Corruption

In the earliest moments of the lives of the newly created angels, they were just orbs of brilliant light. These moments were confusing for them, as their minds reeled from being created and being given awareness. As their minds reeled from that, Althos himself poured knowledge into their minds.

At first, this only increased their confusion but they quickly found that it also began to give them a chance to focus as they read through the notification he injected into their minds.

[Notification: Inherent Knowledge

You are an angel, a member of a grand race designed by gods themselves. Your purpose is to serve the final and greatest god of them all: Althos.

You are an angel of faith, blessed with powers that directly relate to belief, piety, and divinity. Beyond being an angel of one of the greatest domains, you are also inherently bestowed with authority over lesser beings by Althos. He has created you by hand and has charged you with guiding those who live beneath the Forest of the King of Spring & Summer.

You are one of the spiritual leaders of the grand community of Underhome, the name given to this place. There are other angels of faith who stand beside you, and there are angels of law who stand as the place's secular leaders. You, as angels, are manifestations of the glory and majesty of the god you serve. Enact his will, guide this place in his name, and serve him dutifully.]

The notification that filled the minds of the angels of faith inspired them to dutifully serve their creator. They wanted to devote themselves to understanding and enacting his agenda, and to becoming the mouthpiece he used to shape the religion of the people of Underhome.

As the god filled the minds of his servants and worshippers in the subterranean network of communities with notifications, he himself opted to explore the strange place he created. He teleported into a small chamber that was occupied by myrmekes priestesses from other worlds and dimensions.

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The instant after I teleported into "Underhome" I found myself in a chamber that was, at least compared to the chambers around it, surprisingly tiny. It was still a large enough place to house myself and the creatures I heard speaking softly to each other in the language of the fey, a gift I had long ago given my myrmekes priestesses.

"Why do you suppose the sovereign of the swarm called us to this new place?" One of them asked, using my oldest title to refer to me which was unsurprising since that particular title was what led me to make the swarm in the first place. Her voice was soft and when I turned to gaze at her I studied her.

She had a youthful face, beautiful ebony-colored skin, and matching chitin. She was also on the curvier side compared to the other myrmekes priestesses in the room. She had amber-colored eyes and was naked, her body fully on display and also quite lovely to look at.

I chuckled right as one of her sister-priestesses was about to speak, and when I did the hearts of the women began to pound in their chest. I took a single step towards the gathered women, one loud enough to be heard, and they all turned to face me.

As the evolved ants turned, I rose a single hand and froze time, for everything in existence except for myself and the subdomain of corruption. When all of existence, aside from corruption itself, and of course, me, froze I opened my raised hand and caused corruption itself to begin to manifest.

The air in front of me began to shimmer and glow as corruption was called from the metaphysical place inside of my mind and into reality. As corruption began the process of traveling from my mind into reality, I heard its voice.

"Althos... 'Master'... I am excited that you have decided to permit me to manifest fully!" The creature whispered, excitedly. It had a soft, musical voice. And yet for now it was resisting the pull it was feeling to step into the real world.

"'Master', I wish to step into the real world but... I am unsure of what form to take. I am not like Death and many other domains and subdomains that have set physical forms when they are permitted to manifest fully. My form, very unsurprisingly, is mutatable and something I can change on a whim." The voice revealed although that knowledge wasn't news to me.

"I wish to know what form would inflame your desires more... Do you wish for me to take on the form of a burly warrior, who you can take over and over? Or perhaps you wish for me to take on the form of a petite woman who mounts you and rides you until her stomach is bloated with your essence? Lust is a powerful part of you, and when you experience lust I know how little the gender of your partners matters." The voice teased, as I momentarily recalled all of the creatures I have had sex with.

Corruption was a powerful subdomain. I would know since I was fond of using it and had become a powerful demon lord of corruption.

"Lust is a powerful sin, and it itself is quite fond of you. If you commanded it, it would slavishly serve you. In... so many ways." Corruption whispered. I chuckled at its tempting whispers, unsurprised that it sought for me to unleash the sins it commanded onto reality.

