108 The Swarm Expands (1/2)

Telling the two dwarves my life's story took almost an hour. I skimmed or simplified some sections of the events of the past week and a half but by the time I was done talking my companions knew more about me than most of my mortal worshipers did.

The two silently mulled over the tales I told them. They considered the world-changing implications of some of what I said, including the undead horde I possessed, and my ant swarm. I had been honest with the pair about my powers and the resources at my disposal.

While the pair mulled over what I told them I was in the process of actively expanding my followers. And I was doing so in what was arguably the most distinctly Althonian way possible.

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The part of my mind that was focused inward was doing a number of things. First and foremost it was actively making use of my powers over dreams. I was engaging with a number of humanoids at once, including a Htrean human, nobles on Torus, and another world's dark-elves. None of them were particularly special, but I liked engaging with dreamers and my abilities to do so were ones I frequently used.

That said that was little more than a distraction. The part of my mind that mattered right now was utilizing one of my newest abilities to its maximum potential: ”Stellar awareness”. This fantastic power expanded my map and my ability to detect things to an incredible degree.

I was now actively aware of goings-on in multiple worlds. My entire solar-system was within range of my detection and information-gathering powers and I was ready to act on that.

I willed my not-so-minimap to appear in my mind's eye. On it, I saw a total of seven worlds, counting Torus, and a number of moons and other celestial objects decorate the map. All of the worlds were teeming with life, and even a few of the moons had life on them as well.

I explored the planets and learned the names of kingdoms, people, and communities. I then began to mess around with the filters until I could only actively identify insects and anthropods that I could awaken and evolve. The number of creatures I could still identify numbered in the hundreds of quintillions.

The part of me that was focused inward began to smile when I saw that. The number was gigantic, an exponentially larger number than I could wrap my mind around and between my current undead horde and the swarm as it existed right now that was a number that was in the multiple billions.

This moment also served as a handy reminder of something important: I was far from done exploring Torus. Over a quadrillion ants existed on Torus. And ants weren't the only creatures that were currently selected. Ants, bees, wasps, and even a few types of distinctly alien creatures that were both similar to them and related to them were all currently selected.

I waited a moment just to be sure that this was what I wanted. When I was sure, which didn't take me long at all, I began to think about what I actually wanted to do with the unimaginable number of beings I was about to add to my followers.

”Do I want my empire to begin right now? Because I can in all likelihood conquer entire worlds with the horde I'm about to create.” I asked myself. I was genuinely unsure.

”I should use this moment to gain the second tier of influence over the Hymenoptera subdomain. And that'll likely require that my forces take a town...” I realized, well aware that the Hymenoptera subdomain was like the necromancy subdomain in that it was an aggressive, destroyer type subdomain. That was when the system chimed in.

[That's absolutely correct! When you cause enough bees or wasps to evolve, which you will by the time you're done here, you'll be tasked with using the swarm to conquer a town. And by 'conquering' I do mean destroy.] The voice revealed, speaking proudly. It sounded delighted at the prospect of such violence.

I wasn't as excited as it was. I wouldn't hesitate to make the order but I wasn't eager to do so. I knew that this was necessary and that in doing this I would gain greater powers, but none of that changed the fact that I wasn't enthused to do this.

”I want to create, not destroy.” I muttered, annoyed at the destruction I was about to have to inflict on some community. That said, I recognized that it was a sacrifice I was going to have to make to become a god of everything.

I was quiet for a moment before muttering something else. An idea. I turned my eyes towards the two branches of the swarm that currently existed.

One branch of the swarm, a less diverse one, existed underneath Puerto-Rico's surface. And another branch existed on the coast of Iredale. The second branch had members of the three Hymenoptera creatures that existed in Puerto Rico: ants, wasps, and bees. As soon as both groups turned themselves towards me I gave them a mental order.

At that moment I was grateful that my expanding powers kept expanding when I ordered my minions to colonize the coast of Iredale. Because that granted me handy new powers.

”Build a chamber underground. It will be the seat of worship dedicated to me, and also house portals to allow for travel between the worlds.” I told the creatures, making use of another of my new Hymenoptera abilities: the power to command them fully.

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The Hymenoptera subdomain was an empire-building subdomain. It gave me powers that not only strengthened my Hymenopteric followers and worshipers, but also made them more intelligent and gave me greater control over them. Since I was already interested in building an empire, I might as well embrace it.

The first part of building an empire was connecting it. Fortunately for me, connecting things was easy. I possessed far more than the power to teleport myself from area to area, but the power to build permanent portals connecting even distant parts of the universe together. Until now I hadn't really used that power. That was about to change.

I sensed my followers in both places scrambling to distinct, existing caverns and beginning to get to work. I felt their energy, passion, and the violence with which they expanded the chambers they had selected as the locations of my newest temples. The members of both branches moved with equal, inhuman passion, zealously working to fulfill the order they had been given.

I pictured the temples they were going to build as simple, functional places. I didn't care to order my followers to build me ornate temples. The temples I handbuild were somewhat ornate structures, but those temples were for humanoids who were impressed with such things. Insects were simpler, more efficient.

I wanted the temples the swarm built to me to be places that mattered to their communities from a needs-based point of view. For now, building my temple and the sort of future-highway that would come to exist when the swarm's territory expanded in the same place made sense.

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By doing the mental equivalent of flexing I activated my power that dominated members of the Hymenoptera order. And in doing so I instantly gained minions and worshipers throughout the solar system of my birth. I felt the number of worshipers I possessed swell to unheard-of proportions.

I physically fell to my knees, surprising the pair of dwarves I was with. It took me a moment to reassure them that I was fine but it wasn't hard. I merely explained that when I gained new worshipers powerful emotions surged into me, and I had just gained a handful of new worshipers at once. They accepted that without much protest, opting to believe me since I was a god.

All seven of the planets that revolved around the sun of my solar-system now teemed with Althonians. And those Althonians were about to get much stronger. I focused on the unimaginably large swarm I now commanded and gave the unevolved members an order.

”Evolve.” My mental voice reached across the solar system and every single new member of my swarm heard it at once.

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When the young god was focused he was capable of incredible, world-changing acts. And his latest action was a great example of that.

All over the solar-system ants, bees, wasps, and their alien equivalents on other worlds gained a single master at the exact same time. The first thing their master did was order them to evolve. Which they did. Ants became myrmekes and other bigger ants, wasps became dire wasps and giant wasps, and bees became thriaes or other larger bees.

The creatures evolved at the same time, stunning the few humanoids who studied them. In each of the seven worlds that orbited Torus' sun, there were humanoids who were fascinated by Hymenopterans. And they were the first victims of the swarm.