Customization & Choices

The dual-bodied being simultaneously in the high school and floating in interplanetary space is a busy creature. Each of its bodies is, currently, pursuing different goals in different locations. 

One of its bodies is floating in the space between worlds. The remaining body is busy in the school the being first woke up in. Both bodies are all active in their own ways. 

The central body, the gargantuan true form of the bizarre creature, is busy studying the creatures inside of it. Its esoteric senses are turned inward and curiously watch the beautiful woman living in one of the artificial biomes inside of the being and the curious explorer who is studying the vast chambers within the technological being. At the same time it passively grows as it detects and feeds on countless instances of various domains, and sins. Everything from the simplest movements of the explorer to the desires the woman has to feed on more blood channel power into the being who created both of them. 

The other body is actively pretending to be nothing more than a human student, is exploring the school with a helpful new friend. The two of them make idle conversation about the school itself and social life in the tiny, close-knit community the school is situated in. 

During one lull in the conversation the creature subtly gives itself a new body to explore the world with by creating an invisible clone of itself through a nearly simanteuously use of "True-Shifting" and "Shadowblank". "True-Shifting" is a major sanguine power that gives the creature the ability to shapeshift and create clones of itself, and "Shadowblank" is an ability that is quickly becoming one of its favorites due to its potent utility. Within seconds the newly created clone invisibly leaps from the shadow of its creator and slinks off to explore the school.

The final body is the one that immediately begins to engage in the most interesting activity any of the three of them are doing at the moment. This form is creeping through the school, methodically exploring it at speeds that are incomprehensible to human beings. 

The being eventually settles in the school's library, fascinated by the fact that it is a collection of human knowledge even if an imperfect and non-comprehensive one. The creature begins to explore the decently large room, even as it notes the existence of the school's librarian. 

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I walk between aisles of books with a curious look on my face. The books that surround me at the moment are "Non-fiction" and thus represent collections of human knowledge and ideas. I don't yet touch them, as I want to fully familiarize myself with the library before I do so. 

I occasionally sneak glances at the school's librarian who is seated behind a desk and is busy typing away at a computer. She seems distracted, and is a pale woman with jet black hair that flows freely and untamedly. I wonder, for a few moments, how drinking her essence would feel but I manage to easily repress the urge to find out. 

I have many options as far as pursuing power and even while my mundanely disguised self is busy in class I want to be working on slowly and steadily building up a base for me to work out of. I don't mind feigning normalcy while I plant my roots here, but for me to plant roots in this community I will need to actually use my powers and be unafraid of the potency of my own abilities. This also means I will need to think about how to acquire instances of power sources.

Some power sources are easy to come by. Instances of sins and domains generate themselves, though they are far more potent when I generate them or am at least involved in their creation in some way. Other instances of power sources, on the other hand, cannot be acquired without me directly acting. I cannot acquire essence, for example, without acting towards that end in some capacity. Thankfully I can do that, and I elect to do so without much hesitation. 

To set about achieving my goal I begin by activating an unbelievably potent major sanguine power: "Dark Bride". As soon as I do so I am asked, by another curious mental table, how many "Dark Brides" I would like to create, and I instinctively go all-in on this and select the maximum number possible: three. 

When I do this I am asked to create the true forms of all three of my brides-to-be as well as to select one "Focus" for each of them. Each of the creatures I create will have access to nearly all of my ascendant abilities, with one curious caveat. None of the women will be able to use all three of the foci I personally possess, instead only being able to use the effects of whichever focus I pick for them right now, which I suppose must be a way for a sanguinarch less potent then myself to be able to gain the ability to use focuses other then ones innately attuned to itself. This observation counts as an instance of the "Knowledge" domain so I realize that it must have some level of truth to it. 

I create three different but, to me at least, equally beautiful women. One of them is a dark-skinned, raven-haired beauty who stands over six feet tall, and is gifted with the "Cultured" focus. Another is a pale, red-headed woman with the "Dominating" focus. The final woman I create is a figure who is as tall as I am, so not very, with blonde hair and the "Savage" focus. The instant that all three are created they appear inside of the library but instinctively activate their versions of the "Shadowblank" power and render themselves as invisible as I am. 

The nanosecond that the three figures appear I begin to feel three potent reams of essence begin to flow into me. I shudder as I feel the potent energy begin to fill me in the same way that a satisfying meal fills a human who was hungry when they started to eat it. The energy is deeply satisfying and I smile proudly as I see the end results of just one scheme to acquire power.

I do not just begin to accrue essence from the trio on their knees in front of me. Their feelings towards me do not solely count as instances of the oath font of essence, but rather as a complex tapestry of emotion. They feel lust towards me, and as I gaze at their beautifully sculpted bodies I feel lust towards them. They also deeply, passionately love me, and their feelings count as instances of the love domain. Curiously, that is not the only thing that their feelings towards me count as. 

