[Name: Aoine Wind-Walker

Class: N/A

Species: Girtablilu

Faction: Self

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Personal Vice: Pride

Status: Healthy, curious

Innate Magical Ability: Aoine possesses decent innate magical ability. He could be a decent druid if given access to the class but is currently classless.

Class Suitability: Aoine has a similar magical disposition as his ancestor, Ewain, he just lacks the discipline that Ewain had.

Magic Suitability: Evocation is the magic that most suits Aoine's soul. Awakening it within him would increase his magical energy and provide him with immediate access to the school's most simple spells.]

Druid huh? That's a neat class. I thought, after reading through the status window that my power conjured before me. My grin from earlier hadn't faded, and I ran through my mental menus so that I could grant the man-scorpion standing before me access to his first class.

Aoine stood and waited in the awkward silence of the deserted part of the desert. He looked at the strange devil in front of him. The devil had his feet planted in the sand and was standing still, but his eyes had a distant glaze to them. It was as if the devil's mind was elsewhere.

The devil had an aura of eerieness, of alienness. The creature was clearly something... else. Something otherworldly. Something more than any devil the girtablilu had ever seen. He was like an odd dream brought to life in how bizarre he was.

The air around the devil was still. It was so still in fact that it almost made the devil look like a sort of statue in a transparent container as if meant to be preserved against the elements and to be admired from a distance.

Aoine had been studying the devil, his eyes fixated on the thing when he suddenly received a notification.

[Alert:

The fungal lord, Althos, has seen fit to gift you a class. The class he has granted you is that of a druid.

Druids are spell slingers whose magical capabilities pertain directly to nature magic. Druids can shapeshift, they can heal, they can use evocation magic and other forms of magic, and their specialties tend to relate directly to how they used their magic from the point in which they received their magic till when they got stronger enough to receive their specialty unless they earned their specialty directly.

Althos' power infuses you and increases your potency as a druid. And his affiliation with every aspect of nature aside from fire and water infuse and empower many of your spells and abilities.

Will you accept Althos' gift?]

The girtablilu was surprised and very pleasantly so. He read, then reread the notification before beginning a conversation with the system.

"'The fungal lord'. That's how the system identified you." Aoine told me after his eyes flashed and revealed that he was receiving a notification from the system. He said it as if it were a secret of some sort, one that he and I shared and kept from others. His tone was almost extortive as if he were about to demand I pay a price or risk him sharing this information with others.

He grinned at me as he felt his power increasing and as he unconsciously learned the various spells and abilities granted to him by the acquisition of the druid class. I chuckled at him, now focused on him once more and no longer distracted by the process I had to undergo to be able to grant him the class.

"So that's what it called me? I feel as though calling me 'The fungal lord' really undersells my power." I said, a bit teasingly. I wasn't really disappointed with the system's choice but I did feel a bit underwhelmed by it. That reaction intrigued the girtablilu and he looked at me in curiosity, as if expecting me to expand on my statement.

I looked at him blankly, pretending not to recognize the curiosity in his stare. We were both quiet for a few moments, engaging in a sort of act as we waited for the other to make the next move. Eventually, he took the bait and began to question me.

"What else can you do?" He asked, his eyebrows nocked upwards. His question and curiosity colored his facial expression.

"I can do this." I responded, confidently. I moved a hand to my side and pointed it downward. I activated my favorite pair of powers, spontaneously creating a dire scorpion that came into being on the ground underneath my hand and infusing it with a divinely-crafted soul.

The dire-scorpion body that was created by me was a massive one, over twice the size of Niqi's dire-scorpion form. It had a bright green exoskeleton and a thick stinger filled with a paralytic venom. The thing idly looked around, twisting its body in all directions so as to gain an understanding of the world it was created in.

"I can create life. I can bestow classes upon those who seek them and who are willing to serve. And where I walk, change follows." I told the girtablilu, whose eyes were locked on the gigantic scorpion I had created. Even Lugh, my vampiric servant, found himself transfixed by the sight of the thing that stood next to me. His eyes were locked onto it, astounded by the fact that I had just created life so casually.

"I am here to aid you. I am here to grant you power and to help you achieve your destiny. But such help is not free, nor is it cheap. Good help never is. Aoine, you stand at a crossroads. Will you listen to what I have to say?" I asked, my face becoming a mask of neutrality.

The girtablilu gulped and nodded in my general direction. Silently I activated one of my most handy powers, the Devilish deal power I had gained two months ago. And his eyes once again flashed, filling with the green text boxes that filled the eyes of other beings whenever the system worked its magic with them. As it did I sent a message to an old friend.

[Hey M.A., I have a question.]

[Hello Althos, what would you like to know?]

[Could you survive in a physical body? Or is it necessary for you to be a... disembodied thing?]

[Hmm... I don't know. I would like to try physically existing if it's possible for me to.]

[Hmm... Do you think I could create one that would suit you? What if I tried to create a normal, soulless being, and then you tried to fit yourself into it?]

[That might work. I mean I doubt it, but soulless beings coming into existence naturally are extremely rare so I haven't exactly had a chance to see what would happen if I tried to enter a living one. Whenever I entered corpses I couldn't get their bodily functions to restart.]

[I'll try to build you one sometime soon. That way we can see if you can actually exist in a physical sense.]

[I'd like that. Thank you Althos.]

Once Aoine had finished reading the notification and willed it away I began to speak.

"I am Althos. I am a god, and a devil. I can offer you the power to fulfill your desires, to become the ruler of this village as your ancestor once was." I said, under the effects of the Devilish Deal and thus unable to lie to the person I was speaking too. Aoine considered what I said for a moment, before beginning to grin relaxedly at me.

