Enough of them are dead, so you now have more than enough supplies to stay here for a while. The snake cults can wait for now; they have been waiting for you for more than a millennium, so you should at the least begin to lay the groundwork.

Simbar, Nafiri, and Samarda were all followers; that much is true, but they are bound by their own mundane nature, limited, for you suspect that there shall be need of great and expensive amounts of magical research in your return.

Normally magic is reserved for a happy few; those born with the gift are the only ones who can manipulate it. But there are always loopholes to override and violate the laws of reality and grant powers unnatural to those who might not deserve them but who are willing to serve you for such knowledge.

But first, you would need to compliment your minions; they have done their job well, and you shall reward them with a special lesson in the dark arts. A small reward, a trivial part of your broad academic knowledge of the arcane, for which they shall be grateful, for you have the feeling both of them shall grasp at the opportunity for more power.

Unfortunately, Simbar was in no position to learn anything, a pity, but there would be plenty of time; you were immortal after all, and mortals were fun playthings, these three. So you called hither your two most devoted henchwomen, Samarda and Nafiti, cultists they be, but that wasn't enough; you didn't need mere worshippers or followers. You needed disciples, acolytes, and apprentices willing to do your bidding without question, and these two were perfect candidates for your dark teachings.

A day after the slaughter, while the lower porters were dragging away the corpses, you made both of them go into the old sanctum, with the dark tome at their side.

''The two of you are worthy of being dubbed my most able servants, and for that I shall reward thee thus, for I am a good and generous god.'' You softly hissed.

Both of them knelt in gratitude, but you called them forth. ''Enough, now is not the time for worship, but for me to teach you, my students.''

You opened the book with a brush of the wind and then blew out the candles; the two of them panicked. But you calmed them. ''Do not fear the dark, though you walk under the light; the dark isn't your enemy but your ally. Embrace it, and it shall make you strong.'' You dictated.