Bone Golem

I didn't need to wait to encounter another city to see the final retreat of the netjer. Cairep and the rest of Sekhmet's cities were joining my exploration. Bolstered with my support, there was no reason for them not to. Class eight beasts were the worst of what kept them hidden in their cities, and I could deal with class eight beasts. Sekhmet could also easily deal with class eight beasts. She wasn't quite used to using her avatars, but she didn't really need them to deal with natural creatures.

I wouldn't have left the pyramids to rot even if they hadn't been mobile, but each netjer-tepi felt the need to ȧssure me that abandoning the pyramid was neither necessary nor an option, Sekhmet's altar was built into the peak of it, so they brought it with them. The altar may not be necessary anymore, but it still held a lot of sentimental value to the cats of Cairep. Even with an avatar of their goddess floating over them, ritual was valuable to them.

There was a small ledge directly in front of the gates into the tom layer of the pyramid, directly under that ledge became a gap as the top of the pyramid lifted off of the base. The bottom half of the pyramid had a much steeper angle, making the distance from the bottom tip to the tom gate just short of six stades while the distance between the tom gate and the netjer layer was merely one stade.

The tip of the pyramid may have been little more than a spike among the palaces of the netjer level, but within it was a remarkable bit of craftsmanship. Exceeding the cannibal tower cores by a significant margin. Most of my forces carried a tower core along with them, but the pyramid cores carried themselves. Pyramids may have been slightly less effective in defending their territory, but they incorporated many more functions.

Adding a tower core to each of the five lateral corners of the pyramid only made it a more effective part of the army. The towers fixed the vulnerabilities the pyramids had had, turning the system into a vastly superior fortress. The ease with which I added the towers could have been indicative of an old system, a system that would have both pyramids and towers as modular elements of a greater whole. If true, the greater whole had long been lost. The crafting of arrays itself was a lost art. It required a massive level of control, and humans filled their circuits with superfluous text as a crutch against gaining that level of control.

Arrays were effective mediums of circuitry, but they were difficult to set up on a moments notice. With six array cores, after my fixing of their systems, my army could utilize effective circuitry at class eight without issues. The pyramids were even more specialized than the most specialized of wizards, but they were far cheaper. The five spires rising from the lateral corners also added to the look of the construction as a whole, a value on top of being able to deal with class eight foes even if both myself and Sekhmet were indisposed.

With the massive increase in population, the force split in every direction, Lagt and Samantha's tents following Aughil's lead further north. Few cared about remaining in the same force as Samantha, her loyalists had been a rare few by the time Aughil had become a colossus, let alone now. Lagt still had her harem that insisted they remain in the portion that contained Lagt, but the only remains of her command were the pervasive elements of her philosophy. Those loyal to Aughil made up the bulk of the force, having only grown more pervasive as time passed.

An odd insistence, as Aughil led only in that he kept walking hand in hand with Anhata, threatening to leave those who didn't keep up behind. A leadership style that was reminiscent of Trgl, but with the baggage of two other commanders altering the collective mindset.

He may have had fewer followers if they knew he and Anhata both had avatars in the gap between their hands that had been fuċkɨnġ since they advanced to cardinals, but that was doubtful. Those devoted to the brood construct may now live on the pyramids, but they were still acknowledged as members of the force. Borderline useless members, but members all the same. That the main bodies maintained a pace that some found it difficult to keep up with showed that they were cast from a different mold to those that became useless in their devotion to the brood constructs.

Keeping the population of the cats in Cairep and the goliaths that attacked it in the same forces, and keeping them civil while doing so, was the hardest part of splitting the force. As they both wanted to keep their forces in one piece, and didn't want the other in the same group, keeping everyone amiable while accomplishing my own goals was rarely so difficult. As a result, I had to make sure there were some cats and some goliaths in each force personally. As difficult as they were, everyone else split up naturally. With a force as fractured as Lagt's was, each division came easier than the last.

