12. Nature of Oneself

I flicked another finger and telekinetically brought pastries of many shapes, textures, and flavors to my mouth before getting by the fangs contained within as I hummed in contentment.

I didn't even need to eat to sustain myself, but why stop myself from this simple pleasure of life? More so when I have likely the best cooks within the Milky Way at my beck and call.

My situation was terrible, horrifying to the highest degree, I had been ripped away from my life, turned into a living weapon, and enslaved to fight but that won't stop me from enjoying life at every opportunity.

I wasn't going to make myself miserable on purpose, why destroy my mental health further? What would be the point of fighting for my freedom if I can't appreciate it after? Though I suppose this was only possible 'thanks' to my nature, the mere thought of being in any kind of way depressive or mentally deficient was irking my instincts to the highest level.

'The donuts glazed with this sugary crystal with the chocolate-like fillings are the best.', I dutifully noted while displeasure straining my monstrous feature at the realization there wasn't more of this type, the rest of the pastries followed soon after in my gullet.

To fix this crisis I emitted a pulse of psychic energy from one of my hands and made a perfect physical copy of the ring-shaped heart attack of pure goodness and hundreds more by transmuting the molecules in the air into what I desired. I even heated them or cooled them up or down to have the perfect temperature and consistency.

They were the same from one atom to another but for me, they tasted inferior but it was not the material aspect of things. It tied to something that would have been very silly to me in the past.

It was the emotions put into making them, literally.

Every pastry had been unconsciously lashed with a psychic signature of the passion and love of the artisans that baked them and this to replicate to near perfection would be several orders of magnitude harder.

And even then, I wouldn't be fooled, each living creature had its unique presence, and mimicking would only do that, someone sharp enough would notice it nevertheless me of all people. However, I still did it, it was a good exercise and a way to improve upon my craft. Practice makes perfect, talent was wasted without it.

My sweet tooth aside, this 'psionic flavor enhancer' was something all soul-bearing creatures did, gifted in the arcane or not, they all left psychic traces behind no matter how weak it might be.

The only constant two exceptions I was sure of were;

Cegorach, the Laughing God, but it was within his domains of authority and we weren't on the same level of power. Oh, he was strong, very much so but in raw power the difference between us was incomparable.

And the bearers of the 'Pariah genes' or under another name the ones cursed-blessed with a 'psychically negative soul' but they still left something behind, the total lack of psychic energy. But it didn't make it hard to notice, the opposite to the point even individuals with no psychic potential would sense it in instants AND from far away. But it depended on strength and circumstance so the last points weren't a universal truth, it was a generality.

Ignoring these exceptions, these psychic remnants varied vastly depending on the circumstances and actions but also most importantly of all the intentions and intensity of the emotions and they could be felt, studied, and beyond. It would be possible to know the past of someone just from a fraction of their psychic trail, and it could go far. Postcognition was a fascinating branch with many terrifying uses.

And I was not one of the exceptions, creatures of truly immense psychic power like me left this same trail but it was of incomparable potency and this was without taking into consideration the active psychic aura I passively emitted but actively damped to not drive insane or kill the ones of the Young Races by my mere presence.

To put it simply, I was not discrete, I could hide from weaker lifeforms but that wouldn't be foolproof by basic virtue of probability, nevertheless hiding from others even slightly in the range of my psychic might as long as they weren't truly blind to the world around them. Or stupid, or overly arrogant which was the same…

Becoming truly invisible was nigh impossible. In addition, Asuryan, the best lap dog, had his gaze on me most of the time, be it from jealousy, fear, the lizard bitch order, or the three combined if not more. It didn't change that I was monitored and not only by him, I was a target of interest from many even if aside from psychic entities it was hard to keep track of me.

But… There was a major but, maybe I and others can feel the presence of one another no matter where and when, a general awareness of short yet our senses weren't perfect, it depended on who of course but none were Omniscient no matter how hard some would cry in outrage about this statement.

They weren't as simple as that, none knew everything, if someone did then this someone would be playing in a league far above mine and everyone else here. These terms had meaning even if morta-fuck, less knowledgeable individuals would confuse the true meaning of such terms.

