I, Glyphnax stood within my richly furnished ritual chamber within my tower. The tower itself was an unremarkable construct of black rock, standing on the top of a cliff overlooking a valley known as Firefly valley. My home was known colloquially by the ignorant yokels that lived in the valley as Makan Azhur, translated as The Place of Sorrows in the more inelegant common tongue that humans spoke. I rarely have found it worthwhile to stoop to using that crude language, my bloodline is of greater stock than my neighbors and we have nothing in common at any rate.

Within my darkened chamber I overlooked the culmination of centuries of work, studies, and eldritch experimentation. Seven ritual circles had been drawn on the floor, each circle surrounding their preceding one, leading to 7 layers of ritual circles. Each circle had several intricate eldritch symbols and equations carved into the floor around them, all the symbols and equations have been perfectly balanced and carved without a single flaw or even an implied one. Around the seventh and outermost circle stood seven candelabras all filled to the brim with candles lit with green flames. The eldritch fire from these candles was the only source of illumination besides my staff. The glowing eye holes on the oxen skull that rested atop my staff were glowing in a more natural yellow color.

This ritual was my greatest work and would be the battering ram that would smash down the door to my emancipation. That was at least what I hoped it would be as I took in the result of my work. Sweat poured from my forehead and I could see that my yellowish skin had grown paler to the point that one could mistake it for some kind of low brand cheese. My purple robes had grown dark with stains, and the ebon wood of my staff had become slick, with moist sweat as my hands grasped it to the point of whitening my knuckles.

I suppose that this does not seem overly strange when one imagined the ritual chambers of a High Warlock. What would be considered strange, was the only other lifeform besides me in the room. A tiny brown squirrel was sleeping on an elegant velvet pillow in the middle of the innermost circle. It lay curled around its bushy tail and came with silent breathing sounds, interrupted by the occasional snore.

"Welp I hope this will w." I stopped myself from finishing that humiliating sentence. My undertaking had gone too far for regret and hesitation to stop me. Glyphnax master of Makan Azhur did not fail at projects of this scale, well at least I had not failed recently. Once again I opened my mouth to speak, but before my father's tongue of High Elven was about to flow from my mouth like a gentle stream. I decided to fully and truly sever my connection to my erstwhile master, by using the tongue of my mother.

When I began the incantation that would finalize the ritual I spoke in the proud Hobgoblin tongue. It's guttural sounds filled the silence of the room as I said. " Archfiend Trakaya, I summon thee with thy true name and your true essence. Come crawling from the ashes from whence you came and enter my circle, you defiler of worlds!" My incantation began gently and ended with a proud roar as I slammed the butt of my staff onto the floor of the chamber.

The roar and the sound of wood hitting stone reverberated through the room, almost as if the sound wished to prolong the moment for as long as possible. Before the sound dissipated I noticed to my satisfaction, that streams of red smoke were starting to appear within the inner circle seemingly ex-nihilo. But the red smoke was not the only thing to appear in my chambers, strange infernal lights started filling the room. Illusory flames and purple balls of concentrated light and malice further illuminated my chamber, while the smoke grew thicker and thicker in the innermost circle.

The temperature within the seven circles wildly fluctuated as I saw frost and sparks of fire appear along the ground, but none of these strange phenomena appeared outside of the confines of the circle. Eventually, the lights and temperature variations disappeared completely, while the red smoke in the center coalesced into a writhing mass of floating red flesh, vicious-teeth and countless clusters of eyes that ranged from insectoid to human ones. All these eyes turned to glare at me with hatred practically blasting out of each one. The Demon did not speak as it focused it's massive collection of eyes upon me while sending out many minuscule tendrils of flesh to prod the boundary of the circle

The demon hissed audibly and quickly retracted all the tendrils, as the magic of the circle scorched every one of them as they prodded it. I gave the demon a nervous smile, but before I could speak Trakaya addressed me directly. It spoke in a cacophony of voices ranging from sweet seductive whispers to guttural animalistic roar and even to the wailing of tortured souls. All of them said the same thing to me: "HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU, A PITIFUL SLAVE TO UTTER MY TRUE NAME AND USE MY TRUE ESSENCE TO CALL ME LIKE SOME IMP! I WILL BURN YOUR VERY SOUL FOR AN ETERNITY WHILE RIPPING EACH THREAD OF IT INTO MY GAPING MAW. WHEN I AM FREE YOU WILL REGRET YOUR PARENTS EVER EVEN CONSIDERING HAVING A CHILD."

