She wasn't done speaking either.

"This is the bare minimum of Althos' power. He decided to introduce himself to you this way because, in Berk's prayers, he revealed that this was what he needed, what he desired. Althos came and he has fulfilled that need. Please, test the crops before you to your satisfaction, and when you're done, I will tell you more. There is much to discuss." She said.

Then the angel waved to the giants and urged them to walk into the field where their spontaneously generated bounty awaited them.

In the distance, Althos watched them with a smile. It's about time I continue isn't it? The prison awaits me. But first... let's try something. He thought, before raising his hand and aiming it at the angel. The gears in the mind of the god were turning, and Althos was exploring ways to make the angel a far more real creature than it was at the moment.

Let's see what the school of alteration can really do. He thought, grinning as he began to craft a custom magical effect. He also activated his soul-construction power and created a simple, loyal soul, one that he hoped he'd be able to use very soon.

He gifted the soul with two of his usual choices of powers: omnilingualism, mental abilities, and a third, more unusual choice. He gifted the soul with the ability to speak to and manipulate plants, though to a lesser extent than he could. Althos could cause plants to grow in seconds, and this soul could only speed the growth up by a tenth of that.

Within moments he felt the soul come to him, its construction finished, and settle in the palm of his hand, ready to be launched towards a body.

I need to make this illusion real. Can I do that with alteration magic? I should be able too. He thought, wanting to transform his odd angelic illusion into a real thing, a true, living creature and not an ultra-powerful illusion.

A few seconds passed while the god settled on what he wanted to do. Eventually, Althos was confident in the approach he wanted to take: he wanted to alter his angelic creation so that she was a real, living creature, and immediately infuse her with the simple soul that he had created, a soul that was utterly loyal to him and able to think on its feet.

Once he was sure that that was the route he wanted to take he called out to the magic that made up his physical form. He speedily touched it, manipulating it, and influencing it so that it could make his wishes a reality. In seconds he felt that that potent arcane energy that infused him like blood infused mortals was ready to alter his latest creation, and he unleashed it.

The magic surged out of his outstretched palm at the same time as the soul flew forth towards the false angel, commanded by its creator to do so.

It took but an instant for both the soul and the magic to collide with the illusion, and from behind the giants the angel silently fell to her knees as the soul and the magic Althos had created overcame the initial nature of the illusion.

I'll stay here just an instant longer. Althos told himself, while he waited to see if his magic had worked as intended.

The angel, an intricate illusion made of angelic energy, and powerful nature magic, began to shudder. Althos watched, excited and curious to watch his illusion spring to life.

[Whoa... this feels... weird.] A voice said, directly into Althos' mind. And this surprised the young god, who was momentarily taken aback.

[Is this... are you the angel?] Althos asked, responding to the mysterious voice that had just spoken to him, confusion and excitement audible in equal measure in his mental voice. And then, silence.

Althos didn't receive a response for a full minute, a minute during which the angel recovered from her state of shock, and during which Althos received and read through a notification.

[New Magic Alert:

The custom effect you've constructed was successful. The illusionary angel is undergoing a few quick modifications to make her an arboreal angel, a type of angel that in the mythic age served gods of nature.

Your creation is loyal to you and recognizes the truth that you are a god. She will serve you loyally, particularly as it relates to things that incorporate and further your influence over the nature domain.]

At the moment that Althos read and then reread the notification, he was moments away from getting another message. He willed away the notification, grinning, and received another message from his newest follower.

[Yes. Yes, I am. Thank you, creator, for gifting me with true life.] She told him, her voice soft and sincere. Althos could hear the awe in it and grinned at her.

At that moment, he felt a sudden and powerful urge well up within him. He felt a single word embed itself in his brain, a single, long and odd word. Menanam. A part of him wondered what it meant before the system itself spoke to him.

[The system has noted your difficulty with naming creatures. Menanam is a word in a language from a distant universe that means, among other things, "plant". This would be a good name for your first arboreal angel.] The system explained its mechanical voice speaking to Althos quite simplistically.

Althos smiled at the suggestion, and decided to accept it. He politely thanked the voice in his mind, reminded of his duties to eventually name his newer companions, before speaking to the angel once again.

[Your name is Menanam. Now go, and convince those people to worship me as a deity of nature, harvest, and agriculture.] He instructed her, his pronunciation of the word flowing out naturally and easily.

He saw her nod and felt satisfied with the trip out to the field. He turned away from her and from the family of giants he knew would soon join his fold, becoming this city's first Althonians, and looked up overhead.

What he saw looming not far from where he was was the gigantic tower, the enormous obelisk. And so he began his trek towards its entrance, towards the place that imprisoned Angelica the angel.

"Imps are in a weird position in Infernius. We occupy the lowest real rung of the infernal hierarchy, yet we do incredibly valuable work." Salifinos said, seated comfortably in one of the dark chapel's naves.

He was lecturing to a trio of young imps, all of whom were Althos' direct creations. The three of them stared at him and paid studious attention to each of his words. All three of the imps had wide eyes and were eagerly listening to each and every one of the imp's lessons.

"We are the devils most commonly summoned to the worlds of mortals. We do incredibly valuable work as scouts and tempters, and we are frequently summoned by young and ambitious wizards and other spell-slingers who want to make deals with us." Salifinos said, preparing himself to launch into a speech.

"We are what are known as 'familiar class' extraplanars, which means we are considered skilled aides to magicians and are thought to be intelligent advisors. Demons, titan-spawn, abyss-dwellers, nephilim, pain-mongers and other types of extraplanars all have their own 'familiar class' extraplanars as well." The imp proudly said, proud of the fact that even some chaotic creatures like demons could fit a certain type of hierarchy.

