220 Plagues, Parasites, and Pain (1/2)

I was currently in the body of an orc. The world I was in was akin to a mixture of traits from Htrae and from Mercy. This world had almost no magic to speak of, a trait that it shared with Htrae, and was inhabited by a plethora of sapient species all of which worked together in nations that were mostly pluralistic democracies, just like Mercy. The orc I was currently possessing lived in a community that was mostly made up of orcs. They weren't going to be the victims of my actions today. I liked orcs. No, I had plans that I would set in motion but not here.

I lifted the body I was possessing out of bed and began the process of searching for clothes for the man to put on. At the moment he was naked and his muscular body, in all of its orcish ruggedness, was exposed to me. I didn't mind the view, but I had a role to play. And I suppose I ought to work on my acting skills, and to do that I needed to play a part. For now, anyway.

The orc's bedroom was a small space that was mostly occupied by furniture. The orc himself wasn't a fan of that, but everyone had flaws and one of his was that he struggled with spatial reasoning, so he had organized his bedroom haphazardly. It wasn't that big of a deal, even though the orc himself began each day minorly annoyed by it.

I spent a few minutes lazily searching through various dressers before finding a suitable outfit. For the time being I wasn't sure how aware I'd leave the orc of my presence when I was done with him. I may even decide to kill him, but I doubt I would do that. I was inclined to leave him alive, though in a rather... indisposed state so that if I wanted too I could return to this body and repossess it while being assured of its relative safety. Having a vessel that I could utilize would be handy in the future if I decided to continue to mess with this world.

I dressed the orc in simple, yet comfortable pants, a loose-fitting shirt, and a jacket. It was quite cold outside for the orc and if he was going to get sick it'd be at my hands, not at the hands of the elements. I also put on plain but serviceable shoes that'd effectively do the job of keeping the orc's feet warm and safe from cuts or any other sort of harm that might befall them.

As I moved to leave the orc's home I began to think about the state of my cults elsewhere.

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The cult had grown immeasurably since their defeat at the hands of Morehammer, shortly after he killed Ava and before he and I clashed for the first time. I could see its membership, and upon taking a brief second to study it I noticed that the cult's overwhelming majority of members were pain-bringers, followed by devils, and then the last tenth or so of members were demons.

While thinking about them I spoke, mentally, to one of the domains I had a bit of influence over: the domain of faith.

”In thinking about the Order of the Heated Blade I see that the cult has grown quite explosively. Why is that?” I asked, curiously. I heard and read a response almost immediately after asking my question.

”The popularity of the Order of the Heated Blade is due to the nature of its members. Pain-Bringers are naturally pious and thus easily flock to your worship, devils like order and hierarchies and having a master to serve who allows them to continue to inflict pain and light fires is appealing to them, and demons, though chaotic and individualistic, appreciate serving a powerful creature of pain and flames.” Said the domain. I mentally nodded as I heard its message.

The cult was growing at an explosive pace. Its adherents in the strange realm known as Zenith, the home of pain-bringers, numbered in the tens of thousands, its adherents in the devilish homeland of Infernius numbered in the thousands, and in the demonic homeland of the Heart of Darkness numbered in the hundreds.

Some mortal adherents of this faith also existed, but they were scattered throughout the dimensional and were an incredibly tiny percentage of the total adherents of the faith, totaling less than three hundred people in total across over half a dozen worlds. In every case of mortal adherents of the faith they were led by a pain-bringer who was an especially zealous member of the faith. These groups were of interest to me as in three of the seven cases were mortals in mortal worlds worshipped me they existed on worlds in solar systems I had yet to visit.

The Order of the Heated Blade had become an intriguing resource for me, one I could use in a variety of ways. I was unsurprised to see that relatively few demons flocked to this faith, but its popularity among pain-bringers and devils gave me a fascinating new tool with which I could more easily exert influence over Infernius, at least once I delve into the true reaches of the realm, deep underground, and without my direct influence I had acquired a significant amount of cultural influence over the dimension of Zenith even though I had never visited there before.

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While I was lost in my thoughts I began to move. I took a deep breath and then forced myself to move at the speed of light once more. All around me the world slowly came to a near-standstill. As it did I began to smile and chuckle, knowing that if I gained mastery over this power I'd gain a potent weapon that I could easily use to impressively annihilate even entire armies of lesser foes.

When the world was nearly completely still, I began to move. I walked forward until I was in front of the bedroom door that led in and out of the room where my victim laid his head to rest every night. I opened it, stepped through it, and then closed it behind me. All of this happened silently, and as I did it I opted to enter a state of incorporeality, so as to lessen the chances that I would cause massive destruction while speeding around the world. My body, or rather that of the orc, didn't appear to change but I knew that the instant I wanted to become incorporeal I had become incorporeal.

In order to test my incorporeality I decided to run at the wall at the end of the room I was now located in. I found myself in a small living room, connected to the world outside of the house, a small kitchen, and another bedroom. I was still as I studied the house for a split second, or rather what felt like a second, and then I charged forward, dashing for a few steps until I entered and then phased through the wall that separated me from the outside world.

I felt nothing as I phased through the wall, and once I was on the other side my eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness of the wee hours of the morning. I was now free to explore the world and to alter it however I saw fit. And I already had a plan in mind.

My surroundings were those of a small town. To the left of the orc's house was a tiny school, and to the right of the orc's house were other homes. In front of the house, there was a small road made of concrete. I sensed dozens of sleeping families and today I would not be bothering them. I wouldn't be corrupting them either. Instead, I was targeting another community or rather other communities.

To reach them I stepped onto the road in front of me and I began to move. I dashed out of the town and nearly instantaneously onto a rural highway that connected the unimportant community with the grander world it existed in. Each time my feet ”touched” the ground beneath me I was shot forward, dashing in the direction I was facing and so I got to see more of the world I was visiting.

I ran over a shoddily maintained asphalt road. The road was hard on the feet of the orc I was possessed, but I would heal the orc whenever I ceased possessing him. Once I left the town the highway I was running on led me out into an incredibly vast plain where sporadic farms popped up and attempted to exert control over the fertile soil of the area. Human, dwarf, orc, and other rarer species numbered among the farmers who occupied the vast plain I was speeding through.

Seeing the vast patch of farmlands reminded me of my humble origins as a god of agriculture. It reminded me of when I was a god who was content to not even rule over a single island. That feels like a lifetime ago.

I would think about that all while traveling to the town closest to the one inhabited by orcs, and it would remain on my mind even while I made it all the way to the water reservoir that was made up of many distinct pools atop a large structure that served the town. The town which was itself inhabited by over 17,000 people.

When I snapped out of my moment of introspection I found myself looming over an outdoor entryway into a calm, clean body of water. I admired it for a moment, well aware of the fact that under different circumstances I might well have been tempted to make it a temporary home.

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[Agriculture/Famine Subdomain Passive Powers:

Abundance manipulation: Your once active ability has become a passive one. This grants you the ability to become a deity of abundance if you so choose. You can also use this power more subtly if you wish and cause it to affect lands and bolster crop growth and quality if you desire. This power also enhances your degree of control over reproduction, making it easier for those whose fertility you enhance to have multiple births per pregnancy. Utilizing this power on food causes it to be more filled with your influence.