147 The Aftermath

Ava's death was a setback... But not the end. I reassured myself, shortly after escaping from the mine's tunnel below Puerto Rico. I was in the frigid depths of outer space, floating beyond even the outermost layer of Torus' atmosphere. I calmly activated my "Resurrection" power, aware that I didn't need a body to perform a successful resurrection. Nothing happened at first.

I had my target firmly in my mind, and I was at the point with my powers where I didn't need to precisely target someone to have my powers affect them if I knew them well. And I knew Ava. I knew Ava as much as she knew herself. But nothing happened. I initially chalked this up to a delay in retrieving her soul and forming a new body for her. So I was able to be patient. At first.

It was easy enough, at first. I hadn't considered the horrible truth. I didn't think my foe would either possess the powers or the disposition to make his actions permanent. That said I didn't have to wait long before receiving a notification, perhaps only half a minute passed, before I learned the true consequences of my failure.

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[Alert: The Limitations Of Resurrection

Resurrection, especially at your current level of power, is an imperfect ability. It cannot work on someone whose soul has been destroyed. As Ava's has been. There may come a time when this limitation is lifted, maybe. But for now, Ava is beyond even your reach. Ava's soul was destroyed in the minutes that have passed since your confrontation with Morehammer's vestige.]

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What? I... Can't believe this. I thought when I read the notification.

I felt a painful throbbing in my heart. It felt... fiery and filled me with frustration. I... was angry. I had never experienced this emotion firsthand, at least not to this extent before, but it made me want to enact violence. And it was far from the only emotion I felt at this particular moment in time.

Ava... I thought, moments after reading the terrible message. I closed my eyes and felt tears welling up in them. These emotions were ones I was unfamiliar with. That said, my powers over memories and the various lifetimes of memories I had within me allowed me to realize that this particular emotion was sadness.

I found myself floating far away from Puerto Rico, or even Torus. If I looked off in the distance I could see Torus, orbiting the star around which the planet flew. It was a beautiful sight to be sure, a breath-taking one really, but as beautiful as it was it wasn't enough to distract me from the toxic cocktail of emotions I was enduring at the moment.

This is... Painful. I mentally muttered as I began to scowl. I possessed a supernatural awareness of how I looked at all times and because of this I knew that at the moment there was grief and anger visible in my expression.

A part of me, the part possessed by anger, wanted to go out and attempt to exact revenge on Morehammer's vestige. That said, I wasn't foolish. I could reasonably predict that such an effort would end in failure. My revenge would need to be more creative.

I'm gonna need to be clever in order to defeat Morehammer. I thought as I kept floating in space. Morehammer was an incredibly powerful foe, and I could assume that he possessed a number of potent abilities thanks to his first life as a god. I was operating under the assumption that he possessed powers greater than mine, at least with regards to his prime domains.

For now... I need to do something to distract myself from the pain I'm feeling. Preferably something productive. I thought, opting to focus on something I could do, rather than brooding in the depths of space. My closed eyes allowed my mini-map to manifest in its true form, as the not-so-mini-map. This was useful because it alerted me to a relatively closeby treasure trove: radiation.

My not-so-mini-map was alerting me to pockets of radiation near me. Seeing the tiny pockets on the map turned my attention away from my current predicament. Temporarily anyway.

Radiation was a potent source of power for me, a power that I could absorb and use if I wanted too. I already had some stored within me, but here in space, I found myself faced with an opportunity to absorb even more. It didn't take me long to decide to indulge in the chance to gain some more of what was currently a limited resource.

I reached out a hand in the direction of the radiation and idly began to draw it towards myself using my powers over gravity.

Controlling gravity was the simplest way in which I could use my powers over physics. Whenever I activated my "Gravity mastery" power, I selected an area or targets which would be affected, and then I selected the direction in which gravity would flow in that area or for that target. With the radiation, the target of my powers, I changed gravity so that it would flow towards me.

A grin crossed my face as I felt the radiation begin to float towards me, drawn by my power over gravity. I stayed still and willed my movement to stop while I waited for the radiation to seep into me.

I had only done this once before, in the days before my nearly month-long time in my tower. I had luxuriated in a dark part of the countless subterranean chambers and caverns deep beneath Puerto Rico when I was first acquiring influence over the subdomain of radiation. At the time I gained significant powers over radiation, powers I had yet to use.

I suppose it might be worthwhile to change that... I thought to myself, a grin beginning to spread on my face. If I was serious about being creative in the pursuit of my revenge I ought to take chances to explore my powers and learn which ones were the best suited to help me defeat the mighty enemy I was now facing.

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In the depths of my mind, I contemplated what I knew about my enemy. Morehammer, my foe, was the ancient creator and god of dwarves. He was once a god of blacksmithing, his children, and metals.

He was a powerful father-figure to every non-dark-dwarf and his influence was so incredibly significant to the lives of his children that even half a million years after he lived he was remembered, to some extent, by his children. He was an incredibly powerful deity once, so much so that even his vestige was considerably powerful. I didn't like the idea of fighting the vestige again, at least not at my current level of strength. So my revenge would need to be more subtle than a regular fight to the death.

