Ava stared at the two eerily beautiful spider-elf hybrids standing before her. Imbrosa was one of them, so I couldn't say I really blamed her. The other was Imbrosa's mate, himself a distractingly handsome drider with skin the color of a moonless night. The pair of creatures were malevolent undead, powerfully reanimated, and strengthened by my divine necromancy.

The sinister creatures were motionless before us, awaiting my commands. I allowed Ava to study them while I considered the history-shaping ramifications of the ideas brewing in my mind. I had summoned them here and not just to aid Ava.

I was about to do something more substantial than loan out two undead, ghoulish driders. Something infinitely more substantial than allow two personal creations of mine to be used as instruments of a creature's dreadful plot to exact revenge. I made eye contact with the driders and smiled.

Weeks ago I had gained access to potent powers thanks to my acquisition of the first tier of influence over the domains and life and death. Both domains are greater domains, exceptionally powerful domains that are considered keys to the acquisition of greater overall divine power.

By gaining influence over them I had added them to the domains that I sensed through my distinct "Domain-sense" power. They were the two most common notifications I received, through the perpetually active power. And thanks to them I was keenly aware of the legitimately astounding number of births, and deaths that occurred every moment in the universe. That allowed me to recognize the unconscious respect I had acquired for the powers I wielded over them.

I possessed a power unique to the gods, as a result of the considerable power I possessed over appropriate domains and subdomains. One granted to me by the intersections of a number of domains and subdomains. The power to defeat even death itself, and perform "true resurrection" on deceased beings and even corporeal undead.

My powers over life were unsettling, but one of them was the power to perform what the system, as well as domains and subdomains, dubbed a "true resurrection". This was the sort of power that allowed me to restore life to any once-living-non-higher-being so long as their souls weren't destroyed.

One of the things I had learned over the course of the last few weeks related to the nature of certain processes that took place in this universe. One of them related to the deaths of mortals, and what happened to a mortal when they died.

Whenever a mortal dies their soul is supposed to go to the dimension that most closely matches their alignment. Once there, its fate is up to the rules of that dimension. In the Heart of Darkness souls either become demons or are consumed by demons before they can undergo an evil hypothesis.

In Infernius souls inevitably become soul-orbs, the lowest rank of devils, though in the mythic age it was supposedly possible for arch-devils to intervene and accelerate the rates at which souls proceeded along the devilish hierarchy, the social structure of devilish society. And there were seven other dimensions that received souls, each of which had their own rules for determining the fates of souls that found their ways there.

Additionally, it was certainly possible for other fates to befall the souls of mortals. One such fate was related to undeath. Certain types of undeath preserved the soul. Liches, one of the greatest kinds of originally mortal undead beings, intentionally retained possession of their souls. Other kinds of undead like death-kings and grim-reapers had their souls owned and controlled by someone else, almost invariably an individual who stole it from them post-mortem.

In the cases of the two driders before me I was already aware that the precise fates that befall their souls were not important, and I also knew that they weren't mysteries beyond my reach. I could sense that they were resurrectable and I innately knew that upon resurrecting the pair of creatures I'd be able to learn precisely what had happened to their souls.

I quietly targeted the creatures and grinned as I prepared myself for what was to come.

The scene in the chamber was unusual. The abrupt appearance of the driders caused a strange silence to fall over the chamber. The lovely driders were distracting, not just to Ava, but also to the extraplanars who dwelled in the wide chamber.

Everyone's eyes were on the undead, arachnid monstrosities. The monsters themselves were cold towards the entities who stared at them, caring only for their master. And their master was cold towards them, not even speaking as he targeted them and quietly deanimated them.

The eyes of the monsters went wide as they stiffened and suddenly became true corpses, death once more overtaking them. Everyone watching sensed their sudden deaths, but they weren't sure of the purpose of Althos' actions. Althos didn't move to share his machinations with them, quietly opting to instead focus on acting.

The deity kept the pair of driders targeted. There had been a grin on his face throughout this whole process, that only widened at this moment. For the first time in his life, he quietly activated his "Resurrection" ability, and both of the driders began to radiate an intense silvery light. This light was so bright that the creatures in the room swiftly turned away so as to avoid incurring any sort of damage to their vision.

An incredible amount of divine power was radiating invisibly out of me. I felt it seep out of every pore in my body as it soaked the air in ambient and life-based power.

The driders themselves were glowing as life-based energy seeped into their corpses. It infused every centimeter of their flesh and I felt their bodies begin to change. I could see through the light they were radiating, thanks to my powers, and I watched as their hearts began to beat, and as blood began to flow through them for the first time in months.

Their skin began to lose the unsettling, inhuman, deathlike pallor they had once possessed as blood colored their skin. A few moments passed before the creatures breathed for the first time, ragged sighs filling the air with the noise of life, and they abruptly opened their eyes. It was when they opened their eyes that the light they radiated began to fade, but they stared at me just as I stared at them.

"Hello there. Welcome back to the world of the living." I said, greeting them. There was an intense, radiant joy in my gaze as I studied them.

The two stunningly beautiful creatures studied me in considerable confusion. That said, their bodies recognized me as their master and I felt their minds struggle to combat the urges they felt to praise me. I chuckled and my smile widened. Their eyes lit up as an alert filled their vision.

