A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse 109 Dwarves And Volcanoes.

The soft, unkempt dirt roads that crisscrossed and connected the buildings within the tiny community of Florida were busy and more well-traveled now than ever. But the feet that strode over them were not human or dwarf feet. They were the feet of gigantic, evolved, and sapient insects.

The town was no longer silent. The droning sound of insects skittering and flying over the town filled it with noise, a sort of dull and maddening noise. The noise was dull but deafening since the town was now populated by thousands of insects.

The air smelled of blood, death, and decaying corpses. It also smelled of the nauseating venom that the bees, even the thraies, used in the ma.s.sacre they inflicted on the Floridians. The venom Althos' wors.h.i.+pers used induced paralysis, and it also numbed the pain receptors in the body. Those who felt its sting died painlessly, aside from the pain they felt when first stung by an Althonian.

Bees and the eerily human-like thraies were far from the only creatures wandering the town. Ants, and their relatives: the myremekes wandered the streets as well. As did enormous wasps. The insects, not always friendly towards each other or even themselves, did not bother each other. They weren't freely communing, but they weren't aggressive towards each other. It was a strange, unnatural sight.

And far from the town of Florida, silent observers were keenly aware of the unnatural nature of it all. Silent, terrified observers. One of them, a half-elf with wide green eyes, looked to his commander. His commander was a human on a horse. Both the man and his horse were dressed in light armor. The human and the half-elf had binoculars in their hands and scared looks on their faces.

"Insects... But ones unlike anything I've ever seen..." Muttered the mounted man. His voice was quiet, and his underling noticed the fearful tremble in it. There was a look of fear in his jade eyes. His underling, the half-elf, studied him carefully. And then he asked his superior officer a question.

"Do you think this is the work of a druid? If it's someone like me..." The half-elf asked, wondering aloud if there was a member of his species and cla.s.s who was powerful enough to command the insectoid swarm that had destroyed Florida.

The mounted human shook his head. The half-elf stopped speaking, unsurprised by his superior's response. Neither of the military-men had ever heard of anything even remotely powerful enough to command a swarm of evolved insects of that size.

"Come. We should get back to Midas." The human told his underling, before dismounting the horse and motioning for the half-elf to come and get on. They were egalitarian and took turns riding their shared mount.

Far away from them, within the boundaries of Florida, one of the thraies turned in their direction. He was aware of them but said nothing. All of the human-like creatures, thraie and myrmekes alike were well-aware of the two humanoids. They only stayed their collective hand because their order was to destroy Florida. Not anyone or anything outside of the small settlement.

After a few moments, the bee-man looked to his comrades and went to join them. Each insect had more important things to do than gawk at strangers.

________________________________________________

An hour after Florida fell I found myself standing in a royal chamber that dwarfed the chambers belonging to Rachel. It was also more inhabited.

I was surrounded by dwarfs. All of them wore either heavy-looking metallic armor or ornate robes denoting their status as high-ranking government officials. The dwarf in the most ornate looking robes was King Abel. He was a tall member of his race, standing just under one and a half meters tall.

He wore purple robes, which were unnecessarily dark given the fact that we were in a nearly lightless chamber belonging to the monarch of a subterranean monarchy. I had just finished telling him and his closest advisors, the other dwarfs that were around Rachel, Amaris and I, about my life so far.

The cabal shared knowing looks, furtive glances, and concerned body-language and I could tell even with a glance they were communicating in some way. I studied them for a moment, focused on those in robes more so than those in armor, and came to suspect that this wasn't telepathy. Eventually, I spoke up and shattered the tense silence that had overtaken the room.

"Will someone please share their thoughts with me? I can only read so much of one's mind, I'd rather us just... talk to each other." I said, annoyed with the subtleties of the politics I had allowed myself into.

When I was done speaking, one of the heavily-armored guards turned to me and lifted the sword he held. I turned to him and sighed. There was a look of anger in his eyes, and he was tense, his hands tightly gripping the sword and s.h.i.+eld they held onto.

"You can read our minds?" He asked equal parts angrily and defensively. I sighed at the soldier, unsurprised that he was reacting that way.

"Yes I can. Now please put the weapon down. I am no enemy of yours, and if I was then that sword and s.h.i.+eld wouldn't be enough to stop me." I told the warrior, speaking honestly. The dwarf kept his tools up and looked around at his companions. When his fellow warriors gently encouraged him to put his weapons down, he reluctantly sighed and did as they suggested he do.

"Tsk..." The dwarf guard hissed, glaring at me angrily. Out of curiosity, I did scan his surface thoughts, but they contained nothing of interest to me. More than anything else he was jealous of the fact that both Amaris and Rachel were close to me, as far as he could tell.

Shortly after the guard and I exchanged words the dwarven king, Abel, cleared his throat and looked at Rachel, and then at me. He had deep brown eyes, and the fullest beard I had ever seen. There had been a twinkle in his eyes as he had listened to my story, and there was unexpected energy about him given that he was faking being sick and had sloth as his personal vice.

"Althos!" He said, speaking loudly after he and I locked eyes for a few moments. His voice was loud, far louder than I would have expected.

"First, allow me to express my grat.i.tude. You have done much for this kingdom, far more than you appear to realize. Freeing Rachel from the lecherous and ambitious desires of my rival, Duke Dagwood, was an act of great kindness and mercy on your part. And now, trusting us with the information you've shared..." The king said, speaking rather regally of the events of the past hour.