My presence will always be traceable but what I did… This was different as long as it was not massive or showy, change and action could be hidden, masked, or even

a diversion could be used as a scapegoat to switch the focus. The three mixes were the best option and way to go.

I ate one last donut as I snapped my taloned fingers, texts of many subjects related to the Sea of Souls in all of its forms were banished to where they belonged, some warped away by psychic power or flying through my rings depending on where they originated from. Regular teleportation was fast, very much so but it lacked distance and delicateness.

The Labyrinth Dimension was such a pivotal point for this same reason, mobility, and safety while moving in it. More or less. There was a reason my ability to create portals at will virtually anywhere at any distance was such a focal point of my power letting me do things no other could do no matter their capacity.

Like other Aeldari Gods, even if I didn't truly enter the neat little box for them, I had similar innate 'Authority' over 'Domain' or 'Concept' on what I was designed to be strong at and focused on such as; 'Travel', 'Magic' and 'Darkness', as vague as they were, the most direct being the first and even then. For example 'Travel' meant many things, thinking I only could make portals to go from point A to point B would be inaccurate, it was the journey as well and more.

As such even if those three domains at first seemed vastly unrelated… It wasn't the case at all, it was the opposite and in fact, represented me and my situation far too well for my liking on how I got here, what happened, and my future.

The lizard bitch was very talented that I must admit. And the beginning of worship toward my person was likely something she had a play in even if it only accelerated the inevitable, it went very smoothly for a reason. I had been 'prophesied' to be the new God that will bring victory.

The Aeldari were calling me the God of Travel, Magic, and Darkness, or under another title, Hoopa the Archdjinni of the Rings, those were the two main ones repeated the most.

I abhorred the former due to how arrogant it sounded and the latter was of my own doing with a little push here and there. Worship itself was a strange subject, one that was fascinating and felt like a slow refreshing trickle and I instinctively understood that with enough people for a sufficient time, it would make me stronger.

But that would be a shaky source of power entirely dependent on many variables like numbers of worshipers, and I will need to be careful even if my anomalous nature and how I was built gave me natural resistance to all that was psychic, worship could and would change me. I had to guide this journey in the ways I deemed appropriate but also not fully rely on it.

The most intense of my 'worshipers' were the ones that were lucky to survive the battle between the Nightbringer, Khaine, and me which I guess makes sense… I fought Death with their God of War, then saved the latter and killed the former. It's hard to do a more impactful entrance, but it still didn't truly hit what I had done. Or I was made too stoic.

Other 'devouts' were ones that I had saved and was currently saving by my actions on various battlefields since being comfy here didn't stop me from intervening in various accord the cosmos, from lending personalized spells such as one that healed nearly all wounds by feeling intense sensations or emotions of any kind, regular teleportation via portals of friends and foes, or basic violence by pummeling the Necron force, mainly the destruction of those pillars that nullified all that was psychic. A technology I presumed was one of the main reasons I was made.

They weren't exclusively Aeldari either, the second largest were the Krork but it was for different reasons and mostly by their bigger number and ability to multiply themselves quite literally like mushrooms.

The reasons were as follows; I was strong both in mind and body, my main physical attacks were big nasty punches, I was strong, I brought them to the best fight, I was strong, and most important of all I sported massive and sharp tusks, that was grossly what that two biggest of them, a pair of infighting twin, that told me before challenging me to a three-way duel and losing the second after by a slap to the back of their heads.

They were an interesting bunch… They weren't dumb, quite the exact opposite they just were obsessed by violence and a desire to find the best fight possible and I could grant both at will. Frankly, I truly hoped the Old Ones had countermeasures that didn't include omnicide when the war would end or there would be a big problem for the other Young Races.

The bipedal dog-like people I had mutated trying to save them after having destroyed their civilization were also worshiping me, I suppose it was for the best even though my mistake was far too grave for it to be brushed off like that. I paid great attention to them and was ready to help them if it became critical, they deserve this much.

-I will dive into the abyss of the Sea of Souls.-, I telepathically informed my godly 'brethren', finishing all the pastries I flew through one of my golden loops not waiting for any affirmative answer or response from them but still acknowledging the response that came even if it was dissatisfaction for some.

What I said was an affirmation if some weren't happy then so be it. I don't break any rules as long as I wasn't caught and it wasn't the first time I would be going in that place but compared to usual it wasn't only to test spells, runes, and the likes.