It took a moment for one of them to speak, and unsurprisingly it was Imbrosa who spoke first. "We're...alive... How?" Imbrosa asked, her voice even more fantastically beautiful than it had once been.

"The system... What it's saying is impossible right?" Her mate asked, knowing that the system could only tell them the truth. The handsome drider's, a blue-skinned and powerful looking creature, voice trembled as he spoke.

Alert: Death, Overthrown

Althos, a young god who possesses power over life and death, has come into being. There was a period during which your corpses served him as undead monsters. Althos was fond of your bodies during that time and deployed you to battle his enemies, which were once many.

The god won decisive victory after decisive victory and steadily acquired greater and greater power. Recently he acquired power over both life and death. And in celebration of that, he chose to resurrect you and your mate. His schemes and ambitions are not limited to things like the acquisition of territory. No, as a god his goals are loftier.

Althos seeks to do more than just defeat death or conquer all of existence. Althos seeks to master all, to acquire every power in existence and become the one true god of all of reality, of every dark and loathsome corner of every single universe. And you have a role to play in those schemes.

Althos resurrected you to show that he could and because he plans to create a life cult dedicated to himself which you two shall lead. He figured that few figures would be better suited to leading a cult of life than creatures that he himself resurrected. Congratulations, not only are you alive once more, you are now the leaders of a soon to be established cult of life.

The two read the notifications and bowed their heads as they did so. I sensed their submission, and felt their hearts turn towards me as they read the words the system had shared with them.

I turned to Ava and grinned. "My power grows... I can feel it deep within me, growing with every heart I turn towards me." I told her, happily speaking honestly.

"Death is no obstacle to me. It is indeed... more or like a friend than a foe." I told the dwarf, feeling my sinister power grow as the two driders lifted their heads up. It was at this point that the demon's finally began to react to the sight before them.

"Did... Did he just resurrect those driders?" One of them asked, stunned at the sight before him.

"Resurrections... Something even demon-lords were said to not be able to do." Whispered a succubus.

"A higher-being who can perform resurrections, consorting with and lording over demons." Muttered an incubus.

I smugly smiled and turned to face the assortment of evil extraplanar beings who I had conjured and become the ruler of. "I am a god. Do not compare me to creatures as weak as demon-lords. The powers I already possess can transform a dying mortal into one of your kind. And the powers I possess over evil are considerable." I informed the assorted crowd of extraplanar entities.

"The powers I possess already can rend your minds to pieces. And I seek to grow in power. I could rip your souls out of your bodies and devour them." I told the crowd of extraplanar monsters I had summoned to serve me. "I could transform you into spider-like monsters, like them, and make you only desire to serve me." I said to the demons, devils, and pain-bringers while pointing at the driders.

This was all true. I had enough power under my control, and the right domains and subdomains under my influence to be able to make my words a reality. I could easily mutate the extraplanars and warp their bodies into something truly monstrous while using something like the subdomain of fungi to leave them permanently enthralled if I had wanted too.

The extraplanars considered my words for a second, before suddenly realizing that they were probably true. That realization was enough to frighten them into willing obedience and stunned silence. I grinned darkly at them and leered, allowing my eyes to momentarily become a vivid shade of yellow. I turned back to Ava, satisfied with my display of power and curious to read her mood.

The dark dwarf was impressed, and also afraid. This only reinforced her impression of the terrifying powers I possessed and used regularly. Ava was used to seeing me as a lord of the swarm and as a necromancer, but the truth was that I was far more than that.

I was a healer and a corruptor, an entity who could touch souls and leave them darkened by ambition, desire, and more. I was a dream-walker who was at all times infiltrating dreams and spreading my darkness through nightmares and lurid dreams alike. I was a druid who possessed potent and eerie powers over untouched nature and agriculture alike. And my powers were growing. Every day more and more power became convinced of some aspect of my influence and turned their hearts towards me.

"Ava... Do you fear me?" I asked her, my eyes twinkling with amusement. She nodded at me, wisely telling the truth. She learned long ago of the perpetually active truth-ability that made mortals unable to lie in my presence.

"Good. My powers are dark. And that's why you want my help, isn't it?" I asked her, amused by this. I found it funny that a deity of healing and life could be considered evil, but here we were after all. Ava was silent, and she mulled over my words for a moment. And then she nodded at me, speaking once more.

"Yes it is. Are you ready for us to depart?" She asked me, curious and eager to get on with her dark task. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Patience, little one." I told her, as I activated another of my abilities. This one wasn't a conventional divine ability but was instead a spell. As it activated my shadow expanded and in a matter of seconds was covering the entire floor of the chamber.

"I have to make you a few more gifts. And trust me... you'll like them." I told the dwarf as I knelt down and reached my hand into my massively expanded shadow. I closed my fist around some of the darkness and yanked it out of the floor, grabbing and holding shadow-stuff as if it were a ball of solid matter. I still had to make Ava's equipment, otherwise, she'd just be challenging her heavily armed and armored "sister" to battle with her own raw magical abilities, untested and untempered. She might well lose that battle. I wasn't about to let that happen.

I grinned as I prepared to activate a number of darkness domain powers.