79 Distractions & Subdomains (1/2)
A few moments after walking into Dr. Cortes' laboratory I found myself staring at a familiar table. It was the table that was once filled with mortars and pestles, and now it was covered in papers. I approached it, and in doing so found myself standing on the other side of my teacher, the alchemist named Dr. Cortes.
”Althos, it's very good to see you.” He told me, a goofy grin on his face. His face looked different this time. He had shaved the white beard he had when I first met him. He also had goggles like last time but they were hanging loosely around his neck rather than around his eyes.
I looked at the diminutive human's eyes and studied them for a moment. They were filled with genuine excitement, and after a few moments of silence, the good doctor tapped the table and motioned for me to look at it.
”Althos, my young apprentice.” He said as I turned to study the assorted papers that covered the table I had performed my initial test on top of. I looked at the papers and immediately realized what they were: recipes.
”As of today, you are an officially an alchemist's apprentice, an alchemist in-training! How exciting!” Dr. Cortes declared, speaking boisterously. He was looking at me quite happily, while I visually scanned the various recipes my teacher had prepared for me.
I could see recipes for potions, beverages, poisons, and even a single one for a simple bomb. While glancing at them, I got to read some of their titles and mentally grinned at them. I could see recipes for items called ”Spider's antidote”, ”Snake's kiss”, ”Manta-ray's sting”, and ”Regenerative potion”. Seeing them brightened my mood, even as my tremorsense alerted me to something that didn't.
I sprung to action immediately. I looked at Dr. Cortes and began to speak, asking for directions.
”Dr. Cortes, my stomach is feeling... A bit strained. Before we dive into the wonderful lesson you have planned, do you mind if I go to the bathroom?” I asked, speaking somewhat urgently so as to explain why I'd have to run for a bit.
Unpleasant intruders were making their way towards the Rodan forest, and I intended to send them a powerful message. Plus they presented an opportunity for me to gain access to two subdomains I had wanted to gain access to but hadn't really had a chance to interact with yet.
When the Dr. pointed me in the direction of the bathroom, I smiled and excused myself. When I was out of eyesight of my teacher I teleported myself far from where I stood and to a land I had yet to visit: the area beyond the Rodan forest.
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A pair of creatures that could only accurately be described as bipedal hyenas were gradually making their way out of the valley that housed them. The two creatures were stealthily trodding out of the region where their kind, hyenoids, lived and towards the territory inhabited by all sorts of Althonians.
The two scouts were lightly armored and armed. They deftly held stone spears in their pawed hands and wore armor made from the pelts of creatures they themselves had hunted.
They were silent as they inched closer and closer to the outskirts of the forest which they had been tasked with exploring. The two were highly skilled, but they were no match for the powers of a god which was why the newborn deity that happened to reside primarily in the forest and in the human settlement closest to it detected them the moment they began their approach towards his territory.
When they were close enough that they could see the forest, a strange event occurred. A shimmering wall of light several meters tall appeared between them and the forest. They could see through the wall, but the forest beyond it appeared hazy and indistinct as if viewed through a heat mirage. This caused the pair of creatures to pause and look uncertainly at each other.
That was before the wall of light opened up ever so slightly and a strange creature stepped through it. The creature hadn't been visible until the wall opened up, so the pair of hyenoids immediately put up their guards and tightened their grips on their spears.
The creature had an annoyed expression on his face. He had a plainly human face, but the hyenoids had never seen a creature do what he did: put up what an obstacle of some sort that blocked off their way out of the valley and into the forest.
The apparent human, a rather plain-looking member of his kind, studied the two of them. He made no attempt to hide his appearance or to appear extra intimidating. After a few moments, he was obviously unimpressed by them and casually began to speak to them.
”I am only going to ask you once to cease your exploration of the Rodan forest.” He said, speaking calmly to the pair of scouts. The two creatures froze when they heard his words, as they understood them quite easily even though the human was speaking their animalistic language.
One of the scouts, the bigger of the two, lifted his spear threateningly in response to this command and snarled at the human. The scout practically spat out a reply, hissing it through broken teeth.
”Why should we listen to you? Who are you to command us to cease our exploration?” The creature hissed, speaking angrily. Althos chuckled and grinned at the creature.
”I am Rodan's new master. My name is Althos.” Althos replied, speaking without any hesitation. He grinned at them and wondered how they'd reply to what he had just said.
”And? That is not a reason for us to obey you.” The hyenoid closest to Althos quipped. Althos considered this for a moment and then sighed. At this moment he suspected that a conflict was inevitable.