Having a pyramid over each force made it much easier to keep equipment, though they made carts entirely useless. It took a lot of mana, but teleporting a new six-core pyramid to each of my forces was worth it. They were much more secure locations for my brood constructs than anything my other forces were using. They also had the framework, if not activated or kept in good repair, to create a teleportation network. With all of my brood constructs near a teleportation network, it would be much easier to keep every force equipped with all of the species available to me anywhere.

The forces from Sekhmet's other cities were surprised at the addition of tower cores, multiple brood constructs, and the subsequent populations being added to their own, but they took it in stride. Many had become quite malleable after Sekhmet replaced their doctrine with her own. I'd expected more resistance, but that didn't seem to be a problem. My own forces bȧrėly even noticed the addition of pyramids, they were so used to things changing as I discovered or acquired things elsewhere.

Using the pyramid network was much cheaper than direct teleportation, it was also a gentle sort of teleportation, allowing brood constructs to teleport offspring without killing them. The cat records may not have been useful to learning more space runes, but the pyramid core was extremely useful in that regard. Being limited to the class ten rune of a whole type of runes was far from ideal.

The spatial runes found in the pyramids were not only for the network, but also for the space-based method the pyramids used to fly. They created a spatial anchor, fixing it in a given location. It merely took more mana to keep it there despite the forces trying to move it elsewhere. Theoretically, it could stop the heaviest of class ten blows. If supplied enough mana and the circuit could survive that amount of mana being forced through it in so little time. It would need a circuit as powerful as the will shredding circuits I used against Adrian's wizard tower, but it was possible.

As I advanced the few cats that wanted to be more advanced classes, I realized they did the same thing. I'd thought ursas were agile, but cats could literally stop in an instant and accelerate to their maximum speed the next with spatial runes designed to interact with the force of objects as they moved. Ursas were causing damage to themselves whenever they stopped or started too fast, though they were strong and regenerative enough that they bȧrėly noticed, but the cats had no such problem.

They provided yet another way to accomplish world-breaking speed competently. They could even fly, though they were much more equipped for extreme bursts of speed than the prolonged cost of flight. Class five cats wouldn't have trouble dealing with wasps of a similar class, though no cats had been class five in Cairep. Wasps also fought in squads, at a minimum, meaning wasps were still a deadly threat. Hornets of equivalent class would be easily dispatched by cats, though I was working on allowing hornets to regain the wings that their bodies were built to accommodate. Given the design of the pyramids, it was fairly clear why the cats had retreat as a primary tactic.

Normally, the cats would have retreated at maximum speed for a few days before setting back down again, the pyramid was a huge target after all, but with ȧssurances from myself as well as Sekhmet they felt no worries at all with allowing it to float over the force. The reservoir of liquid mana that was the entirety of the bottom half of the pyramid wasn't even being depleted, instead being gradually filled as my improvements returned the construction to its original state. That state being an entirely mobile fortress instead of a retreat method. I wasn't sure why pyramid cores were so much more degraded than tower cores, but the difference was apparent.

Cats didn't have the same rigorous method of maintaining the knowledge of their species. The vast majority of their research was hoarded among individual researchers, shared with nobody. There wasn't even a communication method between cities, meaning each one altered their religious texts without fear of recompense. Until Sekhmet became a single entity, at least. Their instant and total capitulation still didn't really make sense to me. Even being able to see into their wills offered no answers.

Understanding the issues and fixing them in fortress cores was easy in comparison to living creatures. Not only did the living hide their true reasons so deep even they couldn't find them a lot of the time, but they also resisted change on that same level. Getting the goliaths and colossi to be willing to march alongside cats was orders of magnitude more difficult than fixing a tower or pyramid core. Dispersing the hatred was another issue altogether.

I had a massive advantage, in that I could alter their wills if I really wanted to. The difficulty was mostly in figuring out that there was a problem in the first place. Even proponents buried thoughts they thought went against my will. Buried thoughts that could fester, if I was less attentive.

