A desert giant stood over a patch of parched farmland, sickle in hand, a look of determination etched onto his bronze face. He held the iron instrument carefully and stared out at the tilled dirt in front of him. He watched it like a hawk waiting for a sign of weakness. Though in his case what he was, was a farmer who was waiting for a sign of movement.

"Come on... come on! Why won't you grow?" He asked, frustration audible in his voice. The dirt in front of him contained seeds and even a few crops that were starting to get tantalizing, teasingly close to blooming.

"It just takes time." A voice from behind him shouted out. The voice belonged to his mother, a sweet woman who apparently was a firm believer that what the family was out of wasn't money, but patience. It was possible the elderly giant recognized the reality that they lacked both, but if she did she had yet to make that clear.

"You know... you could be onto something," Her son responded, not bothering to turn around. "But the problem is... time is one of many things we don't have. Like money. Or food." He quipped, almost chuckling at the wittiness of his one-liner, before his stomach quietly rumbled, complaining that his remark hit too close to home for it to provide any real comfort.

Behind him, his mother quietly sighed. She was seated and watched her son idly from the luxury and comfort of a simple but comfy chair seated on their back porch. "Have you ever considered that maybe you just have... an abundance of energy?" She asked, stopping mid-sentence to think of a polite way to word her question.

Her son had always been the overactive sort, and though she had mistakenly believed that it would only last as long as he was a child, now that he was a man he still clung to the restless energy of his youth.

Berk was a tall man, standing over 5 meters when he was being polite and standing upright. He had deeply tanned bronze skin. At the moment he wore no shirt, his dense muscles that arose naturally as a consequence of years working as one of the city's trained guardsmen, plainly visible.

He held a sickle in a well-trained hand and seemed ready to use it. He exuded a sort of confidence ambiently that gave those who beheld him the impression that he sought to use the sickle for its intended purpose, but was also ready to use it in self-defense if it came to that.

"Mother... you aren't wrong. I'll admit that. But still. What we're missing is... it's a lot more than mere patience!" He said, begrudgingly acknowledging that her remark wasn't incorrect, even if it was an attempt to cover what he felt was a fundamental reality they needed to face.

From behind him, under the shade of a covered porch, Berk's mother smiled. Her ruby-red lips once got her attention, favors, and gifts, from the men of her part of town. At this point, a small part of her was considering whether or not she ought to see if she could still get those gifts.

Berk's mother was shorter than he was. She stood just over four meters tall. Her own skin was far fairer than her son's, due not only to her tendency to stay indoors but to her strict adherence to cultural norms about desert giants.

She was clad in heavy clothes, robes which prevented men from laying their eyes upon her bare flesh. Her face was visible, but not much else was. Her clothing was made from light material, but because there was so much of it it was difficult for her to be truly comfortable in the outfit. She was a gentle giantess, and she relied on patience, charm, wit, and subtlety to get her way.

Her son had a far more commanding presence than she did, though she had a far more gentle appearance and attitude than her son, who very much embodied the heat and energy of a desert sandstorm, while she embodied the calmness of a plain of sand. The two of them studied the field they owned, examining it for any signs of crop growth.

They were quickly disappointed to find that the field was as barren as it had been yesterday. And because of their studious examination of the field they didn't realize that they were being watched.

Off in the distance, a creature was watching them as intently as they were watching their field. The thing looked like one of them, a member of the same species, but it wasn't. It was wearing a magically crafted disguise, one that it wore to infiltrate their society and to usurp it, in the name of an eerie trial.

Althos stared at them, keenly aware that at last, he had found Berk, the same desert giant who had prayed for intercession, for salvation from debt and possibly starvation.

Much to his surprise, it took the speedy giant a mere five minutes of waiting after he departed from the company of Taruk to reach the first of his two destinations.

He reached a place from which he could safely spy on the narrow plot of farmland and the tiny familial home owned by Berk's family with just a few minutes of leisurely strolling through the area just beyond the storage buildings. And once he was in his spot, he didn't even bother to activate any sort of invisibility or natural camouflage.

I'm far from them. If they could see me at this distance I doubt they'd have any particular way of knowing that I am responsible for their change of fortune. He thought to himself, not yet wanting to reveal his role in what was about to transpire.

If I'm careful this could give me a safe way of seeing how these giants react to magic, miracles, or anything supernatural. I'm cool with them learning about me, I just want to be sure that they don't react with hostility towards my magic. So far I haven't yet seen any spell-casters or magic aside from the Oynx Obelisk. This is just a fun exercise. He mused, opting to play things slow and cautious before revealing himself in his full glory.

As he peered at the field and the familial home, he made liberal usage of his identify power to learn the identities of the two giants he could see.

One of the giants was further away. He was a tall giant, standing around five meters tall. He had a warrior's build, with dense abdominal muscles, and was shirtless. He held a sort of tool Althos had never seen before in one of his hands. The tool was the target of a single usage of appraisal.

[New item knowledge alert: Sickle.