"Master... Give me a form and call me forth into reality. I wish to be able to touch reality once more. It's been so long since I've last felt the sensation of air on my form, or even the excitement of pain or fear. Let me touch existence again. Let me touch... you." The voice whispered, begging me to let it run amok.

For a moment I wondered if I was making the right move. But then I realized that unleashing the personification of corruption onto reality would be endlessly fun, and so with a swift flick of my wrist, I opened a thin, door-sized, and shaped portal in front of me that was connected to the metaphysical corner of my where all of the domains and subdomains lived. As I did, I heard a soft, feminine laugh emanate from the other side of the portal.

The laughter grew louder and louder and I began to hear footsteps approaching me, also from the other side of the portal. When the footsteps were just on the other side of the eldritch portal, the laughter was incredibly loud. I watched, curiously, as the figure reached the other side of the portal and stepped through it, into reality itself.

The figure that stepped through the portal was a tall woman dressed in an ornate fur coat. She had an incredible figure and for a moment I felt a sharp desire to approach her and feel her body pressed up against mine. That said, her face was incredibly distinctive. She had high cheekbones, a wide and confident grin, and no eyes. Where her eyes should have been there was a smoothness to her face.

She strode right up to me and took my hand. I allowed this out of curiosity and watched as she opened my hand and then dug one of her nails into the skin of my palm. It "hurt", but as a deity of lust, pain, and madness things that "hurt" me actually felt quite pleasurable, which was a blessing I conferred to many of my pain-based worshipers as well. I softly gasped as she took her nail and cut a pattern into my skin. As she did she began to speak.

"Master... You have allowed me to enter reality. This is the first time in over two billion years that I have been allowed to enter existence directly." The subdomain whispered, awe audible in her voice as she studied her surroundings. She finished carving her strange pattern in my skin and she spun around in a circle, clearly looking at things around her even in spite of her lack of eyes.

I gazed at the pattern. It was a heart, and a few moments after Corruption moved a bit away from me, the heart pattern she engraved on my skin with her nails momentarily darkened. For a few seconds it was so dark it was as if my blood had flowed to where it was in such high intensity that it was going to burst out of me. And then it stopped, returning to the same color as the rest of my skin, but it was no longer fresh. It was as if I had a birthmark on the palm of my hand in the shape of a heart.

"The pattern I cut into your skin is a sign of my loyalty to you. It has a number of functions, but the most important is that it binds me to you. You see, Althos... I WANT to be allowed to manifest in reality. I want to be free to roam and corrupt things. And I am more than happy to corrupt things you want to be corrupted, in ways that are conducive to your goals. If you let me play, I don't mind following your rules and now you have the means to stop me from going too far. All I ask is that you let me play with things, preferably living things." She told me, smiling eagerly.

"If it means being free to corrupt things with my own two hands, I am more than happy to be your servant. Now for the matter at hand... I see her." Corruption whispered, tilting her head slightly to gaze at the priestess I studied earlier. I can tell she was studying the evolved lifeform intently, even without eyes.

"She is quite pretty. I can see why she drew your eye." Corruption commented as she began to approach the creature. As she got close to the little priestess, I rose my other hand and with a flick of my wrist, I unfroze the priestess.

For a moment she was still, stunned and confused as she read the notification alerting her to the fact that she was unfrozen. Corruption reached her right when she began to fully recover and tilted her face so that the priestess was looking at her as she began to react to her surroundings again. The priestess gasped in shock and fear at the sight of the strange eye-less being, who only smirked and kissed her cheek.

"Oh no, she's scared." Corruption whispered, mockingly. The priestess tried to push her away, but it didn't work and I watched as Corruption reacted to the ant-like creature non-verbally. I watched Corruption's cheeks redden in fury, and I was able to see her jaw muscles tense, while she balled her fists in rage.