After I explained that I'd conquered their goddess the cats became much more willing to cooperate, but before that explanation there had been a lot of bad blood that refused to get worked out. Thinking a goliath god had conquered theirs was a massive hit to their pride, an issue ironed out by merely accepting direct contact and realizing I wasn't a goliath. The goliaths were harder, but only because they had so much tangled into their system of honor that their dissatisfaction was hidden in the very depths of their selves. Their fast advancement in my maelstrom of worshippers made them excessively loyal, but that wasn't ideal when the very honor system that had them becoming priests so easily became tangled with my purposes. .

There was also a surprising amount of resistance from the cannibals to having the avatar of another god moving with the army. None of it was voiced, no direct resistance to my will was ever voiced, but the fury that ripped through them at the sight of Sekhmet's avatar was every bit as strong as when goliaths noticed a cat. The cats didn't reciprocate, being perfectly fine with the knowledge that I'd conquered Sekhmet. They were even fine with goliaths, after a brief explanation of their situation. The extreme hate had been fueled by the fear of the primary enemy that the netjer would never save them from. A fear that was pointless if aimed at an ally.

The cats seemed to react to everything in a slightly different way than I was expecting them to. Their system of values was very alien to the perspective of both cannibals and goliaths. The netjer were more predictable, but the mollies seemed not to care about much of anything. Allowing the world to go as it would while they merely watched and accomplished what they could in their little corner of it. Perhaps cats were just built in a different manner, but the netjer provided a very stark counterpoint. The military dams were somewhat resistant to change, but the netjer were on their own level. Every change they experienced was massive, and so deep a blow that it threatened to break the will-cores that managed to form among them. Perhaps there was a genuine difference apart from talents that set mollies and dams apart. A difference that got softened by exposure to military training.

It could also be the massive culture shock they were experiencing. The mollies could merely be stunned into acquiescence by the sheer unbelievable nature of the changes happening. Not only were they walking among colossi, the netjer were walking alongside them. I couldn't see the symptoms of shock, but it could be something similar that I hadn't discovered yet.

At least their possibly shock-induced adaptability was beneficial. The dams being so conceited was an issue, as far as participating in my forces was concerned. I was forced to take more active measures to break the conceit than to deal with any issues mollies had with their new situation. Especially among the netjer.

I had no trouble communicating and I could plan out the path of my forces without their input. My commanders were also expected to be the most powerful members of my army. As I had a hand in their development, stronger meant smarter. Power was also available to all, so the only reason to remain weak was lacking will. A fatal flaw for a commander. The dams were really good about thinking, but no so great at doing. With my leadership, their thinking became much less relevant and their lack of ability to follow through with their ideas became magnified.

I'd also been right about the development of their circuitry being much more based on appearance than effectiveness. That was a definite change that I would insist all of my forces to participate in. Making effective but flashy circuits was one thing, but making flashy circuits without a core of effectiveness was not something I'd tolerate.

Among the cats that had joined my maelstrom instead of Sekhmet's the dams were doing significantly worse. Many mollies were already zealots, a rare few being priests. No dams were even zealots. In my maelstrom, at least. In Sekhmet's maelstrom they were almost all priests. Every one of her netjer-tepi were cardinals. How she managed that when the religion in many of the cat cities had been entirely alien to her own and while imposing so many structural shifts to their cultures was beyond me, but her results were unquestionable.

As I considered Sekhmet's maelstrom, I inevitably thought of the abandoned shard that had stabilized into a new god. Apparently, this force was headed directly towards the city controlled by that shard. A shard abandoned for hedonism, from Sekhmet's perspective. Compared to some of my forces, that city was downright prudish.