Sickles are farming tools with semicircular blades that are used to aid in cutting grain, lopping, trimming, or in worst-case scenarios self-defense.

These tools were some of the first designed by humans and other agriculturally inclined humanoid races. They have a long and storied history that transcends universes, dimensions, and races.]

Oh! That's neat. Althos mused, mildly entertained by the new knowledge. And then he began to study the familial field, his eyes potent enough for him to see the thing, even nearly a hundred meters away from it.

Althos, like a good druid, carefully studied the field. He saw rows of soil, and each row contained a not inconsiderable amount of dense, golden sand. That's not great. He realized, his connection to plants filling his unconsciousness with an instinctual understanding that what he saw wasn't healthy.

Another thing that tickled Althos' unconscious was that the fields he saw were desolate. He didn't detect any life from them, which was odd to the deity.

Althos came to life in a forest. His first supernatural ability was the ability to detect lifeforms that were on or in the surface. For the majority of his life he had grown accustomed to being near lifeforms.

Be they vermin, underground critters, or tiny lifeforms that scurried inside of ruined homes, he was used to a range of lifeforms being nearby. And the soil he was studying was barren, not just of plant life, but also of insects.

No worms, beetles, ants, or other creatures wriggled around the soil that Berk stood on top of. And to Althos, a forest native, that was a weird, subtle red-flag.

Why is this soil... so lifeless? He asked, astounded by the weirdness of the patches of soil he was sensing. He wasn't the only person wondering that, though the family of desert giants was wondering it differently, and in Berk's case less politely than he was.

At this point Althos began to inch closer to the patches of farmable land owned by the family, crawling forward so as to avoid notice. The deity was far enough away that he wasn't in any real danger of being noticed, but he was being careful and wasn't truly aware of the limitations of mortal senses.

As he got closer and closer to the small family he grew aware that more and more of their soil was odd. Even from here, I can feel that their soil is... damaged. He realized, his innate, naturalistic sensitivity increasing as he drew closer to the soil he was hoping to either heal or at least learn about.

The deity approached the home from far away. What surrounded him were other homes, homes which also had damaged soil in their equally tiny patches of privately owned farmlands. And in a matter of seconds he realized this, which annoyed him.

I hate to give the primary will more work, but I need some assistance here. The secondary will told himself, before beginning to subtly enter the minds of nearby giants, many of whom were also farmers, and sneakily copying their memories so that he may begin to unravel the true cause of this sad harvest season.

As he studied the situation plaguing the farmers, he had a neat realization. If I can... help, one farmer, why can't I help more than one?

And I wonder if I couldn't begin to get these farmers to worship me as a god of agriculture... I think I could. If I'm patient. He told himself, grinning as he felt a faint spark of approval from two separate domains: the bigger spark was from the domain of trickery, and there was a smaller but still palpable spark of approval from the subdomain of plants.

Why is the domain of trickery approving of this? Wouldn't this actually make me a god of agriculture, or at least begin me down that path? He wondered, momentarily, before refocusing on the matter at hand. He prepared a brief message for his older self, the primary will, doing something he had never done before: preparing to talk to himself.

[Can you hear me? This is... weird.] The secondary will asked, transmitting a message to someone it had never tried to talk too directly before: itself.

It was met with silence for a few moments. And the silence was awkward. The secondary will didn't like it at all. But then, the silence was shattered.

[Whoa, what? Who is this? Is this... me? It sounds like me.] The primary will responded, astounded that the secondary personality could directly reach out and message him.

[Hey! Yes, yes it is. I know... I know that this odd but I need your help. I'm hoping you can learn something for me. For us.] The secondary will told its creator, hoping that he would be receptive.

Althos' initial will was silent while he considered what to say. It was an odd request, to be sure, but Althos was intrigued that another personality of his wanted his help gaining some knowledge. After a few moments, Althos' original will responded.

[Sure, what's up?] He said, somewhat curt, but also curious.

[I'm in Namira, and I'm about to help us get a new worshiper. There's a chance, that if I handle this well I could seed a new cult here. You see a farmer prayed not too long ago and when I opened our mind to prayers I was able to hear his request.] The secondary will informed its creator. Though it couldn't see him, the primary will nodded at this declaration, curious to see where it would lead.

[Farmers all over the city are struggling to grow a good number of crops. I'm in their farmlands right now, and it seems that a lot of their soil is heavily damaged. The farmer who prayed is in debt and needs his crops to grow. We can do that without any problems, but I'd like for us to do something slightly different.] The will told its creator, about to reveal a scheme.

[If we're careful here, we could establish ourselves as a god of agriculture. But for us to do that, we'd need to do more than heal a single field. I've got the beginning of a scheme in my mind, but first, I stealthy made some copies of memories and knowledge. If I give them to you, can you assess them? We're looking for information that might clue us in on what's going on with these farmers, and any knowledge that may help us heal it.] The will ask, ready for rejection.