Corruption was a subdomain, an embodiment of an idea or in her case ideas, related to sins. Among the sins she embodied were wrath and pride, as well as lust and the remaining four deadly sins. There was a very real rage in her and she rose her fist to strike the priestess, but before she could actually lash out I tapped the heart on my hand with my middle finger and Corruption froze.

"Enough of that, you're scaring the poor thing." I whispered, speaking in a sort of divine language known to all gods of sufficient power and influence over the domain of knowledge. The manifested subdomain listened to my words and slowly lowered her fist. She tilted her head in my direction and "gazed" at me.

"You know of all of the seven deadly sins... The one you express the least is probably wrath. Or envy." She began.

"You express lust more regularly than you express the other six. You express pride from time to time, such as when you defeated Empress Qivan. You express sloth when you lounge in oceans. You express gluttony by commanding your worshipers to be gluttons. You express greed by using it to control many of your subordinates, in the form of offering them wealth. But envy and wrath..." She said, before pausing for a moment to consider whether or not to continue. I gave her a blank look and internally chuckled at her.

"I suppose your lack of envy makes some sense. Anything you wish for you can take. Anything that belongs to someone else, you can create on your own, convince them to give you, or take from them. But wrath... Wrath is a trickier one. I don't understand your lack of wrath. Or rather your lack of demonstrated wrath." She said as if to goad me into revealing my hand. I studied her for a moment, considering whether or not to give her what she wanted.

I gazed at the manifested subdomain and sighed, externally this time. I opened my mouth, silently at first, and after a few moments decided to speak.

"I feel anger very keenly. I do not know how to properly express it, in words, but I feel it. I feel it with every breathe I take. I do not express my anger, at least not very often, because it is reserved. I am aiming it squarely at Morehammer. It is a cocked gun that I am pointing at the head of that bastard." I tell the subdomain, my eyes changing and becoming a deep, unholy shade of scarlet.

"One day, one day very soon at that, I shall free myself from this anger, the anger which has filled my soul for so long. I shall unleash it on Morehammer. I shall destroy him so utterly that it shall be as though he never existed. I am an unexpected vessel for justice, but I shall avenge all of the gods he killed to stop them from becoming patrons for dark dwarves." I say, expressing that thought out loud for the very first time.

"Morehammer's memories live in me. I have absorbed them. I remember his entire life. I know the names of every god he killed. I know what universes they are in. I know what he knows about the extinction of our kind. He possessed the wisdom of ages, and now it lives in me." I revealed, stating truths that I had yet to articulate.

"I am not yet ready to face him. To destroy him. But I will be soon." I told the subdomain, gazing at her. The priestess, in awe of what was being revealed by my words, silently listened to me. Her eyes were wide from shock as she processed what I was saying.

"When I face Morehammer... I shall restore Ava to life. And on that day I shall not be the only person who exacts justice. Aoife betrayed Ava, and then she betrayed me. Her time is coming too." I declared, authoritatively. A powerful aura began to emanate from me, surrounding me in a blood-like red haze. Corruption grinned at me as I finished expressing myself.

"Hmm... I personally can't wait to see the day you unleash your wrath against him. And for when your anger is no longer being reserved for one particular asshole. I want to see you unleash your powers, unleash me, on entire universes." Corruption whispered, gazing at me, a sort of deranged awe emanating from her. A silence fell between the two of us and after a few moments, the silence was interrupted by the priestess.

"Sovereign... If you will it, I'd happily hurl the entirety of the swarm at this foe. This... Morehammer." She uttered, her voice hardening as she uttered the name of my enemy. I could feel her awe for me, and her hatred of my enemy, those two emotions coloring her heart at the moment. I chuckled and turned to face her.

When I did, I studied her and watched as a notification filled my mind's eye which revealed her information including her personal vice. I was unsurprised to see that it was wrath.

"Thank you little one. I appreciate your feelings, but you need not focus on Morehammer. I shall be the one to bring him down." I told her, gazing at the creature gently. I outstretched my hand and motioned for her to come closer to me. She smiled at me, and did as I asked, moving forward to come and stand in front of me.