Sekhmet was usually respected as a motherly force, a nurturing mother that revitalized what she didn't destroy. In that city, the act of becoming the mother was what was worshipped, specifically the pŀėȧsurė induced. Reduced from the nurturing mother capable of destroying the world if aggravated to, in her perspective, a ŀusty and violent whore. Her aspect of destruction was also reduced by a massive degree, being pulled all the way down to a mere goddess of war.

Sekhmet had eaten many shards that controlled cities that worked very differently from her own, but being given direct and clear revelation had overcome any issues with clashing cultures. For the dams, at least. Many of her molly forces had been in extreme chaos before an avatar of Sekhmet and two of mine appeared over the pyramid. There had been chaos as a result of Sekhmet being one of three, but that hadn't lasted very long.

They were as confused by my lacking a name as having two avatars but one identity. Eventually they simply stopped trying to understand and just accepted what was. Molly philosophy at its finest. I'd considered naming myself, the gods' existence was proof of the power inherent in having one, but I had no idea what it should be. Everything else was named by something else and nobody that worshipped me was willing to suggest a name for their deity. Even Sekhmet was unwilling. I wasn't going to take a name given by the Sun, so I didn't really have any other options.

At least, I didn't until the pyramid drew the attention of a dragon. A dragon would be perfectly capable of giving me a name. I'd get one before I converted it. If I didn't like the name I'd just have to find another powerful potential convert and get one from them. Or ask for another.

The dragon reared up at the approach of my avatar, unfurling the massive wings that stretched to either side of the massive creature. Katrice's memories allowed me to appreciate this creature, now certain that the one that beat her wasn't class eight. The dragon she fought had still been clothed in flesh, greenish gray flesh so think that Katrice's teeth dug in to her gums but failed to deal any real damage. This creature wore a shining set of radiantly blue scales, so clear and shiny I thought them metal at first. They weren't metal, though. Nor bone. Whatever they were made of, it was beautiful.

The first natural class eight creature I'd found. I didn't want to fight it for several reasons, not the least of which was wanting a good name, so I decided on diplomacy. A rare choice, for me. "Nice to meet you. I'd like a name, and I heard dragons are quite wise." As well as brutal and willing to eviscerate entire cities on a whim, but when you lived after meeting one it was a common thread that they seemed wise.

The earth quaked at the gravely laugh of the creature. The huge wings returned to the sides of the beast, deactivating the circuits I could see glowing through the comparatively thin membrane. "You are a mysterious treat, little one. You feel like nothing, but nothing couldn't fly like that. How could I know what to name you if you seem to be nothing?"

Right. I wasn't beating this one into submission. It took me a moment to consider how to show my power to a creature that only understood power in terms of mana leakage. I opted for a simple demonstration, deactivating the anti-air circuits. As I didn't want to attack the dragon, I used the circuits I'd learned from the ursas, spreading the force through the earth in a league radius. The dragon and his followers stumbled as the earth below them dropped four pedes before rushing back up again, but none of them were seriously harmed. On the rebound I allowed the circuitry to operate again, my avatar quickly rising to be level with the dragon's face again. "Nope. I'm something. Something that would like a name." I wasn't going to explain the entirety of my self to some random creature. Not only because I was cautious of letting anything know me so well, I wasn't sure if having a name would make me vulnerable. Names and their effects were entirely unknown, but I knew there was something powerful enough in them to keep a god in one piece. Anything that could do that could also become a vulnerability.

Caution was present in the dragon's will now. An extreme level of caution. Perhaps I'd been a little too aggressive. I wasn't used to diplomacy. The dragon didn't consider for very long, however. "A strange creature with dominion over the earth and sky, then. Perhaps Atlas would suit you." Dominion? Far from it. I wasn't sure if the dragon meant the earth as in the ground or Earth as in the megalith…either way, I was far from dominion.

My purpose was served, however. I'd gotten a name; Atlas. As I tried to tie the name to myself, I saw a megalith react. One of the very loose gods. Now cautious, I interacted with the name again. Again, the megalith reacted. It was getting more cohesive as it approached, blind feelers sliding through the mana ocean.

