Mental Prowess

The god and his creation, the dryad named Raiz were not in the same place. There was a considerable distance, well over two hundred and fifty meters between them. Yet that was in no way an obstacle for the god who, if he could detect them, could target creatures in another galaxy with his powers and had in fact targeted creatures living on other planets with his divine abilities.

If he had wanted too, the god could have mentally spoken to the dryad. This was an easy thing for the unsettling deity to do. That said, he didn't want to do that. He wanted to roam the world in his mind-form, and so he did.

The god's mind was an almost physical thing and by using it he could effortlessly interact with the world around him, on an astonishing scale. If he felt like it the god could tear entire chunks of the island he stood on and lift them into the sky, or he could read the minds of an entire civilization from incomparable distances. Solely by using his mind he could permanently alter the world and yet most of the time he chose not to do this, preferring to act in ways that were understandable by mortals.

As he and his servant, the praereptor demon named Sombra, walked closer and closer to the goblin encampment the god reached out using his mind. Doing this was an odd thing that he normally only did unconsciously, but he was consciously willing his mind out of his body and sending it in Raiz's direction. His mind left his physical body and rushed towards the encampment zipping towards it at truly astonishing speeds.

His mind was an ethereal, unstoppable thing. Even with as little influence as he possessed over the domain of minds his mind was capable of tearing apart armies and destroying communities if he wanted it too. Fortunately, for all of Althos' flaws and quirks, he wasn't an innately destructive or even violent entity, though persuading him to perform violence was never particularly difficult.

His mind whisked away from his body and dashed through the dark forest. It quickly passed the goblins and entered their encampment.

The encampment looked similar to how it had once looked, but now there stood a massive and impressive tree at the heart of it. As his mind dashed into the encampment, the skeletal stag he had given the goblins as a gift turned in his general direction, detecting... something. The entity couldn't quite make out what it had detected, but it was able to sense Althos' presence. Althos, unsurprisingly, opted to ignore this for now though he was impressed by it.

Without hesitation, the god's mind entered the tree that stood at the heart of the encampment. As he did so he ambiently detected surprisingly powerful magic emanating from it. Alteration magic, to be exact.

________________________________________________

The interior of the tree was more than it appeared. The second my mind-form entered it I entered a space that was larger on the inside than on the outside. Specifically, I entered a small entryway, leading to a foyer. The tree I had entered was a massive oak tree, but it wasn't large enough to house entire rooms.

The entryway I was in was just barely large enough to house a single person of my height at any time, though the foyer this entryway led into was considerably larger. I moved my mental form, a strange thing to do that was similar to how I moved my physical form but far more thought-driven rather than unconscious, through the entryway and into the foyer.

The entryway was a thin, white space, and the "walls" that defined it were composed of vibrant, white roots that moved and writhed around me. I didn't touch them, even mentally, but I sensed that I could manipulate them if I had opted to use my powers over roots. I considered this for a second but ultimately decided not to do so since I wouldn't have a purpose in mind.

This area was around twelve meters long and making it out of the entryway was easy. Nothing in here had detected me, though I could sense the ambient magic that permeated the warm air of this magical space and I knew that if I had been detected odds are the entryway would react to me hostilely unless I had Raiz's permission to be here. Or at least that's what it would have been like for a mortal.

The foyer was a much wider space and a much longer one. This space was about the width and height of a regular foyer. It had a nature motif that was unsurprising since this was the "home" of a dryad. And it was here that I found her, Raiz. Raiz was walking down a set of stairs within the foyer, preparing to go outside. She looked distracted and was quite beautiful.

________________________________________________

Raiz was the very first lifeform that Althos had ever created. She was a meter and a half tall and had a pale complexion. Her hair was long and wavy, and it was the color of a "red delicious" apple.

The dryad had a curvy body, which was currently only partially hidden from view by an outfit of thorns and grass held together by magic. She was descending down a set of stairs and was looking down. Her mind was clearly elsewhere, and when Althos performed a simple surface-level reading of her mind he found that she was thinking of possible solutions to a dispute between two goblins.

One of her hands was holding onto the wall beside her, the wall also made of roots just like the wall of the entryway. These ones were holding her steady as she walked down the stairs, allowing her to be distracted without fear. Her other hand held a "staff" which was a thick and gnarled tree branch she used to more precisely aim her magic whenever she found it necessary to do so.

Raiz had large eyes that changed color based on the weather of her surroundings. At the moment her eyes were green and she was distractedly looking downward at the stairs at her feet and not straight ahead. Althos' mind form closed his eyes and took on a new form.

The Cosechian form the god's body was currently in had also been the form taken by the mind of the deity. That changed instantly, even as Raiz descended down the stairs and kept her gaze firmly rooted on the floor beneath her.

________________________________________________

Shapeshifting was one of many natural talents possessed by every god. I had learned over the course of my time in my tower that though I was truly a dastardly expert at shapeshifting, all gods were capable of minor shapeshifting without much difficulty.

Molding my form was as simple for me as breathing was for mortals. Initially, I had only suspected that this was the case, but my newer abilities over memories had allowed me to confirm this myself by granting me the power to explore the memories of my worshipers and I quickly learned just how essential breathing was for them.

I pictured my elemental form vanishing and becoming something new. It wasn't difficult for me to mentally construct a powerful form that looked like an especially hairy and nude nearly-human male. This form was that of an idealized satyr, an especially tall one that stood nearly two and a half meters tall and had dense and dangerous-looking horns protroding out from my head.

Even as I constructed this form I activated a familiar and useful power "Unfettered Divinity". This power surrounded me in divine energy, and light, and made it impossible for creatures to deny that I was a god. It was a handy ability for a creature who routinely shapeshifted like I did, and was one that allowed me to prove that I was who I said was whenever I used it since I tended to be more or less honest.

