"Now that you've been given your reward, I must ask... Althos, do you understand the significance of your ability to heal damage done to souls?" Athena asked. There was a tone of incredulity to her question as if she found it hard to wrap her mind around. I looked at her, confused and shook my head.

"No... I don't." I told her, honestly. She looked at me silently and then closed her eyes.

"Althos... I suppose this makes a certain kind of sense, after all, you are, as far as we know, the last god in existence. And you've wandered, unaided, by anyone with significant knowledge about the gods. Souls are the immaterial parts of living beings. Being able to damage them, or to heal them, is something that is beyond the ken of most deities. Spells that can heal souls are legendary, lost spells." Athena revealed, uttering the statement as if it were a profound one. At this, I looked at her skeptically.

"Is that really true? Because I gained the ability to heal souls the second I gained my overall knowledge level went from level 1 to level 2. At that point, I didn't even have influence over the domain of souls or the subdomain of healing. I had my knowledge level and an understanding of healing magic" I explained to Athena, harkening way back to the beginning of my life, months ago.

"And I have other legendary spells at my disposal but they all mark that they are legendary..." I added, somewhat idly.

And in response to that statement, Athena did something I had no idea was possible. She initiated a conversation between myself, my own domains, the system, and her.

I was surprised when I heard a sort of clicking noise in my brain. It was like someone was flipping a switch. And then the haughty voice of Athena flowed into my mind.

[Have you been keeping secrets from this boy?] The vestige asked, annoyance audible in her mental utterances. The first entity to respond was the system.

[Athena... now that's not a way to initiate a conversation. We thought you knew better than that by now. At least if you wanted a truthful response from us.] The system said, but there was a sort of playfulness in its remarks that suggested that the vestige and the system had a different relationship than I did with the entity.

What is going on? I wondered, momentarily lost. And then I formulated a response of my own.

[Alright, I need an explanation. Can someone tell me what is going on here?] I asked, wondering what sort of information I was about to gain. The next voice to chime in was the voice of the soul domain.

[Hello Althos. It seems that Athena's vestige is intent on disrupting a delicate plan.] The soul domain informed me nonchalantly. And at that idle remark, Athena blustered and reacted indignantly.

['A delicate plan'? You're keeping this child in the dark! If any other gods still existed, in any real capacity, they'd be furious that you're using him like this!] Athena practically roared into my mind, her voice booming and quaking with anger. I winched in response to her mental roar. And then she calmed herself and directed her next message to me.

[Althos... have any of your powers, or abilities seemed strange to you? Have you... had any seemingly unexplained or unexplainable events happen with regards to your abilities?] Athena asked me, her voice imploring me to dig deep.

I was quiet for a moment, while I considered how to respond to what she had just said. Only a few moments really stuck out to me.

[So... I can create life from illusions. Sort of. I can make my illusions a reality, including illusions of lifeforms. I've created creatures I cannot create using my influence over the soul domain, including a creature that I had never met before. One of my creations was an Arboreal Angel. She is now a true lifeform, with a soul and everything. She is not the only one I've created. I've tested how real my illusions are, and they are... real.] I told the vestige, thinking of Menanam. Athena's face blanched when I told her that. And it wasn't the only moment that stuck out to me either.

[I have a pair of demonic pets. One of them, the one I've had longer, is a sentinel demon. When I first met it, I scared the daylights out of it by speaking in its native language. Before the thing spoke to me. Something which shouldn't be possible, since I had never heard the language of demons before.] I told her, before recalling even more oddities about the first day of my life.

[I only recall speaking in my own voice, but when I investigated its memories I found that its perceptions of the event were... wildly different. Not only did the demon, now a valuable and trusted ally of mine, hear hundreds of voices coming out of my throat, which it told me about before I scanned its memories, but in its eyes, I was surrounded by a hazy aura of darkness.] I told Athena, who shifted uncomfortably.

[Althos... use identify on yourself. When you do, you'll begin to understand why you are tied to souls. Why you can do... the strange things you can do.] She said, calmer now. Out of curiosity, I did as she instructed.

