20 - Mama Tay

It was all going well, too well in fact. Then the first of the foolish mid-gods came. I had to trick him and trap him in his own despair before killing him. Oh the divinity he gave me. It was the boost I needed to reach the peak of my rank.

For years now though I had been getting smidgens of divinity from this accursed village. Yet it was barely enough. Even their praise and reverence to the girl was already shrinking. Something I didn't mind seeing as I had their fear and despair to feed off. Then this god dropped in. Almost fooled me if Gerasmine hadn't already seen him for what he was.

Good intuition that one. All that I had to do now was let the god battle his way to the angry hordes while I feasted on the fear of the people or the reverence bestowed on Gerasmine.

But it all began going down once he stood in front of me. There was a glint in his eyes as he called my true name. How could he have known?. I panicked internally for just a moment before I forced myself to calm down.

It didn't matter though. I knew all the gods in this world and he was not one of them. Which meant only one thing he was a new born god.

Apparently daddy didn't warm his new son or grandson or great grand...whatever. Point is I bet the moron wasn't told that Gods might be immortal to humans and beasts, well some beasts but not to other gods.

With that thought a smile went up my old wrinkled face annoying me more than ever which gave me more reason to use up all the divinely of this punk ass god.

With that I stood up on the old rickety legs of this avatar form and without a thought I ripped through it taking my true form.

Darkness erupted from this body like ink, spilling out the pores of the body and orifices with speed it spread about grabbing the villagers all around with dark shadowy tentacles. I began draining all within tbe vicinity of their fears and despair while locking eyes with the puny god that stood below my tall 8ft of solid height.

"This just got interesting. Unwanted but interesting" the god stated his eyes moving all over me curiously like I was nothing but a beast to be skewered no an insect in a lab.

Enraged at the lack of respect I pounced my large four hands stretched out claws ready to eviscerate this godchild from existence and send him back to the immortal pool of life and death.

*******

Watching Mama Tay transform confirmed many things for me. The most important being that I had forgotten how my walking amongst humans wasn't a personal thing.

Gods could perform the same act and as such I had to be more careful. I couldn't risk bumping into a good here at least not while unsure of being weaker.

The other was that the beasts were after him. And finally the third was that well, I was smart.

How was the big question?. How did I figure him out?

It was quite evident from the very first part of the story Gerasmine had given. Sun God Carion. My doubt had begun there simply because of one thing my other me had said. True forms couldn't descend into worlds. They actually could but reality would definitely split or shatter.

If we could all look around I was definitely certain reality was intact even if I didn't actually know what it would like for reality to shatter. Still I was certain it would be hard to miss.

Next was the statues. It seemed like the most normal of things but still I hadn't pegged Gerasmine as such a deity. Me probably not her. The other was the second statue. While many wouldn't note it why would a second statue of the same person have a set of four limbs.

Gods preferred to have their images as close to them as possible since if some features were flawed the wrong faith would go to the wrong god.

Then the direction, why face away?. Like it didn't want its face seen. The story about the creatures attacking from the direction it faced was laughable. After all there was nothing but plains beyond the forest above the cliff. So where would the mutated animals have come from.

I knew all this after all I already checked out most villages before heading here first.

Finally was the beasts themselves, their forms. I had noted what divine energy did to humans after granting my beads to Moira and Carla. The energy was meant to spread out.

Unless it worked differently on animals which I doubted then someone had intentionally made the animals of the forest mutate. Divinity wasn't made for mortals. It was why Moira needed my blessings to help her hold unto the divinity running within her while her body was tempered to slowly accept it. But forcing it upon these creatures without blessings The animals knew their tormentor.

I remained one particular webnovel i read when I was alive where the scientists experimented on people and created a wave of sentient zombies while the world fell to pieces outside his laboratory.

Soon the zombies broke out but refused to leave surrounding and shutting them in. Attempts to rescue the scientists were met with brutal deaths until the protagonist somehow got in and spoke with the weird zombie guy that told the story. The zombies managed to get to the scientists and ignored the other humans at the moment.

It was the badgers that made me think of it.

Why go for the fort unless.there was something they wanted. Him.

In the end I had created one basic ability while walking into the fort. True scan.

[SKILL CREATED]

TRUE SCAN

Using divinity/mana scan the body construct, soul essence and mana/divinity of a being. Can only work on beings at same or lower rank than you.

[DIVINITY - 2]

Using the skill he had trailed or the way through the humans huddled about till he came to Mama Tay confirming his suspicions.

Quizarmukae created a dungeon not any god. He created a dungeon to hunt for divinity. Gerasmine had said she knew Mama Tay for as long as she existed. Because Mama Tay was either dead or never existed.

[How Did You Deduce All This Without Me And How Did You Know It's Name.]

'I didn't. It told me ' I pointed outside in the direction of the statue where at tbe base of the statue with four limbs were carved the words in broad letters. Quizarmukae. 'Plus the new skill helps in confirming it'

'It means devourer of fear and despair. The people must have though it meant the statue was to devour all their fears and give them hope. How were to know it was literally devouring their fears,' True scan had shown me Mama Tay's stats, and the same name was there on it.

"Smart one ain't it" I spoke out watching as Mama Tay's body split apart. Screams rang in my ears as I kept on watching fascinated thinking of things I could use the inspiration I was getting to create. I stood still while the lesser god stretched and grew taller, simultaneously shadows and darkness spilled out of it and flooded the ground till it began grabbing and draining people.

[It's A Lesser God. It Won't Be Missed. In fact I Doubt It Is Known To Exist ]

[Still, Be Careful It's Dark Limbs Don't Just Drain Test, It Gives A Reason To Feel Fear And Despair So It Can Drain. Quite An Unorthodox Method To Gain Divinity]

Turning to glance around a sigh escaped me as the folks to the corners turned into husks before I looked back to the new form of the lesser god in front of me with interest.

"This just got interesting. Unwanted but interesting"

It pounced its maws open and four arms stretched forward black claws eager to touch and rip through my flesh. Its skin was as dark as night and has a shadowy look like it lacked a physical body.

The eyes are two pits of glaring white the only bright color on it. Jagged reptilian-like fangs could be seen as it dropped closer. A forked tongue that whipped in the air. Shockingly the tongue was the only colored part of its entire body. Two hind feet packed with muscle and a snake-like tail with a pointed tip that slashed about.

"Yup. This would be real practice". I muttered. My words though were meant to encourage me after all those beasts outside had nothing to this god in front of me.

[We Got This].

'You mean "I" got this.'

[Sure Sure. Get On With It]

Just as the last word registered in my head my eyes rolling the god was already on me.