The three of them worship me, as their creator and the source of their ascendant powers. Thanks to them I can feel the strange sensation of "Worship" which is generating a mysterious energy that flows out of them and into me. When I gaze at them I can faintly see the energy their feelings towards me generate, which looks stunning if a bit strange. 

I know that my other creations don't worship me because none of them know who I am, even the woman I turned into a vampire. I have a keen connection to her, as her sire, but I have not yet made myself known to her. When I do… Well, in all likelihood she too will worship me since I am her creator and I have fed her.

"How incredible…" I remark, causing the three women in front of me to smile beautifully. All three of them are stunningly beautiful, and as I adjust to the fact that the mere existence of these women guarantees that I will simply always be acquiring essence I take in their beauty. All three figures are clad in white, form-fitting robes which hug their bodies and would tempt onlookers to fantasize about them, which would give me power since such daydreaming would count as instances of the sin of lust. 

I immediately begin to think about how to properly leverage the abilities these figures have into power for myself. Each of them, in many ways, happens to be something tantamount to a spare body for me to use as I please. They have access to nearly all of my powers and can use them as though they were me, as well as can absorb essence as freely as if they truly were spare bodies of mine but I'm more then just a sanguinarch. If I want to truly leverage their incredible power I need to be creative and embrace the fact that I am more then just a sanguinarch. I begin by focusing on the pale bride which I gave the "Dominating" focus to.

Of all of the foci the "Dominating" focus is the darkest. It is an incredible power that gives me the ability to turn someone's whole existence into something devoted to me, granting me the power to become someone's master in mind, body, and spirit, and thus is useful if unsubtle when it comes to conquering places. Such dominated creatures idly provide me with vast streams of oath essence, as their entire essences are devoted to me.

A sanguinarch with this focus and a fondness for efficiency could simply dominate the heads of government of planets, or even star-system-spanning empires. Such an approach is not creative, but it's hard to deny its effectiveness or efficiency. That said, I am more than a sanguinarch so for me to well and truly maximize the power of this focus I need to be creative. I study my new companion for a few moments before sensing the beginning of a scheme forming. 

"Hello. Please do me a favor and go and dominate the principal." I say to the figure, who nods and gets up to go and do as I have asked her. For a second I wonder how she knows where the principal is, before I realize that she knows what I know, in the same capacity as me being attuned to the universe itself which is how I can sense instances of domains and sins. That, coupled with the fact that she also has the "Mindlink" power means she can identify people by thought just as easily as I can. I also happen to know where the principal is, he's located closeby as the building the library is in happens to be the same one that houses his office. 

I smile at her as she moves to turn away from me, delighted to be on the verge of accruing more power. At the same time I turn to the "Cultured" bride and have a task in mind for her as well. 

The "Cultured" focus is a handy, diplomat thing. It is a tool that is used by charming sanguinarchs who don't mind subtle acquisitions of power. The focus is not weaker than any other focus, but it's certainly a different kind of power compared to the overwhelming physical might of the "Savage" focus, or the creepy, mind-shattering power of the "Dominating" focus. Sanguinarchs who possess this focus are innately charismatic and persuasive, as well as darkly intelligent and mystically gifted. 

I walk towards the second member of the trio and tilt her head up to look her in the eyes. Her eyes are dark, not quite black but only a shade brighter than that. We look into each other's eyes and as we do I sense her lust flare up. I like the sight of her like this, on her knees looking up at me, but not enough to distract me. 

"I also have a mission for you, with those pretty eyes of yours." I remark, causing her to smile at me. She eagerly awaits my instructions, listening intently for me to tell her what I would like for her to do. 

"In order for us to collect as much essence as possible we need new mouths. Please go and convert the librarian into one of our spawn." I ask, and when she nods at me I smile brightly. She gets up and stalks off in the direction of the librarian, eager to turn her into the newest member of our faction. I turn my attention to the figure gifted with the least elegant of the foci, the "Savage" focus. 

The "Savage" focus is a brutal, bludgeon in the arsenal of any sanguinarch who possesses it. Sanguinarchs with this font of power are capable of taking the strongest hits from empires that reach across the cosmos head on without even flinching, and the physical power needed to fling spaceships as though they were toothpicks. The figure in my retinue who has this powerset is a tiny ethereal beauty and I am personally amused by the fact that such a petite looking creature is capable of such monstrous feats of strength. 

"Look at you little one…" I mutter, though physically speaking the final member of the trio I have created looks older than I do. She has the appearance of a twenty-something-year-old blonde woman but her facial features are quite cute and make her apparent age difficult to specifically place. 

I am gazing at her when both she and I shudder as we sense the redheaded woman succeed in her mission of making the principal a dominated servitor of mine. I also feel her transform the man into a "Thrall", an immortal servant who is eternally loyal to me and who is boosted in every respect, including the amount of essence they give me whenever fed upon. I have now gained a fourth permanent font of essence, and this time I feel myself being grounded, a tiny bit, to the school itself. At the same time, a text box appears in my mind's eye that alerts me to a neat development. 