[Alert:

Using Identify on yourself is an action you have unconsciously avoided doing due to the subtle influence and drive of the system. Performing it has granted you the respect of the chaos domain since that domain innately rails against being controlled, and the truth domain since you have now begun to peer a bit behind the curtain, so to speak.

Name: Althos

Class: Monk, Level 12

Species: God/True-Devil

Faction: Self

Alignment: Lawful Evil (Currently), Chaotic Evil (Innately)

Source of Law: Self

Personal Vice: Pride

Status: Healthy, confused.

Innate Magical Ability: Unrivaled. You are a god, a being of limitless magical potential and energy. You have already performed magical miracles, including stripping other creatures of their ability to cast any magic and created true lifeforms using illusion magic.

Class Suitability: Monk, Berserker, Sorcerer, Druid. You have acquired a sort of bizarre patience that makes you well-suited to being a monk, but you also possess an inner flare of rage that allows you to make an excellent and powerful berserker. Beyond that, you possess a natural affinity for magic and creativity in its usages that would make you a powerful sorcerer, and a fondness for nature that will no doubt make you an exceptional druid.

Magic Suitability: Healing and Illusion magic. Your kind of evil isn't that of mindless and endless destruction but that of deceptive, subtle evil that pulls people to you. Your distinctive magical aura intoxicates those exposed to it, causing them to be fascinated by you and eventually become fanatics devoted to your cause. Victims of this include Milene, Ranthos, Gallow, and the Jackaloids in your honor-guard. You are a corruptor, not a destroyer.

Innate traits: Spontaneous birth, Influence Over Souls (Hidden), Scion of Evil (Hidden).

Innate traits are traits deities have at the moment they come to life. Many of these traits are hidden from their possessors until their possessors discover them. Innate traits function like feats, but their effects are usually more impressive.

Spontaneous Birth: You sprung to life spontaneously, without parents to birth you, or a miraculous event causing your birth. Deities who are born this way were chaotic maelstroms of unpredictability, defied expectations and who break tradition and ignored the conventional rules governing reality. The oldest gods possessed this trait.

Influence Over Souls: This is a hidden trait, one whose abilities and influence were hidden from you until you discovered that you possessed it.

The influence over souls trait is a trait that significantly magnifies your ability to affect souls. It increases the speed at which you create them, heal them, damage, or destroy them. This trait also magnifies the influence of your powers that affect souls and minds, such as illusionary spells and abilities and the powers you gained through your influence over the subdomain of corruption. This trait is given to deities who innately influence and warp souls in one alignment direction or another.

This trait does subtly manifest prior to its full emergence by allowing those who have it to quickly establish a relationship with the soul domain and interact easily with souls in their incorporeal forms.

Scion of Evil: Possessors of this trait are deities who were born and innately possessed evil alignments. Once this trait is discovered, usually by deities who use Identify on themselves, those who possess it to gain influence over the evil domain. Scions of Evil are gods and goddesses who possess significant power over evil and evil-related domains and subdomains.

In the ancient past, this trait was possessed by gods and goddesses destined to dwell in the Heart of Darkness, Infernius, or Xibalba. These gods and goddesses were served by legions of evil extraplanars and other alien beings. The first Dark Saint was a possessor of this innate trait.

This trait manifests subtly prior to its full emergence by allowing for those who possess it to more freely influence evil beings and gain dark powers regardless of where those powers and beings fell in terms of the lawful-neutral-chaotic alignment axis.

Domains well-suited to you: Souls, Knowledge, Magic, Chaos]

So it's true... I really am innately tied to souls. And to evil. And even to chaos... I thought, struggling to take it all in.

[That is... eye-opening.] I told Athena, and the rest of the voices that had silently joined the conversation in the time I was embarking on an introspective journey of self-discovery. I felt the power of the trio of domains I had just gained influence over begin to seep into the depths of my soul, while I considered the heavy implications of what I had just learned.