The primary will sighed, but the desert-dweller could detect a smile in the sigh as well. [A "scheme"? I'll admit it... I'm interested. I'll help you with this plan of yours, but don't let it distract you from our grander goals okay? Help the person who prayed, and then head out to this prison place.] The will said, agreeing to help the secondary personality execute its scheme but tempering it with a reminder of their larger goals.

[Thank you! I'm on it, I promise.] The younger entity told its older self, sounding positively childlike as it excitedly responded to the words of the older personality.

[Yeah yeah yeah, go help our new... friend.] The older will said, chuckling all the while.

Now that a part of me is preparing to delve into the memories I grabbed I can go ahead and do this. The secondary will told himself as he prepared to concoct a custom-made mystical effect that included a distraction whose whole point wasn’t to distract, but rather to ensure the giants knew who was responsible for the miracle that was about to change their lives.

At this point, he wasn't far from the home of Berk and his mother. He was still undetected by either of them for two reasons.

The first reason was that their home was atop a gentle slope, and Althos was beneath their line of sight. Not even the top of his head could be seen, even if either of the two he was closer than ever too had been actively looking for him. The other reason was that they were distracted.

The mother and son duo distracted themselves by sitting and talking in porch-chairs. Althos took advantage of their ignorance of his existence to get closer and closer than ever to where they were located, and began to ready his magic and powers. In time he drew close enough to them that he knew he was ready to activate his magic.

I can do this. I can do this! He thought, hyping himself up before casting a miracle. He gathered magical energy in his palms and then aimed them at the pair off in the distance. When he expelled the gathered arcane energy, it sailed speedily, and invisibly through the air before colliding with the two giants.

Before they even knew it they were affected by his strange powers, falling victim to an illusion that appeared before them, one that would reveal partial truths to them.

Berk's mother was in the middle of a sentence when the eldritch energies of Althos sailed through the air and collided with her and her son.

"And so I told Zeynep -" Azra, Berk's mother stopped mid-sentence when the spell collided with her. Her sudden stop wasn't due to some odd energy slamming into her, it was due to one of the spell's effects.

It was because she saw something in the corner of her vision, a new thing, a new person, that appeared in her fields. The person had phased into existence and lightly set foot on some of the soil in which the family hoped to grow vital crops for consumption. She was a massive, giantlike creature with a nature motif.

She stood over eight meters tall, considerably taller than even the taller desert giants. She was a woman, with wings that ended in branchlike growths that held her feathers together. Her clothes were made of nature, of leaves held together by some ethereal force.

She looked at the family of desert giants and began to walk towards them, a smile plastered on her motherly face. At the same time as she approached, distracting them, Althos looked at the seeds that were planted in the soil that Berk had previously stood over, and the other seeds scattered throughout the soil and focused on them.

I can do this. I can will these things to grow. He told himself, focusing on commanding the simple things to bend to his will. His mind reached out beyond his physical form and crept into the soil. It began to crawl over the dirt at his feet and in the direction of the crops, causing all sorts of plant life to grow speedily. Plants reacted to his proximity and reached out to him with their roots, hoping to say hello, in their own way. But he was a man on a mission.

Althos' mind was undistracted as it crept through the farmland, crawling like a ravenous beast towards the plants. And in a matter of moments his mind was over them, not bothering to check their conditions, but opting instead to forcibly enter the minds of the plants.

His potent mind met no resistance from what passed for their minds, and he easily began to coax the things to mature rapidly, growing in seconds.

Before his very eyes, Althos watched as a handful of seeds planted all over the field began to writhe and undulate in response to the strange, arcane energies that pulsated through them. Those seeds began to grow, spontaneously inching towards a more mature existence, touched and embraced by Althos' powers.

His illusionary angel commenced its very brief distraction of the family with a serene smile and by uttering a single truth.

"Hello! Althos sends his regards. He sent me here to help you with your crop problem, and to show you we mean business, we already have done that!" The angel declared excitement audible in her voice.

The two giants were puzzled and decided to wait to see what the angel had to say before saying anything. But the angel also knew that what laid behind itself, the crops that Althos had touched and willed to grow faster, were capable of speaking for themselves. Figuratively, not literally speaking for themselves.

So the angel opted to not be surprising and merely tell them what was going on after their faces became confused masks in response to the angel's "we" remarks.

"I am an angel, a servant of a god. And that god heard your prayers," At this point the angel pointed at Berk, to indicate that he was the one who prayed, just in case any doubt existed in the minds of either the mother or her son as to who was responsible for this.

"And sent me to fulfill them." She explained, her voice was beautiful yet hauntingly inhuman. A near-perfect blending of human speech and bird-speech.

"I am a creation of and servant of Althos, the honorable liberator, a young and existent god. Now, please take a look at your plants. I think you'll find that something has... changed." The fake angel told the giant family, moving slightly out of the way as Althos approached on foot, so that they could see what Althos had done to their crops.

Althos himself was nowhere to be seen, and though he was close he had magically rendered himself invisible as a way to he ready himself to observe how they reacted to his magic and the truth of his divinity. He grinned as the realization that their seeds were now crops began to dawn on them.