Normally this cacophony would have sent me cowering on my knees before the Demon, but things had changed. After centuries of enduring humiliation, pain and several scoldings by the entity in front of me, I had finally unlocked the keys to my salvation. I smiled at the infernal abomination and let go of my staff which started to levitate to the side of me. The demon grew silent at that gesture which gave me the opportunity to address it.

"Well, I believe that it is time to...reevaluate our relationship. After all, I think that circumstances that made our pact workable have changed, so I took the liberty to call you here to ensure we can alter it for the future. I also believe you will find that my amendments to the pact, will make our partnership more agreeable."

Trakaya hissed loudly in fury over my tone and words. It clearly was about to unleash another ominous cacophony of shouts and threats at me, but I was prepared for it this time and I was tired of this charade. I spread my arms out wide which caused my robe to spread out like a wingspan behind me. The eldritch candle flames grew larger and more intense with heat and light as I spoke the last incantations of the ritual. Or no, it was rather my first declaration to the universe itself as a truly free being.

"I, Glyphnax master of Makan Azhur and High Warlock of THE SEVENTH CIRCLE," my tone intensified when making my newest achievement a title and my grin made the demon seethe even more, "declare the following to you Trakaya, to all that lives and even to the very fabric of reality. From now on I stand free from the thrall of the Archfiend known as Trakaya. I stand as a free being that has surpassed this beast of the infernal planes, and no being will hold me in chains any longer. My former master will be cast down and with me taking its place as master." With that which was, in my opinion, a rather grand declaration out of the way, I brought my hands together into a deafening clap.

At first, nothing seemed to happen, the Demon's many eyes twisted and turned around to take in the entire room. I remained confident ,however, as I knew in my heart of hearts, that my magic had worked and we were now in the endgame. Suddenly Trakaya screeched as long tendrils of green flame extended out from each candle and surrounded him, almost like a cocoon of spider silk. Inside of the green flame tendrils, I could see the demon sublimate from solid red flesh back into a cloud of smoke. When all the flesh had been sublimated into smoke, I stretched out a bony finger and beckoned at the cloud of smoke.

Suddenly the cloud thinned as more and more smoke drifted towards me across the lines of the seven circles. As the first portions of the smoke crossed the last circle line, I gaped fully and let the smoke drift into my maw. As the screaming demon could do nothing but watch as more and more of it's essence flew into my mouth, I both inhaled and gorged on Trakaya. The taste of the smoke was impossible to describe, from one moment It went from feeling like ash and woodsmoke in my mouth to tasting as sweet as sugar. I had no time to really linger on the tastes, as all my focus was on absorbing and converting the infernal essence into a less harmful eldritch energy.

As I consumed the demon and was serenaded by its many pitiful screams and whimpers. I could feel the enormous power of the Archfiend coursing through every inch of my body. The eldritch forces energized me and the feeling of my mind and soul being literally forcibly expanded to accommodate the sheer amount of possibilities that were now in front of me. The more of Trakaya I consumed, the more tempting it were to give in to the increasing power building up within me, and gorge without anything resembling control.

However, my will was stronger than even the temptation of ultimate power, only an idiot would absorb all the essence of an Archfiend. That was akin to opening up one’s entryway and invite the demon to claim their home. No, I would stop before I ran the risk of any such thing. And as much as it pained me, I would need Trakaya alive after this. As the once invincible Archfiend had been reduced to a piddly little cloud of smoke, with two glowing green eyes in the center of it. I closed my maw and let the remaining smoke tendrils dissipate into the air.