It had surprised me a great deal, but Sekhmet had confirmed that megaliths were indeed blind within the mana ocean. With all the power at their disposal, they weren't even class one yet. For all the disproportionate growth material creatures were capable of, will-based creatures seemed to have an even greater level of variance.

The dragon had given me the name of a god. An old god that was basically dead, but a god nonetheless. My attention turned to the presumptuous beast. "You dare try to serve me up to a god, lizard?" I wasn't sure what a lizard was, but intent converted to words allowed me to use an effective insult even if I didn't know what my target would be insulted by. A very handy ability, though it was still part of the less effective means of communicating with intent. An insult was a poor comparison to directly allowing something to experience your disdain and rage.

It reared back, surprise rushing through its will. It opened its mouth, and I could feel the circuitry at the back of its throat starting to activate. With a snort of disdain I created a spatial anchor directly over the dragon's head and slammed it downwards. The mouth shut with a click as its head impacted the ground, directly breaking the circuit it was trying to build and knocking the dragon's pets down with the force of the sudden wave of earth. Powering the core intimidation circuit had all of the dragon's pets whining with their tails between their legs and the dragon's eyes going wide.

"I'll deal with you in a moment. Be a good dragon and you may survive." Honestly, I was a little surprised it had survived the falling anchor. It was a small anchor, bȧrėly three pedes across, and it had the force required to push the dragon's head all the way to the ground despite resistance. I'd thought it would pierce through the head, but apparently dragon scales were incredibly tough.

I could feel something trying to unravel my circuit, but it was inconsequential. It wasn't even powered by the dragon's impressive if limited will. The effects of passive circuitry at class eight were far from enough to unravel my circuitry. I turned my attention back to Atlas.

A single strand of intent was enough to communicate both the misunderstanding and my dėsɨrė to have it join my pantheon along with the benefits inherent in that option. Atlas boiling in enthusiasm could have meant it accepted the offer or it really wanted to eat me now.

Either way, it wasn't communicating back. Not that I'd thought it would. You had to know what you were communicating with to communicate with intent and there wasn't another way inside the mana ocean. I considered both options for a moment before I decided it was worth the risk. Worst case scenario I'd get a chance to see the difference between the old radiant shards and a much less cohesive god.

Sekhmet had taught me a lot about the gods; including how to draw them to you. A necessary part of creating a new strand of worship cohesive enough to reach the named entity. A tiny pyramid popped out of the earth, bȧrėly a pebble. I focused on the pyramid for a moment, being sure to inundate it with intent bearing the name of Atlas. Creating a shrine or altar may take cats centuries, but with my control of my own will and understanding of the process it was beyond easy. It may be a pebble in comparison, but it was a more effective shrine than the altar in any of Sekhmet's pyramids.

A tiny shred of faith answered my call, bȧrėly a presence at all. For so little to respond to such a perfect shrine, I may have overestimated how strong Atlas was. It was so wispy and weak that tasting its identity was extremely difficult, but it was just enough for me to verify that it was the correct shred of faith. I communicated how to form the worship rune and Atlas reacted exactly as Sekhmet had, forming the rune with the entirety of the faith it could give to the puny but perfect shrine.

As I claimed this worship rune, I was quite surprised by the difference between Sekhmet's method and Atlas'. Sekhmet had wanted the entirety of herself to be one, a single deity. Atlas was different. The Atlas that had the direct connection to the worship rune was the smallest of the ropes of faith that comprised its megalithic body. Even calling it a rope was difficult, the strand being so loose and ephemeral that the tiny wisp was probably a huge sacrifice. Instead of consuming any other ropes, however, it instead spread the method and my mana around to the others. The cost was significantly less than accepting Sekhmet, the process almost instant.