The Enclave had planet-sized rooms for this but they were fragile for me and a bit too open for my liking, of course, it was only a part of the reason. I had set this habit for today to not appear suspicious.

It was a day I had been preparing for since collecting this small Necron sarcophagus-shaped device. It's just that I needed knowledge and experience so nobody will know, at least nobody that had an interest in fucking up my plans by knowing it in advance, one word of it to the lizard bitch and I will be forbidden from continuing on this path.

Her orders meant little if they weren't precise and left too much uncertainty, that's why I could try to do what I was going to do even if 'I should not betray the respectable one to which I am loyal'.

Flowery language could stroke the ego of the speaker and listener but that was it, the Devil was in the details and not giving concrete orders was a critical mistake on her part. One funnily enough a human would have very likely not done, for all her greatness she was… Naive and lacking in common sense and in bonus had enough arrogance to fill oceans and a hint of despair to spice things up.

Either way, I wasn't the only one with plans, by use of logic that is, Morei-Hag, the Crone, and Aeldari Goddess of Fate, must have been aware of what was going on but I couldn't do anything about it in my current situation. And she seemed to work for her own best interests.

That she hadn't gone to 'Mother' made me suppose what I was planning didn't disturb her all that much, or it was something else, you can't know for certain with people that can divine the future. I didn't need experience with that to deduce this, it's self-explanatory.

Reappearing on the other side, all my senses were immediately assaulted by rolling, chaotic, and destructive waves of raw psychic energy that made this level of the Sea of Souls, a level that was encroaching on all others polluting them, spreading itself without stopping. The only solace was that some parts would be far worse than others. At this point, it wouldn't be the Sea of Souls but a twisted, and warped abomination, the Warp would be an appropriate term.

'Every time I come here… To think this place from the record once was peaceful… It's hard to believe it is anything but nonsense. How much did they fucked it up to end this way? And it's only going to worsen like a cancerous tumor, a cancerous tumor upon reality.', my musing on the change of Sea of Souls caused by the war was violently interrupted by one of its denizens, and it wasn't a pretty one either, to say the least.

It was a large multicolored misshapen scolopendra with three heads composed of sinew and maggots while its legs were composed of purple tongs covered in eyes that periodically opened into mouths filled with sharp teeth, the muscular bulbous tongs inside wiggling out them following the same pattern as the legs with every tong following the same pattern.

"Do you truly desire to do this Quasarthul? If not, then go somewhere else, this place is vast and you are free to explore it.", I said with a part of its true name I could read straight from its essence with but a glance, the result immediate as the crawling horror fled as fast as its malformed body of emotions and concept let it do.

"I'm a merciful man, and in a good mood, do not soil it by your presence. I will give you ten seconds before true death is granted.", I said my words calming the psychic torrent around and causing millions to flee far before the countdown reached zero. Once it did from my chest an omnidirectional pulse of darkness exploded, granting what I promised to all that were foolish enough to stay.

Once this was done runes handcrafted by my psychic energy and dark blood began to write themselves forming a pentagram at my feet then they spread and by my will carved multilayered wards to limit what could get in and out to what I desired.

It was a shield, one that used both my paradoxical sides. It would hide my actions but it wouldn't hide my psychic presence, for that, I needed to cut off my connection to the Sea of Souls and purge all psychic energy and that would alert everyone and it would be… Very, very unpleasant.

After several more of such wards, I deemed it safe enough to continue, then a portal leading to my sanctuary, the Vault, a hidden pocket dimension cut off from everything with the only method of entry being through my rings. It was something I had made to store things of interest, from shiny objects to weapons of mass destruction. I couldn't trash the Moon and Earth forever and putting my stuff in the open wasn't the smartest thing too.

It was pretty stupid and reckless that I did it to begin with but at the time I didn't have the luxury to be pesky in where things needed to be placed. And that is one of such things from this day that I was taking out.

"Let's see what you have to tell me.", I said with a smile showing a fanged maw as I grabbed the sarcophagus-shaped device of Necrodermis with the Sautekh Dynasty heraldry etched and glowing green on its surface.

*

My P@treon is up to chap 23 if you are interested.

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