“Oh worry not Trakaya, I would not be foolish enough to consume all of your essence. Eighty percent should more than suffice for my purposes, and you are still needed to ensure my power is continuously reinforced. Now don’t think I haven’t secured you suitable accommodations for your remaining eternity in existence.” I said all of this absently as most of my will was focused on containing the rapidly expanding currents of magical energy still pulsating through me. My mind was so occupied that I barely registered the almost puzzled expression that the eyes in the smoke made.

With most of the force within me having been subdued and bent to my will, I allowed myself to turn some of my attention to the overthrown demon. A wicked grin returned to my face as I brought my left hand up to my face and I gently snapped my fingers or rather imitated the snapping motion while making the snap sound with my mouth. As this trivial finger trick was somehow still beyond me, despite my imminent apotheosis. I glanced at my hand with an annoyed look on my face, but I quickly regained control over my features as I looked back at the Demon.

“Oh yes Master, don’t think that there isn’t some affection for you left within me. Or...a lot of you is within me, so who knows maybe you are influencing me.” I winked at the cloud as the cloud and the cocoon of eldritch fire started descending down towards the inexplicably still sleeping Squirrel beneath it. “Yes, you need a new body after all and I took the liberty of procuring a new vessel for your essence. Truly you will remain a unique being despite your recent change of circumstances. I don’t know about you, but I have never heard about a Squirrel Demon before.”

The burning cage and it’s prisoner descended until it touched the Squirrel on the pillow, at which point both it and the cloud of demonic essence and consciousness burned. Green flames seemingly covered both in their entirety, and I could hear the panicked and pained squeals and screams of both creatures. The eldritch flames became blinding for one second, and suddenly all the flames in the room were extinguished.

Left in the place of the glowing fireball, lay a creature. The creature lay balled up on the ground and only superficially resembled a squirrel at this point. The previously brown fur was now a soft reddish color, the bushy tail had a scorpion-like spike extending out from it, long tusklike fangs extended out from the sides of its mouth and the creature had grown to be the size of a rather tiny dog. As opposed to the miniature squirrel had originally been. I could not help but giggle as I realized that the once invincible Archfiend had not only molded with the Squirrel but also the velvet pillow it had slept on.

This realization came from both the change in fur color and the pillow tassels that extended out from the Squirrel's head and back. Four purple pillow tassels were dangling out from the creature, they had been clearly molded into the once-squirrel at a fundamental level. My giggling at this point had fully developed into a booming laugh as the sheer ridiculousness of this almost overwhelmed me. “hihihihihi….HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA”

As I laughed the being stirred on the ground and rose up shakily. It opened its eyes and they were a toxic green that quite literally glowed in the darkness. “What..” The squirrel-demon coughs in an almost adorable manner before it continues. “What have you done to me?” And that's what I wanted to hear. Not those specific words, but the tone of that oh so adorable squirrel voice that had a tiny rasp to it. That was the tone of defeat. All the fight had been truly beaten out of the demon and in that one statement, I could hear it clear as day.

“I did what I told you I would; forged you a new vessel to house your essence.” I crouched down to look at the demon, all the while pushing the last vestiges of uncontrolled mystical energy under my command. As I spoke to it the euphoria of having absorbed all of this cosmic power, finally began to subside so I did not have to remain constantly on guard so my body would not rip itself apart. I stopped for a second and continued to speak, with a smile once again spreading across my features. “Oh, I also took the liberty of making the effects of that merging rite, irreversible.”

The squirrel-demon just stared at me open-mouthed as I gestured to the circles. “It is not that complicated actually, each circle and it’s connected symbols represents a magical principle which I have mastered.” I pointed to the innermost circle and each proceeding circle after it and explained with a voice laced with malice and glee.

“Summoning, as in the mystical art of conjuring beings from another place. Containment, the principle of restricting the influence and physical presence of a being to a specific place. Binding, which is about magically enforcing my will over another entity. Sublimation, a rather tricky principle, but in short it is the process of turning solid matter into a gaseous form. Absorption, the principle of how to make something absorb other energies and matter. Transformation, which is how one transforms energy or matter into something else. And finally Apotheosis the principle of ascending from one state into a higher state.” As I finished the lecture I clapped my hands together and the Squirrel-Demon flinched.