What else do I know about Morehammer? He's... lawful good. I recalled, and suddenly a smile began to slowly inch its way onto my face. Because Morehammer's lawful-goodness was a perfect match for my chaotic wickedness. And if I wanted power, which I did, then I ought to defeat Morehammer, take his artifacts, and if possible absorb his power.

Can... Can I do that? I wondered, before shaking my head, even as radiation began to seep into me. I knew that I didn't have to wonder about such things. I instead asked my question, taking advantage of the ties I had to the system and to domains.

"Morehammer's vestige... If I kill it, can I absorb what remains of its power?" I asked, projecting my question outward towards the domains and subdomains that dwelt within me. Directing a thought inward was a weird thing to do, but it was also my best bet for receiving helpful answers. I was met with silence initially before I began to hear a low chuckle.

The chuckle was akin to a quiet rumbling, like the ground right before a volcanic eruption. And at first it was a singular chuckle, a quiet one, but in time it grew. In time it got louder and louder, before other voices began to join in. Some of them were distinctly recognizable, even from their chuckles. The domains of evil and fire were two of the ones I instinctively recognized as in the eerie chorus of inhuman, impossible voices. Others were stranger.

One of the chuckling voices didn't sound like it was chuckling. It sounded like a series of natural and not-so-natural disasters mixing together to form one supernatural, cacophonous sound. Another was altogether stranger, like the sounds that echo from a distant, haunted asylum. The destruction and eldritch domains... I thought, audibly gasping before I began to chuckle along with the eerie choir. In time a single feminine voice cut through the choir.

"If you actually want an answer..." The voice began, before doing the domain-version of clearing its throat. The reliable voice belonged to the domain of knowledge. The choir quieted down, the chuckles gradually dimming in volume and in intensity. It was at that point that the domain of knowledge spoke again.

"It is really important that you know that vestiges are not gods. They are the final echoes of a god's existence, but themselves are not gods. They can be killed. And when they are, they die. Like mortals. If you kill one... You can absorb what passes for its soul, and in doing so gain a fraction of the god who the vestige was of's power." The voice revealed, causing me to begin to grin. That was until it spoke again.

"That said, Morehammer is not a foe you can hope to beat. Not right now. Or rather... You can't kill him. Not yet. Even if you defeated him, that alone wouldn't be enough to kill him." The voice told me. It wasn't done talking either.

"Morehammer wasn't himself an overgod, at least not a true one, but he was the overgod of blacksmithing. He was the finest master smith of all of the gods. Becoming an overgod of a domain or subdomain, even a lesser one, confers certain powers that extend even to one's vestige." The domain of knowledge revealed, causing me to sigh in annoyance.

"It's never simple is it?" I asked, rhetorically. I chuckled at my own witticism and shook my head.

That said... My objectives should be more than just to kill and steal his power. I ought to take from him something he cares about. To pay in kind the debt I am owed since he stole Ava's life. I mused, grinning all the while.

This creature views all dwarves as his children and he steers them away from evil. But in doing so he establishes himself as a tyrant. He creates a world for his children where they can only go so far from him, before he cruelly abandons them and leaves them to their fate. I should offer dwarves a different path. I realized, beginning to feel the smallest bits of a scheme come together in the depths of my mind.

But first... Let's usher in a new age. I thought, grinning all the while. For the first time since Ava's death and my attempt to resurrect her, I turned my full mind to Torus. And began to herald the next era in the world's history. And to send a signal to a specific asshole.

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Torus has several volcanos. And nearly all of them were surrounded by a variety of lifeforms. Some of them housed creatures I was familiar with, volcanic angels. Others were inhabited by strange and powerful creatures like fire-giants and phoenixes. And in the month that had passed, I had secured the faithful worship or at least service of many volcanic lifeforms.

I had done this through the usage of my volcanic and magmic and lava-based abilities. I had freely unleashed my powers and introduced myself through unique miracles and incomparable devastation, unleashing floods, tidal-waves, earth-quakes, and even tornados, as well as causing volcanoes to erupt and even stripping away immunity to fire and heat damage from the creatures who lived near my holy sites until they agreed to worship and serve me.

That said, I hadn't unleashed global disasters. I had just wanted to secure the areas near my holiest sites. I kept the destruction I had unleashed restrained and localized. Before now I hadn't been trying to spill blood or cause needless loss of life.

I mentally focused on each of my holy sites and smiled. Morehammer had had his fun, but now it was time for him to be reminded of a simple fact: I am a god and he is not. I would be sure to etch that into his memory with fire and blood.

If he was determined to be a creature of goodness and tyranny, then I would become an embodied nightmare of chaos and terror. I teleported myself back to my tower, at the same time as I willed every volcano in the world to erupt at once.

I went from the darkness of space to a floating island in a world that was about to be shrouded in ashes. As the fastest volcanoes began to erupt, I quickly prepared a notification alerting the people of the world of the cause of their misfortune: Morehammer, the pretender.