[Alert: Dominion Building

You have extracted essence from a non-ascendant person in an area unclaimed by another sanguinarch. This has begun the process of infusing your presence into the area. An area sufficiently attuned to your presence becomes susceptible to the rituals that transform it into a patch of your dominion. If enough essence is accrued in an area and the aforementioned rituals are completed, the place becomes a part of your dominion.

Your dominion is an area you have complete control over, a part of your territory in a way that is undeniable and impossible to overcome barring your total destruction or you willingly ceasing your hold on such a place, even if inhabitants of such areas do not realize it. Patches of dominion feed you essence and are also the locations where 'Dominion perks' will take hold. Build your dominion to become the potent lord of territory across the multiverse.]

I read the text box and smile. The "Dominion perks" it mentioned are potent things, such as the automatic creation of powerful beings that will protect my territory and the fonts of essence that dwell within my dominion, or the ability to control the weather within my dominion. In some cases I can emulate the effects of dominion perks with clever usages of greater megapowers or other ascendant abilities but my dominion would also perpetually feed me essence and can actually grow by itself so long as essence continues to be produced and absorbed within its confines.

I am busy thinking about this when I feel an instinctive connection form between myself and the librarian, a result of one of my other brides transforming the librarian into a vampire. I feel her momentary anguish as the potent mystical processes that will culminate in her becoming a vampire wash over her and smother her natural weaknesses as well as extinguish all but her closest bonds to her friends and family. I felt the same thing occur to the vampire I created within my true body, but she had no connections to anything else and thus her transformation was a bit easier on her. 

The librarian's mind is potently warped by the eldritch processes that are occurring to her as a result of the touch of my bride. I sense her mind be eerily rewritten and reshaped, and I even feel this cause instances of sins and domains, such as lust which is both a sin and a domain, and love. 

At the same time I smile when I sense my bride in the principal's office begin to feed on the principal. I don't taste his sanguine fluids but I do sense his memories, knowledge, and skills all begin to flow into me as he is fed upon. I expend the tiniest amount of essence to ensure that I don't render the principal useless, and in doing so I merely copy his knowledge, memories, and skills, rather than steal them from him as a result of the major sanguine power known as "Absorption". I audibly laugh when I feel the bride feeding upon him cleverly begin to utilize one of the perks I possess as a cosmic god of life to heal the wounds she is inflicting on the man she has just enthralled. 

I feel the man's lifeforce entering into a state of equilibrium and I smile as I see the bride's innate creativity on display. She will never kill the man if she feeds on him in this way, all while converting him into an endless well of essence. This is an amusingly creative way to use our powers, and is a more refined version of what I previously did with my human creations within my true body. 

I turn a part of my mind to the knowledge, memories, and skills I have just absorbed from the principal and I begin to unpack them. This results in a flurry of instances of the knowledge domain, and as I mentally sift through the memories of the man my bride is feeding upon I feel my power subtly growing and even things as subtle as my sensory range ever so slightly increasing in range. This results in an amusing feedback loop where my sensory range increasing results in me gaining instinctive awareness of new instances of domains and sins, which itself allows me to grow in power ever so slightly. 

It seems that one of the keys to me accruing more power is me increasing my sensory range. Every centimeter by which my sensory range increases grants me conceptual awareness of more air, and light, and motion, all of which count as instances of various domains. At the same time, my brides also count as projections of my own body, and when they generate instances of sins or domains it is as if I have generated those instances as far as raw potency goes. 

This series of developments is intriguing to me, and certainly requires further research. Though for me to really do research on it, I'll need to expand my reach. For now I focus on the present and I ask my "Savage" bride to accompany me while I begin to read the books around me. She eagerly gets up and waits as I move to the book nearest to me and use telekinesis to will the thing open. I begin to sift through the book, memorizing every word in it in mere milliseconds. 

Doing this to the entire library will take me a few minutes, and I will end up spending the rest of the school day in the library, watching students and teachers come up to the massively enhanced vampiress I have made my latest minion. I gain practice with some of my minor powers as when humans appear in front of the librarian she thirsts for them, desiring to drink their blood, but I am able to steady her needs through combined usage of my minor sin and domain powers to allow her to stay calm. I never directly introduce myself to her, but the bride that converted her does, and when she appears to the librarian the woman begins to worship her which, amusingly, still counts as worshipping me. 

During this time my other body that is in the shape of a living being, spends the day meeting new people and attending classes while my spaceship body continues to float in interplanetary space and the two beings inside of my true body explore their surroundings. By the time it is 3:30 in the school I'm in, I've had hours to feed on essence and familiarize myself with the school. Doing so has been highly educational but now that the school day is over I am free to explore the areas surrounding the school, the community of Southern Pines, North Carolina. 

I now have a comical amount of freedom… And even more power with which to mischievously change my surroundings in ways that are beneficial to me and conducive to my goals. After having tasted the potency of using my powers in minor ways, and having fed on reams of essence for hours, I'm feeling ready to try out some of the powers I've yet to use. I think it's time to experiment with my draconic abilities!