"I would like to help you become the ruler of this place but my help isn't free. I have two conditions in exchange for providing you with my help. The first is that you pledge your soul to me. And the second is that you obey my commands, not just in the next life but in this life. I would give you commands like instructing you to build a shrine to me as a nature god and lead your people in worshipping me as a god of nature." I told the Girtablilu.

He mulled over what I had just told him for a few moments. And then he began to ask me questions.

"Before I inform you as to my decision about your offer, may I ask you some questions?" He asked, aware that I couldn't lie to him. I nodded politely, curious as to what he had in mind.

"What are you? I know you've said that you're a god and a devil, and I know that's true, but is that all there is to it? I mean... I didn't even know that gods were real." The man-scorpion wondered, before falling silent so as to allow me to answer. I chuckled and then began to respond.

"I am... something new. As far as I know. Something that is both god and devil. And... other things. Possibly." I informed the man-scorpion, honestly revealing my own ignorance. And then I added something more to my statement.

"And gods are real. Clearly. But for a while, we were gone. And now... I'm here." I informed the monster in front of me, leaving much unspoken. The girtablilu paused as he considered my words. And then he asked another question.

"Why do you want me to be the leader of my village? Why not just rule over it yourself?" He asked, genuinely and understandably curious about this.

"I am embarking on a campaign right now. A series of interrelated quests designed to lead me to the completion of one truly monumental objective. Acquiring the souls of ambitious people, and aiding them in gaining control of their communities is a key component of that. I have acquired two ambitious souls and taken over one community." I informed him before pausing to feign taking a breath.

"I need three ambitious souls and three communities. I have a harpy's soul, a desert giants soul, and I want yours. The harpy has already taken over her village, the giant is in the process of taking over her city, and we will be able to take over your village within a matter of hours. Assuming you make the smart choice, of course." I told the figures standing before me.

The girtablilu smiled when he heard me indirectly call him "ambitious". He liked that word. He seemed to find it pleasant to hear. But when a few seconds later his pleasant expression morphed into one of trepidation.

"What if I reject whatever deal you seek to make with me?" He asked, fear audible in his voice. I laughed audibly at that. And then I considered what I'd do.

Nearly half a minute passed before I felt content and that I had an honest awareness of what I'd do in the difficult for me to conceive situation wherein the person I was dealing with rejected me and my offer.

"I would let you go. I would wipe your memory, but I would let you go. And then I'd use Lugh to find me someone else to deal with. But it would be a setback, that's for sure." I informed the girtablilu sincerely. He glanced at me, alarmed at the prospect of having his memory wiped, but also relieved that I wouldn't kill him.

"Why wouldn't you just kill me?" The thing asked, curiosity audible in his voice. I looked at him and locked eyes with him.

"Because there's no reason for me to. You aren't my enemy, you haven't wronged me in any particular way. You doing nothing more than setting me back a few hours is not enough of a reason for me to see you dead. I do kill, willingly, but not for that. Not for something so petty." I informed the girtablilu. I said so calmly and evenhandedly.

He considered that and then nodded at me. As if in agreement. Personally, I'm pretty sure it was an idle motion and not a deliberate choice by the glaze in his eyes as he did it.

"I would like for you to join me. To serve me. You will get what you desire, the love and respect of your people, their recognition that you are worthy of being their leader. And in exchange all you'd have to do is serve me. The prince and provider of power." I told him, stretching out a hand in front of me and towards him. Holding it out for him to take.

"It is the destiny of all who have power to serve me," I told the man-scorpion, conveying a belief a part of me sincerely held. "I will become something never seen before. And I will lift up those who join me. So now I must ask... will you join me?" I asked, shaking my hand as to reinforce that it was outstretched towards Aoine.

Aoine was silent as he considered his options. And because of that silence filled the air between the two of us. My dire-scorpion was now curiously exploring its surroundings, walking around and touching piles of sand with its pincers. That was the only noise that filled the desert air.

Aoine opened his mouth to speak, but no noise escaped it. And then he shut it as if reconsidering what he had been about to say. And then he opened it again.

"Can you actually help me? I mean... the easiest route would be for me to go into ruins that aren't far from the village and successfully become their dungeon master." The man-scorpion told me. He sound cautious as he told me that.

Without skipping a beat I nodded at him and told him the truth. "Yes I can. Together we'd get you through the dungeon and help you reach your destiny. But alone... alone I don't know if you succeed. You are being offered certainty." I informed him, my voice sure and calm.

"In that case... Althos, I accept your offer. Please lend me your aid, aid you promised me, and help me step towards my destiny. And towards my inheritance." The girtablilu told me, his voice steady yet joyful.

[Quest Update Alert:

3/3 ambitious souls acquired.]

Yes. Finally. I told myself, smiling as the girtablilu stepped to me and placed his hand in mine. Aoine and I grinned at each other for a moment, both happy about the very recent developments in our lives.

"Well, welcome to the fold Aoine. Why don't you go and declare your intentions to your people so that we may proceed with you becoming the leader of your community?" I asked my newfound ally, while revealing that I wasn't ignorant of his people's customs and traditions.

His eyes opened wide as he learned of the tip of my knowledge of his species. I heard his heart-beat quicker for a moment due to his surprise. But then he relaxed and nodded.

"Yes. Let's do that." He responded, chuckling at me. And so the three of us, Lugh, Aoine, and myself began our quick trek back to the village he and his people lived in, so that we may proceed forward towards the next part of our lives.