I was slightly wary as the megalith approached my self, but I'd been paying attention and Atlas was so fractured that watching the internal workings of the megalith was quite easy. As it entered my orbit, I realized why it was so different. Sekhmet was a singular deity. Atlas was a pantheon in and of himself.

I'd found the lost god of the colossi, so long forgotten that his subordinates were remembered without reference to him at all. Each fallen colossi was one of the ropes held together with the bȧrėst of connections as the children of Atlas. The colossi were still worshipped, in a very cohesive manner as they were worshipped as the beings they'd been in life without any of the mythologization that turned other gods so chaotic. More accurately, as creatures of will they were able to shunt off the warping of mythologization onto Atlas. They were the only reason Atlas hadn't fallen apart.

The goliaths had learned a way to overcome death; become angels. They were preserved entirely, including their individual wills. Each deified colossi was an angel, their will-cores fused onto the faith-core that was Atlas. As such, Atlas had almost as much faith as Sekhmet, but before I'd given him cohesion he'd been incapable of using it as the faith generated technically was based on his own angels. The faith had preserved them so well that they were consciously able to redirect the faith and mythologization that was applied to them via their worshippers to Atlas, keeping both themselves and Atlas alive despite Atlas having been forgotten. As will-cores started orbiting him, Atlas made sure to express his thanks and undying loyalty in no uncertain terms. Prayers from angels were a much better method of accepting faith than the prayers of proponents, but being so dependent while being incapable of interacting with anything but his colossi was a terrible fate.

There were no more goliaths that remembered his name. Only the memories of other gods and ancient beings like dragons allowed it to continue existing. He had been slowly fading away, as the gods that remembered him faded alongside him, their knowledge of his existence provided less basis for himself. If I'd killed this dragon it was entirely possible that Atlas as a name would have become unclaimed in as little as a century. He would have only lasted so long because his angels were extremely loyal, without them he could have vanished in a week.

There were probably several gods being kept alive by this particular dragon. Sekhmet probably helped a lot, as well. She could remember much more clearly now, and her basis was unquestionably strong at the moment. Every god she remembered was one that could stave off nonexistence, perhaps even become stronger. It was an interesting question whether gods that had already died could be brought back, if those that remembered them were to reignite the religion. It was possible the strands of fallen gods would retain their selves, but also possible that a name would gather all of the separate strands once again. I simply didn't understand the power of names, a flaw that I was still ready to rectify.

"I'll give you one more chance. If you use the name of another god I'll rip you apart and feed you to your dogs." Atlas had been a good addition to my sources of faith, but I wasn't sure I wanted more gods serving me. It made me anxious, having worshippers with higher classed core circuits than my own. Atlas was already feeding his core worship rune. His angels didn't have the same inherent circuit, but they did have an inherent circuit. It was a strange one, though. They reminded me of ritual circuits, but these ones weren't based on Abyss. The core circuit was equally incomprehensible, though.

The dragon lifted its head warily, cautious of another attack. It was thoroughly cowed, however. "I can think of no name that would be worthy of you apart from the names of fallen gods. Their names were enough to cause the earth to quake, once. Now shadows, but names are powerful things. I could muddle together sounds and create a new one, but that would hardly do you justice. If that's what you wanted, you could do that yourself." He had a point. I was perfectly capable of mashing sounds together into a name that I could then make mine. Why ask for a name from someone else?

Because it was in my nature to take what was made by others and make it my own. To warp something that existed until it fit my existence. I could create my own name, but I'd be starting from scratch. I could always abandon a name if it became an issue. All of my worshippers were linked to me via will, not faith in a name. The value was in seeing an example of how to use a name properly first. "Which god are you most sure is completely gone?" it probably wouldn't be completely dead, but that suited me just fine.

What would be ideal was the smallest megalith. My first megalithic meal taken in a single bite should be the one I was most confident of actually defeating. Knowing that every god was stuck at class one did a lot for my confidence, looking at the massive forms each megalith had. Even the weakest was a giant meal.