”The reason you should obey me is that I am the strongest creature you've ever met. If you value your health, your mind, and the future of your community, I recommend you stand down.” Althos told the pair, speaking to them calmly and urging them to stay peaceful. They didn't. Althos' minimap pulsed and the color of their dots on it changed and became red. The color of creatures hostile to the youthful god.
The other hyenoid inched forward, now also tensing up. Althos turned his gaze to her and remained unimpressed after a few moments of thorough study. That said, the creature's purpose wasn't to intimidate, at this moment it was to distract.
The hyenoids were impressive and coordinated combatants, as Althos discovered when the one he took his eyes off of quietly reared back and hurled his spear at the young god. Unfortunately for the hyenoid, Althos was well aware of the silent strike and replied to it decisively.
The god's hand flicked in the direction of the silent striker, flaring outward with a flourish and casting an incredibly powerful spell. One that disrupted the spear's trajectory instantly.
The spear was caught in a sudden gravitational shift and immediately stopped in mid-air. It slowly turned around, and then flew back towards and then past the hyenoids. It collapsed onto the ground not far behind them, and the two scouts turned to look at each other in confusion.
The gravitational well that Althos had just created wasn't a particularly strong one, so the hyenoids barely felt its effects and at the moment weren't aware of its effects on a conscious level. Althos had opted to create one that was more disruptive to their attacks than an attack on themselves.
The young god took a step forward and then rose a single hand towards one of the hyenoids. He aimed his appendage in the direction of the male, and then grinned at the creature. It was at that moment that a potent burst of flames exploded out of the god's hand and sped towards the scout.
The burst of flames was a significant one, a curtain of golden fire that the god conjured with a frightening casualness. The hyenoid was shocked and was only barely able to leap out of the way of the fire. And even then he couldn't dodge it completely. A patch of his exposed fur was caught by the flames and caught on fire.
The hyenoid reacted by leaping back from the self-proclaimed master of the forest and turning his attention to his fur. He desperately tried to put out the flames, even as they spread to more and more of his body.
Althos grinned at the hyenoid's desperate actions and turned his attention to the female scout. She was watching her fellow scout with an expression of abject terror etched onto her Hyaenidae face. For a moment the god wondered about how he ought to handle her.
When the hyenoid turned to flee, Althos shook his head at her and acted swiftly. A jet black orb sped out of his hand and made contact with the scout before she had taken even two steps away from the god.
The orb knocked her down, and then its darkness exploded outward and engulfed her in an onyx-black field of darkness that rapidly began to cause her to freeze, and began to feed on her life-force. Althos kept an eye on her and watched patiently for the few seconds it took for her to fall unconscious due to the draining effects of his spell. When she did, he quietly deactivated the spell.
Light returned to the area around her, and eventually revealed her unconscious form, lying face-down on the valley's grassy floor. Althos chuckled, as he easily earned the first tier of influence over the third magical subdomain he could influence.
The other hyenoid was still flailing about in an attempt to put out the flames that were inflicting harm on him. As Althos watched this, he gained access to the simple quest he needed to undertake to gain access to the subdomain of fire.
The system informed him that in order to gain access to the first tier of influence over the subdomain of flames, he needed to set something on fire, since he had opted to set someone on fire earlier. This simple quest was fulfilled when the deity used telekinesis to lift up the spear he had deflected earlier and hurled a single bolt of flames at it, which exploded across the shaft of the spear.
Althos chuckled as he gained access to another of the elemental subdomains. And then he used one of the abilities he gained to put out the fires that were rapidly spreading across the body of the hyenoids.
The male hyenoid watched as the flames that were devouring his fur vanished. It caused the dimwitted almost-beast to stop in shock. That was when Althos spoke again.
”You and your companion have lost this battle. She is unconscious, and her lifeforce has been considerably drained, to the point that she's nearly dead. And because of your stupidity, I am even stronger than I was before. I am letting you live, but only if you retrieve her unconscious form and head back to your community. If you do not, I will pay them a visit myself and you don't want that.” The god told the scout. Althos was delighted by the collection of abilities he had just gained.
The male hyenoid slowly recovered from his shock, and looked up at Althos. He stared at the god, a mixture of awe and fear etched on his face. And then the bestial humanoid turned to the unconscious form of his companion.
He shuffled over to it dejectedly, picked it up, and began to walk back towards the hyenoid community. Althos watched as the creature retreated, and when the creature was suitably far away he teleported back to the workshop of Dr. Cortes.
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[Dual subdomain description:
The subdomains of alteration and flames are potent ones. The subdomain of flames is a powerful and multifaceted elemental subdomain that can heal, hurt, and even create. The subdomain of alteration is a magical subdomain that is involved in magic that alters the physical world.