"You are far kinder than you may realize. And the knowledge we've gained from you is what will allow us to help safeguard the underground from the machinations of the demons." The king proclaimed, speaking as if I had handed him information on the demons themselves. I hadn't.

I now possessed a keen awareness of the demons I knew I needed to oppose. This awareness came to me thanks to my newest detection ability, the one that allowed me to map places illuminated by the light from the star at the center of my solar system. Thanks to it I had a live-action map of all of Torus.

There was a specific faction of demons who sought to remake this world and turn it into a part of the dimension they were from, the dreaded "Heart of Darkness". This faction originally included Sombra, the praereptor demon who possessed Troik and was now my servant.

They were my foes, and I intended to stop them from enacting their vile machinations. Doing so would be much easier since I now knew their locations. This was knowledge that I hadn't shared with Rachel, Amaris, or King Abel.

The truth was, I wanted to meet these demons myself. I was eager to make more demonic allies and to learn more about the demon named Agustino. Agustino was the demon at the center of the plot to twist Torus into a world compatible with the Heart of Darkness. After thinking about this for a moment, I looked at Abel and smiled.

"Thank you King Abel. I was happy to help Rachel." I told the king, speaking quite honestly. Aiding Rachel was a smart move on my part that granted me this opportunity and the wors.h.i.+p of a number of dwarven n.o.bles who Rachel spoke too and then I converted, through dreams.

I was wors.h.i.+pped by three separate dwarven n.o.bles, all of whom were located in different parts of Atlantis. All of them were lawful in alignment, and so far I had found them to be useful allies. I looked forward to building deeper connections with them in the days to come, especially since I wanted to gain access to Morehammer's artifacts eventually.

"Althos, do you seek more wors.h.i.+pers? Please tell me and my advisors what your goals are. If they are compatible with ours we should consider an alliance. It would be a fitting reward for one who safeguarded my daughter's freedom and protected us from our foes." King Abel said, speaking as though he had the unanimous consent of his court. That said, none of the dwarves voiced any opposition to the king's remarks.

"I am seeking more wors.h.i.+pers. My goal is to safeguard this world, while also expanding my own powers. For now, as a newborn G.o.d, I am... being cautious. I engage more readily with those who pray. Like your daughter did." I told the king, smiling as I spoke. I looked him in the eyes and added a bit to my remark.

"You raised her well. You taught her about the old ways. The ways of Morehammer. Those ways saved her. Those ways are righteous ways." I told the king, a.s.suming that her free form of piety was a cultural cornerstone that was a result of Morehammer's influence.

The king smiled at me. There was a genuineness and a gentleness in his smile. It was the smile of a father, not a king.

Behind me, I sensed Rachel's happiness as well. My actions had transformed this family's life. It wasn't the first time I had done something to save a family, but this moment felt... special. It felt like I had used my powers for good, and in doing so I had kept a family together. I felt joy well up within me.

"No Althos... You saved her. I know not the hows of what you did, but you did this. You spoke to her. You gave her this gift. Thank you." The king told me, tears visible within his eyes. The king might have been lazy, but the love he possessed for his daughter was genuine.

This moment of warmth and solemn joy lasted a few moments longer before I decided not to overstay my welcome. I took a step back and smiled at the dwarves around me. "Friends, it is time for me to depart from this place." I told the dwarves.

"I am your friend, and I intend to earn your wors.h.i.+p. In the days to come, I will meet with you again. And in the meantime, I shall aid your people. You shall know, and feel my presence. I possess... many powers. Remember me, and pray to me. Allow me to know you, and I will come to your aid when you need a.s.sistance." I said to the dwarves who had gathered around me.

Sixteen total dwarves were crowded into the chamber. Three of them were either royalty or direct aides to royalty. Five of them were guards and military leaders. The other eight were valuable advisors, skilled experts the kingdom relied upon for advice and leaders.h.i.+p. All of them silently watched, as I smiled and willed myself out of royal chamber.

I teleported from the dwarven kingdom to the top of a tall, active volcano.

________________________________________________

In an instant, I went from a stuffy, well-populated chamber to a point high in the sky, at the top of a volcanic mountain. I was standing on the edge of the volcano's crater and if I looked down not only could I see the magma located dozens of meters below me, I could also see creatures swimming in said magma.

"h.e.l.lo there!" I said, practically shouting into the crater. I quietly used my powers over sound to ensure my voice carried the dozens of meters that separated me from the ocean of magma, and from the angels that swam in the magma as if it were a temperature ocean.

The angels, a pair of the things, froze when they heard my voice a mere instant after I spoke. All I could see of the things were tall, bony spines that broke through the magma they swam in. The spines had previously been lazily moving through the lake of magma they were in, but now the spines froze, tensed up.

I had been expecting them to come to me excitedly. The system, just two days ago, had informed me that the things were ready to come and serve me. They hadn't.

"It's me! Althos!" I said, after the angels froze and didn't move a muscle. But my second remark did provoke a reaction. The pair of angels shot out of the ocean of magma, flying to the top of the magmic chambers that contained the magma they lived in.

I watched, fixated, as the creatures sailed out of their home. They had wings of flames, bodies that loosely resembled those of b.u.t.terflies, and the antenna of a.s.sorted types of insects. They flew with frightening speed, and only flapped their wings twice while ascending to the peak of the volcano that housed them.

As they drew nearer and nearer to me I began to feel the heat radiating out of their bodies. I chuckled and relished it since it was nothing compared to the heat generated by the sun. As they closed in on me, I heard the voices of the system and a.s.sorted domains cheer in excitement in my head. I grinned, sharing their excitement. I was about to meet angels for the first time!