“All in all, what makes me unique is that I combined seven principles of magic into one ritual. The goal with it was to summon, contain and bind you. Before I sublimated your form and essence and absorbed it. Which I then transformed along with the nature of our pact and relationship. Before I used all of these to ascend to a higher state of existence. And of course, I made the squirrel absorb you and transformed you both...and contained you there.” I winked as I couldn’t help myself but add to the explanation. It is a delight to finally share what I have had to keep secret for centuries. All my research and experimentation had to be done in the utmost secrecy, to prevent my now former Master from discovering it.

Any more gloating from me is regrettably stopped, as pangs of energy once again coursed through my body. I muttered angrily and focused all my willpower on containing and controlling the magic within my frame. The muttering is rapidly transformed into grunts and groans as the pulsating forces within me intensified. The few tufts of hair that I have left began to crackle and my black veins started vibrating and turn purple beneath my skin. I scrunch my face and forced my eyes shut, as I forced the energies within my body to be bent to my will once more. It almost made me scream as the energies were close to igniting my finger-talons.

Finally as the energy subsidies and is forced back under my control, I sighed and leaned against the wall of the ritual chamber. “Clearly Apotheosis is going to take more time and effort before I can lay a permanent claim on it,” I said with yet another groan, my thoughts started racing through the necessary steps and bodily alterations I would have to make. More ritual scarification and tattooing to ensure my flesh is better suited to withstand the ravages of godhood. Yes, that would have to be the first step, before then I would have to be careful. My mastery of this power is tenuous at best, and any undue exertions could make it wiggle free from the chains of my will.

Just as I finished that thought, my reverie was interrupted by the sound of knocking and shouts coming down from the tower. “What is..” I don’t finish the statement as my gaze goes to the entryway to the ritual chamber. I sniff the air and focus my mind on the rapidly approaching sound of running footsteps. “Adventurers? Here? Impossible” I muttered as I parsed through the sounds and scents moving rapidly up the tower. It should have been impossible for anyone to break through my various defenses without me learning about it. I growl as I turned to glance at my grand ritual, I state with a voice tainted with rage. “Of course, all my mystical insights and will have been focused on this ritual for a week.”

I could not have spared a stray thought on anything else but the ritual. And with a week without my oversight and support would make it possible, for even an incompetent adventuring party to breach my defenses. I had to dismiss my guardians for this final stage, as they were loyal to Trakaya and could not have been trusted to not let anything slip to him. That meant I would face a possibly unharmed and definitely rested and prepared adventuring team. Normally this would not have worried me overly much, and in the future, I could easily decimate an army of high-level adventurers. However, my then-current state of mid-apotheosis and the volatile eldritch powers coursing through my body, mind, and soul made things different.

I had enough power within me to incinerate the incoming adventurers, but any attacks launched by me would run the risk of the power going wild. Even the simplest blast of eldritch energy would run that risk. I groan again and stagger for a moment while getting into a more defensible position within the chamber. The only thing I could do would be to try and blast the incoming adventurers without losing control. One blast and then after having decimated the first wave, I would engage any remaining enemies in melee combat. “Bah how undignified, but godhood can wait.”

Before I could complain any further, the ebon doors into my chambers were kicked open. Through the door, a group of five adventurers rushed in. I took in their appearances and attire automatically and processed the information. This was an incompetent team of adventurers to be sure, likely a copper rank or maybe even stone rank team. Two warriors armed with clubs and axes, an archer with a brittle looking bow, a cloaked figure with a chakram and...only one spellcaster. I feel insulted as I look at this worthy group of combatants.

“This is your attack force? I am insulted”, I stated in bewilderment and consternation after having processed this piddly excuse for an adventuring party. The inexperienced adventurers hesitated and a brash looking man wielding two clubs stepped forward to reply. At which point I took the opportunity to launch my blast before they could react. What I had not expected was just the sheer amount of force, that I was going to unleash. From my rapidly outstretched arm, a tremendous wave of eldritch force exploded out of my hand. The recoil of the energy blast sent me staggering back and caused me to miss the adventurers by a wide margin, and the energy blast hit the wall instead of any living beings and resulted in a powerful explosion.