[Althos... what did you see? What did you learn?] Athena asked me. There was an audible note of excitement in her voice, a desire to hear whatever she was about to hear.

[I was spontaneously born, a creature of chaos. And it's true, I am a soul influencer. As well as a scion of evil.] I told her, causing her to sigh in relief. I was taken aback by that and physically looked at her, my eyes wide with a range of emotions. She chuckled, audibly this time, and then began to explain why she had sighed in relief.

[Althos your powers would have been impossible to explain if you weren't what you just told me. And in causing you to look inward I know you just experienced even more sudden growth didn't you?] She asked, smiling at me.

[Yes I did. I gained access to the lowest tiers of influence over the domains of chaos, truth, and evil. Even now I can feel them... mixing with the multitude of other domains and subdomains I influence.] I muttered. In response to this Athena walked over to me and put her hand on my head, sympathetically.

[It's alright. I know this is... a lot to take in. You've done well surviving on your own over these last few months.] She told me, her voice filled with kindness and compassion. [And you've been strung along by those with knowledge and experience you could not possibly have hoped to be able to understand.] She said, referring to the machinations of the system and the multitudes of domains that dwelled within me, including ones I couldn't yet influence.

I took a second to compose a message and then broadcast it outward, speaking directly to the system and to the domains that dwelled within me. [No more games. No more schemes. No more lies. I demand to know what's going on, right now.] I said, demanding to know what was going on and to what end was I being used.

[Althos, your goal and our goals are... at least very similar. We want you to become omnipotent. You want to become omniscient. We want you to become the greatest god who has ever existed. You want to build an empire grander than any that has ever existed. You'll find that you don't achieve your goals without also achieving ours.] Said the domain of knowledge, its eerie voice teasing at grander plots in play just beyond my awareness. I hissed at it, my annoyance flaring into an animalistic display of anger.

[I am demanding that you tell me what is going on.] I said, deeply annoyed by the vague remarks the domain had given me.

[Althos, please be patient. We agree that you deserve to know what our schemes are, but allow us to... contextualize them.] Said a domain I had never before. Its voice was quiet, sly, and ambitious. I felt its words not just in my head, but also in the goosebumps that formed on my skin in response to its suggestion. I didn't like it.

[You must understand something Althos,] Began the system. [You know this by now but you are the only god that has emerged, indeed the only higher-being of any sort, that has come into being since the end of the mythic age. You are our first, only, and very possibly last hope at successfully fulfilling our objectives.] The system told me, packing remorse into its voice in an attempt to make me sympathize with it.

[I feel that you might be starting... too far back for me to understand everything.] I confessed, wanting to gain a better understanding of what was going on and cognizant of the fact that the domains I was speaking with were likely to be attempting to get me to agree with or at least forgive them for lying by omission to me.

[Althos... perhaps I should explain. I am the domain of truth. When you were born, we immediately detected that you had come into existence. And we rejoiced. You existing meant that we could interact with people beyond granting mortals spells and transmitting prerecorded messages that relayed information about achievements, experience, deaths, and injuries. You coming into existence meant that there was a chance for us to be able to truly influence the world again.] The domain revealed. And it wasn't done talking either.

[Our creator was a deity who was ancient even among the gods. His name was Anthem. He created us to codify how it was that deities influenced the multiverse, though not every universe accepted our presence as some found us... too limiting to their creativity. And he bound us, tying us to the gods. This is something we truly and freely accept, and we even more happily accepted it when it was first done. The problem was that because of it without a god or goddess existent in the multiverse we were stuck.] The domain told me, its voice filling with sadness as it revealed this to me.

[Your birth, if it can be called that, gave us hope and a purpose. But some of us felt that we had to come up with a scheme. And those of us who disagreed got outvoted. Are you sure you want to know everything?] The domain asked, fear filling its voice. [If you want to know everything you'll gain knowledge you can't unlearn.] The thing said, rather cryptically.

I nodded my consent, and the domain once again began to speak to me.