"Though each kind of familiar has different strengths and weaknesses, what strengths imps have is that they are a part of a grander network. Imps are able to take advantage of the connections they have to Infernius and tempt wizards, spell-singers and the like, with great rewards in exchange for their souls." The lead imp explained, both to his pupils, and unknowingly to Althos, who was listening to their conversation from the chapel's sacristy.

Althos, taking a short break from an in-depth study of the first memories the secondary will had gotten him, had been listening to Salifinos' imp-lessons for a few minutes now. He was absorbing the knowledge eagerly, grateful for a chance to learn about the abilities and perspectives of one of his followers.

"Imps exist to help populate Infernius, especially with the souls of magic-users. We may occupy the lowest rung of the hierarchy of Infernius, but only the worst of us spend much time here. Normally we're in the mortal plane, where we are free to corrupt souls and to twist mortals into our playthings. We do so by serving them, loyally at first, and then beginning to suggest they are weak or could become stronger... if only they'd listen to us." Salifinos instructed his proteges, smiling sinisterly as he spoke.

"In fact... let me tell you a story, to really hammer this home. A story about a spell-slinger named Modred. He was my most recent 'master'." The imp declared, causing his little students to look even more eager than they usually did.

A spellsinger? Like Hagitha? Like the odd human who led the human soldiers against the orcs? Althos thought, surprised. Should I go into Salifinos' mind and make a copy of his memories? No... Not yet anyway. He's about to begin his story.

And with that Althos readied himself to learn more about his impish familiar.

It didn't take the secondary will long to reach the onyx obelisk. The thing stood out like a sore thumb, and Althos' secondary will merely walked in the general direction of the looming sky-scraper like, edifice until he arrived at its base.

It took him perhaps a dozen or so minutes of rapid walking to arrive at the entrance into the building that towered over the rest of the city. When he did so he found himself standing in front of another city-square, a massive clearing which was populated by a mixture of soldiers, giants wearing armor and regalia similar to that worn by the guard who had permitted him into the city, not long ago, and civilians.

Althos was directly across from the open entrance into the black obelisk, and away from it by over a hundred meters. He was now surrounded by buildings, many of which seemed to be either academies of some sort, or homes for large families, judging from what both tremor-sense and his radar told him.

He inspected the square and found that in every direction he could see, as in ones not blocked by the incredible mass of the prison, other entrances to it, which were framed similarly to the one he was just inside of: by massive buildings exactly like the ones that surrounded him. So this part of the town might be the heart of the military-district since the obelisk serves so many different functions.

Around him, dozens of desert giants went about their business. Many of them were clearly guards and soldiers of some kind, and only some were not warriors of one sort or another.

Those who weren't guards, were universally younger desert-giants, both shorter and more youthful-looking than the grizzled warriors who kept watch around the square. They sat on the ground and traded stories, exchanging gossip and creating tall-tales to startle their friends with.

Althos quickly began to filter out their comments, ignoring them before looking to the ominous-looking onyx obelisk that loomed in front of him. "And so it begins." He muttered to himself, taking his first steps into the square.

He could see the entrance into the obelisk and noted that there was no traffic heading towards it. The place was well-guarded, and the majority of warriors there carefully kept their eyes open, scanning the square for anyone who sought to enter their prison.

They might be on the lookout... but they won't spot me. Althos thought, grinning all the while.

Within a few minutes the deity found himself at the entrance to the building. The gigantic black tower, visible to people from dozens of kilometers away, was now right in front of him. He was still invisible, and he stood just outside of the thing.

It felt even larger up close, and now that he was close to it he could see that its base must have been around three hundred meters wide, and it extended as far up as even his godly eyes could see. The thing was made of some sort of jet black desert metal, something, unlike anything Althos had seen to date.

Its entrance was dozens of meters tall and over two dozen meters wide. Althos was beyond one part of it, but it was segmented into two different sections and he had yet to infiltrate its innermost section.

All around him he could see and hear desert giant guards. The heavily armored figures studiously scanned every part of the town square, and carefully studied every detail their keen eyes could pick up. Althos was almost impressed, but he was also aware that no matter how hard they tried they wouldn't be able to see him.

Illusion magic is truly powerful. At least when I use it. He thought, confident in his ability to move forward undetected.

Before him stood the entrance to the enormous building, a massive and open area within which stood even more guards. They were all heavily armored and tightly clutched imposing-looking weapons, clubs of dark desert metal. They wore dark armor, made of the same material as their weapons.

The entrance was also marked with a translucent layer of air, simmering and distorting the area beyond it. Althos, thanks to his recollection of the barrier that protected the city, now recognized this sheen as a barrier, a barrier he quickly realized was within another barrier.

Wow... this building is capable of producing a barrier within a barrier. He realized, curious as to what would happen once he went beyond it. He took a deep breath and did just that, stepping through the translucent sheen silently.

When Althos took his first step into this open area he felt a sudden shift in temperature. Outside of the area it was warm, thanks to the well-heated desert air. And now that he was within the secondary barrier he felt a sudden and biting chill. Why is it so much colder in here than out there? He wondered, silently hissing in annoyance at the abrupt change.

He was now inside of the obelisk for the first time, evidently undetected, and after recovering his composure, readied himself to venture into the true dungeon stretched out before him. Within moments he began to grin widely, eager to explore whatever mysteries awaited him inside of the dungeon.