119 Emotions (1/2)

”Ygaynth... What do I do with you?” I asked. I smiled at the massive creature shortly after speaking. I wondered if the beast could sense its sanity slipping. My hand was still on its neck, and every second that passed was a second in which I stole more of its sanity.

The neck my hand was on was a thick thing. Sharp, serendibite-like scales covered and protected what I assumed was tough skin but the scales didn't bother me.

The dragon spent a moment trying to shake my hand off, but it didn't work. And since I wasn't grabbing its neck this wasn't classified as an attack. This meant I could steal the thing's sanity, all while it couldn't attack me in return.

”Althos... What are you doing?” The dragon asked, fear and anger mixing into its voice. I looked up at the dragon and chuckled.

I could sense the creature's emotions thanks to a new synergistic power I possessed. It was one from the mind domain, and I was grateful to it. It allowed me to sense the emotions of creatures affected by my powers.

”Well Ygaynth... I am preparing.” I informed the dragon. I could sense even more fear begin to radiate off of the beast.

”What are you preparing for?” It asked me, moving from afraid and angry to just afraid. I was silent for a moment before I replied. I liked the silence. It built dramatic tension.

”I am preparing you.” I told the dragon. It didn't reply to this. Instead, I felt a tremor of terror from within the beast, which made its neck shake.

I legitimately wasn't sure what I'd do with the dragon. That said, stealing away its draconic sanity and while doing so making the dragon a willing servant was a good idea no matter what path I chose.

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I didn't let the dragon see the turmoil in my mind but my mind was a chaotic mess at the moment. I could distinctly hear a number of voices, none of which were mine, arguing.

”He should kill the dragon. After all, the dragon did commit unforgivable offenses. And the dragon can only die once.” A domain, the death domain, muttered. It possessed a voice that was audibly ancient.

”I agree! Imagine the power he'd gain from reanimating an ancient black dragon? Even if he made it a zombie, or a skeleton, the beast would be among his strongest undead. If he took the thing's soul and created a lich from it...” The necromancy subdomain added, giggling as she finished the thought.

”The dragon can be redeemed! It may not atone for its sins but he could use it as one of his champions in the fight against slavery. A living champion.” Roared another voice. This was one I was unfamiliar with, but intuitively recognized as one of my newer domains: the domain of goodness.

”Death... You said that the dragon can only die once. That's not true.” Another domain, the domain of life replied. This caused the death domain to grunt in response, but the sound was a poor attempt to hide interest. Moments later the death domain did something else to reveal its interest: it spoke.

”The boy can already perform resurrections? Were you one of his initial domains?” Death asked, a moment later. The domain tried to hide its interest behind an annoyed tone, but wasn't a good actor.

”No. Healing on the other hand...” The life domain revealed, and I could have sworn I heard the smile on the domain's lips if domains even possessed lips.

”He was a natural-born healer? Now that is interesting. Has performed a resurrection yet?” The death domain asked, followed up by asking another question. This time it's questions were answered by a subdomain.

”No. Not yet anyway. But to be fair, he still doesn't know he can now perform multiple resurrections. He doesn't know what the second tier of influence over me awards him.” The subdomain of healing informed the ”gathering” of domains and subdomains. It wasn't done talking either.

”Resurrecting someone is... As you know, it's hard. Initially, he could only do one every six months. The poor lad has only been alive for about twelve days. Not even half a month.” The subdomain said, defending my hesitation. I grinned, appreciative of the words of the subdomain.

”He could interact with the dragon using me. I am great for making friends!” Another voice, a new one, told the ”crowd” of domains and subdomains. This voice belonged to another new subdomain, the subdomain of fungi. It was one of the subdomains I had gained access too through my worldwide miracle, even though to do so the subdomain had had to change its quest.

The subdomain of fungi was another odd subdomain. It granted me considerable power, and its powers were all unsettling ones. Among other new abilities I had gained the power to generate infective and parasitic spores within myself and infect others with them. It was a powerful ability but also one that I recognized would snatch away a creature's free will.

There was a part of me that wanted to test this power out on Ygaynth and have the creature spend the rest of its life clashing against those who continued to practice slavery. But I also recognized how odd it was to use such a power in the name of ending slavery. And I wasn't unaware of the optics of my other powers either.

I recognized the strangeness of having an undead horde clash against those who practiced human sacrifice and slavery. That said, there was something humorous, to me at least, about using an army of the undead to liberate the living. And I liked the fact that slavers joined this army and thus spent their undeath working to atone for the sins they performed in life.

I was also aware of the brutality of my passive decision to snatch away the sanity of Ygaynth. But I didn't feel any guilt about this choice.

Ygaynth had ended countless lives as a ”sane” member of his species and had shown no remorse. So far I hadn't made the choice to kill the dragon and I wasn't really snatching away his freewill but even if I did, it could be argued that that would be a just punishment for the life-ending dragon.

I intended to leave the dragon changed. I still hadn't decided just how changed I wanted to leave the dragon, but I did know I wanted to leave it unrecognizable.

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The beast in front of me was feeling an array of emotions. I sensed fear as the preeminent emotion in its heart, but there were a number of other things the monster was feeling as well.