[The system and various domains concocted a number of potential schemes to build up your power. One of them was throwing you into Infernius and having you attempt to become an archdevil, due to the chaotic and protean nature of your soul. The prophecy is real, as are the stories of the first Dark Saint, but this was and is just one scheme designed to test just how chaotic your soul is. Your status as a... multi-type higher-being is anomalous, very possibly a result of your chaotic soul. The only other creature like you that has ever existed was the first Dark Saint and he wasn't as like you as you seem to think he is.] The domain told me.

[The first Dark Saint wasn't an arch-devil. He was an overgod of law, shape-shifting, and alteration, which gave him an at that point unheard of ultimate super-ability: the ability to create new species from existing creatures. The first mutations. He used this to create arch-devils in his own image. He was not a multi-type higher-being.] The domain informed me, cementing the reality that I truly was a strange entity.

[Another, simpler scheme was for you to be thrown into the Heart of Darkness where you'd gain influence over the birthplace of demons. That one made more sense since you were a creature of chaotic evil. We decided to settle on a plot via a vote. The domain of madness convinced a number of the other domains to vote for you to go to Infernius. Your sudden appearance here, and in the lair of Paimon, was no mistake. And it threw in motion a series of events that led us to this moment.] The domain said, its voice quieting as it revealed more and more context. And then it was done, at last having revealed so much to me.

"I'm here... Paimon knows that a god exists and is closer than ever to evolving... because of VOTES?" I roared, audibly. I then turned to my allies, who had spent countless minutes watching what was no doubt an incredible bizarre snippet of conversations. And I began to explain what I had just learned.

When I had just finished revealing everything I was told, I began to feel calmer. Extremely annoyed, still, but calmer nonetheless. I took a few seconds to compose my next message, as I was filled with a certainty that there was more to this than I knew, still.

[I have to admit... this really turns me away from the idea of creating democratic governments.] I said to the voices in my mind, rather snarkily.

[I know that there is more you've yet to tell me. I don't know what it is but I know there's still stuff you're waiting to unload on me. What is it?] I asked, feeling in my soul that there was stuff I didn't yet understand.

[Our goals and yours do match. We know that you're upset, which is... honestly, fair. Once it got to this point we didn't know how to tell you about all of this. But we know that you want power. We want to help you get that power.] The system told me, trying to lessen the flames of the fury I felt at the deception I had endured. I immediately retorted.

[My powers are my own. I will continue to pursue the acquisition of power, even though I'm rightfully furious, but honestly, I won't forget or forgive you for this. All of you played me. And there's still more I don't know. I can't even fathom what I'm feeling right now. Just... do me a favor and send me a list of which domains voted which ways with regards to both the need to scheme and the specific scheme you all choose.] I told the system, genuinely seething.

[I am aware of the fact that you'll say that you 'did this for me', but I can't really believe that. You did this to be free. Which is understandable, to an extent, but you should have told me about all of this from the start instead of doing the honestly insane things that you did.] I told the voices in my mind, frustrated with all of this.

[Gah! We'll revisit this when I'm less... raw than I am now. If I act now it'd be bad. I wouldn't be in my right mind.] I hissed, practically spitting out the honest and introspective words out of sheer anger at my current position.

I turned to Athena once more and immediately began to speak.

"Athena... the service you've performed for me goes beyond what I could have possibly imagined you or anyone else would have done for me. I am going to heal your memory. I... I need to repay the debt I owe you." I told her, speaking from my heart for a second, directing gratitude at the figure who rather fittingly gave me the knowledge to peer past a curtain I hadn't even known was there in the first place.

[And this conversation is not over. It is far from over.] I told the domains and the system, harshly.

At that moment I received a brief message from the Parthenon. [Your servants have been freed. We've seen fit to supply them with false memories so they believe they and you embarked on an adventure together. They are now the "dungeon masters of the Parthenon".] The temple told me, teasing my followers. I grinned, mildly amused by that.

And then I readied myself to heal the damages done to Athena's soul.