162 In The Frozen Wastes (1/2)

I allowed the blizzard to rage, as I extended an ethereal tendril of mental power. This was similar to how I used telekinesis, extending out tendrils of my consciousness to grab and hold things beyond the reach of my hands, but I didn't use it to grab items. Instead, I allowed my tendrils to penetrate the skulls of the frost giants who surrounded me. They audibly groaned, and my impossibly sharp hearing allowed me to hear the sounds even over the roaring blizzard.

I could have opted to simply tether our minds together without this particular form of doing so but I didn't feel like doing that. I felt like taking time and having fun. The giants that surrounded me continued to struggle to their feet and the nosiness of their motions mildly annoyed me and so I decided to have my own fun with it. I quietly heaped on my powers related to exhaustion to my aura and as a consequence, the area around me began to greedily sap the energies of the giants.

The air almost visibly seemed to thicken around me as a result of my power. It took on a sickly yellow tint, and I both heard and felt the giants struggle to adapt to it. I heard their hearts begin to beat faster, as each and every action they took was suddenly far harder for them to do. I also heard them fall to their hands again, only barely able to keep from unintentionally prostrating themselves before me. Their pride was enough to power them through this new obstacle, but only barely.

”There there... You don't need to stand. After all you're in the presence of the one you called out too.” I muttered cryptically, both audibly speaking and mentally transmitting my words into their minds. I didn't feel like allowing them to stand before me. This would further cement the reality of my powers in their minds.

”Ugh...” One of them groaned, still trying to stand in my presence. I chuckled, physically, at the act. It wasn't an act of defiance or anything, but even a shallow reading of the giant's mind told me that the giant in front of me wanted to prove his power to his peers and to me.

He was filled with determination to not let my powers control him. It wasn't at all a bad attitude to have, even though it wasn't particularly appealing to me. I allowed him to struggle for a minute longer, before utilizing one of my newer abilities on him.

I targeted him by shifting my focus from nothing in particular to him specifically and then launched a single ”Mind-blast”. I felt the psychic pulse explode out of my mind and lance towards the giant. Almost the same instant I launched it, the invisible wave of energy seared into his mind, and I heard a single, agonized, and muffled shout over the roaring winds that surrounded me. An instant later I heard a soft thud echo across the icy glacier.

”Althos...” One of them muttered, struggling to speak due to the exhaustion I had struck her with. I could hear her struggle to get the words out. They couldn't see me as a physical being, instead only being able to see me as a shimmering being made of mental light, but I had a smile on my face as I watched their discomfort and felt their exhaustion. I once again found myself admiring the potent powers of the sin of sloth.

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In the hours that had passed since I gained power over sloth I had given it a lot of thought. It was, in all honesty, one of my favorite additions to my incredible treasure-trove of powers.

Sloth gave me a considerable array of powers. With it, I could sap people of energy, put them to bed, or even make them begin to abandon their responsibilities. And it connected to my other powers brilliantly.

If I wanted to use it I could cause cities to begin to fall apart, or turn sleepy hamlets into sleeping hamlets. If I wanted to mix this with my other powers I could use this to cause disease to run rampant by targeting those tasked with combatting diseases or otherwise ensure widespread calamity by preventing people from growing crops needed to survive a coming winter. Inversely I could use this power beneficially to ease acts of heroism by making villains easier to identify and subdue or even stop evil-doers from doing evil in the first place. I just needed to be creative in how I used it.

There was a part of me, a malicious and hateful part that was defined by my enjoyment of violence, pain, and evil, that wanted to target entire cities with the powers this granted me, but I knew better than to do that unless I was going after enemies or had a real reason to do so. I needed to work on controlling my darker impulses and not mindlessly or maliciously acting evilly. At least not on Torus.

If I wanted to do that freely I knew I should have selected a world wherein I would be defined and remembered as a god of evil and terror. Like Salifinos. By changing how I acted on different worlds I could more easily allow for the creation of differently behaving cults and thus more efficiently gather the followers I needed to acquire a vaster array of powers.

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”Althos... Please, tell us, your humble worshippers...” Another giant began, also struggling to speak as a result of the extreme potency of my powers related to exhaustion. I knew what he wanted to say, thanks to my ability to perform shallow mind-readings. He wanted to know why I was here, and what, if anything I wanted.

I quietly eased the potency of my auric power, slowing down the rate at which it sapped energy. And then a second later I transmitted some energy into the giants, using my powers over healing energy as well as the mental connection I had established with each of them. This allowed the giants to relax a little bit, and though it took some of them longer than others, a few moments after I performed this small act of mercy they all breathed a bit easier. And that only made my smile grow wider. For them to struggle to breathe as a result of my power was a sign of how incredibly potent it was.

”I can almost admire your tenacity. I suppose I should acknowledge you.” I declared, once again both speaking and transmitting my words into their mind. I did this because it was fun, but I also knew that it added an otherworldly effect to my actions, which was perfect for conveying to them the true and godly nature of my prowess. I quietly activated my typical religious abilities, and shrouded myself in my awe-inspiring mist.