The result of this attempted attack was not destroying the adventurers, but destroying the entire back wall of my tower. Through the clouds of dust, I saw the wide blue sky through the massive hole in my tower. I felt the tower rumble beneath my feet, and I saw that my inferior opponents had been thrown to the ground. Before I could unleash a second attack, several pulsating green sparks of electricity coursed across my body. The green sparks scorched my flesh and I screamed while staggering back against the wall. “ARGJRJGRJGHHHH” I roared out as I focused all my willpower towards making the rampant energies return to dormancy.

The distraction gave the Adventurers enough time to shake off the aftermath of my first attack, and unlike the first time, they did not hesitate to strike now. I felt rather than saw them rushing towards me with rabid battle cries on their lips and weapons raised. As I began to force my aching body to rise, an arrow suddenly protruded from my shoulder. The pain of the impact immediately sent me into shock and I fell back against the wall once more. Before I could recover from this the two warriors rushed up at me and began hacking and hammering at me with their clubs and axes. My arms rose up and took the worst of the assault, the magical properties of my robes made it akin to plate armor for the purposes of defense.

I finally managed to resume some semblance of control and I sent the weak warriors back with a series of rapid strikes. After which I drew my staff towards me with a mental nudge. With my weapon in hand, I could defend myself more adequately and resume focusing on regaining full control over my powers. But before the staff reached me three things happened in quick succession. First, a spinning chakram hit my leg and cut me above the knee. Secondly, the cloaked adventure who had thrown the weapon at me rushed forth and grabbed my floating staff. Thirdly the insignificant spellcaster in the party began chanting while pointing a cheap wooden staff at me.

I cursed internally and redoubled my nudge, making my floating staff drag itself towards me, with the cloaked interloper dangling after it. Against my better judgment, I also raised my hand to unleash another mystical attack before whatever pitiful mystical assault could be launched against me. Again I was foiled, as the club-wielding adventurer ran at me and resumed his assault upon me. Specifically, the brash warrior was targeting both my injured left shoulder and my injured right knee. It cost me almost all my concentration as I desperately tried to defend myself against the blows, but in spite of my best efforts, he managed to hit me several times.

It cost me a lot of pain and energy, but I managed to smack the warrior back with a punch to his face and a kick to the chest with my uninjured leg. My trusty staff at that point finally managed to return to my grip. I noticed too late that the cloaked figure and the warriors had rapidly stepped away from me at that point, and the realization only came as my world turned into fire. The mage unleashed a cone of flame which covered me in my entirety. My robes protected me from the worst of the heat, but it along with two arrows flying straight into my injured leg and into my chest were enough to finally bring me to my knees.

The adventurers began to encircle me with their weapons raised, while I panted and groaned in pain on the floor. “Kneeling...to a bunch of weaklings...irony” I muttered and the adventurers glared at me in response. Only the inexperience of the adventurers saved me from a most undignifying death. Any team with experience would not have given me a second of reprieve but continued their assault until they were certain of my death. Their hesitation allowed me to recover my wits and I would be foolish to not use the time that they had oh so generously given me.

Could I defeat these adventurers in the state I was in? Perhaps, but due to my special circumstances and my injuries, such a victory was likely to come at a cost too steep for it to be worth it. Therefore escape was my only option: if I could marshall my powers to teleport, then these adventurers would have no way of following me. After that, I could restore my body, finalize the rites and concoctions that would be needed to finalize my transition into true divinity, and have my vengeance.

So with relatively little effort, I mumbled the incantations needed for the teleportation spell and slammed my staff into the floor. For a few seconds, nothing seemed to happen, and then my world became fire. My teleportation spell caused the floodgates that had kept my new powers contained to break apart, and the magical force burned around me. I could feel every part of my body burn with an indescribable heat, my eyes were blinded by green eldritch fire and I could not hear anything but the crackling of energy. The screamed I uttered seemed to last for an eternity, but not even I heard it. Yet, I could feel through all of this that the spell must have worked after a fashion. My body was no longer within my Tower, yet curiously I had not fully materialized wherever I was ending up.