The dragon considered for a few days, trying to remember the most forgotten god couldn't be easy. I could have converted it and found the name myself, but I'd decided to ask for one. Perhaps there was a reason names were given and not taken, some hidden property that would make the name more valid. "Perhaps the old goat. I haven't met a goat in so long…Baphomet, that would be the name. First one to attack the Sun, so long ago it was an old legend when I hatched."

Baphomet. As I tried to identify myself with the name, I made sure to watch the mana ocean. The dragon had indeed chosen the best god for me to eat. It was indeed the smallest living god. It was so weak that it would be a long time before we met. I could approach at the same time, but I had things to do. I didn't need to immediately eat my namesake.

I considered spreading my new name to my worshippers to increase the speed of Baphomet's approach, but decided against it. I wasn't sure of the dividing line between faith and the worship rune, nor was I willing to have that connection tainted by a name I wouldn't keep. If they worshipped me as Baphomet and I abandoned the name, would that break the connection? I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to test that particular hypothesis. Not on myself, at least. I'd need to elevate another will-based creature into godhood, but I'd have plenty of time for that after I devoured the Sun.

Another incentive not to speed the approach of Baphomet would be everything else I needed to accomplish in a short period of time, not the least of which being conquering the city worshipping Sekhmet's hedonistic half. Aughil was approaching the city, since the force hadn't waited while I dithered about with the dragon.

Converting the dragon was easy, with how I'd dominated it. The dogs were even easier. There were two species, one that resembled hounds and the other that resembled ursas. The humanoid ones would have been fascinating before I met ursas or cats, but they were just another in the series of humanoids that seemed half beast at this point. I hadn't met the beast half of cats or ursas, but werewolves traveled with their beast halves. The wolves, on the other hand, provided a very different set of circuits than their hound cousins.

I put both out of my mind as my forces approached the walls of the next city. The cats there were prepared for our approach, but far from the expected battle, they cheered. Alexi seemed to be as different a city from Cairep as possible. The divisions between mollies and dams being nonexistent stood out as the most apparent difference.

All the ritual of Sekhmet's netjer-tepi was missing, as the netjer-tepi of this city leap from the walls and rushed my avatar followed by her most trusted aides. One of which was a tom. Another being the faith creature clinging to her shoulder, a faith creature that revealed as much enthusiasm as the class three cat. Ignoring Sekhmet's avatar entirely, the netjer-tepi dropped to her knees in front of mine. "Mistress wishes to worship you, as do I!"

"Ridiculous! You think yourself my equal?" Sekhmet's tone may have been pure fury, but her will reflected pure embarrassment. When the netjer-tepi looked at her, her faith almost started glowing with it. "I wasn't talking to you." She muttered, glaring at the strand of faith that would have been rolling on the ground hysterically if it had a body.

"Mistress knows she's small and weak. But everything useful started that way. Hags are set in their ways, but maidens are malleable. My Mistress will become exactly what is needed of her, in order to survive." The netjer-tepi may not have been able to see the wrath that inundated Sekhmet's faith, but she knew the effect regardless. Her face was impassive, but her will was smug. "Please give my Mistress a chance to prove her worth. To become a god worthy of standing at your feet."

It would have been a great snack…but I already had a feast crawling towards me. Megaliths were always a threat, but this shard of one was hardly enough to be a threat. I'd long learned the value of redundancy. There would also be value in watching the development of a young god that I wouldn't get from seeing an old one advance. "The name of Sekhmet is taken."

"We haven't worshipped Sekhmet here in centuries. Her idol was the one in the temple, but we worship Bastet." The netjer-tepi grinned as the strand of faith became a glowing rune of worship. Apparently Bastet was much better at communicating than Sekhmet had been. She wasn't as good at being worshipped, though. As Bastet's faith-core began its orbit of my will-core she got many priests. None of them became cardinals, however.. That could have been because the netjer-tepi of her city was a priest orbiting my core.