This power, which had gotten upgrades as I built more cults and as I gained vast numbers of worshipers, was now stronger than before. My satyr-form was radiating the incredible light of the power and had there been other sapient things in the room with us they would have noticed me as well. The light radiating from my new form was powerful enough that Raiz saw it and glanced upwards. When she laid her eyes on my powerful new form, as it was coming into existence, her mouth opened in shock.

"Hello Raiz... How are you?" I asked, a smile on my still incomplete face. She could see my mouth, a large maw filled with unsettling fangs, and my thick and muscled chin, but the rest of my face was a blank slate.

Raiz's shocked expression stayed on her face for a moment as her mind adjusted to the reality that I was who I was. When her mind acclimated to the reality that I was Althos, her creator and the entity who had created the nonexistent deity named "Cosecha" her shocked expression slowly transformed into a peaceful, serene one. She continued her descent down the stairs, and began to speak.

"Creator... To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" She asked, smiling serenely at me. I could sense that she was legitimately surprised by my visit but she wasn't unhappy about it. I was quiet for a moment, and I knew that Sombra and my physical form were closing in on the encampment.

"Sombra and I on our way here." I told her, speaking simply. This confused her and even as she continued to walk down the stairs leading towards me she tilted her head. I chuckled at her confusion, even as my face began to gradually form.

"This is a mind-form of mine. My physical body, in so far as gods have physical bodies, is with Sombra in my Cosechian form, and they are minutes away from arriving at the encampment. I want to exert more control over the cult so I am coming, and Sombra is... Well, Sombra's Sombra. She is my shadow." I explained, speaking quite simply. This caused the dryad's eyes to open wide as she considered the ramification of my words on her life here.

"Creator, do you seek to gain more powers over nature?" She asked, speaking softly. I chuckled and nodded at her.

"Well Raiz... It's true that I seek more power over nature, but it's more complicated than that. I seek more power over everything." I explained, speaking a bit cryptically. This confused her, but that was fine. I didn't feel like explaining myself to her. Not now. Instead I merely gave her one command. I did so gently, but my tone made it clear that I was giving her an order.

"Go outside and gather the goblins. I shall arrive soon. I wish to be greeted by my worshipers." I told her, before vanishing from view.

________________________________________________

Reuniting my mind-form with my corporeal-form was simple. All I had to do was wish for the two to become one. And when I did I was instantly teleported back to my body, hundreds of meters away.

Sombra walked next to me and we could both plainly see the outskirts of the encampment. One of the skeletal guardians that I had given to the goblins as a gift a long time ago stood at the edge of the encampment and its skeletal, horned head was looking at us.

The creature was still, and eerily majestic in its own way. Its empty eye-sockets were clearly locked on us but there was no hostility in its gaze, though there was also no warmth either. It was a true undead being, one that despised life. That meant it had a contemptible fate: it was tasked with protecting living creatures, and that meant that it only rarely had chances to slake its anger.

As we began to close in on the edge of the encampment I turned my mind to my mental powers. I knew I'd need some of them in the interaction to come.

________________________________________________

[Mind domain passive powers:

Absorption: You can absorb mortal memories and process them instantly. This is a synergistic power that amplifies the effects of your other memory-based powers, allowing you to instantly be able to use memories you take or copy from mortals.

Astral projection: With this power, you can separate your mind from your body and use it to remotely interact with the world around you. At the moment this power's range is limited to what you can detect. This power is also known as "Mind-form".

Linguistic genesis: This synergistic power takes from the domains of knowledge and mind. It allows you to instantly create a language and teach it to anyone you wish. With this power, espionage becomes easier for you or for your followers, and you gain a handy tool for manipulating cultures.

Linguistic erasure: This synergistic power takes from the domains of knowledge, mind, and destruction. It is a targeted power with which you can cause a creature to forget a language they once knew. They can relearn this language, over time, but it'd take them a while to do so.

Mental blast: This is an offensive power that allows you to blast mental energy at anyone you wish as often as you wish. This power deals significant damage, though it isn't lethal unless you wish for it to be. The blast is incredibly painful.

Mental presence: Your mind is tied to your holy sites in a direct, physical way. You can manifest at them at will so long as your physical form isn't destroyed, and you can manifest at multiple holy sites at once. You can also sense and even interact with things and people up to a full four-hundred meters away from any holy site of yours at once.

Mental shatter: This power destroys the consciousness and sapience of affected mortals. It is a cruel power that decimates and ravages their minds.

Omni-communication: This power utilizes your powers over language and allows you to communicate with any sapient creature, even ones that lack a language. This isn't so much a power as it is a sort of filter that aids when you communicate with creatures that lack languages.

Projection: This synergistic power intersects the subdomain of enchantment and allows you to manifest illusions that show others what you are thinking and what others are thinking. It also allows for memories as one remembers them to be shown to others in a physical way.

Silence: With this power, you can deprive someone of their ability to speak for as long as you wish. It works on anyone who isn't a higher being.

Secret seer: You can detect a secret a creature is determined to hide. This is a power that is swept up with your identification abilities. It is a synergistic power that takes from the truth domain.

Mind domain active power:

Brainwave manipulation: This once an hour power is a handy one that allows you to target up to ten creatures and affect their sensory abilities and also their ability to react in time to things. You can induce confusion, sleep, paralysis, and a number of other statuses on victims of this power. You can also induce brain death in someone with this power.]

________________________________________________

By the time I was done mentally checking in on my mind-domain abilities Sombra and I were standing in front of the goblin tribe. Dozens of goblins, some of whom were only alive because of me, were bowing in front of us. They were muttering quiet prayers to me and I enjoyed the sounds of their pious voices.

I allowed this zealous display to continue for a few moments before I turned my full attention to the goblins and began to act.