After that realization, I immediately tried to tame the pulsating energies that permeated me. An indescribably difficult task. Within Makan Azhur I had an entire ritual chamber that had been carefully prepared and dedicated to transmute, transfer and absorb the enormous amounts of power that had been drained in that ritual. I could lean upon that occult infrastructure to help tame and contain the eldritch energies within me, but in my present state? I had naught but my own willpower and my natural mystical aptitude to lean on. So, trying to control the rampaging magic was akin to taming a river using only one’s feet, or lifting a building using a shovel.

Despite these difficulties, I did manage to rebuild my mental floodgates and redirect the energies in through them. It nearly cost me my sanity to attempt it, but the relief I felt as more and more of the magic was forced out of my vulnerable flesh and back into my soul made it worth it. My scream died away on my lips, as more and more of my flesh was liberated from the pain. Soon enough the rest of my senses started to return and I could feel my body floating through what felt like...some kind of gelatinous surface. This sensation only lasted for a minute, and with that, everything changed.

Time seemed to slow as suddenly I went from floating through some strange liquid to ending up in some kind of strange void. It was akin to flying only worse in that it became immediately apparent to me, that there was no air in my vicinity. I floated through a dark vacuum with the only thing approaching light, being distant stars. Before I could say or do anything else, I felt an immense cold, unlike anything I had ever experienced envelop my body. My encounters with ice-spells in the past immediately told me, that whatever this cold was made my previous experiences seem like a hot day in the sun in comparison.

All of these realizations took me less than 3 seconds worth of thought, and my first response was to silently cast a warding spell against cold. It would not be in time to save my brittle hair and robes, but this was a life or death situation. With the cold out of the way or at least with it reduced from certain death to rather chilly, I then had to solve the vacuum issue. I stretched out my staff and dipping into the vast reservoirs of power behind the floodgates, I borrowed a sliver of it to sublimate all my clothing and various other items besides my staff into gas. Which I also transmuted and then contained around me in a ball of breathable air.

All of this rapid and improvised magic would have been impossible for me prior to my halfway-ascension, but with all the power inside of me, I could do this complex magic with barely a thought. Mind-Numbing panic certainly added to my focus when using the magic, and it made it possible for me to contain the rest of the energy within the floodgates.

With all of that done, my gaze turned around to give me a better view of my surroundings. At the same time, it gave me a painful and prompt reminder of my current injuries. Having sublimated the arrows sticking out of my flesh, had caused me to rapidly bleed. Observing the blood also lead to a really fascinating phenomenon, each droplet of blood...floated in the air around me completely unaided. They neither rose nor fell, they just drifted about in the strangest manner. The closest comparison would be to bubbles, only more compact. This completely foreign phenomenon ensnared my attention to the point that I barely paid any mind to my fantastical surroundings.

Eventually, my gaze turned away to my rapidly bleed body and to the surroundings outside of my improvised safety bubble. What I saw baffled me, to put it mildly. In the void that I had previously considered practically empty beyond a few specks of light, I now saw it was full of strange sights. I saw strange grey rocks, some as large as mountains and others around the size of my hand floating about around me. Underneath my feet, I saw a gigantic ball of what seemed to be orange flame or rock. It became hard to process anything more of what I saw, as the shock and pain from my injuries coupled with my continuing blood loss led to my mind becoming very delirious.

I tried to staunch the bleeding with magic, but sadly warlocks and especially diabolists have never had a talent for the healing arts. And after my first attempt, I did not dare to try again as my mind grew weaker and my floodgates threatened to be ripped asunder once more. All I could do was grasping my wounds and pray, as my staff floated beside me and I waited for either death or a miracle. My mind slipped closer and closer to the sweet release of unconsciousness as I spotted one of the stars growing larger and larger in the distance.